which won the Lionel Trilling Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in biography. He is also the author of The Death of Satan (1995), Required Reading: Why Our American Classics Matter Now (1997), and The Real American Dream (1999), which were all named notable books by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. The Puritan Ordeal (1989) won the Lionel Trilling Award. His essays regularly appear in the New York Review of Books, and other publications. The Baccalaureate speaker will be Hollis Watkins, president and co-founder of Southern Echo, a leadership development and education organization, that provides training and technical assistance to individuals and organizations throughout the South in the areas of politics, education, environmental programs, economic development, and law. A longtime civil rights activist, he was one of the participants in an historic sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter in McComb, Miss. He is the founder of the Civil Rights Veterans of Mississippi. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. President John Strassburger will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Commencement.
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch returned to campus April 12 for a talk, “Germany Confronts Its Past,” to coincide with Yom Hashoah, a day to memorialize those who perished in the Holocaust. Dr. Schorsch, Chancellor Emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and holder of the Davis Visiting Professorship at Ursinus College, is a member of the Class of 1957. Since retiring in 2006 from the seminary, Schorsch, who holds the title, Rabbi Herman Abramovitz Professor of Jewish History, is at work on writing books. His book, Canon Without Closure (March 2007, Aviv Press), is a wide-ranging collection of Torah commentaries written during his tenure as Chancellor. In 2004, he published a two-volume collection of the articles and essays he wrote while Chancellor, Polarities in Balance, and in 1995, he published The Sacred Cluster: The Core Values of Conservative Judaism. Dr. Schorsch was ordained by JTSA in 1962 and holds master’s degrees from JTSA and Columbia University. He was awarded a Ph. D. in Jewish history by Columbia in 1969. The Davis Visiting Professorship of Judeo-Christian Studies was established by Nancy Davis in honor of her late husband Thomas, and was last held by Harvard’s Owen Gingerich, professor emeritus of astronomy and of the history of science.
Princeton Review cites Ursinus
Ursinus College is one of The Princeton Review’s 50 “Best Value” private colleges for 2010. The Best Value list which features 100 schools – 50 public and 50 private colleges and universities – is featured on the websites of The Princeton Review and USA Today, which partnered to present the lists. Of the 50 schools chosen in each category (public and private), the top 10 are ranked, PAGE 6 URSINUS MAGAZINE
and the remaining 40 are listed in alphabetical order and unranked. Ursinus is one of three schools on the list located in Pennsylvania, with Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr colleges. All three are members of the Centennial Conference in athletics. In its profile of Ursinus on USA Today’s website, The Princeton Review editors commend the school for its student experiences. “Ursinus College has roots of reform that have translated into a college experience that makes serious changes in a student’s life,” according to the write-up. “Ursinus participated in the national Project DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practices), and has received high laurels for its transformational experience. The First Year Experience includes excellent first-year advising by faculty, first-year clustering in guaranteed housing, a laptop, and the Common Intellectual Experience where first-year students read, write, and learn in small seminar-style classes.”
Ursinus in the News Upon the Jan. 27 death of author J.D. Salinger, who attended Ursinus in 1938 and wrote for the student newspaper, many media outlets noted his Ursinus connection – Business Week, Yahoo News, the New York Times, and newspapers around the world. Feb. 12, 2010: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on President Strassburger’s announcement that he is stepping down June 30, in an extensive article. The Chronicle of Higher Education features President Strassburger’s essay, “For the Liberal Arts, Rhetoric in Not Enough” in the March 5 issue. Philadelphia Inquirer lead art critic Edward Sozanksi reviews the Berman Museum of Art exhibit, “Edward Burtynksy: Minding the Landscape,” saying that “Burtynsky proves himself a master not only of scale and detail but of the ethical ambiguity inherent in modern industrial processes,” in the March 14 newspaper. The process of deciding to change the Ursinus SAT policy to a test-optional one is recounted in the March 22 The Chronicle of Higher Education. Ursinus senior Laurel Salvo was featured April 14, 2010 in The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Style and Soul front page, as a former intern for musician Joan Jett in New York City. The May issue of Kiplinger Magazine takes a close look at Ursinus to offer helpful information to its readers on the process of tuition and financial aid.