Comments from friends
Provost Hannah Goldberg | Professor Nancy Norton
Provost Hannah Goldberg
Celebrating Fred Kollett's life -- there is so much to celebrate! I saw Fred a week ago, on Monday evening, at the hospital. His hand was warm and his grip strong as I told him that with the encouragement of some faculty, the President of the college and I were going to ask the Board of Trustees to name the Academic Computing Center the Kollett Computing Center. Fred was truly overwhelmed, said that he didn't know how to thank me, and I told him that no thanks were needed--he had earned this. On Saturday, at its meeting, the Board unanimously approved naming the center in memory of Fred and stood in silence for a moment of tribute to him.
There is no question that this action is fully justified and that without Fred Wheaton's history as a technologically-rich, computer-friendly campus would be a very different one.
Fred Kollett came to Wheaton in 1979 as the first Director of the Computer Literacy Project, a title transformed in 1981 to the Director of Academic Computing. From the beginning he was a self-starter who developed collaborative relationships with every constituency of the college. From 1979-82 he presided over a time-sharing system with terminal access to the DEC PDP 11/70 and from 1983-87 he introduced us to the universe of microcomputers. With a faculty committee, Fred moved us to encourage student and faculty ownership through a college sales program and interest-free loans for faculty.
In the summers of 1985 and 1986 Fred, who had been trained as a mathematician, did post-doctoral study at Clarkson at the Institute for retraining in Computer Science so he could develop a Computer Science curriculum here at Wheaton.
The Odyssey from two rooms in Knapton to the beautiful space that academic computing now occupies was led by Fred who oversaw every detail of the transformation. But buildings and facilities alone would not have gotten us very far, and from the very beginning Fred recognized the importance of faculty and student support and development. From 1988-93 when Fred's emphasis was on networking the campus and providing access to an extensive software collection, campus-wide e-mail and internet directly to desks in every office, Fred and his staff offered workshops in e-mail, Hypercard and Laser Disc Interfacing, the Internet, Software Development, Spreadsheets and Data Bases, Statistical packages, System Dynamics, and Word Processing. And if this were not enough, Fred continued teaching in the Math Department where, in partnership with the department he introduced and taught an entire computer science curriculum including Structured Programming, Data Structures, Algorithms, Intro to System Dynamics, among others. Fred was intent on putting a computer on every faculty desk--in the early days these computers were assigned competitively according to how compelling a case each faculty member could make. In more recent years, he was concerned with replacements, enhancements and upgrades. Little by little, even those of us in the community who were still writing with a quill succumbed to what was Fred's quiet, passionate conviction that this is the way it was going to be. He was the best and the least threatening teacher I have ever had--no question was ever too trivial to take seriously, and what's more, he made House Calls for which I and countless others will be forever grateful.
Fred's work with our student Balfour Scholars accounts for the fact that so many of these gifted students accepted our offers of admission. Fred's standards were always high and he felt honored to participate in Wheaton's Pew-sponsored Round Table discussions including those on maintaining high standards. In one discussion on developing reflective learners, Fred confessed he was afraid students would pay too little attention to learning and too much to reflecting.
Fred received national recognition for his work, and Wheaton's "Computer Literacy Project" was cited by a national foundation as one of its Notable Programs.
Fred wrote me in 1995, "I would like to see Technology in Teaching and Learning become a priority of the College and I would like to be part of encouraging faculty, where appropriate, to become involved in this effort." He accomplished both.
Fred's lasting legacy to the Wheaton Community is that he led us into the 21st Century--not kicking and screaming, but confident and purposeful. He was a dreamer and a doer, a tenacious and tender teacher of teachers. He was truly a man for all seasons, and we will miss him in all seasons.
Professor Nancy Norton
On April 11th Fred and I will not freeze at McCoy; Fred and I will not freeze at Fenway April 11th. We could have frozen twice the same day - that is, if we had thawed between times.
Fred was my closest baseball pal. During the winter, after lunch we would sit in the Faculty Dining Room and go over the Red Sox bit by bit. Fred started as an optimist on the Red Sox. I made him a pessimist - with the help I got from the Red Sox, that was not difficult.
But Fred could be broad-minded. He gave me my Atlanta Braves wrist watch. Last Christmas, with his best computer technique, he gave me this wonderful book of scoresheets for the Pawsox.
Fred produced great aphorisms. "Baseball is the one game where you can talk all the time and still know what is going on." And we sure lived up to that.
With Fred I saw more games that with anyone else: McCoy, Fenway, Camden Yards. Linda used to arrive with the Sunday newspaper but we whipped her into shape. His mother went with us until she was 94. At the last game at Fenway in August, a horrendous 12-10 affair, Fred pronounced, "Sele will not do."
Fred could beat me in tennis. I took him to the Longwood Cricket Club to play on the grass. I figured I might beat him before he got used to it. It did not work.
For years Fred took 6 or 7 of us to Hartford in November to see the Celtics. All by short cuts. I was glad it was dark so I could assume we were going in the right direction.
But our greatest moment was Camden Yards. The husband of a Wheaton alumna was a limited partner of the Orioles. She offered me a ticket. I said, "I'll take three." Fred and Chris drove all the way from Boston. They arrived in the second, by the batter's circle, before I did. He got great pleasure because the ushers kept coming back to check to see if he belonged in such an important place. Incidentally the Yankees won, 2-1. After the game, pouring rain. We drove back to Scranton. Fred considerately put me in the back seat so I could sleep. I had no intention of sleeping. Shortly, Fred said that Chris would like to sleep. We traded places - and Fred had no chance to doze off.
For me Fred was sheer pleasure. Every time I was with him my adrenalin was pumping.
Thank you Fred, for so many good times and good memories.
