A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Alumni and Friends, In this endless election season, we have grown used to pundits saying that polling is “more art than science ,” and therefore inherently subjective and somewhat unreliable. Educators discuss the relative merits of hardcore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) schools, as distinct from fuzzier liberal arts institutions . A classic business school text is titled “The Art and Science of Negotiation.” Why do we always treat “art” as the opposite of “science?” This issue of the Owl and Spade explores that big shaded area of the Venn diagram where art and science intersect. Where the finest musicians combine the gift of melody and painstakingly honed technical expertise to perfect their craft. Where biologists use the most complex tools to uncover a simplicity to the structure of life’s building blocks that takes our breath away. Where intangible inspiration and practical chemistry intersect to create a gastronomic feast. Why is this a particular passion for us at Warren Wilson College? We are at our core a “liberal arts” college . But this doesn’t mean that our students are liberal artists (though we’ve got our share of them). It means that our students are committed to a broad education that includes a range of disciplines – humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. It also means that our scientists, who routinely win more awards for undergraduate research than students from any other college or university in North Carolina, are also accomplished writers and filmmakers. Our students and faculty are also committed to civic engagement and social transformation. At Warren Wilson , that means our students are problem solvers who understand the importance of both a finely crafted poem and an elegantly designed experiment. At Wilson, art and science aren’t in tension but in harmony. Beauty and truth – inextricably linked. I hope you enjoy visiting with the scientists, artists, poets and practitioners of craft across multiple disciplines who populate the pages of this issue. They include students, faculty, staff and alumni. Some of them only spent a few years in our valley; others have spent decades. All of them are part of the Warren Wilson family, sharing a mysterious connection to each other that began when they set foot on this campus. I hope you feel that same mysterious connection, and that it continues to draw you back to Swannanoa for Homecoming. In the words of Albert Einstein: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”
Steven L. Solnick President