Minding the possibilities

In 2008, Professor of Education Mary Lee Griffin began teaching the FYS “Edge of Forever: Waking Up to Who We Are and What We Do,” which incorporates mindfulness through reading, writing, meditation, guided visualization and yoga. At the time, she had no idea how far-reaching the impact would be, particularly for two students—Caitlin Vomastek ’12 and Raphael “Raffi” Sweet ’12—who were in that first class.

From day one, the students and Griffin had their own expectations. Vomastek, who practiced yoga and meditation, just wanted to learn more about how both could be used in a classroom setting to teach children. Sweet wanted the opportunity to establish a personal mindfulness routine while drawing connections between the practice and the assigned literature. And Griffin wanted to tap into her scholarship while providing an academically stimulating course that supported students during their initial months at Wheaton.

The experience far exceeded all of their expectations.

Griffin gained two research partners in Vomastek and Sweet, who have worked with her since fall 2008, leading mindfulness sessions in local elementary schools and collecting qualitative data. Last spring, the two students completed a mindfulness-focused independent study project that resulted in the creation of a website for college students that offers audio mindfulness practices. The three of them together are serving as advisors to senior Liza Detenber, who is conducting a psychology research project. And this semester Sweet, Detenber and Griffin are working on a school-based research project at Paul Cuffee School in Providence, R.I.

The FYS led Vomastek to a music therapy internship at Sounding Joy Music Therapy in Honolulu, Hawaii, in summer 2010. She then was a child-life intern at Tufts’ Floating Hospital for Children in Boston in the summer of 2011, guiding meditation and breathing techniques for children undergoing procedures and experiencing distress in the hospital. As a result, she recently was hired as a paid child-life assistant.

“The FYS not only expanded my knowledge about mindfulness practices, but opened up doors for me to work with Professor Griffin on her research,” says Vomastek, a psychology major who plans to become a certified child-life specialist. “I was so fascinated by her work. I developed a great relationship with her. I am grateful for her companionship, guidance and support. It was a wonderful experience that I truly feel has influenced me during my time at Wheaton. I will carry this knowledge, experience and friendship with her for the rest of my life.”

Similar opportunities have unfolded for Sweet. In the fall of 2010, he studied in Bhutan, where having a basic understanding of meditation and other mindful practices provided him with a foundation on which to view and integrate himself into Bhutanese culture,which is almost exclusively Buddhist. This academic year, he has been acting as a teaching assistant and technical advisor for Griffin’s current FYS, helping to create digital stories that fuse technology, personal narratives and mindfulness. He also has been offering mindfulness “services” to students on campus to help them de-stress and relax, especially as they prepare for exams.

“My FYS proved to be an invaluable tool in establishing my undergraduate mind-set and motivating me to set and accomplish countless goals throughout my time at Wheaton. I have found myself drawing connections to mindfulness practice in almost every book I’ve read since,” says Sweet.

“During the summer after my sophomore year, I worked as an advertising/marketing intern for the Lionheart Foundation. This group is responsible for establishing literature-based curriculum for at-risk youth and incarcerated individuals. One central tactic throughout this program is the use of meditation and other mindful activities to promote personal growth and empathy. With the knowledge from my FYS, I was able to better understand the structure of this curriculum, which no doubt aided me in marketing it to the public.

“In the spirit of Wheaton’s Connections program, I’ve seen myself come full circle—beginning freshman year with my FYS, connecting it to other courses and my study abroad experience and, finally, now working with students in the very same FYS during my senior year.”

A learning stage

In the soft glow of houselights, Professor Stephanie Burlington Daniels sits in the audience seats of the Experimental Theatre coaching students on their final projects and research papers for her FYS, “Theatre and Social Change.”

“I want socially relevant and personal projects. Take authority and talk about an issue that you find important,” she tells them. “The higher the risk, the greater the payoff. The more this means to you, the better this will be.”

Sounds like she’s talking about more than theater. The Class of 1997 alum is in the rare position of knowing both sides of FYS—first as a student and now as a teacher—and the power of the lessons the experience can offer.

As a student, she took the FYS “Who’s News, What’s News” with Professor Paula Krebs. The class scoured magazines and newspapers each day and analyzed how gender and other stereotypes were used to classify groups and potentially manipulate people.

“The FYS taught us how to be college students and what kind of critical thinking would be required of us as we progressed,” says Daniels. “It also set up the student-advisor role and taught us how important that relationship is to your success at Wheaton, helping to navigate and articulate who and what you want to be and do with your college career. When I came to Wheaton to teach in the Theatre Department, I was inspired to teach FYS because of Paula and the incredible time I had in her class that first semester.”

Now Daniels uses theater to create dialogue around issues that cause conflict by working through plays that focus on issues ranging from race and religion to sexuality and gender to politics.

In a matter of weeks of arriving on campus, Thomas Nagata ’15 got a taste of all of these issues, through characters in three provocative productions—The Laramie Project, Fires in the Mirror, and Angels in America. He has played a boy happening upon the body of a youth murdered because of his sexuality, an AIDS victim in denial, and a Jewish man targeted by hate speech.

“The performances that we did put us in the shoes of people who are different from us and feel oppressed in their lives, and by performing as them we became them and gained a deeper understanding for what they go through,” says Nagata, who has wanted to be an actor since he was 8 years old. “I have learned that everyone is different, and everyone has problems that they need to overcome in their lives. Also, through this FYS we have become a family, and I feel a strong connection between all the people in the class. We all support each other.”

Like Nagata, Haley Fisher ’15 said she can see a change in herself already. “I’ve found that my personal perspectives on the issues we brought to light have changed—I have learned to be flexible in my thinking,” she says. “This FYS has prepared me for my role as a citizen of the world. I entered college carrying all sorts of biases, based on little more than assumptions. I completed my first semester having accepted that I don’t know everything—that I must allow for my opinions to be informed by experiences.”

Experiencing the world

Coming into Wheaton, Jessica Groeneweg ’15 knew she wanted to major in one of the sciences. So it was natural that she chose an FYS that included a science element. She picked “Deep Time,” taught by Professor Geoffrey Collins.

“I wanted a class that was linked to my intended major but with a slightly different focus so that I could gain a more all-around knowledge of what was being covered in other fields of science. I was immediately interested in ‘Deep Time’ because of the geology focus,” she says. “Professor Collins strategically combined the discoveries made in astronomy, geography and history, and linked them to show the greater workings of our universe, making each of us aware that nothing is really separated into disciplines, but it all works together to create a whole.”

He managed to do that in the most powerful way possible—showing rather than just telling, with a four-day trip that students were required to take together before orientation began. Collins, working in partnership with Assistant Professor of History Dana Polanichka, took 13 students camping and hiking through Vermont and New Hampshire to see real examples—quarries, fossil grounds, mountains—of the topics that would be covered during the semester.

“I’m a geologist, and everything that geologists study is outdoors,” says Collins, “It’s one thing to sit inside and talk about the formation of mountains and layers of fossils, but it’s quite another to sit outside on top of the mountains or fossils and talk about them. Outdoor learning engages all of the senses, and I have found that there are many students who understand things better when they have learned them outside.”

Besides the educational goal of the trip, he says, “my other goal was to provide an intensive bonding experience that was linked to an intensive learning experience. Incoming first-year students can be nervous about fitting in, making friends, and succeeding in their classes all at the same time. After my FYS trip, my students had a set of friends to hang out with, a healthy set of social norms set by the upperclass students on the trip, and a taste of the exciting intellectual opportunities that college courses can offer.”

Groeneweg can attest to that. “This experience allowed us to become very close. Going into our first year of college we already had familiar faces around campus and it made the transition a lot easier. These FYS classes are a great way to introduce freshmen to the lifestyle of college while giving them a way to relate to their past schooling experience and step forward to be more independent.”

On the strength of a major gift from an anonymous supporter, Wheaton's Board of Trustees voted in February to raise funds for the $3.8 million project, under the stipulation that the remainder of funds come from philanthropic contributions. Following the board meeting, a second donor contributed to the project, bringing the funds raised for the effort to $2.25 million. Altogether, the college must raise $3,865,000 by June 30, 2012, to begin construction in time for a fall 2013 opening.

"The generosity of alumnae/i, parents and friends has been, and will continue to be, a major engine for enhancing the college," President Ronald A. Crutcher said. "This will be an important addition to our facilities and a major enhancement for many students who participate in intercollegiate, club and intramural sports."

The President's Athletics Review Task Force, which last year studied the college's athletics program to assess its role at Wheaton and the resources needed to support it, recommended the construction of an artificial turf field to better serve students involved in the college's athletics programs.

The artificial turf field, which will include lights to allow for nighttime activities and an endowed fund to cover some of its maintenance, would be located behind the Haas Athletic Center.

"Over half our students participate in varsity, club and intramural sports. The field will benefit all of them," said Dean of Students Lee Williams. "Building this field is a powerful statement of our belief in the importance and tradition of educating the whole student—one who is intellectually, socially and physically engaged."

For the intercollegiate field hockey team, the new facility will allow players to compete on campus. At present, the team practices and plays home games offsite. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recommends artificial turf surfaces for field hockey, and many other colleges will not play on natural grass fields. As a result, Wheaton rents time on a field in Rehoboth, Mass., that is owned by the Lincoln School.

The benefits go beyond field hockey. The men's and women's lacrosse teams will be able to practice on campus and host games against other colleges earlier in the season. Typically, natural grass fields cannot accommodate competition in early spring due to lingering frost and heavy rains common at that point in the season. Even fall sports sometimes run into weather-related problems.

Club sports — men's and women's rugby, ultimate frisbee and soccer — also stand to benefit by having more access to playing fields for their teams.

At the time, Jim Chiarelli was the program director for social sciences at Earthwatch. Two nights before he and Britt were set to leave for the field, Chiarelli had an accident and broke his arm and wrist. So it was left to Britt to direct and oversee the project.

“I was given some instructions on how to set up the project, a few thousand dollars and a bag of equipment,” Britt recalls. “I ended up, literally, being thrown in the mix of things and learning ‘trial by fire.’”

Luckily, Wheaton had prepared him: “A lesson I was given at a young age but that Wheaton solidified in a life-changing way for me is that you can do anything you put your mind to,” he says. “If you want to start an interest group, you can. If you want to create your own major, you can. I think society, in particular, popular media, is constantly bombarding people with negativity. Whether it’s a gloomy news story or a colleague telling you it can never be done, we always seem to be pointed to our limits and not our potential. Wheaton not only helps you see your potential, but also provides the tools and support you need to get there.”

The lesson has served Britt well over the years, as he has quickly built a career as an archaeologist—from the Caribbean islands to Canada. His Wheaton education, combined with that summer experience, not only led to the basis of his master’s thesis, but also to the permanent job at Earthwatch right out of college that sent him on his successful way.

Currently, he is a full-time archaeologist with Bison Historical Services Ltd., in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There, he travels the province conducting projects that help public and private developers comply with provincial and federal regulations designed to protect historical resources. His challenge each day is to facilitate a balance between preserving the fragile archaeological records of the past while making way for the future.

“The dominant type of archaeology conducted today is known as cultural resources management,” says Britt. “This is archaeology that is done by private firms like Bison on behalf of clients (oil and gas companies, government agencies, housing developers) in order to meet state, provincial and federal regulations.”

The mandate of regulations, for the most part, is to preserve the heritage resources that are discovered on sites. However, government officials try to avoid standing in the way of development, so sometimes projects go forward regardless of whether historical resources are involved, as long as there is proper documentation of what is there, says Britt.

He investigates areas slated for development through a combination of a visual surface reconnaissance, strategically placed shovel tests, and full-scale excavations to assess for any historical resources. Those resources can include items such as stone tools; ceramic and glass fragments; ethnobotanical items such as seeds and pollen; soil features (old fire pits known as hearths); landscapes modified by humans (rock quarries, mounds); and historic structures. On one project in northern Alberta, Britt and his crew uncovered a projectile point that dated to between 9,000 and 10,000 B.P. (Before Present).

The goal is to “preserve” history by extracting as much information as possible. In the end, many of the resources are preserved because the client chooses to relocate the project rather than invest in the work necessary to properly document the site, which involves excavation of up to about 5 percent of the site.

Joe Moravetz, a senior project archaeologist at Bison Historical Services Ltd., and one of four partners who own the company, notes that, in Alberta, there are thousands of culturally significant areas.

“Sean has discovered and recorded many new historical resource sites,” says Moravetz. “On most occasions, his recommendations have ensured preservation of heritage resource sites because of changes to the development footprint. On some occasions, when the development footprint cannot be altered, Sean undertakes a mitigation strategy consisting of an archaeological excavation with the main goal being to collect archaeological information.

“While development cannot be avoided, the recovery of artifacts and the interpretation of those finds provide the story, in effect, answering the basic questions of when the site was used, who was there, what they did, and how they did it. Sean’s contribution to archaeological knowledge through recommendations of avoidance or mitigation of archaeological sites within the path of proposed developments is invaluable to the preservation of our record to be enjoyed by future generations.”

A project that Britt conducted not long ago at a location known to have historical resources illustrates both the challenging as well as rewarding nature of his work. When he arrived at the site last year, development was already under way. Part of the site had been destroyed without a proper assessment. He got the client to give a stop-work order so he could examine the area. His investigation uncovered the fact that the location had been a quarry where stone tools were made during prehistoric times.

“The interesting part of the site was that the material they used was quartzite from a glacial erratic. A glacial erratic is a stone that is moved from one location to another via glaciers thousands of years ago. The government is interested in this project, as it could provide insight into how First Nations peoples used glacial erratics, and specifically, the southern Alberta glacial chain. The project is currently in review and, if the developer cannot avoid the site, we will hopefully get a chance to excavate it and uncover a little more information about our past.”

The joy of digging into this kind of information is exactly why he became an archaeologist in the first place.

Britt has a master’s degree in historical archaeology from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, where he wrote his thesis, “Fueling the Fire: An Examination of Inter-relationships between Humans and the Environment through Colonial Caribbean Fuel Sources.” He presented the paper at the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology’s Annual Conference in 2005, and it was published last spring in the Journal for Historical Archaeology.

For an archaeologist, having excellent writing skills is just as important as having a good shovel. Britt credits Associate Professor of History John Bezis-Selfa for helping him develop his writing.

“He was certainly a tough grader—I have the papers with his famous multicolored pen marks to prove it—but his creative criticism made me a much better writer,” says Britt, who calls him his favorite professor to this day.

Bezis-Selfa remembers him well, too. Britt was in the first First-Year Seminar that the professor taught at Wheaton, and he went on to take a number of courses from Bezis-Selfa, including an independent study on the history of plantation societies in the Caribbean. A small clay pot that Britt brought back from that summer on Nevis sits on display in Bezis-Selfa’s office.

“Sean is one of the most curious, adventurous, risk-taking students whom I have had the privilege to teach,” Bezis-Selfa says. “I recall attending the celebration of Sean’s graduation at his home, where his mother exclaimed, mostly in amusement but with a tinge of befuddlement, that she had sent two children (including Sean’s older sister, who also studied archaeology) to college, where they learned to dig in dirt.”

After Wheaton, Britt started work at Earthwatch full time as an expedition coordinator. Within six months, he was promoted to assistant to the chief science officer, who coincidentally was Marie “Scooter” Studer ’83.

In 2005, he began working at the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative in Canada, where he previously had helped foster a memorandum of understanding with Earthwatch. He started as a coordinator at Yellowstone, and, again within six months, was promoted to director of conservation, where he was responsible for a budget of more than $800,000, developing a vision and the work plan for a U.S.–Canada transboundary conservation program and managing a staff of five. In 2009, he started at Bison.

When he’s not getting the scoop on history there, he’s still outdoors, indulging his other passion—fly-fishing.

His interest in fly-fishing began when he was 15 years old and blossomed when he moved to Calgary, where he lives within eight  minutes of a world-famous blue-ribbon trout stream (the Bow River). “When I moved here,  my fishing went from a few days a year to a hundred a year. Now, I’ve expanded my fly-fishing résumé to include Mexico and Cuba.”

For fun (and extra money) he works part time for the local Fish Tales Fly Shop. He’s become quite the expert at it. He’s written a manual on custom rod-building, will be rewriting the shop’s manual on fly-fishing, and is planning to lead a fly-fishing trip to Mexico this year. He’s also started his own company, Tightlines Productions Ltd., which makes fly-fishing maps of local rivers. Later this year, the Canadian fly-fishing championships come to his hometown and he hopes to put together a team to compete in tournaments.

He has even found a way to combine his interests. Last April, he presented a talk titled “Archaeology for Anglers,” recognizing the fact that the majority of archaeological sites are found in and around river drainage systems, with hundreds of them in Calgary alone. He talked about the nature of archaeological sites, what to look for, and what to do if you encounter something while in or around the water. His hope is that his fellow anglers can help preserve the past while enjoying their time on the water.

History is always on his mind, even while fishing, because it’s so important, he says. “I’ve always been interested in history and the role it could play in our present and future. We as humans think we know everything, but if you look at history, we tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, especially regarding the depletion of our natural resources. My only hope is that we can learn from some of our past mistakes.”

Click on a decade below to view the covers

• 1920s
• 1930s
• 1940s
• 1950s
• 1960s
• 1970s
• 1980s
• 1990s
• 2000s
• 2010s

Progress in numbers

Science center: 

$35,011,279 committed to expanding and enhancing science facilities through the Mars Center for Science and Technology.

Goal: $35 million

Student scholarships: 

$33,511,858 committed to increasing scholarship support for Wheaton students and their families.

Goal: $50.6 million

Annual support: 

$24,902,729 contributed to the Wheaton Fund since July 1, 2005. Alumnae/i, parents and friends have committed $2,826,988 since July 1, 2011.

Goal: $4.3 million for fiscal year 2012 (ending on June 30, 2012); $34.4 million by June 30, 2014.

Student-faculty research: 

$400,000 committed to support student-faculty research collaborations through the establishment of endowed funds for that purpose.

Artificial turf field: 

Construction by fall 2013 of an artificial turf field and lighting to expand opportunities for intercollegiate, club and intramural sports.

Goal: $3,865,000 by June 30, 2012.

Campaign leadership

Kenneth R. Babby ’02

Nancy Pearlstine Conger ’67, co-chair

Deborah Haigh Dluhy ’62

Debra Kent Glidden ’68, co-chair

Thomas Hollister, co-chair

Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72

Margaret Dunn Smith ’73

More online

wheatoncollege.edu/giving

What message do you take from the campaign’s success so far?

In spite of these challenging economic times, philanthropy at Wheaton has never been stronger. Donors clearly understand that a Wheaton education is a transformative experience. Our alumnae/i, parents and friends recognize the importance of donating generously to honor Wheaton’s past and to preserve its legacy for future generations.

Of the remaining priorities for the campaign (student scholarships, student-faculty research funds or the Wheaton Fund), which one means the most to you and why?

All three are of critical importance to the successful completion of this campaign. Personally, I contribute annually to support my endowed scholarship and the Wheaton Fund. Student scholarships are vital to the Wheaton community because they enable qualified candidates to enroll regardless of their ability to pay. My four siblings and I were fortunate to attend liberal arts institutions thanks to the hard work of our parents, who impressed upon us the lifelong value of learning in a rigorous environment. I share my parents’ dedication to the education process and will continue to help qualified students gain access to the same benefits I was privileged to enjoy.

What is the most important message about the campaign that you would want others to know?

Every gift makes a difference and is tremendously appreciated! Our gifts make it possible for Wheaton to hire outstanding faculty, improve campus facilities, build and renovate student housing, and enhance science, technology, the arts and athletics. All of these are necessary to attract a highly qualified and diverse student body. The recent completion of the spectacular Mars Center for Science and Technology is a wonderful example of what can be accomplished when individuals work together toward a common goal.

You recently said that your community’s response to a disaster at your inn in Vermont reminded you of Wheaton. How so?

Last fall, a stream rose 15 feet to become a raging river that ran through Warren, leaving silt, mud and devastation behind. I was completely blown away by the outpouring of the Pitcher Inn and Warren Store staff, friends, acquaintances and strangers who rallied to help. With strong backs, willing hands and loving hearts, they removed six truckloads of dirt and debris — all by hand in a bucket-brigade formation. It was a most amazing display of support. I feel that this same kind of love and attention comes to institutions like Wheaton because of shared bonds and experiences. The right cause bubbles up to the top, and supporters appear. Everyone shares the rewards because they all share a stake in the greater community.

Mrs. Kunzelmann, a graduate of the Dana Hall School and Vassar College, was the mother of Susan Kunzelmann ’65, who passed away in 1994, and the mother-in-law of Joan Margaret Atwood Kunzelmann ’65.

The establishment of the scholarship reflects the Kunzelmann family’s connection to Wheaton and the strong bonds of friendship that Susan forged at the college, says her sister-in-law Joan Kunzelmann ’65. “She was larger than life.”

One of her classmates, Jean Jones Beard ’65, also remembers Susan as a vibrant person with a strong personality. “Somewhere I have a photo of her. It was taken at school. She’s holding a book, the title of which read Dynamite. That summed up Susan,” Beard said. “She was a feisty, independent, involved, creative student who always kept us on our toes. She went on to become a very interesting woman.”

Alexandra Marshall ’65 described her classmate and friend as an adventurer and an explorer in every way, a French major and a one-time ski instructor who became interested in spirituality and studied theology as an adult.

“Her papers would always be late because she would write a 75-page paper for a five-page assignment,” Marshall said. “I don’t know what her teachers thought of it. But I remember that some idea would catch her interest and she would just pursue it.”

The bonds formed at Wheaton inspired a continuing connection to the family after Susan’s death, said Joan Kunzelmann, and that was important to her mother. “A number of Susan’s friends remained in contact with Helen for the remainder of her life, and she enjoyed their friendship.”

Beyond the connection to the college, the scholarship fund also expresses Helen’s personal commitment to the importance of learning. “Mrs. Kunzelmann felt very strongly about the value of education and she made gifts to a number of educational institutions that were important in her own life and in the life of her children,” her daughter-in-law explained.

Like her daughter Susan, Helen took great pleasure in life, which was evident in her hearty laugh, Marshall said. “She was just very faithful and incredibly energetic. She threw herself into various activities around Bennington, Vt., particularly gardening. Gardening was a big interest of hers.”

While available to all students from New Jersey and Vermont, the scholarship places a special emphasis on assisting students from Boonton, N.J., where Mrs. Kunzelmann grew up, and Bennington, Vt., where she spent most of her adult life.

Her friends and family say those priorities reflect her love for the communities in which she lived. A dedicated gardener throughout her life, Kunzelmann was active in the Bennington Garden Club and the Garden Club of America. She also was a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and a former Regent of Gunston Hall in Virginia.

The $12,000 award from the NSA will help fund the Career Mentoring Workshop, which is scheduled to take place at the end of June. The three-day gathering prepares women who are Ph.D. candidates in math for their job search and creates a network of mentors and peers.

“I am excited that we are able to continue the mentoring after taking last summer off due to lack of funding,” Professor DeCoste said. “I’m also particularly excited to host the workshop in our new spaces in the Mars Center for Science and Technology!”

DeCoste, who joined the Wheaton faculty in 2008 after teaching at the United States Military Academy at West Point, was inspired to create the workshop because of her own experiences. She conducted the first mentoring workshop at West Point last August.

“After I finished my Ph.D.,” she said, “I would run into women I knew from graduate school or other math programs I had been affiliated with as they were finishing their Ph.D.s, and they were on the job market. They would have the usual stress that goes with finding a job and felt like they had no one they could talk to. So I would share my experience honestly, and that included discussing all the doubts I had. A couple of them told me afterward that these honest, open discussions really helped them.”

Twelve to 15 participants are invited to each summer’s workshop. Five junior faculty members from various academic institutions will mentor participants throughout the workshop. The mentors are women who have recently finished their own Ph.D.s and who now work in academia. These women will share their experiences of finishing their degrees and navigating the job search. Additional senior mathematicians will be invited to work with the participants as well.

Throughout the years, the program’s funding has been provided by the MAA/Tensor Foundation Program, Wheaton College, the United States Military Academy, the EDGE Program, and the Summer Math Program at Carleton College.

Beyond boldness, FYS demands creativity on the part of the faculty, so I decided to create a course that I had never taught before. The theme of FYS, then, as now, is Great Controversies, so I posed this question: Since the Greek heroes of the Trojan War are city destroyers, while the Greek ideals of the Classical era are solidly pro-city, where does the real Greek soul lie? On the side of the burn-it-to-the-ground individualist or the lightning-always-strikes-the-tallest-trees democrat? Do the great live in cities or in opposition to them? I called it “City and Soul in the Ancient World,” and our readings went from Greek tragedy and Aristotle through Livy and Vergil to the Life of St. Antony and the Rule of St. Benedict; Lewis Mumford’s The City in History, a book I’d never read before, provided a massive and modern counterpoint.

I’ll admit now that this course was too book-heavy. I have taught FYS eight times. In more recent years, I have moved to a different approach, taking the existing literary and social experience of the freshmen and building on that into a study of contrast between classical and modern worlds. When I taught “What’s Funny?” I asked students to come to campus with a favorite comic novel that they knew well already so that they could learn by other readings and discussions what social and intellectual conventions make humor work. “Autobiography” attempted to use Marcus Aurelius and Augustine as models for the writing of personal thought and experience. “Classics and Comics” encouraged students with a favorite comic book superhero to contrast modern conventions with ancient ones, even as they learned to discuss the elements of visual narrative. This much I knew: the FYS is not supposed to stand still.

But how did I teach the course that crucial first time? Here I have an alum to come to my rescue: Eric Tomasini ’97, now a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, remembers it, and me, better than I do myself. I was surprised to learn that I held our first class on the sundeck behind Admissions—in my previous years of teaching I had never taught outdoors. I had my students submit their papers to me through an electronic drop box, a sort of technology that I had never used before and that was quite new at the time. I also had a coffee pot installed in my office from the outset—another first for me—and this proved invaluable for talking to students face-to-face.

Eric’s first graded paper came back to him with more red ink in evidence than black. “Disaster!” he thought, but he took me at my word when I wrote, “Feel free to stop by my office anytime to discuss.” He did. I offered him coffee and the well-worn comfy chair. My suggestions were extensive: format, argument, techniques of analysis and compression, what Eric calls the “anatomy” of his paper. The second paper benefited from the long consultations. I’ll let Eric tell it: “The paper gleamed with black ink as the entrée, and the red more a garnish. A- it read on the back page; good work. I remember clear as day the feeling I had 19 years ago, sitting down in Chase Dining Hall to a chicken sandwich and fries, rereading the comments on my paper as if it were a check for $10,000. I remember I said out loud, ‘I can do this, I can really do this!’ Perplexed onlookers suggested yes, I could eat my chicken sandwich. To this day, it was the most fulfilling chicken sandwich of my life and a signal that Wheaton was the right place for me.”

I was a new instructor then. Now I serve as an associate provost and coordinator of First-Year Seminar. I run the May workshops, convene the FYS Steering Committee, organize lunches for the faculty during the fall, when we all talk about our students, our successes, our problems. There were 30 sections this fall, and so 30 autonomous instructors with 30 topics but a common goal: “To inspire a cohort of enthusiastic, intellectually curious students who are prepared to assume responsibility for their education and their lives.” FYS is a laboratory for them as it was for me. Many find that FYS is thus a gateway for students into the instructor’s major field.

So what does the student get out of FYS? It is not just Intro to College, or Research Toolkit 101, though its goals of critical reading and research begin the conscious scaffolding of skills that build toward the last year and the senior seminar. It is primarily a collaboration between faculty and students. We learn as they learn, and this works because of the personal touch: not always a cup of coffee, but always the individual work with a student who is also an advisee and then, very often, a friend.

Eric sees it as the exemplification of Wheaton’s liberal arts mission: “to learn how to think and write critically and analytically, to compare and contrast the differences in the world we live in, to challenge your beliefs and understanding, and to create value in the work you do as a citizen of the world. …I can say honestly that First-Year Seminar changed my life.”

As an ideal—and we aim for this ideal even as our practices change over time—the First-Year Seminar creates our community; then the students that we bring in and nurture change that community. And in doing so set the stage for the next FYS.

This current Keefe gift signals immediate financial relief for a Wheaton student and continues the foundation’s long history of giving to Wheaton, which includes the creation of the Keefe Boston Latin Scholarship Endowed Fund in 1997 and the Keefe Family Foundation Work and Learning Fellows Endowment, a critical resource for self-designed student internships. The award also augments the Keefe Project Scholarship, a five-year grant that facilitated larger financial aid packages for increased numbers of students and a Keefe-created endowment established for repair and upkeep of Keefe Field.

Keefe Family Foundation contributions to Wheaton over recent years total more than $300,000, impacting all areas of the campus and curriculum.

We all let out a collective gasp of surprise, recognizing how fast time flies. (My summer clothes had yet to make it to the attic, for goodness’ sake!) This issue of the Quarterly takes a moment to honor the passing of time:

February marked five years for me as editor of the magazine. It seems like just yesterday I was having a cup of coffee with my boss on the deck at Balfour-Hood and telling him about my interest in working at Wheaton.

This is the 25th academic year that incoming students have been welcomed into the Wheaton experience via First-Year Seminar, which we write about in this issue.

Professor David Wulff is retiring after 43 years (see Panorama).

This year Wheaton is celebrating 100 years as a four-year college.

And, we are celebrating the many decades of publishing the magazine.

Preparing for this issue, I had the pleasure of opening a file cabinet and perusing those volumes dating back to 1922. (Check out the covers on page 64.) It was nice to sit still for a moment and leisurely view the passing of years one issue at a time. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do that in real life?

Maybe we can—one breakfast birthday celebration at a time, one Thanksgiving dinner at a time, one everything at a time—if we stay present and take it all in, instead of constantly looking ahead.

So, let’s relax—for a few minutes at least. Enjoy.

Illustration by David Laferriere

In the winter issue of the Quarterly, the name of Jean Jones Beard ’65 was misspelled.

OK, so Wheaton hired two new coaches this academic year—David Cusano as head coach for track and field, and Jamie Lockard as head coach for men’s lacrosse. They’re new, but that’s no excuse for swapping their photos by mistake in the winter issue. Sorry, guys. Twenty laps around Haas for us, right? Here are the right photos with the right names:

My questioner was a journalist who has covered higher education in the United States for more than two decades. And no, I don’t think he genuinely believed the answer had to be one or the other. Rather, his question reflected the false choice that is so prevalent in public discourse about undergraduate education.

President Barack Obama, among others, champions the idea that every U.S. citizen needs a post-secondary education to prosper and to help keep America strong. In this view, colleges and universities must organize the curriculum around marketable job skills sought by employers. In the current economic climate, in which joblessness continues at painfully high rates, this idea has an obvious attraction.

And yet we know there is more to a college education.

In January, I was one of 10 college presidents invited to participate—along with representatives from a number of education foundations and some K–12 education leaders, as well as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the president—in a one-day White House conference on higher education’s role in promoting a healthy democracy. Along with a report on the subject, the event was intended to “spark a national conversation and call to action about how institutions of higher learning can embrace and act on their long-standing mission to educate students for informed, engaged citizenship. …”

This is important work, too.

For some reason, when we talk about such goals in debates over public policy, we tend to talk about each objective in isolation, conveying the idea that our focus must be one or the other. A high-quality liberal arts education addresses both needs—legitimate concerns for the public good—through rigorous study that develops the individual’s intellectual capabilities, as well as the capacity to create connections across disciplinary boundaries. It is the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, but with the understanding that the effort develops the skills required for professional success, civic leadership and personal satisfaction.

Wheaton exemplifies the power of this approach, through its Connections curriculum, its co-curricular programs, and the accomplishments of our students and alumnae/i.

Consider the Filene Center for Academic Advising and Career Services. By design, the center helps students connect their academic plans with internships, jobs and other learning experiences. This integrated and thoughtful approach to education—called the “Career Curriculum”— assists students in discovering paths that follow their intellectual interests and lead to satisfying careers. The proof lies in the success of Wheaton alums in every field imaginable—from science, finance and business to the performing arts and the emerging field of digital media.

The values of active citizenship are built into the Wheaton experience, too. It is implicit in the freedom and responsibility that students share in managing the life of the campus. That spirit is woven into our athletics program, in which many of our intercollegiate scholar-athletes work as teams to benefit the community. In fact, the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators recognized our sports teams for their commitment to community service during the group’s annual national conference.

And the Office of Service, Spirituality and Social Responsibility facilitates dozens of projects every semester, including helping to organize what has become an annual alternative break trip to help rebuild New Orleans. The college’s partner, Rebuilding Together: New Orleans, recently recognized the work of our students on their website.

“Wheaton has sent over 80 volunteers, worked 2,600 hours, and has helped us on three different homes. In addition, Wheaton sent students to work on the same house two years in a row, a testament to Wheaton’s commitment to helping us bring homeowners back.”

Examples abound. Taken together, they illustrate the quality, value and worth of a Wheaton education. The source of that power lies in our commitment to liberal arts study, and our unshakable belief that the pursuit of knowledge is a worthwhile endeavor in its own right. That idea is inscribed over the entrance to our library: “That they may have life and may have it abundantly.” At its core, that is the purpose of a Wheaton education.

What do you get? Flash Seminars—a new series of quick lectures presented by professors, alums or students on interesting topics designed to create more opportunities for academic engagement outside of the classroom. Think flash mob brainiacs.

Kimberly Nash ’12, working in partnership with Thomas Bruemmer ’12, brought the idea to Wheaton this academic year with support from the Student Government Association (SGA). Nash, who is a member of the SGA’s executive board and the student representative to the Board of Trustees and alumnae/i, says she wanted to start the series to generate additional energy and excitement around learning.

“It has worked out even better than I could have anticipated,” she says, “and in a lot of ways I feel like Wheaton has taken ownership of this because of the level of involvement of students, faculty and administrators in making this work and in creating a really engaging series.”

Seminar topics proposed by presenters are posted on a Facebook group page (which so far has more than 500 members) and the first 15 students to comment are able to attend. Others are put on a waitlist, but seminars are filmed and posted on Wheaton’s website so that a wider audience can see them afterward.

“This is definitely an imaginative way to use Facebook, but at the same time, I think it’s exactly what Facebook is for. For our generation Facebook has become a very integral part of our lives, and rather than using it to gossip, it can be used as a very effective means to get the word out about an event and can be a constructive means to engage with others,” says Nash, who is double majoring in economics and international relations.

Bruemmer, who also is on the SGA’s executive board and a student representative on the faculty and staff Educational Policy Committee, notes that using Facebook to draw audiences for Flash Seminars brings the discussion of academics into a medium where it has not been present. “Now, for people who are always checking Facebook, they are not just looking for their friends’ status updates, they are also looking for the next opportunity for academic engagement.”

So far the seminars have covered a range of current events. Professor of Mathematics Tommy Ratliff presented the first one, “Just Let the Voters Vote: What’s so hard about that?,” about voting theory and how the various methods of voting influence the outcome.

“I love that the Flash Seminars provide a mechanism for students and faculty with a variety of academic backgrounds to discuss a topic that they may not otherwise,” said Ratliff. “As a faculty member, I really enjoy the perspectives that students with different disciplinary viewpoints bring. There’s an abundance of intellectual curiosity in the Wheaton community, and I think the seminars are another important outlet to support this.”

Economics professor John Miller, who presented “Economic Inequality, the Economic Crisis, and Occupy Wall Street,” agrees. “I was thrilled to speak to such a diverse group of students, who were all concerned about economic inequality and the current economic troubles of the U.S. and global economy, and who wanted to know more about Occupy Wall Street. …For me the seminar was a genuine educational experience—the product of the students’ engagement with these issues, their seriousness of purpose, and our dialogue. That kind of enthusiasm is infectious.”

Opera star Dawn Upshaw (far right) shares a laugh with student vocalists during a master class.

Tenor Gavin Mackie ’13 finishes singing “A Simple Song,” from Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, then turns to a world-renowned soprano to hear her critique.

“Thank you for bringing this song,” says Dawn Upshaw, who is leading a master class for four student vocalists in the Woolley Room. “It was maybe the first song I sang in public, when I was in high school.”

Her personal comment breaks the ice. Then she gets down to business. “This song is full of an overwhelming joy and exuberance,” she says. “I would like to feel more spontaneity in the words. I would like to see you respond to the changes in key, using them as if a light bulb goes on.”

And so begins a 30-minute coaching session in which Upshaw focuses less on technique than on interpretation, expression and “bringing the music alive for the audience,” as Mackie later describes it.

Rockapella conducts a workshop with students in 2010.

“‘A Simple Song’ contains the line ‘Make it up as you go along,’” Mackie says, “and Ms. Upshaw really tried to help me bring out that aspect of it. She encouraged me to connect with the audience throughout the piece, and to make them feel that this was the first time anyone would ever hear this song performed this way.”

On October 24, the night before the class, the celebrated singer of opera and concert repertoire had performed for an enthusiastic audience in Cole Memorial Chapel. Both her concert and the master class were sponsored by the Mary Bloor Loser Musical Series, which since 1987 has brought world-class performers to campus for concerts and teaching.

The opportunities for master classes expanded greatly in 2003, with the launching of the Evelyn Danzig Haas ’39 Visiting Artists Program, which funds visits by a wide range of performers, visual artists, musicians and more. Over the past decade, some 200 artists have visited campus through the Loser and Haas programs.

In addition to performing or lecturing on campus, all the artists work with faculty and students in workshops or master classes. Through these experiences, students get to learn from—and be inspired by—top practicing artists. Being coached in playwriting by a working playwright or watching a master printmaker demonstrate the craft not only raises the bar for students, but also gives them insight into the working life and creative process of these masters.

Katherine DiLeo ’12, a creative writing and literature major, has enjoyed participating in fiction and playwriting master classes. “The arrival of a visiting writer mixes things up a bit,” she notes. “We are introduced to a new technique, a new personality, and a new way of teaching and learning. We can also take career advice from a writer who was once in our position, and we’re reminded that there are successful, working writers out there.”

Last fall, DiLeo and her classmates in English professor Charlotte Meehan’s “Advanced Playwriting” course took part in a workshop presented by playwrights Keli Garrett and Magdalena Gómez. Rather than bringing the visitors into the classroom, Meehan brought her students to the writers, who were staying in the Bauhaus-style Austin House just off campus. In this natural light-filled space, the playwrights led the students through a series of acting and writing exercises that produced laughter and lively discussion.

“My students grew about ten feet in that hour and a half,” says Meehan, herself a playwright. “Bringing in other ways of reaching the creative impulse is tremendously energizing for students.”

More than ever, it is crucial to understand how to help them. The key is in getting a handle on support systems, says sociology major Iraimi Mercado ’12. For her senior thesis, she spent months researching homelessness, focusing on how services impact the lives of women and children living in emergency shelters. She’s hoping her findings can offer policy makers guidance as they create regulations that impact families.

Her research involved one-on-one interviews with single mothers living at the Old Colony YMCA Family Life Center in Brockton, Mass. She explored which services over what period of time have helped them.

“I wanted to see how the services have changed over the years and whether the Old Colony Y has found new ways to help women transition into their own apartments,” Mercado says. “Massachusetts state officials have changed policies that regulate how long families can stay in emergency shelter programs, to push people through at a faster rate. Transitional housing programs, which are supposed to be long term, are different from short-term emergency shelters. But many of the long-term programs have become short-term emergency shelters.”

The Old Colony Y’s program is one that has changed. The shift has occurred as federal and state officials aim to address homelessness by working on prevention strategies and improving access to affordable housing. However, says Mercado, “Officials who make these policies need to realize that every family has different needs. Some families may need only six months in emergency shelter programs, but there are families who need much more time. In my interviews, I’ve seen that the support women receive in programs is really important long term for them to build the confidence to access services and to develop plans that will help them become self-sufficient.”

Mercado, who is the treasurer of iSpeak!, a peer advisor for the Global Center for Education and an ambassador for the Institute for Study Abroad, has been interested in researching homelessness since her freshman year at Wheaton, when she wrote a paper on the myths about homeless people for her First-Year Seminar. This year she presented her thesis, “Redefinition of Home: An Analysis of Services Provided to Homeless Families,” at the Sociology and Anthropology Senior Symposium at Wheaton.

“Homeless families headed by single women are the fastest-growing homeless population across the country. I’m interested in looking at this particular population because there has not been enough research done on them,” says Mercado, who in the past lived in transitional housing at the Old Colony YMCA when her mother had trouble finding permanent work.

Mercado’s research is unique,  largely because of that personal connection that gave her the access and trust she needed to interview research subjects, notes Assistant Professor of Sociology Karen McCormack, her thesis advisor. “They allowed her in and shared stories with her that they would hesitate to share with others. The impressive piece is that she manages to link what she is finding—personal narratives—with public policy. She tries to always stay focused on the implications of these cases for designing and implementing policies, and she is coming to see the relationship between governmental policy, local institutions, and women’s daily lives. She is uniquely positioned to have some impact, since she does a lot of work advocating around homelessness.”

Looking ahead, Mercado has her eyes set on a career in public policy. “I’m interested in working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop housing policies so that all Americans have access to affordable housing. I also want to get an understanding of best practices in terms of working with these families.”

Detail from “Eve, no. 11 from the Unité Series, 65/130” by Le Corbusier, a gift of Dr. and Mrs. Harry L. Kozol (Ruth Massell, Class of 1925).

Wheaton’s Permanent Collection for years has been a resource for teaching students, for faculty research and for sharing with a variety of local audiences. Now, the reach of the collection is bigger than ever since the creation of audio podcasts in which students share their insights about the art they are studying in a way that is easily accessible via the World Wide Web.

The series titled “Watson Conversations” is designed to showcase digital interpretations of objects from the collection. Virtual visitors can listen to students talk about the works of art as images are displayed on the screen. Currently, the series features seven works and “conversations” by 12 students, but there are plans to add more in the future.

“The collection has always been an essential teaching tool, and students often work with it in their art history courses. This is an extension of that practice, a new way to share student work,” says Assistant Professor of Art History Ellen McBreen. “The project was part of the coursework for ‘Art of the Avant-Gardes (1900–1945),’ so we selected works by artists who were also members of the early 20th-century avant-garde movements we studied.”

McBreen came up with the idea for the project and worked with faculty technology liaison Patrick Rashleigh to bring it into fruition. “I wanted to give students an appreciation for how rich in ideas a single work of art can be. We also learned that different audiences require different approaches to communication. A podcast and an academic paper, for example, should be conceived with their different functions in mind,” she says. “I wanted students to understand that there is no one way to practice art history, or any discipline for that matter. The questions you ask, and the methodologies you use, depend on what function you want your research and writing to have.”

Students worked in pairs to create podcasts, which challenged them to effectively mesh their ideas without losing the focus or concision for the podcast.

Betsy Cronin ’11, who is manager of art events at Wheaton, worked with anthropology major Alexandra Barie ’13 on a podcast about two prints from the collection, “Eve, no. 11 from the Unité Series, 65/130” and “The Snake, no. 15 from the Unité Series, 100/130” by Le Corbusier, both gifts of Dr. and Mrs. Harry L. Kozol (Ruth Massell, Class of 1925).

“I felt as though I learned more about this artist and the period by doing a project that involved an interactive element rather than by just writing a paper,” Cronin says. “Our charge was not only to research a work of art on our own and write about it, but also to teach others about our discoveries. The most challenging part was recording the podcast—making it sound interesting, informative, engaging and natural all at the same time. We had to do a few takes, but I was grateful for such a great partner in Alex. We basically just tried to have a conversation with each other about the work.”

Barie found it fascinating to see how Cronin interpreted the art in a way that was different than she had. She says she also welcomed the opportunity to share her research with a larger audience, which doesn’t often happen with a research paper. “In class, we discussed how museums are creating podcasts to increase their online presence and to appeal to a wide range of people. I enjoyed talking about what I learned and condensing it into a short podcast that I could share.“

*approximate number

Amanda Weir ’04, Jessica Foster ’05 and Adara Meyers ’08 (standing left to right) with Professor Charlotte Meehan on opening night.

“Dress for mischief. Hats encouraged.”

With a party invitation like that, the unexpected would be expected and appropriate, considering that the party was for the January 11 launch of Professor Charlotte Meehan’s Boston multimedia theater company, Sleeping Weazel.

Opening night featured postmodern 1920s Paris fashions; selections from a play; cabaret singing; and Professor Stephanie Burlington Daniels, in a Victorian costume, playing Frankenstein author Mary Shelley lecturing to imaginary brides-to-be.

Sleeping Weazel is all about artistic surprises and pushing the boundaries of traditional theater, which is classic Meehan. This year, the company will be showcasing a mix of performance styles and genres that often blur the line between art forms, including a puppet performance piece. (The theater’s name is inherited from a multimedia company that her late filmmaker husband originally started in 1998.)

“In today’s economy, with so many theaters closing, we as artists need to find a way to invent our own possibilities for creating and presenting our work,” said Meehan, who started this Sleeping Weazel with three Wheaton alums. “I wanted to have a company that reflects the widest possible range of what I consider theater, to stretch the confines of the physical stage by presenting visual art in a theatrical context, and to create opportunities for artists to gather, collaborate and engage with new audiences who want to be surprised.”

She has built her career on multimedia and experimental theater productions in Boston, Providence and New York. This time, she’s working closely with three of her former students—Amanda Weir ’04, Adara Meyers ’08 and Jessica Foster ’05. The professor is the artistic director, and Meyers, Foster and Weir, whose play Perpetual Motion was presented at the launch party, are associate artists.

Professor Stephanie Daniels performs.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better team to work closely with me on this project. We each have skills and traits that complement those of the others,” said Meehan, Wheaton’s playwright-in-residence. “The fact that my former students are working with me is an extension of my emphasis on building creative community in my classes. I encourage my students to support each other’s endeavors, both while they are studying with me and after they graduate.”

Said Foster: “I’m most excited about the opportunity to work with like-minded artists who are sincere.”

Foster and Weir both have M.F.A.’s in playwriting. Meyers, a freelance copy editor, and Weir have been living in Providence for the past few years, producing theater festivals together and developing their own performance pieces. Weir also works full time supporting an arts-based day program for mentally challenged adults in Rhode Island. Foster teaches English classes as an adjunct professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology and at Pine Manor College.

Two other alums are working with the company as affiliated artists—Mark Baumer ’06 and Riley Waggaman ’10. Wheaton professors Daniels, David Fox, Clinton O’Dell and Jake Mahaffy also are affiliated artists and future collaborators. Meehan currently is writing a new multimedia play, Real Realism, that is scheduled to be Sleeping Weazel’s first long run of a play in spring 2013. Wheaton students will rehearse excerpts of this play in workshop this spring on campus.

All performances take place at Factory Theatre, a rented space at 791 Tremont St., in Boston. See the schedule of events and visit Sleeping Weazel’s cyber art gallery at sleepingweazel.com.

Photos by David S. Marshall