Fall '12 Owl & Spade

OWL&SPADE THE MAGAZINE OF WARREN WILSON COLLEGE

FALL 2012

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PRESIDENT STEVE SOLNICK INTEGRATING THE TRIAD FEEDING COMMUNITY NEW SERVICE REQUIREMENT COUNTRY SOUL OF UNDERHILL ROSE

OWL&SPADE THE MAGAZINE OF WARREN WILSON COLLEGE

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From the President

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ne sunny Tuesday morning in August, I donned a bright orange T-shirt and joined our students and staff to welcome our first-year students and their parents to campus and help unload their cars. For me, this marked the real beginning of my term as Warren Wilson’s seventh president. As the cars pulled in, the campus began to inflate with students, coming alive with the anxieties and aspirations that accompany the start of college.

My plan was to keep busy enough carrying bookshelves and refrigerators into dorm rooms that I wouldn’t have time to dwell on my own anxieties and aspirations in starting this new role as the College president. During a brief lull in the unpacking, I noticed a Vietnamese family of four pausing in front of Sunderland, with the parents posing for a photo. I approached them and offered to take a shot of all four of them, but the camera-wielding son, a college-aged young man, declined. “Just my parents,� he said. And then his mother pointed to her husband and explained, “He went here.�

I briefly thought I’d encountered a multi-generational Wilson family. I asked where the new student was, and the father came quickly over to explain. “I went here in the 1980s,� he told me. “I was on vacation with my family in the area and I brought them over to Warren Wilson because I wanted them to see the place where I became the person I am today.�

I recounted his words later that afternoon to our assembled new students and their families. It captured for me what is so exciting, and also so humbling, about the journey that I was beginning along with them. College is for many of us the place we become the person we are going to be, and at Warren Wilson we are particularly focused on educating that whole person. Through the Triad, we stimulate the mind and also challenge students to work as part of the campus community and to serve as part of the greater Asheville-Buncombe County community. We teach skills for life— intellectual skills, leadership skills, moral reasoning and practical problem solving.

On the Cover (L-R) Eleanor Underhill ’03, Salley Williamson, and Molly Rose ’04 of Underhill Rose in Back Bottom ÀHOG (OHDQRU DQG 0ROO\ PHW DV VWXGHQWV LQ and began honing their harmonies in stairwells all RYHU FDPSXV

I hope that many of you reading this were able to return to campus the first weekend in October for Homecoming—to revisit the place that helped make you who you are today. I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming months and years and to hearing your stories about your history with the College. I also invite you to share your thoughts about the future of the College and how we can continue to offer an innovative and unique liberal arts education for future generations of students.

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Finally, I hope you will continue to support the College in every way possible: by contributing to the Warren Wilson College Fund, recommending a prospective student, employing a graduate or just spreading the word about Warren Wilson and its Triad. The College is what it is today because of you.

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Steve Solnick

OWL & SPADE

OWL&SPADE CONTENTS s &!,, TRIAD NEWS

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FACULTY & STAFF NEWS FEATURES

8 10 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROFESSOR LEADS USDA STUDY ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE CHIARA INTEGRATES THE TRIAD A NEW COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT THE JOURNEY FROM JERSEY CITY TO THE WARREN WILSON PRESIDENCY Â Â Â THE HEARTFELT COUNTRY SOUL OF UNDERHILL ROSE

FEEDING COMMUNITY CAMP TOCCOA SAVED FROM THE BRINK

INTEGRATING THE TRIAD

FALL 2012

ANNUAL REPORT: WARREN WILSON BY THE NUMBERS

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ALUMNI NEWS

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UNDERHILL ROSE

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CAMP TOCCOA

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TRI ADN E WS Latest college rankings bring new accolades The annual college rankings season this year included a few new wrinkles—not to mention some new accolades—for Warren Wilson.

One of the more impressive recognitions came from Outside magazine, which ranked Warren Wilson No. 7 nationally in its feature “Outside University: The Top 25 Colleges for Outside Readers.” CalBerkeley was No. 1 as California universities dominated the list, but Warren Wilson had the highest ranking of any school in the Southeast.

Washington Monthly gave Warren Wilson another lofty ranking, placing the College 25th nationwide among its Top 30 Liberal Arts Colleges in the magazine’s 2012 college rankings. The rankings are based on student social mobility, faculty research production and colleges’ commitment to service.

On the graduate level, Warren Wilson’s renowned MFA Program for Writers was named the “Most Popular” low-residency MFA program by Poets & Writers magazine.

Warren Wilson also fared well in regional college rankings, being selected as the No. 1 “All-Around Blue Ridge Outdoor School”

by Blue Ridge Outdoors.

The College maintained its excellent standing in several other rankings as well. It was named a private college “Best Buy”— one of 20 nationwide—by the highly regarded Fiske Guide to Colleges for the seventh time since 2005. Warren Wilson also continued as a Sierra magazine “Coolest School,” as it has every year since Sierra began the feature in 2007. And the College again was named to The Princeton Review Green Rating Honor Roll, one of 21 schools to make the grade.

Urban and Community Forest Grant The North Carolina Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forest Grant Program has awarded the College a $15,000 grant to complete a comprehensive tree inventory of the main campus. Based on the inventory, the grant team, led by landscaping supervisor Tom LaMuraglia and assistant supervisor Caleb Mende (pictured), will create a forest management plan and measure the carbon sequestration capacity of the campus forest.

Environmental studies major Linden Blasius ’11 is the grant intern who will lead students in collecting and analyzing data. Global studies/ GIS professor David Abernathy and forestry/environmental studies professor David Ellum will serve as consultants and integrate the grant work with classes.

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Students receive awards at N.C. Academy of Science

Five students who presented their research at the annual meeting of the N.C. Academy of Science have been awarded Derieux Prizes for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

The following students received prizes for original research: Melanie Kemp, first place, physiology/toxicology/biochemistry; Jessica Schaner, second place, health/ environmental sciences; Alice Sloan, second place, ecology; Camille Taylor, third place, botany; and Laura Lilley, third place, physiology/toxicology/biochemistry.

A total of 12 WWC students presented results of their research at the 2012 meeting.

Over the years Warren Wilson students have won more N.C. Academy of Science awards for papers on their research than students from any other college or university in the state.

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TRI ADN E WS Two students make national church headlines

By Julie Lehman

At the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Honors and Awards Ceremony held the night before Commencement 2012, the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation awarded Abigail Lee Bissette â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12 second place in the ChurchCollege Partnership Award. She was the first Warren Wilson student to place in this contest in its six years.

In her paper â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unexpected Encounters with Faith and Piglets,â&#x20AC;? Bissette writes: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I, like many at Warren Wilson, came because I fell in love with the baby pigs at the student-operated farm. I was also drawn to the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s promise of hard work, academic excellence and deep care for others and the world. Ironically, I am leaving the College with a greater sense of what it is like to be in communion with Christians than what it is like to be in communion with baby pigs. I have learned that faith is not something that one does aloneâ&#x20AC;?

She concludes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I believe my faith has played a role in my choice of major and that

my faith has developed in the time I have spent in college.â&#x20AC;?

This summer, Ana Lara â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14 attended the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Funded by a Presbyterian Women Leadership Development Grant, Lara and other recipients from across the country contributed to the assembly proceedings. As observers, they followed each of their motions through committee to a vote. At the conclusion of the assembly, church leaders asked Lara to consider representing young Presbyterians at an upcoming Presbyterian United Nations.

Lara also assisted Director of Development and Faith Relations Julie Lehman in meeting with parents, donors and church partners. During the general assembly, the church approved task force recommendations to renew collegiate ministry in the coming years on campuses across the country. For the first time in over 20 years, significant funds have been allotted to support congregations and presbyteries

FALL 2012

that reach out to care for students at colleges and universities. Named UKirk (University Church), the new program is designed to strengthen existing campus ministries and help create new ones.

On the Web: ukirk.org/

and presented numerous conference papers on her work during her twelve years at the College.

Kusujiarti awarded Magnarella Family Faculty Scholarship Created in 2011 and funded by director of peace and justice studies Paul Magnarella and his family, the Magnarella Family Faculty Scholarship rewards full-time faculty members for achievement in scholarly empirical and theoretical publications.

The award, the first of its kind at the College, may be made for recent significant publications or for lifetime achievements with evidence of continuing scholarly productivity. At the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual awards ceremony in May, sociology/anthropology professor Siti Kusujiarti was named the first recipient of the award for accomplishments in both recent publication and lifetime achievement. Her most recent book is Power, Change, and Gender Relations in Rural Java, which she co-authored with

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Ann R. Tickamyer. This work is based on years of research examining the apparent contradictions of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s status in rural Java and the sources of stability and change.

This work is but the latest in a long history of scholarship based on her extensive fieldwork; she has published many articles

In addition, Kusujiartiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research has positively impacted her teaching and her students. Her courses on Societies in Southeast Asia, Indonesia in Transition, Disaster and Society and others are heavily influenced by the expertise that she brings from her years of research in the field. In summer 2013, funded by an ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellowship, she and three of her top students will travel to Indonesia to conduct research on the impact of the implementation of Shariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ah law on womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity in Aceh. This grant provides a tremendous opportunity for her students to conduct significant fieldwork and see firsthand how quality research in the social sciences is done.

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TRI ADN E WS Skye Rios â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12 awarded National Science Foundation research fellowship Skye Rios, a chemistry major from Eugene, Ore., who graduated in May, has been awarded a coveted Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

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Evelyn Berry Henderson â&#x20AC;&#x2122;48 establishes service scholarship

By Janet Doyle

Evelyn Berry Henderson, a 1948 graduate of Warren Wilson Junior College, has established a service scholarship to provide tuition assistance to students with financial need. The scholarship will be given to students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to service prior to or during their enrollment at Warren Wilson. Henderson created this scholarship because she wants to help others succeed in the same way the College helped her become educated, do well and achieve.

Henderson learned of Warren Wilson indirectly from her grandmother, whose sister had attended Asheville Normal Teachers College (ANTC). Determined to attain a college education, Henderson wrote to ANTC to request admission just when the school was about to close. Fortunately, the administrator referred her to Warren Wilson. She still has the mailing she received from the College. She says the letter made her fall in love with Warren Wilson. She writes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Warren Wilson was an answer to my prayer. I grew up as a poor peach farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daughter. I really love and appreciate the College.â&#x20AC;?

Henderson set a standard of service to her community that speaks broadly about her commitment to serving others, surely a measure of the imprint of Warren Wilson on her life. She lives in Boiling Springs, S.C., where she has served her community for years. In 1961 she began a Spanish ministry at Boiling Springs First Baptist Church, the first Spanish ministry at a Baptist church in South Carolina. She has served her church as the longtime Minister of Education. In addition, Henderson has been the director of the church's English as a Second Language Program since 1980. This ministry has reached thousands of Spanish speakers in South Carolina, meeting their essential material needs and many of their spiritual needs.

Henderson received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Community Service from Warren Wilson in October 2011. Not her first honor, she was recognized nationally in the 2002 Eckerdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Salute to 100 Women. Former South Carolina Governor Dick Riley recognized her with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;I CAREâ&#x20AC;? award; the Spartanburg County Missions presented her the Lifetime Achievements Award; and Boiling Springs First Baptist Church, the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board have awarded special commendations to Henderson as well.

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Rios plans to study quantum mechanics and renewable energy, specifically hydrogen production, in the physical chemistry department at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In his personal statement submitted as part of the NSF fellowship application, Rios pointed to a course at Warren Wilson that sparked a strong interest in alternative fuels research. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In Analytical Chemistry class, I had an epiphany while studying climatic tipping points: I realized I could combine my passions by using chemistry to understand and address climate change,â&#x20AC;? he wrote. He later applied for and received a summer research position at the Center for Enabling New Technologies through Catalysis (CENTC).

Rios credited Warren Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning Triad of academics, work and service for giving his NSF fellowship application a boost. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that many of the values held by the NSF are supported by our Triad,â&#x20AC;? he said.

The NSF program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines supported by the NSF. Graduate research fellows receive three years of support, including a $30,000 annual stipend; a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance to the institution; international research and professional development opportunities; and supercomputer access.

OWL & SPADE

TRI ADN E WS Committing to community %\ 6WXGHQW &DXFXV &R &RQYHQHUV

At Warren Wilson, we talk about community in every aspect of life on our campus. It is a goal, a value and a buzzword used for almost everything we do. Over the course of the spring 2012 semester we, the Student Caucus Co-Conveners, took part in multiple conversations where people raised the issue that, for all our talk about community, we had not yet defined what it meant to us. As a result of these conversations, we decided it was important to pursue the creation of guidelines or a full-value contract for what it means to be a member of the Warren Wilson College community.

During the semester a steering committee of students, faculty, staff and alumni was formed to guide the drafting of what would become the Warren Wilson College Community Commitment. The greater campus population was given the opportunity to provide initial input in a community meeting; give feedback on drafts through surveys and discussion;

and then, through the shared governance bodies of Caucus and Forum, vote on and approve the Warren Wilson Community Commitment. The commitment was subsequently approved by the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) and the President and was sent to the Board of Trustees for / 5 6WXGHQW &DXFXV &R &RQYHQHUV )HOLFLD +DOO ¡ %HQ 6XUIDFH ¡ final approval. At its spring 2012 MaggieMae Farthing â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14 meeting, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to support the commitment as the criteria toward which we are all striving. The Warren Wilson Community Commitment empowers us all to build our experience around the enduring communal values we share.

Warren Wilson Community Commitment We as Warren Wilson College embrace the Triad of Academics, Work and Service.

By choosing to participate in this unique college that values community, social justice and the environment, we commit to: Cultivate integrity, holding ourselves and others accountable.

Accept responsibility for our words, behaviors and their impacts.

Respect ourselves, others, and our surroundings.

Engage in honest and constructive communication, even in the face of differing opinions.

Sustain healthy balance within our personal and communal lives.

Understanding that many participants have come before and many more will come after, we protect and nurture our social, academic and ecological community by holding ourselves to these commitments today.

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FALL 2012

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FAC ULT Y&STA FF NE WS Poems by MFA for Writers Director Deb Allbery have been published in Virginia Quarterly Review, and the Kenyon Review.

Her essay on Gerard Manley Hopkins appeared in Poetry Daily and another on Larry Levis was published by At Length.

Biology/environmental sciences professor

JJ Apodaca was invited and served as

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Traveling by plane, ferry and foot to meet a publisher When faculty member Mallory McDuff went hiking this summer in the Pacific Northwest, she never thought her travels would take her within one ferry ride of New Society Publishers, which published her 2012 book, Sacred Acts. But on a side trip to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, she passed a sign for Gabriola Island, home of 4,000 residents and the independent press known across the globe for its solutionsoriented, environmental books. One email, ferry ride and phone call later, she arrived at the office of this press, whose mission is to promote “books to build a new society.”

McDuff met the marketing coordinator, production manager and publisher, among other staff, who work in an office surrounded by organic gardens and roaming chickens. In contrast to this rural landscape, downtown Manhattan is the location of Oxford University Press, which published McDuff’s first book on churches and creation, Natural Saints.

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a committee member for the Alabama 3rd Non-Game Wildlife Conference. As a specialist and committee member, he helped set the conservation priority level for all of the amphibians and reptiles in the state. In addition, he has hosted meetings throughout five Southeastern states to identify and designate each state’s priority amphibian and reptile conservation areas (PARCAs). These areas received special recognition from conservation organizations and emphasis will be placed on acquiring, restoring and protecting habitat in these areas.

“In/Between: Time in the Desert,” a solo exhibition of art professor Eric Baden’s photographs from the Peruvian desert, will be exhibited until November 30 at the Art Institute of Atlanta-Decatur Gallery. His review of the exhibition “Wish You Were Here: the Buffalo Avant-Garde in the 1970s” was published in Art Papers and selected as “Noteworthy: the editor’s pick of notable shows.” A photograph from Baden's exhibit is featured on the backk cover of this Owl & Spade.

Chemistry/environmental sciences professor and Environmental Leadership Center executive director John Brock published his 60th peer-reviewed research article, “In-utero exposure to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and cognitive development among infants and school-aged children” in Epidemiology.

Sociology/anthropology professor Christey Carwile participated in a Council on

International Educational Exchange (CIEE) Faculty Development Seminar held in Havana, Cuba. The seminar focused on the social and economic changes since the revolution and highlighted some of the current cultural and economic challenges that Cubans face today. Carwile attended lectures at the University of Havana, visited non-governmental organizations and

conducted research on the importance of dance in the creation of both national and individual identity.

Writing professor -RKQ &UXWFKÀHOG·V new play, Landscape with Missing Person, premiered at Asheville’s The Magnetic Theatre this summer. His latest work is perhaps best described as an “existential rom-com,” in which two misfits journey across America in search of true love...or something. The production was directed by Steve Samuels; performed by Lisa Smith, Jennifer Gatti and the playwright; and features set design by longtime Warren Wilson theatre staff member Don Baker.

Creative writing professor Gary Hawkins contributed the chapter “The Irrational Element in the Undergraduate Poetry Workshop: Beyond Craft” to Teaching Creative Writing in Higher Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). In addition, he delivered the paper “Getting Real in the Creative Writing Workshop: Re-opening the Pedagogy of Peer Review with Reality TV” at Explorations in Creative Writing Pedagogy, the 2012 Conference on College Composition and Communication.

Music professor Kevin Kehrberg received a Work Colleges Consortium Work-Learning Grant. Kevin will partner with students and supervisors of several work crews to undertake “The Gamelan Appalachia Project.” The project enhances the academic study of music and allows Kehrberg and his colleagues to build Gamelan instruments, which are typically imported from Indonesia.

Social work professor Lucy Lawrence participated in the inaugural research delegation to Cuba sponsored by the Council on Social Work Education and the Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work. Along with 20 other social work educators, she visited social service organizations, community projects, research institutions and the University of Havana. Lawrence’s participation in this delegation was preparation for teaching the study abroad course Agricultural and Social Welfare Systems in Cuba: Paradigms and Paradoxes with travel to Cuba in January 2013.

FACU LT Y&S TA FFN E WS Director of peace and justice studies Paul Magnarella published the article “Social, Cultural and Economic Aspects of Yürük and Türkmen life in Northwestern Turkey,” in the Oriental Anthropologist. He also reviewed four books: Dining with Al-Qaeda: Three Decades Exploring the Many Worlds of the Middle East by Hugh Pope in The Peace Chronicle; Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes, by W. A. Schabas in the International Journal of World Peace; The World Tribunal on Iraq: Making the Case against War, edited by S.G. Sokmen in the Journal of Third World Studies; and Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling with the Ghosts of History by John W. Limbert in The Peace Chronicle.

Library Director Chris Nugent received a Leadership through New Communities of Knowledge scholarship from the Council of Independent Colleges and Council on Library and Information Resources to attend the Frye Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C. Nugent joined an international network of about 500 current and past Frye Fellows, comprised of people in leadership positions in libraries and IT departments. The Institute examined the future of higher education and technology as a game changer in the higher education landscape.

Red Hen Press published Miracle Day, a book of poems by creative writing professor Sebastian Matthews. He had poems reprinted in Good Poems: American Places, edited by Garrison Keillor, and in Asheville Poetry Review, The Common, and Blackbird, an online literary journal. His essays appeared in Great Smokies Review and aboutaword.org.

Outdoor leadership/environmental studies professor Mallory McDuff was interviewed by 20 radio programs nationwide, including NPR stations and Voice of America, about her book Sacred Acts: How Churches are Working to Protect Earth’s Climate. She was invited to deliver the Jane Baird Annual Lecture at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, Ga., and the Carolina Mountain Literary Festival in Burnsville, N.C. She also studied Spanish and volunteered with her two daughters at Cuarnavaca Centre for Intercultural Dialogue and Development in Mexico.

Theatre professors Graham Paul and Candace Taylor attended the Association for

Theatre in Higher Education conference in Washington, D.C.; there, they participated in the first performance the conference has presented where performers met, wrote, rehearsed and performed in only three days. The performance centered on personal perspectives with regard to our nation’s founding documents and included themes on same-sex marriage, slavery, Title IX, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

At the 22nd annual Art and Science of Health Promotion conference, psychology professor Bob Swoap delivered the address “What Elite Athletes Can Teach Us about Successful Health Behavior Change.”

Gender and women’s studies/sociology professor Laura Vance chaired the

LGBTQ Caucus panel, Action Toward Transformation, at the spring meeting of the Southeastern Women’s Studies Association at George Mason University. She presented a paper at the meeting titled “Developing a Critical Pedagogy of Transformation and Practice.” In addition, Vance has been invited to participate in the Ellen White Project, a working conference of scholars, each of whom will contribute a chapter to a biography of the nineteenth-century American prophet.

Art professor Jessica White is the cofounder and co-director of Ladies of Letterpress, an international trade organization for letterpress printers. The organization recently held its second Ladies of Letterpress Conference in Asheville, with nearly 200 attendees.

Peace studies professor reconnects with Africa Director of peace and justice studies Paul Magnarella reconnected with Africa in May, when he revisited the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), located in Arusha, Tanzania, and his former Black Panther client in the nearby village of Imbeseni. Magnarella had conducted legal research for ICTR, which was created by the UN Security Council to prosecute those primarily responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Based on his research, Magnarella published a book in 2000 about the 3DXO 0DJQDUHOOD 5 ZLWK 3HWH DQG &KDUORWWH 2·1HDO LQ WKHLU 7DQ]DQLDQ FRPSRXQG genocide and the work of ICTR. The study, titled Justice in Africa, received the Association of Third World Studies Book of the Year Award. On the recent trip, Magnarella met with a number of ICTR officials, including its president, to assess the tribunal’s progress and collect information for a new edition of his book.

While in Tanzania, Magnarella lodged with Pete and Charlotte O’Neal, both originally from Kansas City but Tanzanian residents since 1972. Pete had been the deputy chairman of the Kansas City Black Panther Party, but fled the country after being convicted of an interstate firearms transportation charge. Magnarella met Pete during his 1997 visit to Tanzania. They quickly became friends, and Pete asked Magnarella, an attorney, to look into his legal case.

He researched Pete’s trial and concluded that it was far from fair. Two prosecution witnesses had perjured themselves, the FBI had conducted illegal wiretaps on Pete’s phone, and there was no direct evidence of Pete carrying a firearm across a state line. Magnarella filed two petitions in federal court documenting these facts and requesting a new trial for Pete. Thus far, the judges have refused to review the case because Pete fled the court’s jurisdiction back in 1970 while on bail. Magnarella continues to work on the case with hopes that Pete will some day receive justice and be allowed to return to the U.S. without facing prison for a conviction based on a defective trial.

9

Environmental studies professor leads USDA study on climate change and agriculture The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.

The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.

As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.

–Abraham Lincoln, 1862 Lincoln’s quote, though 150 years old and addressing the challenges of those times, finds new currency as our country begins to feel the first winds of climate change.

This year’s record-breaking drought in the Midwest cornbelt, record number of wildfires in the Mountain west, and the record warm winter followed by an April freeze that devastated the Western North Carolina apple crop are just a preview of the challenges ahead for U.S. agriculture if climate change unfolds as projected in the 21st century.

to climate change. Her work involved exploring scientific, technical and policy literature to look for answers to questions like these:

On sabbatical during the 2011-2012 academic year, environmental studies professor Laura Lengnick was one of five scientists named to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Climate Assessment lead author team, which produced the report “Climate Change and Agriculture: Effects and Adaptation,” to be released this fall.

“What are the limits to adaptation?”

Working as the lead author on agricultural adaptation, Lengnick collaborated with USDA scientists Charles Walthall, Jerry Hatfield, and Elizabeth Marshall and National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Peter Backland to plan, research and write the climate change report. The lead author team was also responsible for managing the work of more than 60 scientists from the federal government, universities, non-governmental organizations and private industry who contributed to the final study.

Lengnick was invited to lead the work on adaptation because of her expertise in sustainable decision-making, sustainability assessment, and sustainable cropping systems design, her experience in federal policy-making, and her desire to learn about the potential for resilience thinking to enhance the adaptive capacity of agriculture 10

“How do we make effective decisions in an environment of high complexity and uncertainty?”

“How do we assess the resilience of a farm or food system to climate change impacts?”

“What kinds of experiences cause people to take adaptive action?”

“How do we determine what adaptive actions are the most effective?”

The USDA report is an updated synthesis of the scientific literature on climate change impacts on agriculture and the potential of adaptation strategies to reduce the costs and increase the benefits of climate change to U.S. agriculture. The report presents projected changes in air temperatures, precipitation and carbon dioxide levels and discusses the effects of these changes on crop and livestock production. The authors conclude that climate change effects are challenging agricultural management, and projected effects are likely to require major adjustments in production practices over the next 30 years.

Of particular concern are near-term impacts on the quality and quantity of water resources and the potential for increased soil erosion as a result of projected increases in the variability and severity of extreme weather events. The authors conclude that the increasing pace of climate change; the interactions between the global climate system, ecosystems and social systems; and the complexity of climate change adaptation processes present a novel challenge to the sustainability of U.S. agriculture.

New strategies for increasing the resilience of U.S. farms to climate change through adaptation planning and assessment are detailed in the report. “There appears to be great adaptive potential in using sustainable agricultural practices to reduce the damaging effects of climate change,” Lengnick says. “With effective planning, farmers may also be able to take advantage of new opportunities presented by a changing climate.”

These adaptations will require new research to identify existing crop and livestock practices that enhance the resilience of agricultural production to weather variability and extremes and new approaches to the conservation of soil and water resources. Equally important will be the development of new adaptive management methods and robust problem-solving strategies needed for effective decisionmaking under the conditions of increased complexity and uncertainty.

Because this report is the first major USDA publication to address agricultural adaptation to climate change, it is expected to have a far-reaching impact. The report provides technical background for the 3rd National Climate Assessment, and it will inform debates among agribusiness, farm family advocates and government policy-makers about USDA programs and priorities. The report will also influence curriculum development at agricultural universities and provide a new focus for agricultural research and extension efforts.

“It is clear from this work that the U.S. lags behind other developed nations in planning for the sustained production of food and fiber under a changing climate,” Lengnick said. “We hope that this report will encourage more U.S. research and development of strategies that enhance the resilience of agriculture to climate change.”

Lengnick has been invited to present the report at national agricultural conferences and agricultural universities across the United States. In addition, she will lead workshops for farmers in the Southeast on best practices for climate-ready farms and has already begun teaching about resilience and adaptation to climate change at Warren Wilson.

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n a half-acre plot several times a week, Emily Chiara gets to think globally and act locally.

Weeding the gardens at The Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Acre, in a community not far from campus, brings a hands-on experience to the global studies degree she is on track to receive in December. Chiara has always been interested in agriculture and food productionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;indeed, part of her studies included observing the role women play in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrialized farming. Now sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involved in something very different: growing organic food for those who need it, while teaching those who want to know how to do it.

Chiara, from Northampton, Mass., has adopted The Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Acre, a nonprofit organization that supplies free produce to a local food bank, as her service work. Service brings the other two legs of Warren Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s triadâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;academics and workâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;together, she said. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s through service that students apply what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learned. It helps themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helped herâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;understand the people who live around the College and the issues they face. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I never wanted to be a student who stayed on campus, focused on herself for four

years, and then left. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not how I want to live my life,â&#x20AC;? Chiara said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Service teaches students that they are a part of a community and that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s their role to help out in whatever way they can.â&#x20AC;?

And so she and two other Warren Wilson students plant rows of spinach, weed mounds of squash and haul bales of hay for potatoes and other crops. As she gains experience, she hopes to be able to offer a tip or two to someone learning to grow her own food.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hot, sticky work, but she loves it because she feels that she is contributing to something larger than herself. She is givingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and receivingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;something of value.

She is providing a service. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone deserves to have good quality food, and everyone can grow food in some capacity,â&#x20AC;? she said, taking a break from cleaning vegetables on a recent sunny day. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Food security is something that I feel passionate about.â&#x20AC;?

After graduation, Chiara hopes to work with an environmentally based nonprofit organization.

11

A New Commitment to Community Engagement

By Madeline Wadley â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12

T

he only activity I remember from my freshman service orientation was an activity called Four Corners. A person stood at each corner of the room and held up signs with different social issues written on them. At the sound of a whistle, everyone ran toward the issues they cared about most and discussed why they mattered. Four years and hundreds of service hours later, I still care about the same issues, but I have gained a much deeper understanding of them through the service program.

Working on the Service Program Work Crew for four years taught me, among many things, the importance of seeing the interconnectedness of social issues. All of my service experiences expanded my understanding of broken social systems and showed me ways in which they can be repaired. I feel that my experiences fulfilled the Warren Wilson mission to â&#x20AC;&#x153;prepare students for service, leadership and meaningful lifelong work and learning.â&#x20AC;?

After much deliberation, the Service Learning Advisory Council, comprised of students, faculty and staff, developed the new Community Engagement Commitment. Through four Points of Engagement and Growth (PEGs), students have the ability to prioritize their work in the community in ways that resonate with their personal journeys and growth. The Community Engagement Commitment is a process of creating a relationship with the community through self-knowledge, understanding complex issues, leadership, and commitment to community engagement.

12

PEG 1: Self-Knowledgeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;First Year Seminar

In the fall of my freshman year, I was in a service-learning first year seminar called Follow the Tomato. We focused on food security in the United States and served with local agencies and community gardens. This seminar completely altered my perceptions of power, privilege and where my food comes from. I gained a new awareness of my place in the world and the importance of using this place of privilege to address social issues. I was already passionate about service when I arrived at Warren Wilson, but my first year seminar fanned the flame through classwork, service and reflection.

PEG 2: Understanding the Complex Issuesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Heart of the Issue Workshop

In the spring semester of my freshman year, I helped to plan and lead a Heart of the Issue Workshop focusing on homelessness in Asheville. The workshop included education about the policies surrounding homelessness, advocacy work and direct service. We discussed the many root causes of homelessness, including mental illness, addiction, economic inequality and the lack of affordable housing, among many others.

We also learned about the various social perceptions of people who are homeless and

However, not all Warren Wilson students find the same rich service experiences that I did. Many are weighed down by the stress of college life and see the 100hour requirement as yet another task to complete on the graduation checklist.

This doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that they care less about social issuesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they just never found service opportunities that inspired them to become fully engaged.

In the spring of 2011, the Service Program Office began a campus-wide discussion about the nature of service at Warren Wilson. The feedback we received pointed to the need to reevaluate our approach to the service requirement. Students, faculty and staff remarked that counting hours was not an effective way of inspiring engagement in the community. Additionally, community engagement in higher education has moved away from simply â&#x20AC;&#x153;volunteeringâ&#x20AC;? in favor of creating strong partnerships that result in student learning experiences and support for community agencies. When students are fully engaged in an issue and familiar with their community partners, service experiences are more effective educationally and civically.

Using my own service experiences at Warren Wilson, here are examples of how students could reach the four PEGs.

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Each student will have a different experience as they work through the PEGs. Some will progress through one PEG each year, while others may progress more quickly or take more time with certain projects. Each PEG has numerous options for students to meet their goals. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the beauty of this new programâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;students may choose their own path to achieve the common goal of community engagement. The Service Program has developed a PEGs workbook to aid students in this process.

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worked to subvert those stereotypes. For our reflection, we made an informational video and a poster that we presented to the campus community.

PEG 3: Capacity for Leadership—Internship

During the summer following my sophomore year, I continued my work in the issue of homelessness through an internship at A HOPE Day Center, a facility in downtown Asheville. I covered many menial tasks so that AHOPE crisis counselors could spend more time with clients. I also helped implement new policies by interviewing clients for the federal Homeless Management Information System so that we could better meet client needs. I was given a great deal of responsibility, which allowed me to make a direct impact on the lives of my clients. In my reflection paper, I wrote, “Working at AHOPE was some of the hardest work I’ve ever done but also the most fulfilling.”

PEG 4: Plan for Continued Community Engagement

In my extended service reflection, I wrote, “Service-learning has taught me more about life and social issues than any textbook or academic class alone.

It has pushed me out of my comfort zone, expanded my understanding, and instilled a deep desire to keep working for my community, wherever I am.” Postgraduation, I am serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer, and continue to volunteer at A HOPE Day Center. I plan to earn a master’s degree in social work and continue working with people experiencing poverty.

Gone are the days of scraping together service hours—it is time to measure service through commitment to the community and the personal and educational growth of students as they serve. Through the Community Engagement Commitment, students are empowered to choose the service experiences that matter most to them. They will develop strong relationships in the community and discover a desire to serve that will continue long after graduation.

More information about the Community Engagement Commitment, including the PEGs Workbook and Resource Guide, is available on the Service Program webpage: warren-wilson.edu/~service/.

FALL 2012

Zada Clarke '16 in the Vance Elementary garden on Service Day

Service Day focuses on hunger in the local community With hunger a persistent problem in Buncombe County and Western North Carolina, the College’s annual Service Day on August 24 focused on food security for the third consecutive year. About 350 students, faculty and staff traveled to 20 project sites in Asheville and Buncombe County to work on food security issues. Projects this year included preparing space for a new community garden in Swannanoa; supporting garden production and education at the Burton Street Garden; assembling a greenhouse at Vance Elementary School; and packing food for the school backpack program at MANNA Food Bank.

“For our new students, this day was an opportunity to get to know their new community, laying the groundwork for their community engagement over the next four years,” Dean of Service Cathy Kramer said. “A number of the student groups have specific plans to continue the relationships with their Service Day partners through their classes this semester.”

13

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y the most direct route, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about 700 miles from Jersey City, N.J., to the Swannanoa Valley. But the route Steve Solnick traveled from his hometown to the Warren Wilson presidency was not nearly so direct, involving thousands of miles in a journey that began with his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Solnick, 51, is a strong believer in the importance of education in creating opportunities for mobility and transformation. His own life, beginning as the son of parents who ran a small candy and stationery store, fully reflects his belief that an attainable and affordable college education is indeed transformative.

Jersey City had â&#x20AC;&#x153;instilled in me a very strong desire to get out and see the rest of the world,â&#x20AC;?

Solnick said, a smile crinkling his eyes. Settling comfortably into the office he was still in the process of occupying, he recently spent a relaxed hour talking about the global experiences that led him and his family to a small college in North Carolina.

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His father worked 12-hour days, seven days a week, at the store he owned near a school, factory and Colgate-Palmolive soap plant in Jersey City. During summers young Steve, an only child, stocked shelves and ran the cash register. But science was to become Steve Solnickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consuming interest, and education his path out of Jersey City.

Solnick caught the space bug during the Apollo space program that put a man on the moon.

As NASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rocket launches became required television time in schools across the country, Solnick tuned in and was turned on by the science. During Apollo, he benefited from a National Science Foundation program at Columbia University.

In the late 1970s, Boston and MIT beckoned. A physics major, Solnick and his fellow students talked math and wore T-shirts with arcane graphics that only they understood.

They played Zork, one of the first interactive computer games.

14

â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of my kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; favorite shows now is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Big Bang Theory,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Solnick said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think part of why they like it is because they ask me, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;That was you, right?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; That kind of was me.â&#x20AC;?

OWL & SPADE

He soon became interested in other activities on campus. A yearbook photographer in high school, Solnick took a position on the staff of the MIT newspaper.

Within a year, he was the paperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photo editor. A year later, he was editor in chief. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At MIT, extracurricular activities were what you did to take your mind off the physics problem you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t solve,â&#x20AC;? he said.

But he also found that, as editor, the process of making editorial decisions prompted a shift in the way he viewed science. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I started to think about things to put in the paperâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;we were a small staff, and I wrote a weekly columnâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I began to deepen my interest in the social and political context of science and technology,â&#x20AC;? he said â&#x20AC;&#x153;That got my head out of the physics equations as I started thinking about the broader significance of what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing here.â&#x20AC;?

That undergraduate work experience helped lead Solnick down a different road. MIT had a strong political science department, so outside his physics major Solnick began taking classes in public and science policy, studying how science is used for water fluoridation, nuclear power and other policy issues.

As he has observed, â&#x20AC;&#x153;College is a time in which students become aware of how their individual lives relate to larger movements or the life of a nation, and shape their path to influence those larger themes. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a critical role of college.â&#x20AC;?

Heeding an MIT mentorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suggestion, Solnick applied for a Marshall Scholarship, created by the United Kingdom in appreciation of the United Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II. Solnick got the scholarship. He didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even have a passport at the time.

He arrived at Oxford in 1981, when the university was still mostly British and Americans came mostly for summer exchanges. Solnick was there during the height of the Reagan-Thatcher years, and all over Oxford, he heard what people thought of Americans.

The experience there â&#x20AC;&#x153;changed my life,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It got me very interested in FALL 2012

international travel, politics, foreign affairs and the role of Americans in the world.â&#x20AC;?

Studying Soviet and Communist politics, he booked a trip to the Soviet Union that occurred a month after the death of Leonid Brezhnev, who had presided over the country during much of the Cold War. Solnick said his visit took him to an alien world. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was mind blowing,â&#x20AC;? he recalled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I could tell that there was something about the way the political institutions and ideology shaped psychology and day-today behavior. There were few things on a global scale as important then as the U.S. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Soviet relationship. I felt that if we could understand each other better, that was not just interesting but it was also important to the future of the planet.â&#x20AC;?

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September 13 Local Alumni Mixer at Liberty Bikes, Asheville

September 29

Solnick returned to the Soviet Union in 1990, this time as a Fulbright-Hays Scholar.

Delancey Street Lunch, San Francisco

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was the end of the Soviet period,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shortages were everywhere. You could see how your whole value system would change after a couple of months living there.

Friendships took on different meanings.

Hospitality meant something different.

Trust was tricky.

October 5-7

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The politics of the Soviet Union hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t changed very much in 35 years. All of a sudden, joining the field was like being strapped into a rocket because perestroika took off. Studying a regime that was immune to change became studying a regime that was trying to control the rate of changeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and was eventually unable to do so. My dissertation that was originally about gradual policy reform became a book about the collapse of the Soviet Union.â&#x20AC;?

McColl Visual Arts Center Reception, Charlotte

Years later, after earning a doctorate in political science from Harvard University and marrying Maeve Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor in 1993, Solnick was teaching at Columbia University when the Ford Foundation, an international philanthropy that works on a variety of social and humanitarian issues, invited him to apply for the job directing its work in Russia. Susan Berresford was the foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s president when Solnick, a finalist for the Moscow job, was brought in to interview.

Homecoming and Family Weekend

October 25 Grolier Club Reception, New York

October 29

November 5 Manny Silverman Gallery Reception, Los Angeles

December 4 Carter Center Reception, Atlanta

Upcoming travel for 2013 includes stops in Minneapolis, Chicago and Raleigh

15

professionally, he said, also noting that the culture and people are extraordinary and the family loved living there. Berresford said Solnick exceeded the Ford Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expectations.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;What impressed me was that he was very smart,â&#x20AC;? Berresford said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He had a strong academic background that, for me, meant he was a serious analyst of history and culture. He had succeeded in various complex academic institutions. He clearly knew a great deal about Russia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And it was apparent to me right away that he had a wonderful sense of humor.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important for complicated jobs in complicated places.â&#x20AC;?

Solnick and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor had three children when the Ford Foundation offered him the job as Moscow representative in 2002. Their youngest, son Reuben, was just one year old, and daughters Elinor and Naomi were 6 and 4 respectively. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For me, as a political scientist, it was an opportunity to take a lot of theories that I had been teaching about how the world worked and try to use them in a practical way to improve the lives of others,â&#x20AC;? Solnick said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a real challenge, but a tough one to pass up.â&#x20AC;?

The family lived in Moscow six years. By the end of his term there, Solnick was spending a lot of his time defending the foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work to a government that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happy the organization was around. People were suspicious of the foundation because the government was. Moscow was becoming less friendly to foreigners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So although Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d spent almost 25 years professionally linked with Russia, we were ready to go,â&#x20AC;? he said.

The Ford Foundation asked him to be its representative in India, its oldest overseas office. He worked with talented, committed people, so it was a rewarding and stimulating time intellectually and 16

But living in India had its own set of challenges, and after nearly a decade abroad Solnick and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor thought it was time for the family to return to the United States. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about the time he and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor, who had been working with charitable and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organizations in India, became aware of the job at Warren Wilson. In December 2011 the Board of Trustees selected him to become the seventh president in the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 70-year history as a college, effective in July.

Now back in the United States, their children, who went to international schools in Moscow and New Delhi, have Facebook friends all over the world, in addition to having had the opportunity to live and travel in Europe and Asia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When people talk about Austria and Australia and Thailand, those are real places to my kids,â&#x20AC;? Solnick said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They know people from there. We think that will pay dividends for their whole lives.â&#x20AC;?

Not surprisingly, the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relocation to a new life in the North Carolina mountains has been a whirlwind for the past few months. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This has been a summer of non-stop transition,â&#x20AC;? he said in his campus office that was still sparsely furnished during an interview on a late-summer afternoon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had movers in our house five times in two months. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exhausting.â&#x20AC;?

Things are settling now, and Solnick is getting down to the work of learning about the College and its students, faculty and staff. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been going around to offices to meet people and has been pleased that many have come up to introduce themselves and welcome him to the College. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m hoping to attend as many events on campus as I can and to be out there and not experience the College from inside my office,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m spending time with everyone here to find out what motivates them to be here, what they need to be more successful and how I can help them achieve that.â&#x20AC;?

Solnick enjoys walking around the beautiful grounds to talk with people he meets. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s looking forward to attending sporting events on campus with his family this fall and plans to teach a seminar on democracy in the spring.

Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s excited to be back in academia as president of Warren Wilson, as he believes more firmly than ever in the value and importance of a well-rounded college education. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My college education needed to prepare me for not one lifelong job, but for several different careers over my professional life,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that will be more true in the coming decades, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the great challenges for colleges and universities today.â&#x20AC;?

What heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doing to move Warren Wilson forward â&#x20AC;&#x153;is not a short answer,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But it involves a lot of listening.â&#x20AC;?

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OWL & SPADE

Warren Wilson College

Student to Faculty Ratio

12:1 Fall 2010â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Fall 2011 Freshman Retention Rate

64% FTE* Faculty

65 FTE Staff

130

BY THE NUMBERS 2011-2012

2012â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2013 Projected Financials (QGRZPHQW 0DUNHW 9DOXH $58 million 2SHUDWLQJ %XGJHW $34.2 million

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Average Class Size

12 FTE Undergraduate Enrollment

902 Graduate Enrollment

77

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FALL 2012

17

Warren Wilson cultivates the“heartfelt

of

country soul”

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nderhill Rose is an Asheville-based band formed by Warren Wilson graduates Eleanor Underhill ’03 and Molly Rose ’04. Their unique sound, dubbed “heartfelt country soul,” is a pristine blend of Americana, R&B, bluegrass, soul and country music. Breathtaking harmonies and a dazzling stage presence set the group apart from traditional roots bands and have helped cement these two musical sisters as darlings of the Southeastern music scene. As they have continued on their path to stardom, Warren Wilson is often cited as the place where they both met, begging the question: How did this partnership develop?

18

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OWL & SPADE

Molly was a bright-eyed freshman in the fall of 2001, and she would often find peace and friendship while playing her guitar on Sunderland lawn. “I spent a lot of time there,” Molly recalls. “It’s such a wonderful place, a perch if you will, that allowed me to mingle with friends and connect with nature and music.”

Between classes one afternoon, she joined a few friends in their typical spot. “I had just learned ‘Angel from Montgomery’ in the style of Bonnie Raitt,” she said. “I started playing and singing, and I noticed this girl listening very intently. I could tell that she was really paying attention.”

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That girl was sophomore Eleanor Underhill, a budding banjo player with an affinity for folk music. “There was a community of musicians at Warren Wilson, a lot of roots-focused players,” Eleanor said. “I had heard about this new student from one of my fellow players. When I first heard her, I was blown away by her voice. It helped that we liked similar styles of music, and Bonnie Raitt was the bond that brought us together.”

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A random meeting connected two women who would make beautiful music, and the pair soon began to hone their harmonies in stairwells all over campus. A band that Molly had begun with a few other students soon became the catalyst for their musical collaboration. As members of The Barrel House Mamas, the women became accustomed to performing and building a fan base throughout the Southeast. Despite the group’s eventual breakup, the partnership continued; in 2009, Underhill Rose was formed to the delight of their fans.

A mountain-grown education in music and life Early on, Molly and Eleanor took classes from Wayne Erbsen, an instructor with a passion for traditional Appalachian music. Molly learned the true blues, old-style progression in her fingerpicking blues course, while Eleanor enrolled in a beginner bluegrass banjo elective.

Through those lessons and from anumber of people on campus who played clawhammer style, Eleanor was able to absorb the music and eventually make the banjo her main instrument.

The College’s landscape and natural setting inspired the melodies of the women. Their writing evokes the natural imagery of the College, while the beauty and solitude helped them develop a number of their staple songs. Eleanor took a songwriting course that helped her see the world differently; she says the impact of her education continues to resonate throughout Underhill Rose.

“I was very idealistic when I started writing music at Warren Wilson,” she remembers. “I wanted the world to be a better place. I noticed a lot of problems that I wanted to fix, and my education helped me see that. To this day, tunes like ‘Riversong’ and ‘Die in My Bones’ carry those themes.” As time passes, Eleanor’s music has taken on new meaning for her, and while her musical writing style has shifted, that part of her life is still evident in the band’s performances.

Molly was an inner-city girl from Atlanta when she stepped onto campus. Immediately, she was exposed to the natural world, and with her musician friends, she would spend time singing and playing new music. “I started stepping out of my comfort zone and doing some freestyle singing whenever I saw other people in a jam session,” she says. “Until that point, I had been very shy; had it not been for the connections I made and the great sense of comfort that I found in the natural surroundings, I may not have ever done that.”

Work ethic, they both say, was something they developed while they were in the Swannanoa Valley. Reflective in their writing, but more so in the people they have become, both women had the opportunity to thrive in their respective creative and academic endeavors.

“Warren Wilson really allowed me to follow my heart in what I wanted to learn, whether it was in the classroom, gardening or volunteering. I now see that it cultivates a whole person who is prepared to deal with the many aspects of life, ” Molly said.

After more than 10 years together, Eleanor and Molly have developed a musical bond that has brought about a critically acclaimed album, a music video and countless performances. The addition of standup bass player Salley Williamson added a third voice to the group in 2011, and the trio is writing songs to be released in the coming year.

With all their accolades and success, band members continue to feel Warren Wilson's impact on their music. Eleanor says it is more apparent every day.

“The longer I live, the more I appreciate it,” she says with a smile. “I see Warren Wilson for what it is—a gift. The freedom it provided and support system that was in place had a major impact on us. It helped us become our authentic selves.”

On the Web: underhillrose.com

The Triad educational program focused on service and made them both mindful of their world, providing a true connection with the earth. This shaped Molly’s world, and she is grateful for the opportunity to grow on the mountain campus.

FALL 2012

19

Farm School waiters

Feeding Community

By Wendy Thoreson ’12 ,PDJHV FRXUWHV\ RI ::& $UFKLYHV DQG 'LDQD 6DQGHUVRQ

In a class with Philip Otterness, history/political science major Wendy Thoreson ’12 wrote her senior history thesis on manners and rules in the dining hall at Asheville Farm School and Warren Wilson.

“Her meticulous work in the college archives uncovered a fascinating story of the college administration’s concern with students’ manners and the impact this concern had on staff and student interaction in the college dining hall,” Otterness said. What you’ll read here is a condensed version of Thoreson’s thesis.

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I

n 2008, food evangelist Michael Pollan wrote his best-selling book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto in hopes of inspiring Americans to rediscover more mindful eating habits. One of the suggestions Pollan offers his readers is to slow down and eat meals with others around the table. He writes, “The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community.” This simple suggestion recognizes the importance of meals as feeding more than just the stomach. While Pollan’s book is relatively new, the notion that shared meals help build community is not. In the early days of Asheville Farm School (Warren Wilson’s predecessor), staff and students often shared meals, although the ideals of building community were eclipsed by a more pressing issue—table manners.

From the late 1920s until the mid-1950s, staff in the dining hall at the Farm School encouraged proper dining hall behavior through strict rules regarding manners. When rules and lectures failed, staff shared tables with students in the hopes of cultivating “well-rounded, outstanding young graduates” while also creating a strong familial community on campus.

OWL & SPADE

During the Farm Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early years, staff and students dined in Old Main. After Old Main burned in 1914, the dining hall was located in a small building on the current site of the College Press and Work Program Cabin, where it would stay until it burned in 1928. It was during this time that staff became particularly concerned about the poor quality of the boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; table manners. During an August 1922 staff meeting, superintendent John Calfee identified table manners as one of the most pressing needs for the Farm School, on par with establishing strong work, faith and academic values. Staff members developed a set of basic rules that refined the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expectations for the table arrangement and reinforced the need for civility.

Believing that dress and cleanliness correlated with dining hall behavior, school leaders established rules for â&#x20AC;&#x153;general cleanliness at all meals.â&#x20AC;? They soon determined that hygiene had no direct correlation with table manners. Next, staff decided to confront the problem at the source: each individual table. Each table was already structured to have its own head of the table who passed the dishes and acted as an authority figure. Originally, a student filled this role, but staff decided that because of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; poor deportment at the tables,â&#x20AC;? they would need more than peer supervision. The resulting shared

seating plan meant that staff would eat with students and act as head of the table at dinner. Staff reluctantly agreed, hoping the plan would be short-lived and noting that they did not want to share all meals with students, only dinner.

The shared seating plan was indeed temporary. Staff and student tables were again separate and manners still unrefined when Henry Randolph arrived as the Farm School principal in 1927. Like Dr. Calfee before him, Dr. Randolph was concerned about table manners. Unlike Dr. Calfee, Dr. Randolph would implement a clearer plan to create order in the dining hall.

Dr. Randolph maintained that manners in the dining hall were â&#x20AC;&#x153;one of the biggest factors in the culture and development of the boys.â&#x20AC;?

In the spring of 1934, Dr. Randolph wrote a manifesto titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why We Desire and Promote Good Government.â&#x20AC;? In it he responded to the rowdy behavior in the dining hall, using the City of Asheville as an example to show why laws were needed and how the city used them to ensure â&#x20AC;&#x153;safety, happiness, and cultureâ&#x20AC;? [original emphasis]. Part One of the manifesto emphasized why rules and behavior were so important. If students could see the important role these rules played in the functioning of their community, Dr.

Randolph reasoned, then surely they would want to comply with dining hall rules.

Part Two of the manifesto illustrated how the principles established for Asheville desperately needed to be applied to the Farm School. Dr. Randolph rhetorically asked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the dining hall is there happiness and safety? Frankly, gentlemen, our conduct in the dining hall is disgraceful to any institution, even perhaps a hog pen.â&#x20AC;?

When addressing the behavior issues, Dr. Randolph cited misconduct as the reason why he reassigned table arrangements, like a mayor would for an â&#x20AC;&#x153;emergency order.â&#x20AC;? Lastly, he wondered if the boys felt ashamed of their actions and realized how childish they had been acting. In order to once again calm the situation, Dr. Randolph added more rules.

While all this was happening, superintendent Arthur Bannerman said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;[The Farm School] no longer looks like a school â&#x20AC;Ś [but] rather a place where people live.â&#x20AC;? Dr. Bannerman could see how tight the Farm School community was becoming.

The next major boost to dining hall order came in 1941 when the Farm Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dining hall committee wrote â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rules and Regulations Governing Conduct and Procedure in the Dining Hall.â&#x20AC;? The

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FALL 2012

21

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procedures lay out the specifics of how the dining hall should run, focusing on the role of the waiters. The importance of following serving protocol was made clear: “Waiting on a table quietly and efficiently is a useful skill which can be learned. Every boy at Farm School owes it to himself to acquire as many useful skills as possible.”

Because student behavior still needed improvement, staff began eating with students again at the beginning of the 1945-1946 school year. Hoping only to do so until Christmas, staff tried to keep their distance by eating breakfast and Sunday dinner as a group, separate from students. Having endured the staff and student seating arrangement before, staff knew what to expect. Their hesitation was expected, given their realization of the personal space they would sacrifice for the good of their students.

Halfway through the fall semester, staff expressed their concerns during a staff meeting. One teacher said, “It seems that students are not too well satisfied to have us eat with them. Our presence seems to curb their table conversation—not that they want to talk about the staff, but they do not want the staff to hear what they have to say.” One can only imagine the awkward silence after a staff member sat down at the table, interrupting a student’s unseemly story.

22

After Christmas, staff made a motion to return to their own tables and let the student council deal with table issues. A long debate ensued and both sides of the argument were discussed. Arguments for change were: Teachers like the sociability of being together at meals; they are fed up with students during teaching hours and look forward to rest away from them at mealtimes; students are happier without the staff and feel freer in their conversation; not much good is done to students by staff eating with them; the majority of teachers do not come to supper.

Barbara Hempleman, who taught history from 1948 to 1951, explained what it was like to be a staff member. She remembers enjoying dining with students at lunch, but said dinner was less enjoyable since she had spent her day with them already. To balance this, Hempleman often would eat lunch with students and dinner with a fellow staff member who owned a hotplate.

Arguments against the seating change were: The decision should be 2OG 0DLQ GLQLQJ KDOO LQ WKH HDUO\ V made on the basis of doing the most good to the students; the dietitians do not want the change; order Hempleman thought most students didn’t much better in dining room; tables kept mind eating with staff. “It was like a family much cleaner; much less waste; fewer gathering,” she said. “I knew who was comments among students about eating dating whom and who their friends were with staff than about staff getting better and what sports or activities they were things to eat. involved in. They knew more about my private life than students generally know Staff had a hard time reconciling this issue about faculty.” Manners were not always because it was an inner battle for them. directly reinforced by the head of the table; Of course they all cared about the proper Hempleman remembers that they were development of the students, and sharing more often self-realized by observing what tables did help dining hall behavior. others did.

However, it was a large commitment for an already busy group of people. After The next and last mention of shared tables much debate, Dr. Bannerman proposed a came in the fall of 1955. Campus dietitian vote on the motion, which was defeated.

Kathrine Laursen reminded staff about the Staff had to continue sitting with students. students’ behavioral issues and wanted staff to eat with them; the staff firmly insisted While the staff may have collectively on eating with each other. Laursen was the voted to continue the table arrangement, last one to call for this kind of dining hall what they did individually was a different organization; after she retired in 1962, no matter. other dietitian or staff member would make this a prominent issue. Around the same time, the College built Gladfelter, a larger OWL & SPADE

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building that contained more than just the kitchen and dining space.

While it may have seemed like the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts to improve studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; manners were all for naught, that is not true. The efforts of staff members over all those years were not in vain, as they impacted something far beyond the table. Many students came to cherish the relationships fostered in the dining hall. Fran Whitfield â&#x20AC;&#x2122;55 remembers Mrs. Laursen in particular as being â&#x20AC;&#x153;like a mother to the students.â&#x20AC;? Conversations produced at shared tables helped staff and students see each other as people, even family, not just as a student or a teacher.

Sharing tables broke down boundaries inherent in the relationship between teachers and students.

Despite the lack of tangible results, staffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempts to teach manners and break bread at the same table showed that they were a group of caring individuals. Just as parents want to help their children grow and succeed, so did staff members. The long lists of rules, pointless lectures and frustrating assigned seating were all done out of love. The staff of the Farm School and Warren Wilson College may not have enjoyed these measures any more than the students did, but they kept making the effort because they cared for this community as if they were family.

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FALL 2012

19

Camp Toccoa: Saved from the brink

By Jack Igelman

A

fter her second summer at Camp Toccoa in northeast Georgia, Elaine Brinkley ’99 figured that just being a camper wasn’t enough. “I decided I was going to be the camp director because you get to live at camp all of the time,” recalls Brinkley, who didn’t waver from her wish and became executive director of the Camp Fire USA Georgia Council and head of Camp Toccoa in 2008.

Of course, her vow came before she understood the catalog of skills required to run a statewide organization and a 176-acre camp serving more than 1,000 campers with a lake and dozens of structures.

Since taking the helm, Brinkley discovered that it takes much more than just plumbing and parenting to operate a year-round camp. She’s learned that it requires the leadership and finesse to develop a dedicated community with a sense of purpose—an

ability she honed at Toccoa and Warren Wilson, and what Brinkley believes helped lift the camp from the edge of ruin five years ago.

In the summer of 2007, Brinkley and current Camp Toccoa board president Amanda Styles ’00 agreed to serve on the camp’s 80th reunion steering committee.

Brinkley had worked at the Georgia Council before leaving to accept a position in Colorado with Camp Fire USA. When she left in 2003, she knew the Georgia Council was struggling financially. She just didn’t realize how bad it really was. “The picture we received two months before the reunion was that the council had no cash reserves and intended to sell the camp,” says Brinkley, who knew Styles as a camper and from Warren Wilson. “That sent us into panic mode.”

The former Georgia Council leadership had moved away from outdoor education and was focusing instead on urban outreach programs that relied on grant funding.

While the work was noble, the grant funding ran dry and financial challenges arose. The leadership decided to sell their most valuable asset, Camp Toccoa.

For Styles and Brinkley, losing the camp was hard to fathom. While students at Warren Wilson, the two continued to volunteer at camp on weekends and serve as staff during summer breaks. “Toccoa is one of those places that really hooks you,” says Styles, whose first summer at camp was in the seventh grade.

The two convinced the council leadership to share the organization’s dire financial position at a question and answer session at a camp alumni gathering. After the session, a group of camp alumni formed a

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20

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task force and immediately went to work.

“People rallied,” recalls Brinkley, who set up a conference call attended by 40 supporters the following week.

In the meantime, the council leadership and members of the board resigned. “Essentially, we rebooted the entire organization,” says Brinkley, who joined the board with Styles.

They were supported by Camp Fire USA, who loaned an experienced interim director.

A year later Brinkley accepted the directorship of Camp Fire USA Georgia Council, a move that also made her head of Camp Toccoa. “I think that our problems started when the leadership at that time grossly underestimated the impact of 9/11,” says Brinkley, who adds that frequent turnover in the director position was also a problem.

“There wasn’t enough consistency to diagnose and implement the right type of correction. It just snowballed.”

Styles and Brinkley also believed the organization wasn’t running in the way that maximized their strongest program, Camp Toccoa. After becoming the Georgia Council director, among Brinkley’s first initiatives was closing their downtown Atlanta headquarters and moving the Georgia Council office to the camp. “The things we are doing in Atlanta are nice but not our core,” explains Styles, who says that the urban outreach programs didn’t provide enough funds to operate sustainably.

While the two made shrewd decisions to keep the council financially stable, Brinkley insists that it isn’t all about the money. “One thing that Warren Wilson instilled in me FALL 2012

is that you don’t have to sell out,” she says.

“We are more community driven than we are by the bottom line.”

On the eve of the Camp’s 85th reunion, the Georgia Council and Camp Toccoa have experienced a complete turnaround. The camp has doubled the number of campers it serves, grown and stabilized its budget, and made needed improvements to the camp’s infrastructure.

With little cash surplus in 2008, Brinkley established a monthly volunteer weekend to help with the regular maintenance. The initiative allowed the camp to save money on labor; more importantly, Styles says, the weekends restored a service ethic and laid the groundwork to establish a purposedriven community at the core of the camp’s resurgence.

The two credit their time at Warren Wilson in bringing home the importance of service

in establishing community, not to mention the specific skills they acquired. Brinkley’s work experience on the Carpentry and Admission Crews has served her well as camp director by giving her the know-how to repair decks and market camp programs to parents and organizations.

While the camp’s largest market is middle class families, Brinkley and Styles are eager to keep the programs affordable and to increase camper diversity. Camp Toccoa is also committed to Camp Fire USA’s national policy to welcome children, families and staff regardless of their sexual orientation.

“It was a big deal for me growing up in an organization that was so open and accepting,” Styles says. “It’s a place that has made a difference in people’s lives, so it’s really amazing to be here given how close we were to closing.”

25

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OWL & SPADE

A LU M N I N EWS ’50s Lois Noto ’56 is retired from school social work

but volunteers on church committees and with The Compassionate Friends support group for bereaved families. She has one surviving daughter, two granddaughters and a great grandson and is doing well.

Power of Dream, Love, Mission, written by

Matthew M. Whong ’56, was chosen as one

of the top 10 self-published books by World magazine in July.

John W. W. Shepherd Shepherd ’58 ’58 and his wife, Judy, John celebrated their 50th anniversary on June 2, 2012, at the Lewis Fork Baptist Church in Purlear, northwest of Wilkesboro. Around 150 attended the celebration, hosted by their children: Jody Evans of Wasilla, Alaska; Jory Shepherd of Wilkesboro; and John M. Shepherd of Purlear.

Melody (Melus Rhodes) Dickinson ’59 received

her bachelor’s from UNC-Chapel Hill. In 1966 she taught English under the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and was the first Caucasian woman teacher at J.W. Ligon Senior High School in Raleigh. After receiving a graduate degree in drama, Melody moved to California where she taught for 42 years.

Melody can be reached at 156B Woodbridge Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27516; 919-968-0821 or melodybaba@yahoo.com.

’60s Joy (Ritchie) (Ritchie) Powers Powers ’61 ’61 and her husband, Scott, Joy both enjoyed seeing classmates and friends at Homecoming and their 50th reunion in 2011.

Jack Allison Allison ’63 ’63 is in Malawi, Africa, helping Jack build shallow water wells with the founders Tom of Marion Medical Mission (MMM), Tom Logan Logan ’64 ’64 and Jocelyn Jocelyn Logan Logan ’64 ’64. Jack spent US Peace three years as a U.S. PeaceCorps CorpsVolunteer Volunteerinin Malawi during the late ’60s. He is famous for having the No. 1 song (“Ufa wa Mtedza,” a song encouraging mothers to add peanut flour to their children’s porridge) on the Malawian Hit Parade for 3½ years and has donated all proceeds to charity.

After pastorates in New York, Ohio, and Missouri and a second career as a vice president Milton Ohlsen Ohlsen ’63 ’63 retired. with Merrill Lynch, Milton He and his wife, Fran, sailed on their Sea Fox Fox to the Keys, the Bahamas and up to the Great Lakes. After spending time on the St. Johns River in Florida, they became “dirt-dwellers” in Fletcher. Milt dabbles in photography (aye2eye. com), flowers, and fishing and can be reached at 313-277-5922.

313.277.5922.

Betty Betty (Robinson) (Robinson) Gaidry Gaidry ’64 ’64 and her husband, Jim, are still active Red Cross Disaster Mental Health volunteers in East Coast Central Florida.

FALL 2012

They are also active in church and non-profit organizations in Brevard County. Social workers keep on going and serving others!

After starting out at Warren Wilson, Paul M. Sensibaugh ’66 graduated from Ohio State

University with a bachelor of civil engineering degree in 1969 and received his Master of Public Administration, with distinction, from California State University-Stanislaus in 2000.

He is a registered professional engineer in California and is one of an elite group to hold Special District Administrator Certification in California. Paul recently retired as the general manager for the Mountain House Community Services District (MHCSD).

’70s ’70s

Tom Tom Hertner Hertner ’71 ’71 is is enjoying enjoying retirement retirement in in

Colorado.

Colorado.

Mary Mary L. L. (Strome) (Strome) Stahl Stahl ’74 ’74 retired retired from from teaching teaching

in in May May 2011 2011 and and has has become become manager manager of of the the Junction City Opera House in Kansas.

Visit Junction City Opera House in Kansas. Visit jcoperahouse.org. jcoperahouse.org.

Martin Martin L. L. Jones Jones ’79 ’79 is is an an undergraduate undergraduate math math professor at the College of professor at the College of Charleston, Charleston, where where he he was was named named one one of of the the nation’s nation’s top top teachers, teachers, according to The Princeton Review’s The Best according to The Princeton Review’s The Best 300 300 Professors.

Professors.

Leslie (Cowan) Shaidnagle ’79 has been living Leslie (Cowan) Shaidnagle ’79 has been living in

in Germany for the past 30 years. She originally Germany for the past 30 years.

Shelifestyle originally became “hooked” on the European became “hooked” on the European lifestyle while on a trip to Vienna with the WWC while a trip to Vienna WWC Choir.on She credits WWC with with the giving her Choir.

She credits WWC with giving the basis for so many positive relationsher and the basis forin soher many experiences life.positive relations and experiences in her life.

’80s ’80s

J. Kim Wright ’81 has been location-independent J. Kim Wright ’81 has been location-independent since 2008, traveling around the world, working since traveling around the world, on the2008, transformation of the legal systemworking to on the transformation of the legal to peacemaking, healing and problemsystem solving. This peacemaking, healing and problem law solving. This past summer she taught integrative at past summer taughtand integrative at Charlotte Lawshe School is in Newlaw Mexico Charlotte Lawbook, School and isasinPeacemakers: New Mexico this fall. Her Lawyers this fall. Her book,Problem-Solving Lawyers as Peacemakers: Practicing Holistic, Law, was Practicing Problem-Solving was named an Holistic, American Bar AssociationLaw, Flagship named Book. an American Bar Association Flagship Book.

Melanie Newton ’83 is in her 27th year as Newtonand ’83isis“happy in her 27th year as aMelanie social worker as a lark” in aNorthampton, social worker Mass. and is Her “happy a lark” in is sonas Ian, age 24, Northampton, Mass. Her son Ian,education. age 24, is Life educated in adventure recreation educated in adventure recreation education.

Life is better than good—they are most grateful! She is better thanregards good—they are WWC most grateful! sends warm to all her friends.She sends warm regards to all her WWC friends.

Tom Overman ’84 retired from the Navy after Tomyears Overman ’84 duty retired from the Navy after 33 of active and reserve service.

His 33 years active duty andIsland, reserveDiego service.

His tours ledof him to Midway Garcia, tours led him toSardinia, MidwayTerceira, Island, Diego Garcia, La Maddalena, Azores, and La Maddalena, Sardinia,works Terceira, and beyond.

Tom currently as anAzores, information assurance manager for Hawaiian Electric

beyond. Tom Company.

Hecurrently has beenworks married as an forinformation 29 years to Mary Ellenmanager assurance and they forhave Hawaiian two sons, Electric Jeremiah in Charlotte and Company.

HeBenjamin has been married in Hawaii. for 29 years to Mary Ellen and they have two sons, Jeremiah in Charlotte and Benjamin in Hawaii.

Marsha Morgan ’87 performs as a singer in Myrtle Beach. She is also an online teacher of high school English and journalism at the Marsha Morgan ’87 performs as a singer inSouth CarolinaBeach.

Virtual Myrtle SheCharter is also School. an online teacher of high school English and journalism at the South Carolina Virtual Charter School.

’90s

This ’90spast summer, Gregory T. Wilkins ’90 lectured at Moscow State University and Northeastern State Gregory University in Siberia.

This past summer, T. Wilkins ’90 He was part at of Moscow the 5th Annual Global Studies lectured State University and Conference in Moscow.

He andinhisSiberia. colleagues Northeastern State University He are program with wasdeveloping part of the an 5thexchange Annual Global Studies Minnesota University, Mankato and ConferenceState in Moscow.

He and his colleagues Northeastern University. are developingState an exchange program with Minnesota State University, Mankato and NortheasternJohns State’94 University.

Christopher celebrates eight years as owner of Christopher’s Computers in Asheville.

He loves serving Christopher Johnsand ’94providing celebratesemployment eight years asto the community that hasComputers become hisinhome after owner of Christopher’s Asheville. graduating from WWC. He lives in Weaverville He loves serving and providing employment to withcommunity his wife, Rachael, stepdaughter, the that hasand become his homeSarah. after Drop by hisfrom shopWWC. at 549 He Merrimon and graduating lives in Avenue Weaverville say hello! with his wife, Rachael, and stepdaughter, Sarah.

Drop by his shop at 549 Merrimon Avenue and say hello!

Joshua Prentice ’94 published a book in early 2012: Beowulf: A Verse Adaptation With Young Readers In Mind.’94 Visit joshuagraynow.com for Joshua Prentice published a book in early more information or toAdaptation read his other 2012: Beowulf: A Verse withworks.

Young Joshua isininMind. his second year of recovery afterfor Readers Visit joshuagraynow.com being information diagnosed with stage He more or to readIIIhismelanoma. other works. and hisiswife, Ketaki Bhattacharyya ’93, after have Joshua in his second year of recovery two sons, Zachary (“Zooe”) and Noah. He being diagnosed with stage III melanoma. and his wife, Ketaki Bhattacharyya ’93, have Denise Tudor ’94 and her husband both in work two sons, Zachary (“Zooe”) and Noah.

Garmisch, Germany, at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

Denise Tudor ’94 and her husband bothThe in work Center seeks to bring at countries together to work Garmisch, Germany, the George C. Marshall towards peace andfor security.

European Center Security Studies. The Center seeks to bring countries together to work My CIA:peace A Memoir, the third book by Katherine towards and security.

McCord MFA ’96, was published by Telling Our Stories Press. She had fivebook prosebypoems in My CIA: A Memoir, the third Katherine aMcCord recent MFA American Poetry Review by andTelling won an ’96, was published Individual Awardhad from Maryland Our StoriesArtist Press. She fivethe prose poems in State ArtsAmerican CouncilPoetry in 2011. a recent Review and won an Individual Artist Award from the Maryland Jim (James Coulter in Ogden) State Arts Council 2011.Shropshire ’96 has been a fourth-grade teacher at Gwinnett County Schools near Atlanta for 14 years.

Jim (James Coulter Ogden) Shropshire ’96 He and been his wife, Laura, haveteacher a 2-year-old son, has a fourth-grade at Gwinnett William Schools Coulter near Shropshire.

County Atlanta for 14 years. He and his wife, Laura, have a 2-year-old son, Rebecca Porter ’97 lives in Durham with her William Coulter Shropshire. husband and two children. She works at Duke Hospital as a registered on the with adulther bone Rebecca Porter ’97 livesnurse in Durham marrow transplant unit. SheShe is also in the adult/ husband and two children. works at Duke gerontology practitioner program at bone the Hospital as anurse registered nurse on the adult Duke University of Nursing to marrow transplantSchool unit. She is also inand theplans adult/ graduate in 2014. gerontology nurse practitioner program at the Duke University School of Nursing and plans to Rayna Gellert ’98 has a new album, Old Light: graduate in 2014.

Songs from my Childhood & Other Gone Worlds, released on StorySound Records.

27

A LU M N I N EWS Rayna Gellert ’98 has a new album, Old Light:

Songs from my Childhood & Other Gone Worlds, released on StorySound Records.

Julie (Shaw) Hasfjord ’99 not only won Teacher of the Year at Julia Green Elementary but was also named teacher of the year for her entire school district in Nashville, Tenn.

Elaine Brinkley ’99 is the executive director

of the Camp Fire USA Georgia Council and Amanda Styles ’00 is the board president.

The council has several youth development programs, with the mission of building caring, confident youth and future leaders. Elaine and Amanda both attended Camp Toccoa, the flagship program, as children and worked there as counselors while in college.You can read more about their work at Camp Toccoa by turning to the story on page 24 of this magazine.

’00 Jordan Arico ’00 received her Early Childhood Education (ECE) degree from De Anza College in 2010 and now teaches at Marin Head Start in San Rafael, Calif. Her classroom is in the Homeward Bound Emergency Family Housing Center, where she works with the homeless.

Andrew Mercurio ’04 and Bonita Mercurio ’02

married in 2006. They live in Swannanoa with their two-year-old daughter, Audrey. Andrew began working in December 2011 as the mail services manager at WWC. Bonita, an elementary school teacher, achieved National Board Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in 2008. She teaches second grade in McDowell County.

Ashley Rogers ’04 graduated in December 2011

with a MA in history and museum studies from Colorado State University and currently works as the assistant director of the Byers-Evans House Museum in Denver. She’s putting all of Phil Otterness’s teaching to good use!

production imports.

English in Kuwait.

Joey Vance ’05 and Amanda (Davis) Vance ’06

Amelia Taylor ’09 can be found in her holler

announce the birth of Frances Carol Wren Vance, born February 25, 2012. She was water born at home, weighing 7lbs 4oz and measuring 21.5 inches.

William Lyons ’07 and Marie Williamson ’07 own

and work on Bluebird Farm in Morganton.

Casey Gish ’07 and Allie Welsh ’07 have been living in Seattle while Casey completed his masters in environmental engineering. He graduated in June and is excited to be working for Fremont Brewing Company. Allie works for Whole Foods as a beer buyer. Dookles is doing just fine.

Katie Kuehl ’07 graduated from the University

of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and plans to pursue a career in shelter medicine. She is a founding board member for WisCARES, a non-profit organization that aims to improve accessibility to pet care and promote zoonosis prevention for clients of the AIDS Network of Wisconsin.

Brianna Quick ’07, administrative assistant in Student Life, said goodbye to Warren Wilson College to attend Harvard Divinity School.

Her husband, Joel Quick ’05, is also headed to Boston to attend law school at Northeastern University.

Martha Eberle ’07 finished the landscape architecture program at N.C. State and moved to Madison, Wis., where she has a position with a design firm.

Lora Hawkins ’09 received her Master of Arts in Teaching at Brown University and is teaching

in East Tennessee growing food and living the dream. You can reach her at amelialetgo@gmail. com.

’10s Lora Moon ’11 studies landscape literature in the English graduate program at the University of Toronto. She received the Junior Fellowship at Massey College and was awarded the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Bombardier CGS Master’s Scholarship.

Patrick Sweatt ’11 is the faculty assistant/farm manager for Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vt. Ilona Carlson ’12 attended the National

Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Southeast Utah, where she backpacked the Gravel, Long and Cheesebox canyons, kayaked the Green River through Desolation Canyon, rock climbed the House Range, and learned horseback riding at Three Peaks. Over the summer she worked on a sustainable farm in nearby Moab, Utah.

Christian Diaz ’12 works for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Chicago. A New Americans Democracy Project Fellow, he is working with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, which is nationally recognized for fighting poverty and alleviating the deteriorating public schools in the area.

Christian would like to build an infrastructure for civic engagement in his community and hopes to collaborate with other WWC alumni near Chicago. Contact him at cdiaz@icirr.org.

Lindsay Renbaum ’05 is a postdoctoral fellow

in the chemistry department at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She was selected to participate in a Climate Change Symposium funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.

Christina L. Vair ’05 received her doctorate

in clinical psychology with an emphasis in geropsychology from the University of Colorado. She is in a two-year advanced fellowship program in mental illness research and treatment with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Buffalo, N.Y. Her husband of five years, Bryan Ludwig ’06, is a sales manager for a beer distribution company in Colorado, specializing in American craft beer and small

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Adam “Pinky” Stegall ’07 played in the Bingham Cup (the world championship of gay and inclusive rugby teams) with the Charlotte Royals in Manchester, England, helping the team finish third in its division. The Royals beat teams from Belgium, France, and England, but narrowly lost to heavyweight London in the finals. The team hopes to do even better in Australia in 2014.

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FALL 2012 2012 FALL

If you would like to contribute to the Young Writers Scholarship, visit https://a.warren-wilson.edu/give to make a designated gift.

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He is dedicating a portion of the proceeds from his most recent book, Twelve Notables in Western North Carolina, to that fund and asks fellow authors, writers and avid readers to do the same. Twelve Notables is a collection of mini-biographies that capture the life and career journeys of exemplars from across the region, including WWC President Emeritus Doug Orr, who made their marks in the state, nation or world. The notables have succeeded in such diverse fields as law, faith, education, medical, military, non-profit, music, poetry, master crafts and art. The book has been nominated for the North Carolina Literacy and Historical Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2012 Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction.

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,I \RX¡YH DOUHDG\ UHJLVWHUHG IRU $OXPQL/LQN WKDQN \RX In April Jack J. Prather, a Hendersonville, N.C. author, established the Young Writers Scholarship, which provides recognition and financial assistance to outstanding undergraduate writing students. He :H KRSH \RX¡UH HQMR\LQJ LWV IHDWXUHV ,I \RX KDYH QRW \HW is dedicating a portion of the proceeds from his most recent book, Twelve Notables in Western North registered, visit and https://a.warren-wilson.edu WR ORJ LQ Carolina, to that fund and asks fellow authors, writers avid readers to do the same. Twelve Notables is a collection of mini-biographies that capture the life and career journeys of exemplars from across the region, including WWC President Emeritus Doug Orr, who made their marks in the state, nation or world. The notables have succeeded in such diverse fields as law, faith, education, medical, military, non-profit, music, poetry, master crafts and art. The book has been nominated for the North Carolina Literacy and Historical Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2012 Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction.

If you would like to contribute to the Young Writers Scholarship, visit https://a.warren-wilson.edu/give to make a designated gift.

29

New director and programs in Career Services In August 2011, Wendy Seligmann joined the College as the director of career services. She came to us from Earlham College, where she was the director of career services from 1989-2002 and then associate dean for student success until 2011. Seligmann has a bachelor’s degree from Earlham and an MBA from Old Dominion University. In addition to her many years in career services, she also has extensive experience in retention and as an instructor in Earlham’s business and non-profit management program.

Since coming to the College, she has focused on strengthening alumni connections and developing new initiatives. “The campus community, including alumni, is open, positive and creative about growing career services programs, which are fertilized by the Triad,” Seligmann said.

At 2012 Homecoming, in partnership with the WWC Alumni Association, career services hosted the Alumni Connections Social.

The event provided juniors and seniors the opportunity to explore vocational pathways and to learn from alumni what it means to carry their ideas, skills and passions out into the world.

In addition to real-time, face-to-face programs, Seligmann is launching a robust digital resource called OWLink (warrenwilsoncsm.symplicity.com). The web-based system combines the power and expertise of two professional associations, the National Association of Colleges and Employers and Direct Employers, to create an internship and employment database for alumni, students and employers. It will also house a searchable listing of Warren Wilson Career Network Volunteers.

Another program Seligmann is developing is the Sophomore Externship Program (SEP), which is designed as an opportunity for a second-year student to engage in practice-based learning by actively participating in a field of interest. Students who participate in the program receive a firsthand look at the workplace in a career of their interest, make valuable contacts and have the opportunity to see how their Triad learning experiences can be applied in real world situations.

“Through experiences in the College’s educational Triad of academics, work and service, our students have an authentic sense of themselves. Our job is to help them realize that they know more and have more experience than their peers at other schools,” Seligmann said. “We coach students to see how knowledge, skills and experience gained through the Triad can transfer to work, education and life after Warren Wilson.”

On the Web: warren-wilson.edu/~careers

Dustin Rhodes ’95, back in the Valley Dustin has returned as the annual fund and communications director.

You might remember him as a classmate or as the student activities director. Here, he tells us why he’s back and what he’s up to.

People like me—graduates who never leave—are routinely accused of drinking the proverbial Kool-Aid. It’s true: I love Warren Wilson—even more than I did when I was an idealistic 18-year-old who decided this college was perfect for me after spending a sum total of five minutes on campus.

I still find this place to be magical even after enjoying four years here as a student and eight years as director of student activities. I am grateful for every minute.

That’s why I decided, after a five-year stint in Washington, D.C., to return to Warren Wilson as the director of the Warren Wilson Fund—a job that, admittedly, involves fewer glue sticks, sheets of poster board and Dolly Parton wigs than my previous Warren Wilson incarnation. But don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of creative challenges.

Before seeking this position, I admit I wasn’t familiar with all the reasons why the Warren Wilson College Fund is important to the College—despite the fact that, as a student, I was the recipient of scholarships, loans and other forms of financial aid. I directly benefited from the money that many generous graduates and friends of the College donated. In fact, all students—past, present and future—directly benefit from the Warren Wilson College Fund.

Your gift makes funds available for scholarships, grants and countless campus projects. Your gift benefits you, too; by continuing to support the College, you impact our alumni participation rate, which helps our national rankings, our ability to seek outside grants and more. When the College’s profile rises, our degrees become even more impressive to future employers, graduate schools, at cocktail parties, etc. Plus, you help ensure that this breathtakingly beautiful spot thrives. I urge you to visit as often as you can.

No doubt, you support many worthy causes in the world—and, let’s be honest, there are lots of them. I hope you’ll make Warren Wilson a part of your annual giving. Like so many Warren Wilson students, I discovered all the reasons and ways I wanted to save the world while I studied, worked and served here in this community. Your gift to the Warren Wilson College Fund affords countless others that same, priceless opportunity.

Your gift, big or small, makes a real difference. You can make an online gift at: http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~advancement/ annual_fund.php or simply write a check and send it in the enclosed envelope. We’re now able to process recurring payments from your bank account or debit card, too. This convenient way of giving allows you to break down your gift into easy monthly payments.

Thank you for sharing your gifts with the College—and with the world.

Connect: 828.771.2088

30

drhodes@warren-wilson.edu OWL & SPADE

Bill Laramee and Andy Scott â&#x20AC;&#x2122;75 join Board of Trustees The WWC Board of Trustees welcomed two new members at its fall meeting. Bill Laramee, a parent of an alumna, and Andy Scott, Class of 1975, both bring an exciting range of experience and knowledge to the Board as well as a strong personal affinity for the College.Â

Alice C. Buhl, Chair Joel B. Adams, Vice Chair William H. Christy â&#x20AC;&#x2122;79, Secretary

Bill is the Emeritus Vice President for Alumni and College Relations at Berea College. He holds a doctorate in higher education administration from UMass Amherst. Bill spent his career in higher education administration, including long tenures as the Dean of Student Affairs and Dean of Institutional Advancement at Lyndon State College in Vermont. Bill has also taught and coached at the college level.

His daughter, Allison, graduated from Warren Wilson in 2003. Bill and his wife, Monica, share their time between Berea, Ky., and Lyndonville, Vt. Andy is a 1975 graduate who went on to earn his masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree and doctorate in public policy and higher education from UMass Amherst. After working for the Economic Development Corporation in Kansas City, Mo., he became the Executive Director of the Union Station Assistance Corporation, the nonprofit organization responsible for redeveloping the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second largest train station.

Warren Wilson College Board of Trustees

Andy Scott

Bill Laramee

Andy and his wife, Deborah, recently moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is the director and CEO of the Taft Museum of Art. Andy is currently leading a community-wide initiative that seeks to create an innovative public/ private funding partnership that would invest over $600 million into capital improvements for Cincinnatiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural, arts and scientific facilities.

John N. Alexander Leslie Anderson H. Ross Arnold III Myron P. Boon Stuart U. Buice Carmen A. Castaldi â&#x20AC;&#x2122;80 Donald R. Cooper Henry J. Copeland John W. Cruikshank Tom C.S. Dao â&#x20AC;&#x2122;53 Sherle Stevenson Edwards â&#x20AC;&#x2122;65 Dr. Jonathan L. Elion Rosa Lee Harden Thomas K. Johnson Dr. Steven M. Kane â&#x20AC;&#x2122;84 Joseph Karpen Thomas L. Kilday â&#x20AC;&#x2122;73 James A. Kuhns Bill A. Laramee Dr. Anne Graham Masters â&#x20AC;&#x2122;73 Mack B. Pearsall G. Andy Scott â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;75 George E. Stuart Terry V. Swicegood Stephen L. Ummel Frances M. Whitfield â&#x20AC;&#x2122;55 Ex-Officio Members Mimi Cecil Melissa T. Davis â&#x20AC;&#x2122;71, President, Alumni Board Howell L. Ferguson Katie Green, Staff Representative Lloyd Horton, Presbytery Representative David G. Moore, Faculty Representative Xenia J. Pantos, Student Representative Steven L. Solnick, President Dr. Hugh D. Verner

SHARE THE WORD ON WILSON

Two ways you can help us reach out to new students

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M FA B O O K S H E L F Awards and works by MFA Program for Writers alumni Bob Ayres â&#x20AC;&#x2122;93 Shadow of Wings, his first collection of poems, was published by Main Street Rag Publishing.

R. Dwayne Betts â&#x20AC;&#x2122;10 He won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship.

The $15,000 scholarship is awarded annually to five poets between the ages of 21 and 31 to encourage their further study and writing of poetry.

R.J. Gibson â&#x20AC;&#x2122;11 You Could Learn a Lot, his new chapbook, has been named co-winner of the 2012 Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Prize from Seven Kitchens Press.

His previous collection, Scavenge, won the 2009 Robin Becker Chapbook Prize, also from Seven Kitchens.

Marjorie Hudson â&#x20AC;&#x2122;00 Accidental Birds of the Carolinas, her debut short story collection, was awarded a 2012 PEN/Hemingway Honorable Mention for Distinguished First Fiction. The honor came with a fellowship for a one-month residency at Ucross Ranch in Wyoming.

Mimi Herman â&#x20AC;&#x2122;91 A poetry chapbook, Logophilia, has been published by Main Street Rag Publishing.

Michael Jarmer â&#x20AC;&#x2122;97 Monster Talk, his first novel, is available from iUniverse.

Joan Frank â&#x20AC;&#x2122;96 Her new essay collection, Because You Have To: A Writing Life, has been published by the University of Notre Dame Press. Her new novel, Make It Stay, is available from the Permanent Press.

Mark Prudowsky â&#x20AC;&#x2122;08 He participated in the Young Adult Review Network (YARN) national poetry chain.

His poetry appeared in this literary project along with work by over 30 award-winning poets.

What can you do today for

tomorrow?

Generations before you have supported the College, and generations after you will do the same. This never-ending circle of support is often made possible by a bequest. Remembering Warren Wilson in your will provides you the satisfaction of knowing that your

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appreciation and support of the College continues in perpetuity. Many alumni and friends of the College consider a bequest a powerful way to make a lasting gift without using any of your assets today. Additionally, D EHTXHVW DOORZV \RX WKH Ă H[LELOLW\ WR XVH WKH DVVHW

For more information on including the College in your estate plans, call 866.992.6957

should you need it.

32

OWL & SPADE

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