Wilson College Magazine Fall 2014

A Canvas

calling Mary Elizabeth "Libby" Manchester Gilpatric '62 and Her Artistic Renaissance

Wilson's Research Partnership with the USDA | Searching for Ghosts Teaching Children Vegetable Literacy | New Year, Familiar Classrooms volume 87 | FALL 2014 | number 3

WILSON'S STUDENTS

THANK YOU

Your gifts to Wilson for all purposes enhance the student experience and we are grateful for your contributions. The generosity of our donors is visible across the campus and we want to thank you for continuing to support Wilson College.

‘A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.’

(Jackie Robinson) Thank you to our generous donors for the impact that you have made on our lives and for allowing us to create our own Wilson experience.

Katelyn Wingerd ’16 Orrtanna, PA Elementary Education and Spanish

volume 87 | FALL 2014 | number 3

FEATURES

18

12 A Rich Canvas

By Cherie Pedersen The seeds for art were planted for Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Manchester Gilpatric ’62 while at Wilson, but it wasn’t until after a career in teaching that they began to bloom.

18 Haunted Halls?

By Brian Speer Ghost stories are nothing new at Wilson College, but this summer a crew of paranormal investigators put campus lore to the test.

24 A Partnership

By Cathy Mentzer Wilson has formed a research partnership with the USDA that is unique in higher education.

08 2013-14 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

AROUND THE GREEN 28 Vegging Out A grant from Summit Endowment helps Fulton Farm bring vegetable literacy to local school children.

30 A Leading Example Hillary Swartz ’15 has been a role model on and off the field; Phoenix sports wrap.

32 A New Year As Wilson welcomes its first male residential students, the academic experience remains familiar.

ALUMNAE/I 38 Alumnae Association Update from AAWC president; Emerald Isle journey.

40 Alumnae/i News Alumnae soccer; representing Wilson; where are alumnae/i?

42 Class Notes 62 In Memoriam

12

DEPARTMENTS 02 Letter from the Editor

24

03 Wilson News $2 million Title II grant supports student success; fall enrollment up; new trustees; breaking ground on the library project; state streetscape grant strengthens College partnership with Chambersburg.

35 From the Archives

By Leigh Rupinski The founding of Wilson College.

68 Last Word: A Lesson for Life Emily Stanton ’15 reflects on lessons learned while studying abroad.

ON THE COVER Boy with Green Pail (Plastic), 2010, oil on canvas, 6”x6” by Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Manchester Gilpatric ’62.

STAFF Brian Speer Executive Editor Kendra Tidd Design Cathy Mentzer College Editor Courtney D. Wolfe ’12 Class Notes Coordinator Sally Baker Contributing Editor Contributing Writers Sally Baker, Samantha Burmeister, Laura B. Hans ’13, Nancy Kostas ’64, Cathy Mentzer, Cherie Pedersen, Leigh Rupinski, Brian Speer, Courtney D. Wolfe ’12 Contributing Photographers James Butts, Matthew Lester, Cathy Mentzer, Mary Schwalm, Brian Speer, Ryan Smith, Bob Stoler, Kendra Tidd

ADMINISTRATION Barbara K. Mistick, President Camilla Rawleigh, Vice President for Institutional Advancement

— letter from the —

editor

W

ell, we made it before winter. I want to thank everyone for their patience while we worked to get the magazine out without the benefit of a full staff. On the plus side, I am happy to introduce Coleen Dee Berry as the new managing editor of Wilson Magazine. Dee, who joined the Office of Marketing and Communications as we went to press with this issue, served as an award-winning reporter and editor with the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey for 32 years. Since leaving the paper she has worked in community and public relations at Rutgers University and, most recently, the Monmouth County Library System.

Brian Speer, Vice President for Marketing and Communications

WILSON MAGAZINE COMMITTEE Mary Cramer ’91, Alumnae Association President Amy Ensley, Director of the Hankey Center Marybeth Famulare, Director of Alumnae/i Relations Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations and College Editor

Camilla Rawleigh, Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Brian Speer, Vice President for Marketing and Communications

Lisbeth Sheppard Luka ’69, Alumnae Association Courtney D. Wolfe ’12, Class Notes Coordinator Wilson Magazine is published quarterly by the Office of Marketing and Communications and the Alumnae Association of Wilson College.

Send address changes to: Wilson College Alumnae/i Relations, 1015 Philadelphia Ave., Chambersburg, Pa. 17201-1279, 717-262-2010 or mag@wilson.edu.

Opinions expressed are those of the contributors or the editor and do not represent the official positions of Wilson College or the Alumnae Association of Wilson College.

CONTACT US: Wilson Magazine mag@wilson.edu 717-262-2607 www.wilson.edu/magazine Alumnae Association aawc@wilson.edu 717-262-2010 www.wilson.edu/aawc The Wilson Fund advancement@wilson.edu 717-262-2010 www.wilson.edu/give

FPO

Dee is not the only new addition to the office—Mark Blackmon joined Wilson College in November as the director of communications. Mark previously served a similar role at Earlham College in Indiana where his work was recognized by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Circle of Excellence award program. He has also served as a marketing consultant to higher education, nonprofit and arts clients.

What does this all mean to readers of Wilson Magazine? We anticipate the winter magazine will arrive in February with the spring magazine mailing in April on the regular schedule.

Among the stories you will find in this issue are a profile of artist Libby Manchester Gilpatric ’62 who came to her art after a career in teaching; a profile of senior student-athlete Hillary Swartz; a story about the research relationship between Wilson and the USDA; and a story about the classroom environment as we welcome our first male residential students.

In Haunted Halls?, Wilson Magazine followed along as paranormal investigators came to the College in the waning days of summer looking for ghosts. The 2013-14 Annual Report of the President reviews the progress of the first full year of operation under the Wilson Today plan.

Brian Speer Vice President, Marketing and Communications

PHOTO BY MATTHEW LESTER

WILSON NEWS

A $2 million federal grant will help the College strengthen academic programs and support services.

WILSON GRANTED TRANSFORMATIVE

$2 MILLION AWARD

T

he U.S. Department of Education and its Strengthening Institutions Program has approved a $2 million grant for Wilson that will help the College improve enrollment, retention, persistence and graduation rates. The improvements will result from initiatives to reinforce academic programs and academic support services, update technology and provide ongoing professional development for Wilson employees.

The grant, part of the government’s Title III Program, will be distributed over five years and is the largest federal grant awarded to Wilson in the College’s 145-year history. It is consistent with Wilson’s aim to help students fulfill their academic potential, according to President Barbara K. Mistick.

“We are so excited to receive this grant. It really comes at a wonderful time for us,” Mistick said. “This fall, we welcomed our largest class in 40 years, we’ve begun construction of the library renovation project and we are seeing great momentum from the Wilson Today plan we instituted last year.” That plan, approved by the Board of Trustees in January 2013, is designed keep the College thriving well into the future. It includes a tuition reduction and student debt buyback program, infrastructure improvements, coeducation, improved marketing and new academic programs.

The Strengthening Institutions Program was developed to assist postsecondary institutions in serving low-income students and to improve academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability at grantee schools.

Wilson, like many colleges, has seen a growing percentage of students arrive academically underprepared for college-level work—often because they come from school systems that underperform or are first-generation college students who lack the support systems that can prepare them to meet the expectations of college-level academics. At Wilson, more than 40 percent of undergraduate students are the first in their families to attend college, 43 percent are eligible for federal Pell grants for lower income families and 96 percent receive some form of aid.

This is the third time Wilson has applied for the highly competitive Title III grant. Mistick attributes the success of the current

application to changes underway to reconfigure technology at the College, construction of a learning commons as part of the Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library project and proposed programs to help support and retain underprepared students.

Wilson’s application for the Title III grant cited five over- arching objectives: • Increase enrollment through strengthening academic programs that will bolster student retention. These actions include creating a developmental reading and writing course; strengthening developmental mathematics courses; and creating an information literacy course that incorporates technology and critical thinking skills.

• Increase retention and graduation rates for underprepared students through revitalizing the first-year student experience, enacting best practices that support at-risk students, establishing a learning commons and academic support center in Stewart library and strengthening academic, career and personal advising for students, among other things.

• Strengthen academic technology infrastructure, leadership and applications of technology to instruction and academic support, including creating a chief information officer position and expanding academic technology assistance in the new learning commons with the potential addition of an assistant director and a reading specialist in the academic support center.

• Build capacity for data-driven academic and institutional decision-making.

• Provide a professional development program for faculty, administrators, and staff.

“This grant dovetails perfectly with the information technology and retention goals that are an extension of the Wilson Today plan,” said Mistick. “And the new learning commons of the John Stewart Memorial Library will serve as an ideal nexus for these programs, providing a strong foundation of support for future Wilson students.” —Cathy Mentzer

fall 2014 03

WILSON NEWS WILSON FALL ENROLLMENT UP

INCOMING CLASS LARGEST IN FOUR DECADES Wilson enrolled 759 students for the fall semester, an increase of more than 14 percent over fall 2013, with the most dramatic increase coming in the number of new students in the traditional undergraduate college. The 141 new students—which includes first-year and transfer students—is up 41 percent from last fall and is the most since 1973, when 137 new students enrolled at the College.

“This is good news for Wilson College and the entire community,” said President Barbara K. Mistick.

“Growth in our enrollment means a more vibrant, financially sustainable Wilson College and increased numbers of students on our campus benefit the community in many ways, including from an economic standpoint.”

cessful. And with our continued commitment, we expect to see an even greater effect on overall enrollment moving forward.”

With 334 students, the College’s largest enrollment center is the traditional undergraduate program. Another 273 students are enrolled in the Adult Degree Program, including those in Wilson’s new nursing program, which exceeded its fall enrollment goals. And 152 students are enrolled in Wilson’s graduate programs, a 67 percent increase over last year. Men represent 8.4 percent of the traditional undergraduate college population and 15.4 percent of total enrollment.

Growth in our enrollment means a more vibrant, financially sustainable Wilson College.

Wilson’s enrollment increase comes at a time when national higher education enrollment is slowing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau report “School Enrollment in the United States: 2013,” enrollment at four-year institutions was up just 1 percent from 2012 to 2013 and college enrollment overall declined for the second straight year.

— President Barbara K. Mistick

Mistick and other college administrators cite features of the Wilson Today plan, instituted in January 2013, as the chief drivers of the enrollment surge. These include a tuition reduction and student debt buyback plan, the move to coeducation, the addition of academic programs, improved marketing and infrastructure improvements.

PHOTOS BY KENDRA TIDD

“The whole campus is energized that the Wilson Today plan is beginning to bear fruit,” Mistick said. “The progress is the result of the entire Wilson community coming together to make the plan suc-

Wilson students come from as far away as California, Texas and Arkansas. They represent 17 states (including Pennsylvania), as well as 14 foreign countries: Armenia, Canada, China, France, Gaza, Ghana, South Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam. —CM

FIELD HOUSE RENOVATIONS An addition to the field house will house new women’s and men’s locker rooms on the upper level, with storage on the lower level.

The project is expected to be completed in early December.

04 wilson magazine

WILSON WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

TO BOARD OF TRUSTEES Robert M. Baker of Ijamsville, Maryland, has tremendous expertise in strategic planning and finance. He retired in 2013 as chief executive officer of Astrium Services Government Inc. in Rockville, Maryland. Before Astrium, he was vice president of finance and administration at Lockheed Martin/Telenor Satellite Services, also in Rockville.

Baker’s connection to Wilson began through his daughter Samantha, a 2013 graduate of the College’s Women with Children program. He and his wife, Cheri, have endowed a scholarship for the program.

Baker has a bachelor’s degree in business administration/ accounting from Clarion University in Clarion, Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Robin J. Bernstein of Pittsburgh has been a generous and dedicated supporter of the College for many years. She was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 1996 and completed the maximum nine-year term of service. During her tenure, she served as chair of the committee to nominate a new president in 2000 and as board chair from 2002 to 2005. After leaving the board, she chaired the pre-planning committee for the capital campaign in 2006. In recognition of her service, Bernstein was conferred trustee emerita status in 2013.

She is vice president of the Animal Rescue League of Pittsburgh, vice chair of Friends Select School in Philadelphia, chair of the Pennsylvania Board of Veterinary Medicine and chairperson of Our Clubhouse in Pittsburgh. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Duquesne University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Chatham College, both in Pittsburgh.

Mary Jo Maydew of South Hadley, Massachusetts, recently retired as vice president for finance and administration at Mt. Holyoke College but continues to assist the college, providing transition support, serving on a strategic planning task force

and working on special projects. Prior to Mt. Holyoke, she served as assistant treasurer at Cornell University in New York.

Maydew has served as chair of the National Association of College and University Business Officers and is a highly respected leader in higher education finance and administration. She currently serves on the board of Ashford University in Iowa and has served as vice chair of the board of New York Chiropractic College.

Maydew has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Denver and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.

Barbara L. Tenney ’67 of Milton, Delaware, is a retired physician and educator. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wilson, she earned an M.D. from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia and completed her pediatric residency and ambulatory pediatric fellowship at New York University-Bellevue Hospital Center.

Dr. Tenney held academic appointments at New York University, West Virginia University and East Carolina University. She first served on the Wilson Board of Trustees as an alumna trustee from 1996 to 1999. In 1999, she was elected to the board for a nine-year term ending in 2008. Tenney served as board chair from 1999 to 2002, during which time she helped establish the presidential selection process. In recognition of her service, Tenney was conferred trustee emerita status in 2012.

She currently serves on the board at Primeros Pasos/First Steps, a bilingual preschool for low-income children in her local community in Delaware.

New board members serve three-year terms and may be reelected to two additional terms. Trustees emeriti must resign their emeriti status before assuming roles as active board members. —CM

fall 2014 05

PHOTOS BY BRIAN SPEER

Clockwise, from top left: community members sign a beam that will be placed into the new learning commons; State Sen. Richard Alloway conveys his support for the Wilson Today initiatives while President Barbara K. Mistick looks on; community members gather for a group photo at the close of the ceremony.

COLLEGE BREAKS GROUND

ON STEWART LIBRARY PROJECT Construction is now underway on what the College has dubbed the Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library project. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Oct. 9 in conjunction with Wilson’s Founders Day celebration.

The $12 million project, scheduled for completion by fall 2015, includes restoration of the original library building and construction of a learning commons to replace a now-demolished 1961 addition to the library. More than $10.25 million has been raised for the project to date. The new learning commons will house a variety of study spaces, smart classrooms, areas for academic support and information technology services, a commuter lounge and a bookstore with coffee shop.

President Barbara K. Mistick welcomed a large crowd to the groundbreaking, including Wilson students, staff, faculty, Trustees, donors and local elected officials. In the spirit of Founders Day, the program was modeled on the October 1923 groundbreaking for the

06 wilson magazine

original Stewart library, including appearances by Wilson’s founders James Wightman and Tryon Edwards (portrayed by Cody Dunlap ’18 and Samuel Mensah ’18) and college namesake Sarah Wilson (Wilson College Government Association Vice President Sonja Hess ’15). In addition to Mistick, speakers included Wilson Library Director Kathleen Murphy ’67, WCGA President Ghada Tafesh ’15, Class of 2015 President Taylor Staudt and State Sen. Richard Alloway.

Guests were asked to sign a steel beam to be used in the new learning commons and to sign a guestbook listing their favorite book, a copy of which will be added to the library collection, if possible.

“Students are excited to have the new library space where we can do independent work, study research materials, host special events like visiting authors and book clubs, and find academic support,” Tafesh said. “It gives us another place to feel comfortable, sit back and enjoy a book, or do some hardcore studying.” —CM

WILSON NEWS CHAMBERSBURG, WILSON PARTNER WITH STATE TO IMPROVE STREETSCAPE The Wilson campus will soon have a new front door—an even safer one for students and visitors—thanks to a grant from Pennsylvania to the Borough of Chambersburg.

Chambersburg officials were notified in September of the $465,429 grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority’s Multimodal Transportation Fund designated for the Wilson College Streetscape and Pedestrian Safety Initiative. The grant, which dovetails with Wilson’s campus enhancement plans, will allow the College to replace sidewalks and repair curbs, install ramps, upgrade lighting and erect banners on a portion of the campus bordering U.S. Route 11. The enhancements are designed to improve safety for students, employees and visitors and increase Wilson’s profile in the community.

“This grant represents real synergy between the borough and the College,” said President Barbara K. Mistick. “Working collaboratively, we will enhance the community safety of the pedestrian network along our campus. We greatly appreciate the partnership of the borough as we continue with campus improvements.”

According to a borough news release, items under consideration include wayfinding signs, landscaping and fixtures that complement the surrounding architecture. The borough will seek input from neighborhood residents during the design process.

The project is expected to be complete by spring 2015. —CM

NEWS

IN BRIEF

TIP CERTIFIES GRADES 4-8 Wilson’s innovative Teacher Intern Program, aimed primarily at working adults who want to earn teaching credentials through a nontraditional route, has received approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to certify teachers for grades 4 through 8. The program will train middle school teachers of English language arts and reading, math, physical science (chemistry and physics) and social studies.

The Teacher Intern Program also offers certification in early childhood education, in K-12 health and physical education and Spanish, and in secondary education (grades 7 through 12) for English, biology, chemistry, mathematics and social studies. The program, whose courses are taught mainly in the evenings, offers a path to the classroom for those who have already earned subject-specific bachelor’s degrees.

Visit www.wilson.edu/tip for more information about Wilson College's teacher certification programs.

WILSON ADDS MAJOR IN HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR K-12 TEACHERS The Pennsylvania Department of Education recently approved a new K-12 health and physical education major within Wilson’s education curriculum. The major, through which students will earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, is designed to prepare teachers of health and physical education

for Pennsylvania schools and colleges. The major includes classroom teaching experience, academic content about the connections between physical activity and health, and study of current best practices in education on these topics.

NEW FACULTY SENATE GOES TO WORK The newly formed Wilson College Faculty Senate took up its duties at the beginning of the fall semester. Designed to streamline faculty decision-making, the senate—which was approved by the faculty and the Board of Trustees last spring—is chaired by Associate Professor of English Michael Cornelius.

“We had this government structure where the entire faculty acted like a faculty senate, which wasn’t efficient,” said Cornelius, who also chairs the Department of English and Communications. The new body will consult with and report to the faculty, administration and Board of Trustees on issues such as academic priorities, policies and initiatives and faculty workload and salaries. It is composed of the chair, elected by the faculty, the vice president for academic affairs, the heads of each academic division and one additional representative from each division, selected by the division chair.

The faculty senate meets biweekly. With the senate in place, faculty meetings will be less frequent and will focus more on the work being done in faculty committees, Cornelius said.

fall 2014 07

PRESIDENT PHOTO BY RYAN SMITH

B

eing president of Wilson College makes me proud.

I am proud of our amazing students, faculty and staff; proud to lead an institution whose graduates care so passionately about the experience we provide to current students; and proud of the positive ways we engage with one another to help Wilson thrive.

In this Report of the President, I will share what I believe to be the beginning of a tremendous success story—the story of the Wilson Today plan in action. In its first year of full implementation, the plan lived up to its early promise. It has proved to be a foundation on which the College can stake its future.

The Wilson Today plan’s five initiatives—value and affordability; infrastructure improvements; new academic programs; coeducation across all programs; and improved marketing—brought about a sense of shared purpose and energy from all. With remarkable financial support from alumnae and alumni and with a concerted effort embraced by all segments of our campus community, Wilson pursued a central objective in 2013-14: to grow our enrollment.

Academic years begin in the summer, and in August 2013 the campus community adopted the theme, “One Team, One Goal,” to describe our collective mission. We would pull together on the oars necessary to move Wilson forward. Even as faculty and staff endorsed the theme at their annual development day in August, we were seeing important signs that Wilson Today was resonating with our target audiences.

Visits to campus by prospective students more than doubled, compared to August 2012. Admissions staff traveling to recruit for the

08 wilson magazine

College found warm and eager receptions among students and parents.

More and more high school guidance counselors wanted to know about Wilson and what it could offer their students.

A month later, the Class of 2017 arrived amid considerable media interest as the first male students admitted to the traditional undergraduate college—all three of them—took part in new student orientation. Our students, women and men, handled the attention with incredible spirit and maturity, which was no surprise to those of us privileged to know them. As the year began, Wilson College Government Association President Caileigh Oliver ’14 reported that “everyone feels really great about our whole student body. They feel like this year is going to be a good one and that we’re off to a really great start.”

With faculty, staff and students diving into the new academic year, several initiatives were mounted across the campus. WCGA instituted a “Chat and Chew” program in the dining hall designed to allow student views to be heard on a range of topics, including infrastructure projects such as new student center, fitness center and McElwain/ Davison residence hall renovations. And through the Residence Life Council, students crafted the College’s new coed housing plan in preparation for the male residential students who arrived in fall 2014.

The creation of new academic programs–the purview of the faculty– also increased Wilson’s options for appealing to a broad range of potential students. New undergraduate programs in animal studies, global studies, health and physical education and health science were added, and graduate programs in fine arts and healthcare management for sustainability were approved. This mix of programs spans the curriculum and strengthens our commitment to the liberal arts. Under Wilson’s new director of nursing, Carolyn Hart, the College’s offerings in nursing now include RN-to-MSN and MSN degrees, in addition

PHOTO BY JAMES BUTTS

2013-14 REPORT OF THE

PHOTO BY RYAN SMITH PHOTO BY CATHY MENTZER

Clockwise from left: Class of 2018 photo; students work out in the new fitness center; Vice President for Student Development Mary Beth Williams addressing a first-year seminar this fall; Associate Professor of Education Eric Michael talks with faculty members of the Chambersburg Area High School during an information session on the College.

to the RN-to-BSN program. Along with the new health science undergraduate major, these programs may serve as the basis for the health sciences division proposed by the Wilson Today commission.

Professor of Environmental Studies Ed Wells finalized an agreement last year with Vermont Law School, the country’s premier environmental law school, under which students can earn a bachelor’s degree in environmental sustainability from Wilson and a master of environmental law and policy degree from VLS in just four years.

The VLS partnership is the third 3+1 program at the College, joining Wilson-based programs in humanities and accounting. In these days of sticker-shock tuition, these programs underscore the College’s commitment to value and affordability by providing opportunities to achieve advanced degrees in less time and at a lower cost than traditional programs.

The past year saw the continued evolution of Wilson’s leadership team. In 2012 we were joined by new vice presidents for finance and administration, institutional advancement and marketing and communications. This year we welcomed Mary Beth Williams as vice president for student development and Elissa Heil as vice president for academic affairs to the team. Mary Beth was previously associate dean of students at Sewanee: The University of the South, and Elissa was associate academic dean at the University of the Ozarks.

Mary Beth and Elissa have begun work to improve student retention and to improve the campus environment for transfer students— two areas identified by the commission as important to increased enrollment. The fresh perspectives and professionalism they all have brought to Wilson make our progress on the Wilson Today plan possible.

The Office of Marketing and Communications mounted a media campaign to publicize the Wilson Today value proposition—a 17 percent tuition rollback and a student debt buyback program—to

support the recruiting efforts of admissions staffers. In a media atmosphere crowded with stories of rising student debt, the programs received national coverage, appearing in about 200 traditional media outlets and 300 specialty and online-only outlets, in addition to blogs and social media platforms. Admissions staff noted an enthusiastic response from both students and parents, particularly to the student debt buyback program.

Wilson’s communications and advancement teams collaborated last year in an ongoing focus on community outreach. Wilson’s ties to Chambersburg are vital to both the College and the community, with a number of faculty and staff representing the College in local organizations and the College pursuing strong partnerships in the borough. Wilson was the first sponsor of a Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce downtown visioning process facilitated by Derck & Edson Associates, the architectural firm responsible for Wilson’s campus enhancement plan, and played host to one of six public meetings. We also co-sponsored the Leadership Franklin County Youth program, which brings together high school sophomores from across the county to help create a community of young people who are actively engaged in responsible, ethical leadership.

Associate Professor of Education Eric Michael was also instrumental in reaching out to our wider community and helping broaden Wilson’s profile in our region. As the former assistant superintendent of the Chambersburg Area School District, he used his connections to bring a number of groups to campus for information sessions and tours of our facilities. Among those attending sessions were Chambersburg Area Senior High School faculty, Franklin County school superintendents and Chambersburg area leaders.

Wilson’s visibility in our community and in the marketplace also was enhanced in 2013-14 with the launch of the College’s

fall 2014 09

PHOTO BY MATTHEW LESTER

PHOTO BY RYAN SMITH

From left: Morgan Lindsey ’15 and Casey Beidel ’14 study in the new student center; students in a Photoshop class that is part of the new graphic design major; the Class of 1964 presents its record-breaking reunion gift.

first comprehensive marketing and advertising program. Though these kinds of programs are difficult to assess in the short run, one key measure—the number of “impressions” available to an individual—indicates that we are on the right track. In 2012-13, 1.2 million impressions were generated for Wilson and available to the marketplace. In 2013-14, that number rose to more than 40 million through online search marketing and print, radio, television and billboard advertising.

Critical support for the Wilson Today plan from alumnae and alumni was clearly seen in the remarkable success of the John Stewart Memorial Library project. In last year’s Report of the President, I noted that we had raised $3.5 million for the library from 396 donors. As the 2013-14 year came to a close, we had raised more than $10 million from an amazing 662 donors. One of them, Sue Davison Cooley ’44, responded to a matching challenge from Marguerite Brooks Lenfest ’55 with gifts totaling $2.3 million. The donations completed the Lenfest match a year ahead of schedule, allowing us to break ground and experience the positive impact—on campus and in recruiting—of the project, which is scheduled for completion next fall. Marguerite and Sue are joined by Thérèse Murray Goodwin ’49, Hope Weishaar Asrelsky ’57, Susan Breakefield Fulton ’61, Charlene Cronenberg

Berardino ’63, Linda Kaley Erkelens ’64, Kristan Rodger Sammons ’64, Mary Lou Kerfoot Wells ’65, Jane Everhart Murray ’67, Candace Straight ’69 and Theodore Peters—husband of the late Margaret Campbell Peters ’45—as key donors to the library project. In addition, the Class of 1964 maintained the momentum when it dedicated a record reunion gift of $101,964 to the library renovations.

As I’ve travelled around the country meeting with alumnae and alumni, I have been struck by the new climate our alums are creating.

Throughout the process of change I have been encouraged by the direct support I have received, but over the past year our alums have stepped forward, in myriad ways, as champions of the institution. They have hosted the College in their homes for difficult discussions, added their voices and leadership in important ways and continued to provide support to the faculty and staff of Wilson.

The fruits of our concerted efforts on enrollment growth have been gratifying. In August 2014, Wilson welcomed its largest entering class is more than 40 years. With that influx of students, female and male, the campus has become more vibrant and energized. This atmosphere will likely help us recruit even larger classes going forward, and secure Wilson’s bright future.

WILSON BY THE NUMBERS APPLication

FALL 2014 ENROLLMENT

759

14.6% INCREASE

FALL-TO-FALL

R E T EN TION

78%

12% INCREASE (FALL 2013 TO FALL 2014)

10 wilson magazine

1157 43%

total applications

104% increase

of students are PELL ELIGIBLE

9

NEW ACADEMIC

PROGRAMS

WILSON COLLEGE

2013-14 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS EXPENSES

STUDENT TUITION/FEES..........66.5% PRIVATE GIFTS.......................... 7.2% GOVERNMENT GRANTS............. 1.0% INTEREST & DIVIDENDS............1.8% INTEREST RECEIVED FROM TRUSTS HELD BY OTHERS.......... 2.1% OTHER SOURCES....................... 3.9% AUXILIARY REVENUE.............. 17.5%

INSTRUCTIONAL.....................18.5% ACADEMIC SUPPORT.............. 16.6% STUDENT SERVICES.................16.8% INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT......... 7.8% AUXILIARY ENTERPRISES........10.2% FINANCIAL AID....................... 17.2% INFRASTRUCTURE/ DEFERRED MAINTENANCE...... 12.9%

ENDOWMENT VALUE

fiscal year

There is a larger purpose underscoring the practical importance of growing the College—a purpose that all members of the Wilson community will recognize. I think Associate Professor of English Michael Cornelius put it well in his remarks as 2014 Convocation speaker.

He told the assembled crowd that what distinguishes the College “isn’t our past or even our future. It is our present and our presence, the spirit of Wilson and the way in which this little college changes the lives of all who come to dwell within her—student, staff, faculty and friend, female and male alike. It is who we are, and who we will continue to be, that makes Wilson so distinct and such an amazing place to study.”

Offering a life-changing education to more students, now and for generations to come, is the reason we are all here. I am proud and honored to lead Wilson College in this effort and to work with so many remarkably dedicated people to make the Wilson Today plan succeed. W

REVENUE

14

$60,305,877

13

$60,028,291 $57,180,278

12

$60,520,915

11

$50,938,308

10

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 in millions

41% 141 IN TOTAL INCREASE IN NEW STUDENTS

more than

40%

of students are first in their family to attend college

662 DONORS

TOTAL FUNDRAISING FOR 2013-14

$ 10,068,328

IN CASH & PLEDGES

TO THE JOHN STEWART MEMORIAL LIBRARY PROJECT

(AS OF JUNE 30, 2014)

fall 2014 11

Canvas a rich

Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Manchester Gilpatric ’62 and her unlikely path to a career as an artist

by Cherie Pedersen photos by Mary Schwalm

M

ary Elizabeth “Libby” Manchester Gilpatric ’62 thinks not in words but in images. As one who found her professional

calling past middle age, Gilpatric—who has been a featured artist and won many prizes in juried shows—uses the entirety of her life and experience in her work. Along with images of her current surroundings in New England, mental snapshots of her childhood in Ohio find their way into her paintings: “Cornfields surrounded our place,” she recalls. “An old barn’s cupola peeked through the trees. A groaning tractor drowned out caws and tweets. Orange, soot-laden evening skies of local steel mills stained our rural landscape.”

fall 2014 13

From left: Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Manchester Gilpatric ’62 in her Tiverton, R.I. studio; Peony Bud, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 8"x8"; Erie Basin, Brooklyn, N.Y., 2008, oil on canvas, 30"x18".

Gilpatric’s path to a career in art—she is now proprietor of the Libby Manchester Gilpatric Studio, in Tiverton, Rhode Island—was not obvious when she was a Wilson student, where she majored in English and earned a minor in art history. “I had not been encouraged by my mother to go to art school,” she says wryly. “She didn’t like the look of art students.”

recognize her own talent. One classroom experience stands out, she says. “I remember when Dr. Harris and Professor de Leeuw stood watching me and nodding. That was significant. So I got some nurturing, though I didn’t act on it right away. In our era, most of us planned to get an M.R.S. degree. I did not have a good sense of other paths for my life then.”

Gilpatric credits Elisabeth (Nan) Hudnut Clarkson ’47, whose father’s family had been close friends of her own father, with her decision to apply to Wilson. In Chambersburg, she found not only a rich curriculum in her chosen subjects but also opportunities for artistic expression through Orchesis and the Kittochtinny Players. And she took as many art classes as she could. “I had a fantastic teacher named Josephine Harris,” Gilpatric said. “She showed a lot of slide shows and she talked a mile a minute, but I still remember many of her comments.”

After graduating, she moved to Philadelphia and earned a master’s degree in education at the University of Pennsylvania. Marriage to John Gilpatric, whom she had met while a senior at Wilson, soon followed. A year later she joined the faculty of the Spence School in New York. “They didn’t need an English teacher, but they did need a second grade teacher, so I had that job for five years until I started having my own children,” she says. Later, she returned to Spence to teach English.

Through it all she continued to find time for art. “Museums and galleries fed my art craving,” she remembers. “Besides teaching, I took classes in botanical drawing at the Brooklyn Art Museum, life drawing at the Art Students League, graphic design at the School of Visual Arts. While a stay-at-home mom with two sons, I practiced a thriving calligraphy business. Watercolor painting became a new sideline, and I learned how to gild and paint faux-finishes on old trays and furniture.”

“It was very satisfying to find my passion at a late point in my life.

My art gave me myself.”

In her elective studio art classes, including those with legendary professors Emlyn Edwards and Leon de Leeuw, she received the validation and encouragement she needed to

14 wilson magazine

Vacations to Maine, where she and her husband developed a love for sailing, provided new vistas and additional inspiration as she studied the action of waves on boats and the contents of tide pools. And a move to Rhode Island in 1998, when she was 60, finally provided the springboard for a serious career in art.

fall 2014 15

She found a large and welcoming community of fellow artists attracted to the state by the same things that she found appealing: beautiful landscapes, numerous art associations, and ample opportunities to show her work. “It was very satisfying to find my passion at a late point in my life,” she says. “My art gave me myself.”

In Rhode Island Gilpatric turned to oil painting, which she studied first at the Newport Art Museum and then at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in nearby Connecticut.

“I like a particular style of painting that I saw at the Lyme Academy,” she said. “They were the strongest paintings I’d ever seen. Emphatic in composition. Palettes that were strong and bold. I did not need another degree, but I wanted to be taken seriously, so I began another degree program.”

The style that had attracted her to Lyme Academy was known as Contemporary American Realism and had evolved in the 1960s as a reaction to the abstract paintings of the Modernist movement. Gilpatric took to the style and to the school.

Clockwise from above: Kendra’s View, 2013, oil on canvas, 12"x16"; Ramon, 2012, oil on canvas, 9"x12"; Gilpatric works in her studio; Beets and Beds, 2011, oil on canvas, 8"x24".

“I learned a way of seeing there,” she says. “I learned how to approach a painting, how to lay out the underpainting. I like to map out what will be the focus area and make marks suggesting, ‘look here, look there, this will go here, that will go there,’ deciding where to place the largest shapes of darks and lights, letting the medium tones be the ‘connectors’ and making color notes where ‘local color’ will be important.”

The colors that infuse her paintings today also stem from her training at Lyme. Students were only permitted to use three colors plus white, a practice Gilpatric adopted permanently. Hers is a primary palette consisting of red, yellow, and blue, in addition to the white that enables her

16 wilson magazine

to create new hues. “It’s a challenge, but it helps to keep the painting unified. In every color I create is a little bit of the other colors,” she says. She eschews bright, chemically made colors in favor of pigments made from the natural materials.

Gilpatric is adept with figures and still life as well as with landscapes. She says the subject of her paintings is less important than the process. “I let some of the runny, thinned underpaint stay just that way as I often like the effect of those runny areas where paint has just dripped down off the canvas,” she explains. “As I fill in the painting, not finishing one area at a time, I will work all over the canvas, going from large loose shapes to smaller areas where there might be a higher contrast for emphasis, at the same time, always searching for painterly ways to lead the eye from one place to another, tightening some edges while blurring others. The painting represents a process, choreographed like a dance.”

Choreography is a word she uses often in describing her approach to painting. She says the roots of her work lie in her love of dance, nourished as a student at Wilson when she choreographed and performed with Orchesis and later as a ballroom dancer. Small wonder that she cites Degas as one of her inspirations.

She also links her art with another skill developed at Wilson as “the makeup department” for the Kittochtinny Players.

“My task was to make my classmates look the parts they were playing, some women of varying ages and some male roles from boys to aging men. I had to study the bone structure to know where to create faux highlights where light would strike the planes of the face. I seemed to have a knack for that and it surfaces again and again when I am painting the figure of a portrait.”

Currently Gilpatric is working on a series of miniature winter paintings. She says she is as intrigued by reflections seen in shiny surfaces—from bicycles and silver dishes to chrome mechanical parts—as she is by winter sunlight gleaming on the waters of seas that continue to enthrall her, as evidenced by her artist statement on her website: “Yellow winter sunlight gleams upon steel-grey waters—wind-

“The painting represents a process, choreographed like a dance.” churned ocean currents froth up waves irregular, booming, roaring, spewing foam and spray, in powerful gesture and singular attitude, sheets of spindrift slide and undulate, calling to be painted. Heeding this call I begin to choreograph, partnering the loaded brush to the canvas. This ballet of painting breathes life and energy into cold short days—one day a passionate tango, another a dreamy waltz.”

Thinking back on her career as a painter, a career that started relatively late in her life, Gilpatric eagerly encourages others to find and follow their own passions. “Participate in the arts,” she advises. “Sing. Dance. Act. Paint. Pursue your interests and participate in any way possible.” W

fall 2014 17

PHOTOS BY BRIAN SPEER

HAUNTED

18 wilson magazine

HALLS?

Investigators Search Wilson for Evidence of the Paranormal.

T

The sun had just disappeared below the horizon on a late Friday evening in August, causing the white Victorian façade of Norland Hall to cast a pale silhouette against an orange and purple sky.

Slowly, black cars and SUVs with license plates from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania entered campus and parked in front of Wilson’s oldest building. Men and women clad in black t-shirts that read “Generic Black Shirt Group” emerged from the vehicles, greeting one another with hugs and laughter. As the campus lights slowly illuminated, the visitors walked to Lenfest Commons, where Wilson Director of Safety Sam Woodring met them.

The ghost hunters had arrived.

By Brian Speer

fall 2014 19

This was not the first time paranormal investigators had

(The Atlantic Paranormal Society) group took the concept

come to Wilson. Last spring, the Gettysburg Ghost Gals

one step further by bringing modern equipment to bear in

found their way to campus in a visit unintentionally instigated

its investigations, lending a scientific tinge to the genre.

by Woodring. On a whim, he had run an online search for the

Thermographic and infrared digital video cameras,

top haunted colleges and, not finding Wilson, posed what

electromagnetic field (EMF) meters, digital thermometers

he thought was a question in passing to a group of Wilson

and digital audio recorders for capturing electronic voice

employees: “Wouldn’t it be great to get some ghost hunters

phenomenon (EVP) have become standard equipment

in here to check it out?”

for today’s paranormal investigators. The popularity

“Three or four days later, I had the Ghost Gals call me

of Ghost Hunters also spawned a number of regional

wanting to investigate,” he said.

As at many colleges Wilson’s age, ghost stories are part of the fabric of the institution. “I’ve heard over the years that the campus possibly has paranormal activity,” says Brigid Goode of the Gettysburg Ghost Gals. “There are stories from different people that have lived in the area all their lives and have said, ‘Oh yes, Wilson College is haunted.’ So that provoked an interest for us.”

Goode says that first investigation yielded “some good results in the mess [dining] hall and Warfield. We got good evidence, but we didn’t get anything in Norland. We didn’t get anything in the boardroom or down the end of the hall by the stage [in Laird Hall].”

“Just because you don’t capture anything doesn’t mean there isn’t activity there,” added Pam Spicknall, also of the

She stopped—frozen by the portrait of Norland’s original owner, Col. Alexander McClure. She stared at the painting and told Chin that McClure was the man she saw in the Sharpe House basement.

Gettysburg Ghost Gals, explaining why she and Goode

ghost investigation television shows, including GBSG’s

and other members of their group were back this fall to join

Paranormal Afterparty. Producer and investigator Anthony

forces with the Generic Black Shirt Group (GBSG).

Romano said of the show’s title, “We take investigating

The group (jokingly named because “all the paranormal groups wear black t-shirts”) produces a television show

paranormal activity seriously, but we also like to have fun.”

When GBSG and the Gettysburg Ghost Gals visited this

documenting its investigations. While programs exploring

fall, the plan for the first night was to settle into their rooms

the paranormal have been around for decades, the genre

in Rosenkranz Hall, tour “hotspots” on campus and plot the

grew in popularity with the 2004 debut of Ghost Hunters

second night’s filming. But as Woodring escorted the seven

on the SyFy channel. Based on a British program that was

GBSG members to their Rosenkranz rooms, one of the

more anecdotal in nature, the Rhode Island-based TAPS

investigators, Christine Downes, stopped and asked if there

20 wilson magazine

Above, Patricia Fletcher Beidel ’82 is interviewed in her office by paranormal investigators. Left, some of the equipment brought by the group for gathering evidence of paranormal activity. been any reports of unexplained footsteps in the mid-20th-

investigation, having begun in 2009. A member of a

century residence. Woodring replied that “students have

number of paranormal teams, including TAPS and GBSG,

said that they hear them on the second floor.”

she is a bit of a technological outlier, preferring to use

The hunt was on.

her senses and “mind’s eye” while investigating. “When I

After the visitors stowed their personal belongings

started I didn’t really understand what I was seeing and

in Rosenkranz, the tour commenced in Laird Hall.

hearing, but I’ve developed an empathy over time that

Investigators toted a number of instruments, including

makes things more clear,” she says.

a Greysen Box, which measures electromagnetic field

After leaving Sharpe House, the group made its way

fluctuations and ambient temperatures; a ghost box,

to Norland Hall, the oldest building on campus. Everyone

which scans the AM frequencies through which spirits

filed into the building from the back entrance and moved

purportedly communicate; and a digital voice recorder for

past the stairway and into the main parlor that serves as

capturing EVPs. The first GBSG members to enter Laird’s

the admissions waiting area. Straggling behind the others,

Patterson Boardroom reported seeing shadows and

Downes entered the building alongside her brother, Joe

hearing sounds that might be voices. On a walk-through

Chin. As she cleared the staircase into the main entry

of the backstage areas in Laird, investigators took note

hall she stopped—frozen by the portrait of the building’s

of electrical wiring junctions that could serve to elevate

original owner, Col. Alexander McClure, that hangs on the

electromagnetic fields and produce faulty measurements.

wall. She stared at the painting and told Chin that McClure

Then it was on to Sharpe House, where Downes reported seeing a male figure move across the basement.

was the man she saw in the Sharpe House basement.

Downes and Chin joined the others in the parlor. While

She followed and spoke to the form, asking if Sharpe was

Director of Admissions Patricia Fletcher Beidel ’82 told

his house. He replied that it wasn’t, she said.

the investigators about the building’s history, Downes and

Downes is a relative newcomer to paranormal

investigator Erik Julian caught each other’s eye and left the

fall 2014 21

parlor, moving quickly and quietly up the stairs toward the

gathered, the talk was about the group’s

second floor. Pausing before the second floor landing, Julian

overnight in Rosenkranz. Chin, who has been

used hand signals to indicate footsteps. Downes nodded in

a regular on the Ghost Hunters and Ghost

agreement. Near one of the office doors they again looked

Hunters International television shows, had

at each other knowingly. “I heard a woman’s voice,” Downes

heard footsteps; Downes said that someone

said. “Yes,” Julian agreed. “A woman or a teenager.”

repeatedly jiggled the doorknob to her room;

When Beidel led the rest of the investigators to the

and Julian described seeing the form of an

second floor, she related her own spooky Norland stories.

elderly woman dressed in circa-1940s white

Beidel has worked in admissions at Wilson for nearly 17

clothing “walking down the hall and stopping

years, and her experiences with the paranormal date back

at rooms along the hallway and pointing

to her student days. One night, she said, back when her

into them” in disapproval. Chin added that

office was on that very floor, she had an unusal visitor. “My

he dislikes staying in the same place where

desk used to face the door and—on one of those late winter

he investigates. “I never get any sleep,” he

nights when it gets dark early—my office mate and I were

said. “With Ghost Hunters International we

sitting, working, and I happened to see someone walk by

would sleep in the castles where we were

the door,” Beidel said. “It struck me because the person

investigating and literally hear the moans and

who walked by the door—one, I had never seen before, and

rattling chains!”

two, they were dressed oddly. They were in a white lacy dress and just walked by the door and into what was, at that

The first stop on this night was Beidel’s current office, on the third floor of Norland.

“I asked questions and they were responded to….There was a machine lying on a bed and nobody’s around it and you’re asking questions. You’re asking it to light up and it lights up. Something is making it do that. Something was there.” time, a bathroom. And they never came out. I got curious

Beidel and three investigators settled into the room as

and went in, and there was no one there.”

shadows danced across the ceiling from the campus lights

Three of the investigators moved into Beidel’s old office

below. The investigators’ questioning does not yield any

and began asking questions while the remainder of the

reaction from the equipment in the room, but shortly after

group listened from an adjacent office. The temperature

asking a “spirit” if he had passed because of a problem

had dropped in the room, and during questioning two of

with his lungs, Downes experienced shortness of breath,

the investigators heard a voice telling them to not sit on the

forcing her to leave the room. (Before leaving Norland,

furniture. As they emerged from the office Romano said,

another group would go to Beidel’s old office on the

“We definitely have to come back here tomorrow night.”

second floor where they would report recording EVPs.)

A

And indeed, Saturday night’s investigation and filming

began in the Norland parlor. But as the investigators

22 wilson magazine

The larger team of investigators, 12 in all, split into two groups and headed in different directions. One, including Beidel, returned to Sharpe House, and the other joined Woodring in the dining hall. The portrait of Sarah Wilson that hangs there has been the focus of much of

by periodic snippets of music or voice sounds.

With the devices activated, the group did not have to wait long before the action began. After static sounds filled the dining hall, the ghost box went silent. Downes asked, “If that’s you, can you turn it back on?” The static began again.Downes asked the spirit to turn the machine off and the sound ceased once again. She then asked, “If that machine is bothering you, can you please make a noise?” The static resumed. Another investigator asked, “Do you want us to turn down the volume a little?

If yes, stop the box.” The static stopped. During the questioning the group began interpreting words through the ghost box including Woodring’s name. As the session continued a member of the group turned the Wilson portrait askew. A short while later the EMF detector on the mantel began to flash.

Meanwhile, the second group of investigators, lead by George “Flip” Searles, set up similar equipment in Sharpe House. As they moved through the building they reported

Above, members of GBSG gather prior to the second nights investigation and filming. Below, Christine Downes as seen through infrared video as she attempts to speak with a spirit on the Laird Hall stage.

hearing a spirit or spirits talking to them, repeating the names of the various people in the group.

“The experience in Sharpe House was really cool,” said Beidel. “I asked questions and they were responded to….

There was a machine lying on a bed and nobody’s around it and you’re asking questions. You’re asking it to light up and it lights up. Something is making it do that. Something was there.”

The remaining site investigations yielded a continued mix of EMF, EVP and ghost box activity. For Beidel and Woodring, the weekend reinforced what they already believed about paranormal activity at Wilson. “I know it was here,” said Beidel. “Based on my own experiences, not based on anyone else’s stories, I know it was here.”

“Some people are upset that we did the ghost [investigation] and I respect their opinion,” Beidel said.

the reported activity in that space over the years. “There

“In return, I feel they should respect mine. Who’s right or

are stories of, if you take the picture down or cover it

wrong, nobody knows, but it’s all in what you believe.”

up, especially during weddings, you may find your table

Both acknowledge that there are skeptics and that the

upset,” said Woodring. “I’ve also had reports from kitchen

ways in which GBSG interpreted the “evidence” could be

staff of dishes coming off shelves. You cover her picture up,

called into question. “For the most part I think the stuff

there’s sort of like a little chaos.”

they found is real,” said Woodring. “Some of the ghost box

As the investigators and Woodring settled into seats, two devices were set up. The first, designed to react to EMF

stuff—well, I’m half and half on the ghost box.”

Woodring said he was impressed with the investigation.

fluctuations with lights, was placed on the mantel below

In particular he was glad to find out that “the spirits know

Wilson’s portrait. The second, a ghost box, scanned AM

me by name.” When considering what he took away from

frequencies, emitting a sound like a car radio searching for

the ghost hunters’ visit, he paused and replied: “There are

a signal in remote areas, with undulating static interrupted

things that go bump in the night here.” W

fall 2014 23

a Partn 24 wilson magazine

ership

Research with USDA puts Wilson students in the field

By Cathy Mentzer

U

.S. Department of Agriculture researcher Dan Shelton discovered Wilson College through an Internet search. What began as sheer serendipity in 2007 has grown into a partnership that benefits the government agency, Wilson students and, potentially, farmers worldwide.

Seven years ago, Shelton, research leader at the USDA’s Agriculture Research Service Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory, was overseeing a project in Pennsylvania’s Little Cove Creek watershed and making weekly trips from his Beltsville, Maryland, office to collect water samples. “That’s a long drive from Washington,” Shelton said. “So I said, ‘OK, there’s got to be a better way to do this. We’ve got to find some students.’” After a Google search for colleges near Little Cove turned up Wilson, “I picked up the phone and said, ‘How would you like it if I gave you some money to hire some students?’”

fall 2014 25

PHOTOS BY CATHY MENTZER

PHOTO BY CATHY MENTZER

Photos, from left: Professor of Biology M. Dana Harriger and Kisha Pradhan ’15 wash cantaloupes with a sterile solution for a USDA study; vials of solution waiting to be sent to the USDA research lab for testing; the USDA has its own plot on Wilson’s Fulton Farm for conducting research using organic produce.

Professor Edward Wells, chair of Wilson’s Department of Environmental Studies, was on the other end of that call. “(Shelton) wanted to explore this idea, and it just snowballed from there,” Wells said. Shelton traveled to campus and met with Wells and Associate Professor of Biology M. Dana Harriger to discuss using Wilson students to collect water samples. “The rest is history,” Harriger said.

Wilson students have been assisting the USDA lab ever since, under the oversight of principal investigators Wells and Harriger and with the help of Fulton Center for Sustainable Living Program Manager Chris Mayer ’07 and Fulton Farm Manager Sarah Bay— most recently using the resource of Wilson’s organic farm. Last summer, Shelton and his team offered Wilson an agreement to conduct research through 2019, with initial funding of $50,000 and the potential for comparable amounts annually going forward.

The funding pays for equipment and for Wilson faculty, staff and students to carry out the research. But the value of the relationship with the government agency transcends money. Wilson students who participate in the research gain experience and make invaluable connections, Wells says. “Providing opportunities for our students to do significant research with a reputable agency—that by far is the biggest thing to me,” he said.

Kisha Pradhan, a senior from Nepal majoring in environmental science with a minor in biology, began participating with the USDA research this summer. “I think it’s a really good opportunity,” said Pridhan, who hopes to enter a doctoral program related to public health after graduation. “This is a really good learning experience for me, plus it’s related to my interests. It makes my resume look better and I get to connect with people from the USDA, which might help me in the future.”

When she was a Wilson student, Monica Davies Cleary ’09 served as a paid intern in the program. Cleary, of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, is now a senior environmental monitoring specialist in quality control with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.

26 wilson magazine

She says the experience helped her understand “the importance of really being able to think critically about the results I was seeing, being able to interact with the people from the USDA and having those relationships. Everybody at the USDA was really helpful.”

The USDA often uses college students to help with research, but Shelton says the relationship with Wilson is uncommon. “We probably have these kinds of agreements with at least eight other universities. We’re talking about very large research institutions,” he said. “But I think Wilson is unique. I think that’s the only place where we’re doing on-site research.”

The scale of that research has moved far beyond water sampling.

The USDA now has its own plot at Fulton Farm, where it can conduct studies that differ from those at its 5,000-acre farm in Beltsville.

“We don’t have the kind of manpower (in Beltsville) to do the kinds of intensive studies that we need to do,” Shelton said. “The beauty of our collaboration with Wilson is that we can do the kind of field studies that we just cannot do here.”

Shelton and Jitu Patel, lead scientist at the Beltsville lab, say that in addition to the practical ways working at Wilson helps the USDA, they also like offering research opportunities to undergraduate students. “It is part of our mission, I think, to help train the next generation,” Shelton said. “For me, the opportunities that I have to mentor students, especially minorities—that brings more satisfaction than if we get results or not,” Patel added.

Patel’s research focuses on organic produce, and Fulton Farm is a place where his theories about the ways such produce can be protected from harmful bacteria can be tested. This past summer, research at Fulton centered on listeria—a potentially diseasecausing bacteria—grown on the surface of cantaloupes and whether natural, essential oils with antimicrobial properties, such as cinnamon oil, may be effective in controlling it. In 2011, cantaloupe tainted with the bacteria caused 29 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

PHOTO BY MATTHEW LESTER

“The interest of the USDA here is to find alternative means to control these microorganisms without using harsh chemicals,” Harriger said.

The cantaloupes were planted in mid-summer and later, the maturing melons were sprayed with a non-disease-causing strain of listeria—though one that is similar to a pathogenic strain. The Wilson cantaloupes were separated into three groups, including a control group. A second group was treated with cinnamon oil and another was treated with Sporan, a fungicide made of essential plant oils.

In early September, Harriger and Pradhan worked in a Brooks Complex microbiology lab to “wash” cantaloupe that had been treated with oils. “We are washing this with a sterile solution,” said Harriger. “Any bacteria on (the melons) will go into that solution.”

Vials of the solution were sent to the USDA lab to be tested for the type and amount of bacteria present in the solution.

“We wanted to see persistence of listeria innocua on a growing cantaloupe, and if we can kill those bacteria by using natural microbials like cinnamon or rosemary oil,” Patel said. Initial test results from the ongoing research were inconclusive, but Patel hopes to conduct related studies at Wilson in the spring, this time including research into whether enzymes found in brassica vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli can help rid soil of harmful bacteria.

Research done at Wilson could lead to a breakthrough in food safety policy, according to Shelton. “If the potential didn’t exist to have an impact, honestly, I wouldn’t be putting my money there,” he said. But more immediately, the research might assist those working to increase the supply of food grown on small farms.

“Part of the agency’s mission is not only to support large agriculture, it’s also to support small agriculture,” he said. “Where Wilson fits into the picture is, it allows us to do the kind of work that we need to be doing to support the smaller farmers.” W

“Providing opportunities for our students to do significant research with a reputable agency—that by far is the biggest thing to me.”

— EDWARD WELLS

CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

fall 2014 27

PHOTO BY CAHTY MENTZER

AROUND THE GREEN

Fulton Center for Sustainable Living Program Manager Chris Mayer ’07 addresses local children at Fulton Farm on vegetable literacy.

28 wilson magazine

VEGGING

OUT Fulton Farm Connects Local Children with the Land

By Laura B. Hans ‘13

M

ore than 200 children from Franklin County met some chickens, picked vegetables and learned the workings of an organic farm last summer as part of a program called Vegetable Literacy at Fulton Farm. The pilot program, based at Wilson’s Fulton Center for Sustainable Living and funded with grants from Summit Endowment (part of Summit Health) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, was developed to address concerns about nutrition and health among local residents.

A recent community health needs assessment found that 75 percent of Franklin County residents eat fewer than the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables, according to FCSL Program Manager Chris Mayer ‘07. Mayer and her colleagues set out to teach children the value of such foods in their diets and to show them where nutritious food comes from. As an added benefit, Wilson students participating in the project got hands-on experience as educators.

Children from Building Our Pride in Chambersburg, the Lincoln Intermediate Unit’s Migrant Education Program and the Chambersburg/Shippensburg Boys and Girls Club participated, spending a day “vegging out” at Fulton Farm, a certified organic farm. Mayer, her students from last spring semester’s Environmental Education class and the Fulton Farm environmental education team—recent Pace University graduate Annie Bingaman and Robyn Van En Center program manager Judy Scriptunas—developed the “Veg Out” curriculum.

In groups of 10 to 40, children visited the farm to learn about sustainable food production and land stewardship. They toured the historic Owens Barn, a renovated bank barn built in 1835; learned about the vegetables being grown and harvested; fed scraps to chickens in a coop on wheels called the “chicken tractor;” picked vegetables; had a healthy snack; and played games to test their newly acquired knowledge of food and farming.

the forest. Others cited local and national supermarket chains or a farmers market.

But in one group, two-thirds of the children said that the food that they ate came from sources such as pizza delivery.

“That story really caught the attention of the Summit folks,” Mayer said, and the Vegetable Literacy program was born. After a successful summer, Mayer and her team are now assessing the results of the pilot to see if its goals—that participating children

The kids may not know where their food is coming from. We want them to have the experience of coming to the farm and seeing how things grow.

— Annie Bingaman

Environmental Education Coordinator “They got to connect with living things,” Bingaman said, adding that the chicken tractor was a big hit. “Even though we're in such a semi-rural area that's rich with farmland, there's this disconnect between the people and the land,” she added. “The kids may not know where their food is coming from. We want them to have the experience of coming to the farm and seeing how things grow.”

The disconnect Bingaman noted was underscored in research Mayer conducted with local children before the farm-based program was created. Asked where their food came from, some children were able to name places such as a garden, farm or

become vegetable literate and consume more vegetables over time—are on the way to being met. “Our other big goal is to develop a curriculum specific for Fulton Farm,” she said.

Emily Stanton ’15, who worked with the children, says that the education was not just in the lesson taught. “It was in the farm tour, where [the children] got to see everything and pick peas. It was there when the kids were feeding the chickens. It was there when they got to meet the farmers and eat the carrots that had just been picked,” Stanton said. “Because they were involved in something fun, as well as hands-on, it will have a lasting effect.” W

fall 2014 29

A LEADING

EXAMPLE Hillary Swartz ’15 has been a Role Model On and Off the Field

By Samantha Burmeister

H

illary Swartz defines the ideal of the Division III student-athlete. This fall, the senior forward from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, wrapped up her standout field hockey career in the style to which Wilson has become accustomed—by scoring goals and assists and taking her on-field intensity into a wide variety of roles on and off campus.

A graduate of Boiling Springs High School, where she was captain of the field hockey team, Swartz joined the Wilson squad as a first-year student and went on to amass impressive career statistics. Over her four years, she played in 59 games, scored 31

biggest advocate for her college, both academically and athletically. She shares her passion for her collegiate experience with anyone she comes in contact with. She is the type of person that a coach is blessed with on a rare occasion and she cannot be replaced.”

Swartz also has been a member of the Phoenix lacrosse team, the Wilson Athletic Association, and the College’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, of which she is current chair. She was field hockey team co-captain for 2013 and 2014; chair of the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Student-Athlete

Wilson and my athletic experience have been more valuable than I ever could image.

— Hillary Swartz ’15 goals, tallied 21 assists and amassed 83 points. Her statistical contribution ranks her as the fourth all-time leading scorer in the past 26 years of the Wilson College Field Hockey program.

“Hillary is an impact player. Her contributions to the field hockey team extend beyond her performance on the field,” said head coach Shelly Novak ‘92. “She is the

30 wilson magazine

Advisory Committee (SAAC) for the conference’s south region in 2013-14; and a member of the Wilson College Welcoming Committee in 2013-14.

In her NEAC role, Swartz represented all of the schools in the south region at the National Collegiate Athletic Association in January 2014. “Representing the NEAC at the NCAA convention in San Diego, California, was a great honor and an amazing

opportunity,” she said. “When I was at the convention, I was able to get a better understanding of how sports are run at the collegiate level and meet student-athletes from all over the nation and from all divisions of the NCAA.” Swartz says her Wilson experience has been memorable in part because of the dedication of her fellow athletes. “Wilson and my athletic experience have been more valuable than I ever could imagine,” she said. “I love playing for Wilson athletics because of the heart each player brings to the team. Wilson may be small, but it is mighty and the group of athletes attending Wilson all play with the same fight, desire and love of the game.”

And Swartz doesn’t leave all that dedication on the field. She is on track to graduate this spring with honors in her sport management major and will also earn minors in business, athletic coaching, and women’s studies. Swartz says she hopes to become an athletic director someday.

As for her Wilson legacy, “I want to be remembered for my passion of the game [and] my teammates and my promotion of the future of the team,” Swartz said at midseason. “I know when I play my last college field hockey game, I will not be leaving my team behind, wishing them luck. When they reach their goal of an undefeated season, I will be a part of that success.” W

PHOTO BY BOB STOLER

AROUND THE GREEN

Hillary Swartz ‘15

PHOENIX SPORTS WRAP The Phoenix FIELD HOCKEY team finished the 2014 season with a 5-9 record while fielding a young roster consisting of ten freshmen and only four seniors. HILLARY SWARTZ ’15 led the team in scoring with 11 goals, 7 assists, and 29 points, with MIRANDA LONG ’18 contributing 8 goals, 2 assists, and 12 points on the season. The team earned wins against Notre Dame of Maryland University (2-0), Cedar Crest College (3-1), Earlham College (3-2), Bryn Mawr College (6-2), and Wells College (4-0). Beginning in the fall of 2015, the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) will add field hockey as one of their competitive sports. Wilson field hockey will now have an opportunity to compete for a conference championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

WOMEN’S SOCCER wrapped up the 2014 season with a record

ence win came over College of Saint Elizabeth 12-0 in the final game of the season. NANA OHENE-MANU ’17 led the team offensively, scoring 11 goals while ERIN STEPHAN ’18 contributed 7 goals.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY competed in seven matches

this fall, including the NEAC championship meet. The team expanded its 2014 roster to include nine runners available for competition in the program’s second year. EMMA MILLER ’17 led the Phoenix with a personal best time of 26:50 in the Gallaudet University Invitational 6K race on September 13.

KATELYN WINGERD ’16, TIANNA WEIST ’17, and SHANNON MORENA ’18 competed in the season-ending NEAC Championship, with each runner posting personal best times in the November 1 event which was also held at Gallaudet.

of 4-11, going 1-10 in conference play. The Phoenix’s lone confer-

fall 2014 31

PHOTO BY RYAN SMITH

AROUND THE GREEN

32 wilson magazine

A NEW YEAR As Wilson Welcomes its First Male Residential Students, the Academic Experience Remains Familiar

By Sally Baker

A

s the academic year kicked off at Wilson with the traditional Fall Convocation, Nicole Melanson ’15 wondered what the atmosphere in Alumnae Chapel would be like during the all-campus gathering.

The equine-facilitated therapeutics major Hyannis, Mass., said that after a period of unrest over the Board of Trustees’ decision to make Wilson fully coeducational, she was hoping her senior year would kick off on a positive note.

“My sophomore year and junior year, there was a lot of controversy among students and there was lot of tension here,” Melanson said. “It’s not enjoyable to have tension among your friends because of something you can’t control.”

But if she and some classmates worried that the fall 2014 semester would begin on a wave of anti-coeducation sentiment, they were quickly reassured. Bedsheet banners declaring, “Welcome to our Wilson sisters and brothers,” were hanging on campus as new students—the largest cohort in four decades—arrived, and Associate Professor of English Michael Cornelius underscored the message in his remarks at Convocation.

“You are Wilson,” Cornelius said, summing up remarks that extolled the value of a Wilson education and firmly approved the admission of men. “Don’t forget that, and never let anyone suggest otherwise. And live up to that responsibility. It’s an amazing thing to be Wilson College. It comes with such promise—and demands hard work in

return. But I’ve never known anything more worth it.”

“He said to the men, ‘You are welcome here,’” said Professor of Sociology Julie Raulli. “People clapped and cheered. And that was a good thing. Who would want to go to a place where he is not welcome?”

Melanson agrees that Cornelius “hit the nail on the head.” The message, she said, was: “We are changing, but not every change is bad. His speech was welcoming for everyone.”

“The important point is that teaching that attends to the abilities and needs of students benefits both women and men,” Shillock said. “We learned about student-centered learning from the women’s movement and it was a great gift to education.”

Raulli chaired a committee charged with discovering what the Wilson community most valued about women-centered education and proposing how to keep its best aspects as the College moved to coeducation. Her concern, she says, is not that men

The important point is that teaching that attends to the abilities and needs of students benefits both women and men.

—Larry Shillock

Professor of English

Professor of English Larry Shillock expresses respect for the stance of those who oppose the move to coeducation. But, he says, alumnae and current students who attended Wilson when it was fundamentally a women’s college would find the classroom atmosphere perfectly familiar. The men in his courses, are “polite, attentive and respectful,” and he has seen no shift in classroom dynamics.

will radically alter the Wilson experience, but that something will be lost as the College grows its enrollment.

“The presence of men has not dramatically changed the culture of the campus,” Raulli said. “What does affect the culture of the campus is the size of the student body. Wilson has historically been smaller than most colleges, and the ambition is to double in size. There are fiscal consequences to small, but that size carries relational and instruc-

fall 2014 33

PHOTOS BY RYAN SMITH

AROUND THE GREEN

Wilson College welcomed its largest class in more than 40 years. The group, which represents 10 states and seven countries, is easily among the most diverse to pass through the College.

tional positives. Students feel they can approach faculty members. Faculty know students well enough to guide and help them as they think about their intellectual and professional interests. When we have more students, it will be more of a challenge to get to know them well.”

Patrick Fox ’17—whose grandmother, Nancy Hoke ’79—helped steer him to Wilson last year from a larger university where he felt unchallenged academically, agrees that the Wilson advantage has more to do with size than with the gender of its students. “The college is small, there is a lot more one-on-one time with professors and I have a lot more opportunities available to me at Wilson than I would at other colleges,” Fox said, adding that Wilson’s faculty is “amazing” and he hopes more students will have the chance to work with them.

Melanson, too, is pleased with the overall growth in enrollment, which included significantly larger numbers of incoming female students, as well as men. A top student, Melanson also is captain of the field hockey team, a resident assistant, a mem-

34 wilson magazine

ber of the Equine-Facilitated Therapy Club and president of the Athletic Association— among many other allegiances. She says the additional students, men included, have enlivened the campus environment.

“More people are participating now in campus activities than I think I have ever seen,” she said. “That could be the numbers for the freshman class coming in, but these men are part of that class and I think they are doing a great job of representing Wilson. They go out to (Residence) Life programs; they show up to games on campus; they participate in activities—and it’s social.

I’ve never gone into the dining hall so many times when there are so many people at breakfast just hanging out and talking before they go to class. It’s enjoyable to see people so excited to be around this campus.”

Raulli and Shillock both say it is impossible to know what the long-term effect of coeducation will be on Wilson’s campus. But both Melanson and Fox are quick to note that nothing about the presence of men on campus has diminished the women.

“I’ve met some of the strongest women I’ve known in my entire life here,” Fox said. “I don’t think there is any cause to be concerned [about] losing the sense of community or losing the sense of culture, or thinking that the trends that Wilson College has maintained before are going to somehow change.”

Melanson agrees. “I’m still head down in my books, trying to get the 4.0 that I want to work for—there is no change there,” she said. “I’m not the type of person to allow anybody, regardless of their sex or how empowered they feel, to tell me I’m wrong, to shut me down. If I have a belief in something, I am going to voice it.” W

— hidden —

history I

THE FOUNDING OF WILSON COLLEGE

n the summer of 1867, Tryon Edwards, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Hagerstown, Maryland, traveled to meet with colleague James W. Wightman of the Presbyterian Church of Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Edwards asked Wrightman to help found a women’s seminary in Chambersburg.

Wightman refused on the grounds that so-called female seminaries were meant to teach women manners and deportment, not to challenge them academically. “I do not believe in the female education of women,” he said, suggesting they create a first-class college for women, comparable to those for young men.

Together, Wightman and Edwards envisioned such a place.

It would be academically rigorous; its student code would be based on honor and self-discipline; and it would be Christian but non-sectarian. Above all, it would promote the intellectual and spiritual growth of its students.

On April 15, 1868, the regional Presbytery asked its committee on education, chaired by Edwards, to devise a plan for establishing a women’s college. The plan, presented in June, called for the selection of a board of trustees, purchase of a suitable property, recruitment of students and, of course, a fundraising campaign.

The greatest challenge quickly proved to be procuring the necessary funds. The board of trustees, composed of prominent local men, sought subscriptions from towns in Franklin County.

As an incentive, they offered to locate the college in the town that gave most generously. With a pledge of $23,000—including $10,000 from Sarah Wilson—Chambersburg got the nod.

The board set its sights on Norland, the estate of Col. Alexander K. McClure. McClure was a national figure in Republican politics and had been a fierce abolitionist and supporter of President Abraham Lincoln. Like much of Chambersburg, his home had been burned to the ground during a Confederate occupation of the city. By 1868, the estate included the rebuilt house (now Norland Hall), outhouses and a 52-acre farm. The price tag was $45,000—well beyond the means of the fledgling school.

Edwards and the board turned again to Sarah Wilson. One of 10 children born to a prosperous farming family, Wilson had inherited substantial wealth on the deaths of her father and brothers. She agreed to give an additional $20,000 for the purchase of Norland, providing that the college be given her family name.

With the McClure estate in hand and a good deal of its land sold to fund remodeling of the existing buildings (much of the land was later reacquired), the College received its charter from the Pennsylvania Legislature on March 24, 1869, less than two years after Wrightman and Edwards met to conceive the idea. It was a remarkable accomplishment, and the men who had led the effort stayed to see it come to fruition. Edwards was named president and Wightman vice president of the new school.

Wilson College opened its doors to 75 students and eight faculty members on Oct. 12, 1870.

For more information on the College’s founders and its history, visit the Hankey Center’s C. Elizabeth Boyd ’33 Archives.

— Leigh Rupinski

fall 2014 35

ONE TEAM, ONE GOAL. The Wilson College men’s basketball team kicked off its home schedule in November with a 91-66 win over Christendom College. In the victory—the first in program history—five players scored in double digits, led by Darren Mohamed’s 20.

Photo by Bob Stoler

36 wilson magazine

— giving —

thanks Dear Correspondents,

PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD

It’s been almost two years since I joined the Office and Marketing and Communications and started working as the class notes coordinator for Wilson Magazine. During these two years I have enjoyed getting to know each of you and I am continually reminded of the amazing company I keep as a Wilson alumna. I can say, without hesitation, that working with each of you is the best part of my job and I want to thank you for your dedication and service to our alma mater.

As correspondents, you are in many ways the storytellers of your class. So often class correspondents are the first to hear of the accomplishments of Wilson alumnae/i. And for the correspondents who have held the post for decades, your memories serve as living repositories of the successes of our alumnae/i. We need your assistance to help us tell those stories. Please think about individuals in your class that have compelling stories to tell. Preserving the vibrant legacies of Wilson alumnae/i for future generations of Wilson students is very important to us.

Story ideas can be emailed to Wilson Magazine at mag@wilson.edu, or mailed via the postal service to the College (be sure to indicate Office of Marketing and Communications in the address).

Below are the finalized deadlines for class notes for the 2015 Wilson Magazine schedule: Winter: December 15, 2014

(Note, this date is later than originally communicated) Spring: March 2, 2015 Summer: June 1, 2015 Fall: August 31, 2015 Due dates for class notes columns can always be found on the Wilson website by visiting the “Alumnae/i” page and clicking on Wilson Magazine.

Thank you again for your hard work and for making my job so much fun.

Best wishes for the holiday season and the New Year.

Sincerely, Courtney D. Wolfe ’12 Class Notes Coordinator, Wilson Magazine cwolfe@wilson.edu

fall 2014 37

ASSOCIATION NEWS

We strive to offer a variety of activities and have increased our communications over the past year. Much of what is promoted and shared is in Wilson Magazine, posted on AR Wilson on Facebook, in the monthly e-newsletter and on the college/AAWC webpages. During Fall Leadership Weekend, we had the opportunity to provide feedback on what we, as alumnae/i, would like to see or how we use the webpages. We welcome your feedback to AAWC@wilson.edu or alumnae@wilson.edu. For local or regional events, we generally follow the policy of designating a 30- to 60-minute radius of the event, then emailing those who live within that radius, while sending a printed invitation to those for whom we don’t have an email on file.

Events are posted in the e-newsletter and online so if you know you will be in an area, you are welcome to call or email us to join. Updated email addresses are pivotal to our ability to send timely information in the least expensive manner.

— Mary F. Cramer ’91 President, Alumnae Association of Wilson College — Marybeth Famulare Director of Alumnae/i Relations

38 wilson magazine

AN EMERALD ISLE JOURNEY T

his past July, three Wilson alums and their five companions joined alumni from West Point, Georgia Tech, Cornell and Emory on an AHI Travel trip to Ireland. We were blessed to have what the Irish consider “hot” weather (low 70s) and very little rain. With these conditions, it is easy to experience the Emerald Isle’s Forty Shades of Green; thatched roofs; many sheep, cattle and horses; and miles and miles of stone walls.

The tour began in Ireland’s friendliest town, Ennis, at the historic Old Ground Hotel, which met all our expectations of what a grand Irish hotel should be. After dinner on our first evening, we were treated to outstanding Irish musicians and dancers. After an overnight flight and walking through the ruins of a 13th-century friary in Ennis the next day, it was just what we needed to stay awake. AHI tours emphasize the culture and history, which we heard from lectures and local guides. We were also treated to an Irish storyteller, though our coach driver, Danny, like most Irishmen, continually kept us entertained with his stories and insights.

From Ennis, we ventured by coach to the port city of Galway, where we had a walking tour escorted by a local guide, Fiona, who gave us an insider’s view of the city. She is one of the AHI-affiliated tour guides that are typical of the group travel company.

Our next adventure was a stop at the Burren. This is a unique land that includes indigenous plants from tropic and arctic ecosystems growing together in rocky crevices. In this national park, we also visited a portal tomb dating from 2300 to 2000 B.C. From here it was on to the majestic Cliffs of Moher rising 700 feet above a rocky coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Traveling by ferry, we visited the stark Aran Islands inhabited since 3000 B.C. and home to the Aran style of knitwear. After an arduous climb, we reached the Bronze Age fort called Dun Aengus and were treated to a panoramic view of the island and its coast.

Continuing on toward Killarney, we stopped to visit the Blasket Heritage Center, which honors the inhabitants of the remote Blasket Islands, who lived there without benefit of running water, electricity or other amenities of modern civilization until 1953. Afterward, we stopped in Dingle and walked streets lined with buildings painted all the colors of the rainbow. No tour of Ireland is complete without traveling the Ring of Kerry, considered one of the most scenic coastal roads, with its mountains, sheep in green pastures and glistening lakes. At our lunch stop the golfers in the group visited the Waterville Country Club with its typical links course. A statue of the late Payne Stewart honors his accomplishments.

On the way to Dublin, we had a farm-to-table lunch at the Longueville House, prepared by the owner/chef. This fine country home was built in 1720 and provides a stunning view of Blackwater Valley. In Dublin, we visited Trinity College and viewed the 8th- century illuminated Book of Kells. During our free time in Dublin, we were able to visit the National Museum—home to specimens of the preserved bog people. Others in the group had a literary tour of pubs.

Don’t let anyone tell you the food in Ireland leaves much to be desired. We had wonderful gourmet meals and of course, there is nothing more Irish than pub food of fish and chips or shepherd’s pie accompanied by a pint of Guinness. —Nancy Kostas ’64

TRI PS I N TH E WORKS FOR 2015 For more information about additional international trips sponsored by the Alumnae Association Tours and Travel Committee, visit wilson.edu/aatours.

March 11-15, 2015 — Miami and Cuba (booking deadline is Jan. 11, 2015) May 1-9, 2015 — Riverboat Tour, Memphis to New Orleans Aug. 6-12, 2015 — Canadian Rockies Parks and Resorts Aug. 23-29, 2015 — Northern Burgundy, France, Barge Cruise Sept. 25 – Oct. 4, 2015 — Sicily, Italy Oct. 3-11, 2015 — Flavors of Northern Italy

fall 2014 39

ALUMNAE/I NEWS CLASS AND CLUB GIFTS 2013-14 Franklin County Club Every year, the Franklin County Club raises money to award a $1,500 scholarship to a local student who plans to attend Wilson.

The following individuals contributed this year: Alex Bacay Mary Foltz Berberich James Butts Jonathan Clark Mary Maryjanowski Cramer ’91 Bruce Foreman Edna “Denise” Sites Foreman ’48 Maxine Lesher Gindlesperger ’98 Carolyn Hart Robin Herring ’07 Cheryl Kakiel Patricia Markle Keffer ’96 Janice St. Clair Kohler ’57 Betty Jane Weller Lee ’57 Anne Pearce Lehman ’49 Laureen Lutz ’08

Gretchen Mackely ’69 Betty Keefer MacLaughlin ’67 Christine Saber Mayer ’07 Peggy McCleary ’71 Barbara K. Mistick Susan Mowen ’97 Stephen Oldt ’99 Linda Raimo Camilla B. Rawleigh Lynda Thomason Lori Loreman Tosten ’01 Dorothy Van Brakle ’09 D’Arcy Charney Wagonhurst ’90 Wilson College Kathleen Wolfinger ’66

Pittsburgh Club Every year, the Pittsburgh Club raises money to award funds through the Alumnae Association Internship Program. The following individuals contributed this year: Joan Elbert Becker ’47 Janet Wright Bloomfield ’50 Wendy Jo Culver ’63 Yvonne Walters Etter ’55 Jane Taylor Fox ’59 Leslie Gottschalk ’74 Carol Schaaf Heppner ’64

Kathryn Kelley Karns ’74 Carol-Jean Russell McGreevy-Morales ’64 Pamela Spear Price ’70 Paula Spezza Tishok ’71 Barbara Harris Wright ’51

Student Internship Program Cynthia Fink Barber ’73 - In memory of Kadi Wilberg ’73 Anne Grimes ’82 Joan M. Thuebel ’52 Pamela Cochrane Tisdale ’68

ALUMNAE SOCCER GAME

Standing, from left, Brittney Poff ’15, Audrae Westurn ’15, Jessica Thrush ’17, Nicole Bodulow ’17, Courtney Bernecker ’14, Mary Miller ’08, Samantha May ’09, Dana Bennett Smoyer ’08, Amanda Harrity ’07, Hannah DeMoss ’13, Megan Longstreet ’13, Alejandra Madrigal ’17, Kathryn Murphy ’13, Laura Beck ’12 and Alaina Hofer ’11. Kneeling, from left, Sarah Engelsman Good ’08, Leah Good ’06, Erin Stephan ’18, Sarah Six ’18, Alyssa Bernard ’12, Samantha Waterhouse ’18 and Haley Hutchinson ’18. Seated, from left, Nana Ama Ohene-Manu ’17, Elizabeth Angel ’13, Breanna Cardasso ’15, Sarah McGuckin ’13, Madeleine Chausse ’17 and Lindsey Trace ’06.

REPRESENTING WILSON The following Wilson alumnae represented their alma mater during fall 2014 inaugural events at colleges and universities across the country: Jean Mathers Saillant ’65 attended the inauguration of Mauri A. Ditzler, Ph.D., the 16th president of Albion College in Albion, Michigan, on Sept. 12.

Margaret Bonnell Esslinger ’53 attended the inauguration of Mary Dana Hinton, Ph.D., the 15th president of the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, on Sept. 21.

Winnifred Rosenthal Adolph ’69 attended the inauguration of Elmira Mangum, Ph.D., the 11th president of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, on Oct. 3.

Unrestricted Donations Diana Otto Hollada ’07

Martha Estep O’Brien ’65 attended the inauguration of the Rev. Malachi Van Tassell, T.O.R., Ph.D., the 32nd president of Saint Francis University, in Loretto, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 4.

The campus “Miles of Pennies” toward Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library initially collected $77.52. Individuals who matched a gift in full or part increased the final total to $362.56.

Susan Sheffey Gatliff ’60 attended the inauguration of Christopher R. L. Blake, Ph.D., the first permanent president of Middle Georgia State College in Macon, Georgia, on Oct. 17.

Cynthia Fink Barber ’73 Marybeth Famulare Rita Handwerk Fisk ’64

Eleanor Lipski Ward ’58 attended the inauguration of the Rev. Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., Ph.D., the 28th president of the University of San Francisco in San Francisco, on Nov. 1.

40 wilson magazine

Elizabeth Heyer ’10 and ’14 Cathie Sunderland Jenkins ’71 Laureen Lutz ’08

WHERE ARE

WILSON'S ALUMNAE/I? The Office of Institutional Advancement thanks the following alumnae for hosting events in their area: Nancy Adams Besch ’48, Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania Pamela Francis Kiehl ’66, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Betty Lou Leedom Thompson ’60, Princeton, New Jersey D’Arcy Charney Wagonhurst ’90, Carlisle, Pennsylvania Elizabeth Van Dyke McDowell ’59, Old Forge, New York Judith Reny Stewart ’73, Nantucket, Massachusetts Anne Pearce Lehman ’49, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Nancy Kostas ’64, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Old Forge, N.Y. – July 31, 2014 Hosted by Elizabeth Van Dyke McDowell ’59 Back row, from left, President Barbara K. Mistick, Martha Spendlove Strohl ’64, Elizabeth “Liz” Van Dyke McDowell ’59, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Camilla “Cami” Rawleigh, Johanna Hayssen Macdonald ’64, Margaret Kennedy ’56 and Lisa Malmquist Dyslin ’64. Front row, from left, Esther Coe Williams ’69, Rebecca Irish Raynak ’72, Tracy Philpott Walker ’82, Mary Irish Norris ’75, Mary Applegate and Veronica “Roni” Boda ’74.

Lancaster, Pa. – Aug. 18, 2014 Hosted by Pamela Francis Kiehl ’66

Mt. Gretna, Pa. – Aug. 31, 2014 Hosted by Nancy Adams Besch ’48

Back row, from left, Mike Corradino, Barbara “Barb” Tenney ’67, Pamela Francis Kiehl ’66, J. Samuel “Sam” Houser, Suzette Gallagher Kneedler ’67, Marakay Rogers ’81, M. Samantha “Sam” Ainuddin ’94 and Kathleen “Kathy” Kier Potts ’62. Front row, from left, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Camilla “Cami” Rawleigh, Marjorie “Marge” Musil ’61, Sandra “Sandy” Huffman ’86, Jane Appleyard ’66. Seated, from left, President Barbara K. Mistick and Arline Eshleman Shannon ’46.

Back row, from left, Jill Campbell Nesher ’68, Anne Pearce Lehman ’49, Joan Foresman Edwards ’58, the Rev. Rosie Magee, Helen Carnell Eden Chaplain, Betty Keefer MacLaughlin ’67 and Sarah “Sally” Flowers ’60. Front row, from left, Edna “Denise” Sites Foreman ’48, Nancy Adams Besch ’48, Danielle Zona ’18, Brooke Wenger ’17 and Katelyn Wingerd ’16.

Princeton, N.J. – Nov. 6, 2014 Hosted by Betty Lou Leedom Thompson ’60

Carlisle, Pa. – Oct. 29, 2014

Hosted by D’Arcy Charney Wagonhurst ’90 From left, Amy Ensley, director of the Hankey Center, and former president Donald Bletz.

Standing, from left, Margaret “Peg” Thatcher ’63, Patricia “Pat” Barker ’66, Erin Shore ’97, Betty Lou Leedom Thompson ’60, Patricia Schenck Grannatt ’67, Barbara Buzzi Santosusso ’72, Renee Shields ’72 and Rosemary Lange Olson ’61. Seated, from left, Marjorie “Marge” Musil ’61, Elizabeth “Betty” Pickell Merring ’52, Suzanne Warnecke ’53, Jane Troutman Ensminger ’52 and Mary Jane Fischer ’69.

fall 2014 41

— last —

word A LESSON

FOR LIFE L

ast summer I had the experience of a lifetime. I was awarded the honor of being the first recipient of the Aiken Scholarship, which provides funding to a Wilson fine arts major to travel to Italy and experience life abroad. And what an incredible experience it was!

Living in Westminster, Maryland all my life, I had never been away from the East Coast nor had I been on a plane. In Italy, I was going to take an art history course on Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphael, and what better part of the world to be studying artists of the high Renaissance than in its birthplace; Florence, Italy. And all of it was made possible by the incredible gift provided by Brenda Aiken ’57 and her husband, Bob when they endowed the Aiken Scholarship.

The only word I can use to describe my trip is AWESOME—in every sense of the word. My adventure was awe-inspiring, overwhelming, beautiful, and life changing.

In my first week in Florence, I went to a castle where I ate a sixcourse meal with four types of wine, learned to weave baskets from a little old Italian man who didn’t speak English and walked around in the Mediterranean Sea at Cinque Terre. During my stay, I also toured Michelangelo’s house (did you know he had tiny feet?) and lived next to the Cathedral where Galileo, Michelangelo and Dante are laid to rest.

I stood next to Michelangelo’s David, climbed the Duomo and ate the most amazing burger—yes, burger—I have ever had in my life.

But out of all those experiences and all the memories I made, the one that stands out the most was the day we ended up being stranded between Siena and Florence.

I had fallen asleep on the bus back from our day trip to Siena only to wake and find we had stopped. My roommates and I looked at each other confused and unsure of what was happening. The driver turned off the bus and got out. He was gone for a while. In the meantime, some passengers chose to get off the bus, take their luggage and walk. When the driver returned, he explained everything—in Italian. He didn’t know how to speak English.

Thankfully, another man was able explain that it would be a few hours until the bus could be repaired, but that Florence was only about 4 kilometers from where we were. My roommates and I exchanged glances

64 wilson magazine

and down the road we went. It was at that point I realized something changed. I wasn’t worried.

I wasn’t worried about anything. And I’m a worrier. I worried about getting on the plane to Florence. How is this situation any less terrifying than getting on that plane for the first time? I was in a different country, I didn’t know where I was going or how to get where I needed to be, I couldn’t speak the language and still, it was ok. I wasn’t worried.

Perhaps I felt confident because I had my roommates with me.

Maybe it was the weather or because, in the confusion, I knew I needed to be solid and sure. Whatever spurred my confidence, this moment was the beginning of a change in me. I’ve always been so worried about what happens next, about planning what I need to do so that everything works out perfectly. But you can’t plan for everything and you most certainly have no control over some things, so you just have to roll with whatever comes at you. I was ready for whatever was next. It was just another adventure, not something to worry about.

As we walked, we caught up to the man who had explained what was happening on the bus and asked if he minded if we walked with him.

He was ecstatic. We started talking and learned very quickly from his accent that he was Australian! He asked us where we were from and of course we replied, “America.” He laughed and said, “ I thought so—I could tell by your thick accents.”

We arrived safely home in a little over an hour and along the way we made an excellent friend. This particular event was a special life lesson for me because I realized that although the road ahead may be unknown, it’s better to keep moving toward your destination and experience new things, than it is to sit and wait for something to happen.

Emily Stanton ’15 Equestrian studies and art history majors Westminster, Maryland

PREPARE TOMORROW'S

LEADERS

The Wilson Fund is vital to providing a quality education at Wilson College.

Donations have an immediate impact, supporting students and faculty and providing for a rigorous liberal arts program that prepares students to succeed in a global society.

Join your classmates and the Wilson community today in supporting the Wilson Fund.

WWW.WILSON.EDU/GIVE or contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at 717-262-2010 or advancement@wilson.edu

1015 Philadelphia Ave. Chambersburg, PA 17201-1279

Haunted Halls?  While ghost stories are nothing new to Wilson, paranormal investigations are. Follow along as the Generic Black Shirt Group searches Wilson’s campus looking for ghosts. Story on Page 18.