From The Editor
Wabash Ways There are great things happening at Wabash, but we have a hard time looking at ourselves in a self-critical but loving way. —Wabash Professor Charlie Blaich, Director, Center of Inquiry of the Liberal Arts
including President Pat White and Director of Alumni Affairs Tom Runge ’71, cast a questioning look my way when I told them the title that would appear on the cover of this edition of WM. Was I suggesting that there was ONE Wabash Way? They seemed relieved when I explained this was actually the headline for our feature about the Center of Inquiry’s work—data from its Wabash National Study is giving us a great story to tell. But as you read about the alumni, students, and teachers in this issue, you may notice some common denominators, some Wabash ways. 2012 Obama National Field Director Jeremy Bird ’00 and Mark Miles ’76 may not line up politically, but Bird got into organizing to “work hard, get in, and do something,” and Miles finds his adrenaline rush “getting something done.” Is that a Wabash Way? Soliant Consulting co-founder Bob Bowers ’91 says he’s proud “creating a great place to work,” while ICANN Director of Security Patrick Jones ’96 works to keep the Internet a place where “my kids will be able to interact in a world where there’s a free exchange of ideas.” Is the desire to build a creative community a Wabash Way? Anton Crepinsek ’13 had to learn how to fail and pick himself up, and Professor Chad Westphal builds “lots of little failures” into his NSF research so students can learn to do just that. Is resilience a Wabash Way? Bowers promises his clients that he’ll “tell the truth” about their businesses, and Charlie Blaich does the same with the 50 schools he works with. Is an unblinking pursuit of the truth a Wabash way? Professor Eric Wetzel says he wants “to disturb” his students in the Global Health Initiative, while Bird says one of the greatest lessons he learned here was, “Don’t ever get comfortable, don’t ever think you know everything, and always be striving to learn.” Is discomfort with the status quo a Wabash Way? A FEW OF MY FRIENDS HERE,
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| WA BA S H M AGA Z I N E
If you read the many letters from alumni in From Our Readers in response to the last issue of WM, you might think that a sense of humor coupled with a deep capacity for respect and love are Wabash ways. Professor Laura Wysocki calls the determination behind the motto Wabash Always Fights “an attitude and a way of life,” while Professor Eric Olofson brings equal determination to his efforts to forgive. Can forgiveness be a Wabash way? about when we describe Wabash ways is this: What does it mean to be a man, and how can Wabash be the most positive catalyst for our students becoming good men? That is the work we have taken on every time President White has said, “We take young men seriously” and called them to “a higher imagination of themselves,” what the College has done since its founding. The good men of Wabash and their teachers have been my source of lifelong learning for 18 years. If some of their stories in this issue resonate with you, I invite you to share your own with us—the fond memories, and those you’d like to forget, what worked and what didn’t—from your time at Wabash and after. Join us in this ongoing conversation as we strive to reflect upon our lives and this place in a “self critical but loving way.” That may be the wisest of all Wabash ways.
WHAT WE’RE REALLY TALKING
Thanks for writing, and thanks for reading. Steve Charles | Editor charless@wabash.edu