Io Triumphe! Fall-Winter 2012-13

Preserving America’s Historic Treasures 13 Growing Our Fine Art Collection 18 Saluting Homecoming 2012 22

io Triumphe!fAll-winTer 2012-13 The mAgAzine for Alumni And friends of Albion College

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Code-breakerLarry Schook, ’72, champions genomic research shedding light on human health and disease.

Be a part of the inaugural Lux Fiat CircleLux Fiat Circle members are an exceptional core of leadership donors who contribute annually to the Albion College Fund or Briton Scholarship Fund and who understand the importance of unrestricted annual giving to the College. The Albion College Fund allows Albion to use the money where the need is greatest. The Briton Scholarship Fund provides annual scholarships to students who need financial support.

The Lux Fiat Circle encompasses these giving societies, each with specific member benefits:

The Briton Round Table ($1,000 – $1,834)The 1835 Society ($1,835 – $2,499) The President’s Society ($2,500 – $4,999)The Crest Society ($5,000 – $9,999)The Fleur-de-Lis Society ($10,000 and above)

Your gift to the Albion College Fund at one of the Lux Fiat Circle levels provides essential support each year and helps enhance Albion’s educational offerings.

As we look back at 2012, thank you to those alumni, parents, and friends who had a role in making 2012 an exciting year at Albion College. We are all grateful for your generous investment in our departments, our programs, and our students. If you would like more information on becoming a founding member of the Lux Fiat Circle or a summary of your 2012 giving, please contact the Annual Giving Office at 517/629-0448 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Albion College’s fiscal year runs July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013. If you have not yet given within the 2012-13 fiscal year, please make your gift today at: www.albion.edu/givenow.

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Staff

Editor: Sarah Briggs

Contributing Writers: Marian Deegan, Bobby Lee, Davi Napoleon, Jake Weber

Class Notes Writers: Johanna Schulte, Luann Shepherd

Design: Katherine Mueting Hibbs

Marketing/Communications: John Thompson, John Perney, David Lawrence

Io Triumphe! is published twice annually by the Office of Marketing and Communications, Albion College, 611 E. Porter St., Albion, MI 49224. It is distributed free to alumni and friends of the College.

Letters to the editor may be sent to: Office of Marketing and Communications, Albion College, 611 E. Porter St., Albion, MI 49224. E-mail: [email protected] Wide Web: www.albion.edu

About Our Name

The unusual name for this publication comes from a yell written by members of the Class of 1900. The beginning words of the yell, “Io Triumphe!,” were probably borrowed from the poems of the Roman writer, Horace. Some phrases were taken from other college yells and others from a Greek play presented on campus during the period.

In 1936, the alumni of Albion College voted to name their magazine after the yell which by then had become a College tradition. For years, Albion’s incoming students have learned these lines by heart:

Io Triumphe! Io Triumphe! Haben swaben rebecca le animor Whoop te whoop te sheller de-vere De-boom de ral de-i de-pa— Hooneka henaka whack a whack A-hob dob balde bora bolde bara Con slomade hob dob rah!Al-bi-on Rah!

Cover photo by Brian Stauffer

Io TrIumphe!

fall-winter 2012-13 The Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Albion College

Io TrIumphe!

(Top) The Theatre Department opened its 2012-13 season in October with the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Learn about upcoming productions at www.albion.edu/theatre.

Features

10Zeroing in on Biomedical BreakthroughsLarry Schook’s research suggests ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate is far more complex than we thought.

13Giving Voice to History14 Archaeologist Heather Horobik, ’0615 Preservationist Mary Alfson Tinsman, ’9616 Barn Crusader Jan Corey Arnett, ’75

Departments

3 Briton Bits

9 Presidential Ponderings

18 Giving to Albion Bobbitt’s Legacy

22 Alumni Association News

31 Albionotes

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Thinking about including Albion College in your estate plans?

Become a member of The Stockwell Society by documenting your intent to make a future gift through your estate plans. An easy one-page confidential letter of intent is all it takes.

Contact Shannon Duvall, associate vice president for development, for more information.

517/629-0402Fax: 517/[email protected]/giving www.albion.edu/giving


Br !ton B!tsTHE LATEsT NEWs AROuND CAmPus

Stockwell Library Campaign Gains MomentumRecent gifts have brought Albion College closer to its goal of transforming Stockwell Library into a 21st-century learning center featuring new digital collections, high-tech classrooms, powerful research technology, and services that foster personal, professional, and collaborative scholarship. After completion of the library renovation campaign’s first phase in fall 2011, Phase II was initiated earlier this year.

A major gift from Albion College trustee Mark Newell, ’77, will underwrite a new Center for Teaching and Learning planned for Stockwell. In addition to Newell’s personal contribution, support for this project comes from donations made by his partners in honor of his December 2011 retirement from the international law firm of Latham & Watkins. Newell was the firm’s vice chairman and chief operating partner prior to his retirement.

“Albion College’s faculty are recognized leaders in the creative uses of technology in their teaching,” said President Donna Randall. “Mark Newell’s gift will allow us to develop and equip a new space in the library devoted to this endeavor. The enhanced learning experiences made possible by the Center for Teaching and Learning will add immeasurably to our students’ education.”

The Newell Center for Teaching and Learning will encourage faculty to test advanced systems and software for use in teaching and further develop their expertise with the new technologies available.

The second phase of the renovation campaign officially began last April with the announcement of a $1-million grant from the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation of Midland, establishing the John S. Ludington Career and Internship Center in the library. This new home for the College’s Career Development

Office will provide four-year career-readiness support to students and facilitate connections to alumni mentors, companies, and universities around the world.

In June, the College received a gift commitment from Eric, ’79, and Claudia Sweringen Bacon, ’80, to underwrite the public services area of the library. The Bacons reside in the Cleveland area where Eric is co-president and senior managing director of Linsalata Partners, and Claudia is a homemaker and volunteer.

This fall, the Weatherwax Foundation of Jackson awarded a $250,000 grant that will further advance the renovation program. Following the relocation of much of the book collection to the Mudd library building, Stockwell’s new floor plan will feature a four-story atrium with individual and group study spaces. In addition to the new common areas, an innovative ‘sandbox’ classroom will house modern information and communication technologies, creating a highly interactive learning environment.

The Weatherwax grant will help bring together the enhanced academic and professional learning opportunities represented in this phase of the library renovation.

“We’re excited and pleased that the Weatherwax Foundation continues to be a major supporter of Albion College,” Randall said. “Stockwell has long served as the intellectual heart of the College, and through this support we are going to ensure that our students and faculty have a dynamic learning center that will preserve the strong academic traditions of the past by providing the services, collaborative spaces, and technology of the future.”

Phase II of the Stockwell Library renovation campaign has a goal of $6.15 million. For more information on the campaign to date, go to: www.albion.edu/giving (see “Current Initiatives”) or contact the Development Office via e-mail at [email protected] or call 517/629-0446.

Stockwell’s new four-story atrium, created after the book collections are moved to the Mudd library building, will feature flexible common areas and connect the building’s high-tech teaching and research spaces.

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Professors Inaugurate Transnational CoursesBy Jake WeberInternational communication and collaboration translate to exciting new courses for economics and management professor Vicki Baker, English professor Nels Christensen, and their students. Baker and Christensen are two of 11 professors piloting an international program within the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA).

This coming spring, each will team-teach one course with an instructor in Europe or the Middle East, offering students the chance to study and learn together while living half a world apart. Videoconferencing, social media, cloud sites, and other technology make their international interaction nearly as easy as sitting together in the same classroom.

Baker will pair her Human Resources Management class with an international management class at the American College of Greece in Athens. She and her Greek colleague will include three joint projects in each class, with the result that students will spend

approximately one-third of each course doing team work with students from the other school.

Baker noted that the collaboration—and, in particular, their unit on managing international and virtual work teams—brings an additional professional aspect into the classroom. “In the business world today, the reality is that our students will work with colleagues in different buildings, in different countries, people they’ll never see at the office face-to-face. The more exposure they get to this world, the better they’ll do in the long run.”

Christensen will connect his environmental literature course, Terrorists and Treehuggers, with a writing course taught at the American University of Beirut, in Lebanon. Students will complete shared writing assignments and hold discussions of shared texts and activities. “We will be asking and considering questions about environmentalism and what it looks like to be an environmental radical,” said Christensen. “Our basic goal is to share our cultural understandings as a way of learning about how different people in the world think about these important issues.”

Author Twesigye Jackson Kaguri helped kick off Albion College’s theme year on global diversity with a September presentation on his Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project, providing education, medical care, and other support to orphaned children in his native Uganda. Kaguri’s book, A School for My Village, was this year’s selection for the Richard M. Smith Common Reading Experience. The campus community later assisted Kaguri’s project through proceeds from sales of African crafts, under the sponsorship of the Global Diversity Theme Year Committee. To learn more about all of this year's global diversity events, go to: www.albion.edu/globaldiversity/.

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A Successful SynthesisBy Jake Weber“Where else can you learn language and culture in a research lab?” grins chemistry professor Cliff Harris. “Our faculty knows how to connect in nontraditional ways.”

Harris is referring to a unique alliance between the Chemistry and Modern Languages and Cultures Departments, as they “share” a graduate student from the University of Granada, Spain. This year, Maria Perez Huete works as a Spanish teaching assistant, while spending 20 hours each week with 10 Albion students and Harris in his research lab.

“It’s been great,” Harris reports, noting Perez Huete, who has had extensive theoretical education in chemistry but little laboratory training, is a perfect complement to his Albion students, who have had less course work but more applied experience. With the chemistry lab doubling as a language lab, Harris and his students see clear benefits for international research collaboration and language learning.

“Hearing Spanish [from Maria] helps me to further learn and understand it, which will be extremely valuable should I ever travel to a Spanish-speaking country,” says Joe Jones, a sophomore biochemistry major with a Spanish minor.

According to Harris, the possibility of travel is a good one for Jones and his lab mates. “This collaboration with Granada is going to grow,” Harris says. “I’m taking students to Spain this coming summer, so having Maria around will make that work go better for all of us.”

Tops in AICPA ContestAlbion made it to the national finals of the 2012 AICPA Accounting Competition in Washington, D.C., Dec. 16-19. The team, consisting of senior Evan Malecke and juniors Peter Curry, John Rogers, and Don Strite, qualified for the semi-finals after review of 100 submissions from institutions across the country and advanced to the finals based on online voting on their presentation. The team is coached by economics professor John Carlson.


From Len Berkey: ‘Profound Lessons’By Jake WeberProfessor of sociology Len Berkey distinctly remembers where his career path started, at a community pool in Washington, Pennsylvania. “I was 15 years old, sitting with some friends and looking at girls,” he recalls. “There were hundreds of people, and suddenly everyone got out of the pool when three little African-American kids came to swim. That left a mark—I just had to figure this out and do something about it. It’s driven me my whole career.”

“I came to Albion to teach Race and Ethnicity,” says Berkey, of the course that has continued to compel him over the past 35 years. Through it, Berkey has helped students begin to unravel many of our nation’s most complex, controversial, and distressing issues. “My task has been to prepare students for a world that’s going to be much more diverse in the future,” he says. “If they’re going to take their Albion education and be successful, they’ve got to develop a broader comfort zone.” Fittingly, he taught this class one final time before retiring at the end of the fall semester.

Originally planning to work for social change through the ministry, Berkey eventually settled on teaching as a way to address social justice issues. Throughout his career, he has crafted courses that fuse qualitative learning with quantitative research and real-world application. A model of his approach, developed with psychology professor Barbara Keyes, was a mentoring program for at-risk middle-school girls. Berkey and Keyes helped their Albion College students establish long-term mentoring relationships while simultaneously researching social phenomena relevant to the middle-schoolers’ experiences. Nearly 20 years on, that program (renamed “Jessie’s Gift” in memory of Albion native Jessica Longhurst, ’06) continues to serve Albion youth.

Berkey directed three study-abroad programs, one to Central Europe and two for the Great Lakes Jerusalem Program. In 2000, he and his students had to flee Jerusalem, and ended up studying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from Cyprus.

“Things happened that were quite frightening,” Berkey recalls, adding that the experience brought a personal insight. “I have always been a social critic, but living abroad, I discovered I’m profoundly American,” he says. “Americans are optimistic—we always believe you can solve problems. In other places, people feel the weight of history that says things don’t change. We don’t feel that way. I’m absolutely American in that respect.”

Erik Love, ’01, now assistant professor of sociology at Dickinson College, says Berkey remains for him the model of a quintessential teacher. “This fall was my first official semester teaching, and I feel a certain amazement that it was also the final official semester for Len,” Love says. “Len gave me profound lessons, not only about sociology and race, but also about our ability and obligation to make changes in the world. My goal is to try to follow his example.”

Anthropology and Sociology Department chair Scott Melzer notes that dozens of alumni traveled to Albion this fall to attend a symposium held in Berkey’s honor. Melzer says that Berkey’s student evaluations have continued to be “almost unbelievable,”

and his impact on colleagues has been equally appreciated. “Our department has been fortunate to observe and work with a dedicated teacher—one who even in his last semester looked for new ways to challenge his students,” says Melzer. “You wouldn’t find old, wrinkled, recycled class notes on Len Berkey’s desk.”

Berkey has won numerous awards for teaching and mentoring, including a Michigan Campus Compact statewide Faculty Member of the Year award. Not surprisingly, for him teaching has been paramount. “When I would come out of class, I’d be spent because I had thrown so much into it,” he says. “What happened in class had to be significant.”

Together with his wife, Ramona, Berkey eventually plans to resettle in Washington State but hopes to continue working with Albion’s administration and faculty as a visiting consultant or lecturer. “I’ve always been honored to be part of the Albion faculty. I love our idiosyncrasies, and I love our integrity,” he says. “This was a good choice for me.”

“I came from a working-class family,” says sociology professor Len Berkey, in reflecting on his career path. “Neither of my parents finished high school. The idea that I could actually work in a college was almost too much. Albion really represents the values and concerns and possibilities I had in mind when I thought about education. It certainly has met my expectations for a career.” Berkey retired in December.

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Two Join Albion College BoardPresident Donna Randall recently announced the appointment of Deborah Kiesey, bishop of the United Methodist Church’s Michigan Area, and Lawrence Schook, ’72, vice president for research at the University of Illinois, to the College’s Board of Trustees. Longtime board member Richard Smith, ’68, former editor-in-chief and CEO at Newsweek, has been named a life trustee.

Deborah Kiesey moved to Michigan in 2012 to serve as bishop for the Michigan Area of the United Methodist Church. Prior to this appointment, she spent her career as an ordained minister in Iowa and an administrator with the Dakota Conference in South Dakota. Kiesey has also served on a wide range of committees and boards, including those for Iowa Wesleyan College, Morningside College, and Dakota Wesleyan University.

Kiesey is a graduate of Morningside College and holds a master of divinity from Boston University School of Theology. She received Morningside’s Distinguished Alumna Award in 2004 and currently resides in Ann Arbor.

As vice president for research and senior research officer for the University of Illinois, Lawrence Schook oversees an $800-million annual sponsored research portfolio. He is also an

active researcher and leader internationally in the fields of comparative genomics and translational biomedical models. (For more on Lawrence Schook, see also this edition’s cover story.)

Richard Smith was selected as the first Albion College life trustee, recognizing his exceptional service to the College during his 18-year tenure on the board. He retired from the board in 2011. Smith is currently president of the Pinkerton Foundation, which supports community-based programs for children, youth, and families in economically disadvantaged areas in New York City.

New Enrollment VP AppointedMadeleine Rhyneer, previously the vice president for admission and financial aid at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., was named Albion’s vice president for enrollment management earlier this fall. A 34-year veteran in college admissions, she heads the Offices of Admission and Financial Aid at Albion and works closely with the Office of Marketing and Communications to develop student recruitment strategies, communications, and programming.

During her five-year tenure at Willamette, Rhyneer led a successful enrollment management program that saw a dramatic

increase in admission applications while enhancing the academic profile and campus diversity. She was also the university’s chief marketing officer for three of those years.

Prior to taking the post at Willamette in 2007, Rhyneer served in two executive roles in enrollment management and strategic communication at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.

In October, Peter Littlefield joined the College as director of admission. Littlefield, who was director of admission communication and an admission officer at Willamette University for the past nine years, brings experience in marketing strategy development, event programming, and recruitment.

Rhyneer

The new Good Soil Growhouse was recently dedicated at the Albion College Student Farm, located in the Whitehouse Nature Center. Made possible by a gift from former College trustee Richard Baird, ’78, and his wife, Linda, in honor of their daughter, Jessie, ’11, the hoop house will allow year-round gardening and a place for the student farmers to start seedlings for summer plantings in coordination with the local Community Garden Network. Earlier this year, Albion College received a $5,000 USDA People’s Gardens grant from the Calhoun Conservation District to support the purchase of equipment, fencing, and supplies for the Student Farm and to assist several local garden initiatives. Pictured with Rich and Jessie Baird (at left) are students currently involved in the Student Farm project.

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short takes two Minutes with . . . Perry Myers By Jake Weber

Perry Myers is an associate professor of German.

Io Triumphe!: You clearly followed an unusual career path to get to Albion.

Myers: my undergraduate majors were history and business administration—the possibility of an academic career was never on my radar screen. I went on for an m.B.A. and then I decided to go to Germany and take a four-month language course. I didn’t speak a word of German when I arrived the first time. I came back to the u.s., worked in a bank for a year, tried pre-med for a year, and then decided to go back to Germany, study some more language, and look for a job. Before going, I went to the u.s. consulate in Houston, and they told me, “You’re crazy. . . . You’ll never find a job.” After six months I was out of money and had to call my parents for a plane ticket home. That was on a Thursday; the next monday I got a job offer in the financial services industry and stayed for 11 years.

Okay—tell us more about life as an expatriate investment banker.

I worked for merrill Lynch and then J.P. morgan, teaching German institutional investors how to use futures and options, which were very new there at the time. It was an extremely stressful job but one in which I learned a lot and could travel frequently. Once, one of my sales desk brokers at J.P. morgan misunderstood a sell order and bought instead. We had to cover a position of about $500 million. The error cost us about $250,000, but we were actually relieved it wasn’t any larger. By that time, though, I knew I wanted a more intellectual challenge. I had always been an avid reader and interested in any subject in the humanities and so to pursue graduate studies seemed logical, though maybe not very practical.

So . . . you left business for college teaching, and now you’re preparing students for international business careers.

I came to Albion to help develop the Language and Culture for the Professions track, which seemed a natural fit for me, given my background, but I am also very focused on my research, which does not relate to business. I teach courses that make connections between cultural studies and the real world. I can relate my experiences to the theoretical, historical, and literary things we read, which brings added value for my students, I think.

With financial markets computerized and everyone speaking English—isn’t business “just business” now?

Having been in business for so long, I can tell the students how much culture does matter. Business is about relationships. The fact that I could speak German, and another financial adviser couldn’t, often made a big difference, not so much because of the language but because of my ability to understand German culture. In today’s world, global barriers are coming down in some ways, but cultural barriers are still rampant. Intercultural understanding and learning a foreign language are actually even more important. Learning a foreign language is an essential gateway to understanding the world we live in.

So what’s your next career?

I can see myself teaching and pursuing research until I retire. I’m always thinking about new things to do. I just finished a book about German visions of India at the end of the 19th century. Germans had become fascinated with India at the beginning of the 19th century because of the discovery of linguistic links between sanskrit and European languages including German. my

book studies how German intellectuals later in the century and into the twentieth contemplated their own cultural, religious, and political concerns by mirroring them through their perceptions of India. This has been a fascinating project for me because it shows how our views of others in virtually any context are powerfully colored by our own subjective needs and concerns, just like these Germans a century ago.

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After having begun his professional career in Germany, Perry Myers returns there each summer with his family while he pursues his current research on 19th-century German culture and history. These sojourns to Germany, which include visits with his wife’s family, keep him in tune with the country and provide his two daughters, who are both fluent in German, with unique cultural experiences.

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Walking with ChampionsBy Bobby LeeIt has been quite a year for senior Devin Burnett. A starting defensive back for the Briton football team, Burnett also served as a Comerica Park bat boy in what turned out to be a pennant-winning season for the Detroit Tigers.

It was Burnett’s fourth season in the visitors’ dugout, and though he wrapped up his work in August just before football practice began at Albion, needless to say, he closely followed the Tigers through the playoffs and World Series. As bat boy, Burnett clocked in on game days at 3 p.m. and started moving equipment—batting helmets, catchers’ equipment, towels, Gatorade, and chewing gum—to the dugout and to the bullpen.

For Division III athletes who need to keep in shape and earn money for their schooling, the job couldn’t have been more perfect.

“Carrying catchers’ gear and chests full of ice and water up and down the flights of stairs between the clubhouse and the dugout is quite a workout,” Burnett said.

Burnett had about two hours to deliver equipment and supplies before heading back to the clubhouse to change into the visitors’ uniform for batting practice. After batting practice he then turned his attention to the game itself.

Burnett is quick to point out the job’s benefits, including having one of the best

seats in the stadium and capturing the fans’ attention when he retrieves a ball in foul territory. A product of University of Detroit Jesuit High School, Burnett said working at Comerica Park runs in the family. His uncle is the clubhouse manager, and a cousin also works as a bat boy.

A veteran in the clubhouse, Burnett said visiting players recognize him, and some have offered advice with drills for working out and improving footwork.

“[Cardinals’ outfielder] Adron Chambers played football at Mississippi State, and he gave me drills for backpedaling,” Burnett said

of the 2011 World Series champions’ visit to Detroit in June.

Burnett, an economics and management major at Albion, has also been impressed by the work ethic displayed by the athletes even though they’ve reached the Majors. Through the experience, Burnett has learned “that hard work will take you wherever you want to go.” In Burnett’s case, the future plan includes landing a job in financial accounting and becoming a CPA.

To follow the Britons all year long, go to: www.albion.edu/sports.

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Comerica Park bat boy Devin Burnett had one of the best seats in the house—in the visiting team dugout—during the Detroit Tigers’ thrilling 2012 season. When not at the ballpark, he has pursued his other favorite sport as a defensive back for the Briton football team.

NCAA Salutes Dempsey’s Leadership

Cedric Dempsey, ’54, was honored in June as the NCAA dedicated its office building in Indianapolis’ White River State Park in his name. Dempsey, the NCAA’s president from 1994 to 2002, orchestrated the association’s 1999 move from Kansas City to Indianapolis. He was a standout athlete in three sports at Albion and would later serve as Briton head basketball and cross country coach and dean of men before moving on to become the athletic director at four Division I schools.

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You may look at our world and think that the ocean of injustice is too vast and too stormy to cross and that more peaceful waters don’t exist. You might feel that the problems are so complicated and difficult that . . . you cannot make a difference. As a consequence, many of you will be tempted to sit on the sidelines and not participate in the challenges of life. But I submit to you today that as we look back on our history, the great moments and movements of this country have started with the actions of a single individual daring to cast off from the shores of convention to cross that ocean. You are men and women of destiny; therefore, we have to expect the very best from you in order that those who follow will have a better chance. You, young people, hold the key to the future of America.

Civil rights champion and federal appellate judge Damon Keith began Albion College’s Year of Global Diversity with those inspiring words during our Opening Convocation in September. He challenged us not only to confront racial and cultural intolerance but to use whatever skills and talents we have to bring about change.

Throughout this academic year—in events large and small—we are focusing our programming on the many issues surrounding diversity. We are exploring questions related to discrimination and social injustice, celebrating cultural traditions from around the world, and, most importantly, considering how we can make a difference through our own actions. As part of our Richard M. Smith Common Reading Experience, we heard from Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, whose book A School for My Village describes his work in advancing educational opportunities for children in his native Uganda. Noted activist Cleveland Sellers will bring his human rights message to

‘Casting off from the Shores of Convention’

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campus during our Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation in January, and for April’s Isaac Symposium, celebrated novelist Alexander McCall Smith will reflect on his personal journey from a childhood in Zimbabwe to his more recent efforts establishing a law school at the University of Botswana.

Beyond these special programs, Albion is demonstrating its commitment to educating students for a more diverse world in a host of ways. Here are just a few examples:

• Nearly 20 years ago, professors Len Berkey (sociology) and Barbara Keyes (psychology) initiated a mentoring program for at-risk middle school students in the Albion Public Schools. Now known as Jessie’s Gift, the good work continues through dozens of student mentors working one-on-one with children in our local schools.

• With topics ranging across the arts and literature to the social sciences, many of our first-year seminars expand our students’ understanding of the commonalities and the differences in the culture and world view of populations both here in America and abroad.

• This spring we are inaugurating our first transnational courses, co-taught by our faculty and their counterparts at universities in Greece and Lebanon. Students in these classes—connecting via the Internet—will work in virtual teams, read common texts, and pursue shared discussions and writing assignments. These new courses follow other collaborative learning programs created with French universities over the past few years.

• During a student-initiated interfaith trip in November, participants learned

For more on Albion’s Year of Global Diversity, go to: www.albion.edu/globaldiversity.

meditation at a Chinese Buddhist Retreat Center, toured the Islamic Center of America, and met with interfaith leaders in Dearborn.

• Albion College has a leadership role in the Third 90 Network, sponsored by the Michigan Colleges Foundation. Geology professor Tim Lincoln serves as faculty director for this science education program for underrepresented students from high schools in Detroit, Grand Rapids, and other southern Michigan locations. Lincoln, along with Whitehouse Nature Center director David Green and Albion science majors, provides field and lab experiences in environmental studies for these students and encourages their college aspirations.

Through these programs and many others, and in daily discussions and activities in classes across the curriculum, we are preparing our students for living and working in an increasingly diverse society here at home and for their future roles as responsible global citizens.

The charge to them was eloquently expressed by Judge Keith:

Dare to leave your comfort zone! You will never discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. With the diversity, power, and talent . . . at this great college—with all its influence, prestige, and intellect—if we cannot commit ourselves to reaching out to others, knocking down fences, and tearing apart the walls that imprison us all, then I submit to you today: Who will?

Our students will be ready to meet the challenge.

Donna [email protected] President Randall’s monthly blog posts in the Huffington Post at: www.huffingtonpost.com/donna-randall.

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Biomedical Breakthroughs

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larry schook’s research suggests ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate is far more complex than we thought.

Larry Schook, ’72, an internationally prominent researcher

in genetics, is passionate about problem-solving—and pigs.

Early in his career, Schook worked on mouse

genetics at the University of Michigan with some of the top

genetic scientists in the world. Mice could help us under-

stand genetics, he knew, but would they provide good

models to study drug metabolism and organ transplanta-

tion? He continued to be puzzled by the fact that as new

drugs came on the market they seemed to work well, and

then side effects would surface. Could that be because

the drugs were tested primarily on mice, and mice just

don’t resemble us closely enough?

Now as a professor of animal sciences and bioen-

gineering at the University of Illinois, he has changed his

research focus to pigs as models for biomedical research.

Their dietary requirements, maturation process, and gen-

eral physiology resemble those of humans, he explains.

Like humans, they are omnivores, and like us, they sit

around, overeat, and get out of shape. “Pigs are one of the

few animals where wild ancestors still exist. You can find

wild boar in a forest in China or Siberia or Sweden,” Schook

says. “Wild pigs are fit.” Today geneticists can look at what

happens as an animal is domesticated. Do the genomes

look different? Can we take any pig and domesticate it, or

is domestication predetermined by genetics? Since DNA

samples from different pig populations, domestic and

wild, are available for sequencing, researchers now have

the capability to answer these and other questions.

In his role as director of the international Swine

Genome Sequencing Consortium, Schook can promote

research that will lead to breakthroughs in our understanding

of genetics in relation to a range of physiological concerns.

“The biggest question we’re answering with pigs

has to do with metabolism and its relation to genetics.

. . . When an animal develops, from fetus to adult, some

genes are on and off, on and off,” he says.

Scientists, who have known this for a long time,

once thought there were about 100,000 genes. As it turns

out, there are approximately 20,000—the same gene can

be expressed differently in different tissues. It appears

many factors may influence gene function. “Some

changes in metabolism can cause birth defects,” Schook

explains. “By looking at changes in metabolism in the pig,

it’s becoming clearer and clearer that what a woman eats

when she’s pregnant has significant effects on the fetus.”

This has implications for conditions that include schizo-

phrenia, autism, and obesity. Pregnant women, careful

not to smoke or drink, need to be just as careful about

calorie restriction, Schook advises, speculating that the

rise in many emerging syndromes is likely linked to weight

gain in our society.

He also has found that pigs and humans have

similar stem cells. That makes pigs useful when looking at

regenerative medicine stem cell technologies. Researchers

can induce heart attacks in pigs, find the genetic triggers,

and then develop strategies for dealing with cardiovascu-

lar disease in humans. Biodegradable patches can pull

stem cells in to restore function. Scientists can create and

study tumors, too. “It’s now possible to genetically modify

pig cells that cause tumors,” Schook explains.

Through the Swine Genome Sequencing

Consortium, Schook is now working on cataloging genes,

something he compares to creating a library other

researchers can use. “You can go to the library and find the

By Davi Napoleon

‘book’ that has the useful gene in it. . . . My goal is to create

a discovery platform so other people who are interested in

drug or X-ray therapies have a model to use for their own

reasons,” he says. This approach eventually could make

genetic information available to non-scientists as well. We

could learn more about our own risks for particular genetic

diseases, allowing for individualized treatment programs.

The solid liberal arts background Schook acquired

at Albion College prepared him for work that is often

interdisciplinary and international. “It’s helped me to

collaborate with many different individuals in different

disciplines across the arts and within the sciences,” says

Schook, who recently team-taught a course with an artist to

encourage students to think creatively. “We have students

train and practice, practice, practice. And we have dogma,

dogma, dogma. Then we say ‘Go on stage or into the lab

and be creative or make new discoveries that challenge the

dogmas.’” Examining thoughts from various perspectives

frees students to see beyond the dogma they encounter in one.

Fortunate to have fine mentors, beginning with

Albion professors Ken Ballou and Dennis Gaswick, Schook

now enjoys mentoring the four Ph.D. students, two post-

doctoral fellows, and three or four undergraduates who

assist in his lab each semester.

Teaching and research are just two of the ways

Schook occupies his time. As vice president for research

and senior research officer at the University of Illinois,

he oversees an $800-million annual sponsored research

portfolio covering the university’s three campuses.

Additionally, he monitors the university’s research-related

concerns including intellectual property, technology

commercialization, and economic development.

Bridging disciplines is an essential skill for

scientists today, he believes. That’s how they become

“self-empowered,” he says, and can both build their

career and advance research in their field “without always

depending on someone else to create the opportunity.”

The Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor in

the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of

Illinois, Larry Schook has served as principal investigator for

over $25-million in sponsored research from the National

Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, and industry. He holds a Ph.D.

from Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Recently named to Albion College’s Board of Trustees,

Schook, together with his wife, Frances, has established

an endowed fund to support student research through

the College’s Foundation for Undergraduate Research,

Scholarship, and Creative Activity. The Schooks have two

sons, one an attorney, the other a Ph.D. in microbiology,

and a daughter who just graduated from medical school.

Larry Schook was on campus last April to offer the Alumni Lecture for the 2012 Elkin R. Isaac Student Research Symposium.

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Voice toAlbion Alumni AdvAnce the preservAtion cAuse nAtionwide.

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ArchAeologist heAther horobik,’06

By Marian Deegan

“Must outrun packs of wild coyotes.” Not a typical job description, but for Heather Horobik, it’s all in a day’s work.

As an archaeological technician with Mountain Heritage, a USDA Forest Service enterprise unit, Horobik spends six to eight months in the field each year, exploring the western forests for historic artifacts and other cultural resources. “My schedule is always changing, and I am always traveling,” she explains. Her work begins in April or May with site research at her office in Colorado; then she heads out into the field through early autumn, wrapping up reports in November or December.

“It’s very satisfying to know that I am contributing to the identification, documentation, and protection of part of our nation’s history,” Horobik says. “I think many people travel to the forests and grasslands in order to connect with nature, but are often unaware that they could also be connecting with our past. I am always fascinated to learn what these seemingly remote areas have been used for and by whom.”

Horobik had archaeology in mind when she screened Midwestern colleges as a high school student. “I really loved the environment at Albion,” she remembers. “Professor Liz Brumfiel met with me during my tour—she was so wonderful and friendly.” While pursuing majors in anthropology/sociology and history, Horobik says a number of influential professors, including Deborah Kanter and Allen Horstman in history and Molly Mullin in anthropology, encouraged her on her career path.

Anthropology professor Lars Fogelin arranged for Horobik to experience fieldwork firsthand. Her first dig was at a Pawnee site in Nebraska. Later, he opened the door for her to attend a field school at a Copper Age site in Hungary for six weeks. These experiences drew Horobik to Colorado State University for graduate studies in the prehistoric and protohistoric eras. One of her graduate archaeology classes introduced her to the study of historic beverage and medicine bottles for what they can reveal about everyday life in a particular culture. They became a passion.

A Victorian red light district medicine bottle collection excavated from a Colorado mining town and brought to Colorado State gave her the opportunity to do original research in her newfound area of interest. “I have a fascination with historical medications, and did my thesis on this collection,” Horobik explains. “It was compelling to give a voice to a group of women who didn’t traditionally receive much attention.”

Horobik began working for the Forest Service while pursuing her graduate degree. “There are over 300,000 cultural resource sites on national forest land,” she says. “The Forest Service has a heritage database, but we are still working on finding all of these sites and entering and updating the data.”

Cultural resources may encompass everything from a prehistoric Native American site to old mines and logging camps. Whenever projects like forest restoration, fuel reduction, or range management are slated for national forest land, the Forest Service must do a survey to ensure that significant cultural resources won’t be affected. “That’s where we come in,” she says with a grin.

“Our survey teams work with a GPS to record where we’ve been and to specify site locations,” Horobik explains. “When we find a site, we photograph it, sketch maps, and evaluate the heritage resources we find. Our work allows the forest staffs to have a better idea of what types of heritage resources are on the forest land, where they are located, and how they can manage those resources.”

A survey may require 12-day camping or backpacking trips. Hiking injuries are a concern, and there’s a risk of stumbling upon illegal drug plantations or wild animals. “We were once chased out of the field by a good-sized pack of coyotes,” Horobik remembers. “We never saw them, but we heard the barking coming our way, so we hoofed it out of there. I’ve often said that following us around would be as exciting as any reality TV show!”

The greatest rewards of Horobik’s work are access to territory few people have seen, and the excitement of unusual finds. One memorable site was a Victorian-era saw mill lost to fire in the early 1900s and overgrown by forest. “There wasn’t much remaining,” Horobik says, “but we found a gravestone, and my favorite artifact—hundreds of feet of looped and intertwined saw blades that had survived the fire. Another time, we were recording near an old railroad and came across an abandoned car from the 1950s. It had been turned over and was riddled with bullet holes, suggesting a dramatic saga of mob violence.” She laughs. “We never figured out how it got there, though.”

“Albion gave me wonderful connections and a great foundation,” she says. “My work builds on so many of the disciplines I learned. Writing skills are critical to get sites recognized. And I have to understand historical and environmental politics, and geology, to do my job. I’d love to go back to Albion for two more bachelor’s degrees.” She sighs. “And for the Albion birthday cakes. They had the best buttercream frosting. When I’m in the field, heating up canned soup over a camp stove, I dream about that frosting.”


By Marian Deegan

Sun-soaked stone arching over lazy streams, silver trestles conducting the goods of industry over our country’s waterways—historic bridges are a quintessential element of the American landscape and beloved touchstones of community identity. But these symbols of our heritage are vanishing. As modern safety requirements demand more than turn-of-the-century standards can deliver, historic bridges are falling to the march of progress.

Enter Mary Alfson Tinsman, who believes passionately that progress can be supported without sacrificing history. Now the cultural resources manager in the Philadelphia office of Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc., an architectural and engineering firm, Tinsman has devoted a considerable part of her career to bridge preservation and rehabilitation. “We lose historic properties regularly, but we are losing historic bridges at an incredible rate,” she explains.

Interested in trying your hand at preservation work? Horobik suggests you check out the USDA Forest Service’s Passport in Time (www.passportintime.com).Volunteers can sign up for programs involving excavations, research, the restoration of historic structures, and more. It’s a wonderful way, she says, for people to help preserve and understand parts of our national history.

“When assessing a bridge project, we weigh the safety interests of transportation agencies alongside the historic preservation interests of local residents. We also incorporate the concerns of the local municipal officials who want to get emergency vehicles over the bridges faster, and who do not want the higher maintenance costs of historic bridges. Conflict resolution skills are essential. People become very emotional. My job is to hear and understand their concerns—behind the tone or the words that they are using. It’s challenging, and I love it.”

Tinsman works closely with contract engineers, educating them about the historic value of bridges and encouraging them to find new ways to strengthen historic bridges in accordance with current transportation safety requirements. “The preservation standards get really tricky,” she explains. “You can’t alter the features that make the bridge significant. In a metal truss bridge, the function of the truss in handling the roadway load is the historic element. Figuring out how to strengthen the bridge without making the truss superficial is a real challenge. When we are able to preserve a bridge, we are preserving

its engineering significance. For many people, historic bridges are their iconic image of the place they call home. We are trying to save that aspect of people’s lives.”

Her enthusiasm for the past dates back to her college days, as she studied anthropology and archaeology with Elizabeth Brumfiel. “Dr. Brumfiel was just amazing,” Tinsman remembers. “I took every class she taught that I could take, and changed my major from history to anthropology.” She joined Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity, and developed an appreciation for volunteerism. She also was a founding member of the Albyonne Medievalist Society. Upon graduating, Tinsman relocated to Philadelphia to pursue a graduate program in preservation at the University of Pennsylvania, and made the state her home.

“The gritty industrial sites you often find in Pennsylvania are my favorites,” she explains. “These sites reflect our industrial history: our immigrant roots, the labor movement, women’s rights, and child labor laws—all of these factors play into our culture. I find it fascinating.”

This late-19th-century miner’s cabin found on national forest land in Wyoming is just one of the many heritage sites that Heather Horobik has documented as part of her job as an archaeological technician with the USDA Forest Service. She travels across much of the western U.S. to evaluate and help preserve these cultural resources which otherwise might be lost.

preservAtionist mAry Alfson tinsmAn,’96

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Although bridges have been a key focus, Tinsman has worked on diverse projects over the course of her career. “Most of my work is guided by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which governs federal agencies and how they have to treat historic resources,” she explains. “Any project that receives federal money or a federal permit or license has to determine whether the project will affect historic properties or archaeology sites. I’ve surveyed sites for federal projects including widening roads, building highways or railroads, replacing bridges, constructing housing projects, and erecting new cell towers.”

One of her most memorable projects was a study of an old Pennsylvania coal mining facility. “The state wanted to build a highway through a 1,200-acre site,” she remembers. “We surveyed in the winter. It was cold and snowy, and we were working in a wooded area that had grown up around this mine. We found remnants of mining tracks, structures, and mine openings. The most thrilling find was a series of three massive stone dams built in the late 1800s. We took pictures, measurements, and filed site descriptions with the state historic preservation department. The highway was routed to avoid the mine site.”

Inspired by her volunteering at Albion, Tinsman has also been engaged in pro bono work for the preservation cause. “We handled a National Register nomination for the house of African-American contralto Marian Anderson,” she recounts. “Marian was one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century, and an important figure in the struggle to overcome racial prejudice. Because of our help, Marian’s house benefited from tax credits to refurbish and rehabilitate it as a museum. We were able to protect an important piece of our cultural history.”

So what’s next for Tinsman? In her current job, which she began in early November, her role is to develop the firm’s cultural resources department and assist with a broad range of preservation efforts. “I really enjoy resolving conflict in my large bridge projects,” she says, “but it’s also wonderful to work on smaller non-controversial projects with people who are committed to preservation. Either way, we are supporting our historic legacy.”

Based as she is in Philadelphia, you might be surprised to learn that it’s not historic homes that have captured Mary Alfson Tinsman’s attention as a preservationist, but rather the old bridges and other examples of historic engineering that are so common across Pennsylvania. The “gritty industrial sites” are her favorites, she says, because they tell so much of the history of the American worker.

By Jake Weber

Jan Corey Arnett wears her new moniker, the Barn Lady, proudly. “For years, people would see me in the grocery store and say, ‘Oh, you’re the lady who writes that column for the Battle Creek Enquirer,’” Arnett explains. “Now they say, ‘I know you—you’re the Barn Lady.’”

Arnett has spent the past 15 years becoming the “Barn Lady,” promoting barn preservation throughout Michigan. A media-savvy writer with a passion for “everyday” history, Arnett is raising awareness about saving these agricultural icons with anyone who will listen, and increasing numbers are listening. “The future of traditional barns is influenced not just by the farm community but by developers, legislators, insurance agents, township officials, and citizens who buy former farm property and haven’t a clue what to do with the old barn that may be on it.”

She notes that barns convey important information about their communities’ heritage. “Our nation has barns dating to about 1730, though Michigan barns were first built in the 1830s. They were built from the materials that were at hand, by the farmers and their neighbors,” she says. “These old barns are a record of the architecture of a region, of the trees

bArn crusAder JAn corey Arnett,’75


and stones that were there. The way the barn was constructed can tell you something about immigrant communities and where those farmers’ ancestors came from. A barn can tell you a lot about the history of a place.”

Arnett points out that these character-rich structures were also built to last. “American barns are log, stone, adobe, and plank. Up to the early 1900s, the post-and-beam frames were made from the nation’s virgin timber,” offers Arnett. “This wood is extraordinary and to destroy it is unthinkable. If an old barn is taken care of, it can last another hundred years and provide far better value than a pole building or stick-built structure for a multitude of reasons.”

Arnett’s passion for barns came in part from growing up on an Upper Peninsula farm, which included a barn that was her father’s pride and joy. When the farm was sold, the new owners restored the farmhouse but tore down the barn. “Staring at the pile of broken beams and boards was unbearable,” Arnett recalls. “That was when I knew I had to try to save other barns. It was a way of honoring my father, the barn, and the legacy.”

Her activism takes a few different forms. Through her writing and speaking to civic groups, she is able to educate large numbers of people about barn preservation. She was editor of the Michigan barn organization’s newsletter for eight years. Especially important, she says, is the need to educate farmers and other barn owners about how to sensibly pursue adaptation or restoration or even give away a barn. For them, “I set a goal to get into as many farming publications as I can,” Arnett says. She also has a book under way for a publisher specializing in history and architecture that she hopes will inspire still more readers to join in efforts to restore and find new uses for old barns.

“I’ve seen antique stores, conference centers, restaurants—more than 40 different ways old barns have been put to new use,” Arnett explains. “Sometimes farmers think the best option for a barn they don’t want is to let the fire department practice on it. Farmers can instead rethink the barn’s future and consider who might want a barn they no longer need. Barns can be moved feet or miles intact in some cases, or be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere.”

And like a true crusader, she’s always ready to jump out of the car at the sight of a “For Sale” sign in front of a barn. It was just such a sign that lured her into three years of negotiating with Walmart over the fate of a barn in Ionia. “There was a farmhouse, huge old catalpa trees, a corn crib, and a beautiful barn,” says Arnett, of the site that has since become a Walmart Supercenter surrounded by retail outlets and asphalt.

With assistance from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and some strategic media coverage, Arnett waded into preservation negotiations with Walmart, city and township officials, prospective takers of the barn, and numerous contractors. In the end, she persuaded Walmart to kick in $150,000 to move the barn they wanted to demolish. While relocation was eventually unfeasible, she was able to have the barn dismantled. Large posts and beams were used to build a new barn at the Sherman Lake YMCA in Augusta. “That project consumed a lot of my life for a while,” Arnett reflects. “But it was worth it.”

In the future, Arnett will continue to pursue barn preservation networking and rally support for this cause. “Saving barns and farm history is important for the same reason that saving the best of any of our history matters. Once the real thing is gone, you cannot bring it back,” she says.

“There are adults and many children who have never stepped foot inside a barn, much less understand how a sustainable farm operates,” Arnett concludes. “We need to retain real farms and real barns for people to experience firsthand. I really want people to think and act with a conservation-minded, respect-for-the-land ethic. I want people to think beyond themselves to what might benefit the well-being of future generations.”

Jan Arnett’s book on America’s barns will be published in 2013 by Shire Publications, Oxford, U.K. [email protected].

Jan Corey Arnett helped save this late-1800s barn in Calhoun County. When threatened with demolition, the barn was purchased for a dollar, dismantled, and rebuilt a few miles away for new uses. Arnett is a passionate advocate for these icons of our agricultural past.

To find kindred spirits in barn preservation, Jan Arnett recommends visiting www.barnalliance.org or searching online for the more than 30 barn organizations nationwide.

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Albion’s print collection, begun decades ago by art professor Vernon Bobbitt, continues to ‘instruct and delight.’By Jake Weber

“Aren’t they gorgeous?” asks Art and Art History Department chair Anne McCauley, spreading some newly acquired Japanese prints onto a gallery table. “We just love them,” adds art history professor Bille Wickre. They were admiring examples of the 19th-century ukiyo-e prints that Alby Zatkoff, ’76, recently donated to Albion College. The dramatically colored prints, originally created for a mass market, have long since become prized possessions for fine art collectors.

Zatkoff’s gift is one of several recent alumni donations that add to Albion’s already extensive art collection and advance scholarship for students in all majors. Vintage tin toys from Georgia Wilson Marsh, ’65, and a Native American rug from a member of the Class of 1973 also expand the breadth and depth of the art collection. More importantly, these donations

allow Albion students to experience art scholarship through original research based on pieces they can see (and touch) firsthand.

“Students rarely have opportunities to interact directly with the art they are researching and writing about. Even at the graduate level, students often write papers based on other people’s research or by looking at museum pieces,” Wickre explains.

In contrast, many of Albion’s classes require students to do research within the College’s collection, examining in detail the fine line work in a print, the application of color in a painting, or the intricacies of glazing on a piece of pottery and considering how those contribute to the ideas the artists intended to convey. What’s more, Albion students have access to works—including many by famed artists from around the world—that have never been studied. “This is a relatively unique opportunity for student research,” Wickre observes. “Not many places have undergraduates working directly with objects, especially at a school without a museum.”

The department’s focus on student scholarship has paid off in various ways. Wickre recalls

a student whose medical school interview included conversation on the interviewer’s Greek pottery collection and the student’s expertise gained from a Greek art research project. And after the success of three museum-quality exhibition catalogs produced by Wickre, McCauley, and their student collaborators, the department has founded Celandine Press, in order to add the catalogs—and the students’ published research—to the Library of Congress.

Zatkoff notes that some of his gift prints complete a circle: former Albion art professor Richard Brunkus was an expert on ukiyo-e and helped Zatkoff purchase some of the prints even while Zatkoff was a student. “Albion has one of the most incredible print collections. Art alumni know it, but most other alumni don’t. This is my way to give back and add to the collection,” he says.

Like Zatkoff, many donors recognize the value of the collection as a teaching resource and have contributed in significant ways to the College, McCauley says. George, ’64, and Joy Croll have a beautiful collection of contemporary prints from which

Bobbitt’s Legacy


Japanese ukiyo-e prints had the kind of appeal for the citizens of 18th- and 19th-century Edo (Tokyo) that posters of pop stars hold for young people today. When these prints made their way to Europe, they influenced many artists, including Edouard Manet and Vincent van Gogh. Prints like this one by Utagawa Kunisada are known as brocade prints because of their number of rich and varied colors. Each color required a separate carved block, and some prints demanded 25 or more blocks for their production. Actor Portrait, woodblock print, c. 1850. Gift of Alby Zatkoff, ’76.

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they have donated and loaned for significant exhibitions, and they regularly contribute to the department’s gift account, enabling the purchase of more prints. Elisabeth French, ’47, has given many remarkable works, including prints by Milton Avery and Piranesi. After his graduation from Albion, Joel

Leenaars, ’57, lived in the same apartment building with artist H.C. Westermann. Leenaars accumulated a number of Westermann’s student works and later his early paintings. Those works, on permanent loan to the College, were intensely researched by Albion students who curated and installed an

exhibition of Westermann’s work and designed and published the catalog Tradition and Resistance. The late professor emeritus John Hart and his wife Mary Helen bequeathed to the College their collection of fine prints including works by Hogarth and Kathe Kollwitz.

While Albion’s holdings include some highly valued objects, Wickre stresses that the College collection has an intrinsic value that goes beyond price. “All of our artwork is potentially irreplaceable in terms of research now and in the future,” she asserts. “I am constantly learning from my interactions with the art collection, both in terms of learning about the art, but even more so in learning about teaching. Ten years ago, I didn’t use the Native American collection for much other than enrichment. Now it’s the core of two classes that I teach, an exhibition, a symposium, and a forthcoming book. New trends in art history or theory may someday make us happy to have something we didn’t pay a lot of attention to before.”

Wickre further notes that “our patrons trust us to care for, use, and appreciate the works of art that they give us,” and emphasizes that the faculty

James McNeill Whistler, an American artist who lived much of his life in London and Paris, was a leader in the 19th-century etching revival. A master of capturing both a sense of place and mood in his work, Whistler earned acclaim for his ability to render delicately atmospheric landscapes. Wapping (The Tiny Pool), etching, 1876-1878. Bequest of John and Mary Helen Hart.


see this as a sacred charge. “As stewards of this remarkable collection, we engage constantly in the process of caring for and building the collection in ways that best serve the needs of Albion’s students. As I see it, additions to the collection are an investment in future students, but also in the ways we study and learn about the human condition.”

Art professor Vernon Bobbitt’s vision in developing the print collection was that it would

continue to grow and the opportunities for learning would increase along with it. “Bobbitt established the print collection at Albion College to enrich the education we give our students and to offer the best art we can to our larger community,” McCauley concludes. “We are the grateful beneficiaries of his foresight and the confidence of numerous patrons who contribute to our collection.”

The Department of Art and Art History currently has three books in production that are based on works in the College’s collection: Images of Women: Prints from the Albion College Collection, Before Our Eyes: Another Look at Native American Art, and Modern American Prints from the Albion College Print Collection. All contain interpretive essays by students and faculty about the respective works. More information is available at www.albion.edu/art.

Considered one of America’s earliest abstract artists, Milton Avery often depicted scenes like this one from everyday life. His work is now represented in major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Umbrella by the Sea, drypoint intaglio, 1948. Gift of Elisabeth French, ’47.

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save the Date for Homecoming 2013october 11-13Homecoming events will include reunions for class years ending in 3 and 8 (1953-2013). Visit www.albion.edu/homecoming for details.

Albion’s Homecoming was held Oct. 12-14. More photos from Homecoming 2012 are available at www.albion.edu/homecoming (click on the Flickr link).

It rained on our parade...But nothing could dampen our Homecoming spirit!

1. Seniors Kristen Chung and Jacqueline Chung led off Saturday morning’s Homecoming parade.

2. Seniors Krysta Schroeder and Justin Jevicks, pictured with President Donna Randall and her husband, Paul Hagner, reigned in this year’s Homecoming court.

3. Loyal fans, undeterred by the weather, came out in force to cheer on the Britons.

4. The nautical theme of Delta Gamma’s winning parade entry, the “Delta Gee,” fit right in with the wet weather.

5. Iain Charnley, ’05, Libby Crabb, ’04, and Meagan Burton-Krieger, ’07, were among the hundreds of alumni and friends who returned to campus for a weekend full of activities including reunions for the classes of 1952 to 2012.

6. Senior running back Darrin Williams stung the Kalamazoo Hornets, rushing for 249 yards, including this 56-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, in the Britons’ 17-14 Homecoming win.

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1. Members of the 1982 men’s track and field team joined the Homecoming parade Saturday morning. The team was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, thanks to a league championship that included six individual MIAA titles.

2. Hall of Fame inductee Ron Wasczenski, ’77, former head football coach Frank Joranko, and 2011 Hall of Famer Todd Morris, ’95, reminisce about their days at Sprankle-Sprandel Stadium.

3. Keith Havens, pictured with his wife, Sue, retired as head swimming and diving coach earlier this year. In his 27-year career at Albion, he coached students to 50 individual and event league titles, and his teams included numerous All Americans.

4. Heather Lawson Luciani, ’94, Jennifer Basch Prather, ’93, and Jennifer Kerr Menocal, ’93, represented the 1993 women’s tennis team at the induction ceremony. The team defeated perennial champion Kalamazoo twice in four days to clinch the league title.

Winning TraditionsThe 2012 Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony, held Oct. 12, provided memorable moments for recently retired swimming and diving coach Keith Havens, as he and three of his All-America swimmers were inducted for their achievements. Other inductees included three members of the 1994 football national championship team and one from the undefeated 1976 football squad, as well as standouts in baseball and track. Also honored were the league champion 1982 men’s track and field team and 1993 women’s tennis team.

For more on this year’s inductees, go to: www.albion.edu/halloffame.

2012 Athletic Hall of Fame InducteesIndividual AthletesChristopher J. Behling, ’94James M. Corbeil, ’88Kellie S. Gehrs Gaetz, ’95Martin P. “Chip” Heyboer, ’95Kyle A. Klein, ’97David S. Lefere, ’97Molly K. Maloney Handley, ’00Garth A. Richey, ’60Ronald J. Wasczenski, ’77

CoachKeith Havens

Teams1982 Men’s Track and Field1993 Women’s Tennis

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‘The Dance of an Open Mind’By Rick Jones, ’71 Editor’s note: Rick Jones, one of five Distinguished Alumni Award recipients this year, reflected on the value of his Albion liberal arts education during the Alumni Awards Ceremony, held Oct. 12 during Homecoming Weekend. We think his remarks are well worth sharing. Jones, who retired in 2011 as principal of North Farmington High School, was the 2008-09 Michigan High School Principal of the Year.

I’m just a school guy, and I find it hard to believe that you can receive recognition for doing something you loved . . . for doing something that was a calling . . . for doing something that was a joy.

So, please know this award is accepted with both gratitude and humility, understanding that an award like this is every bit as much about celebrating a profession as it is about recognizing a person.

In my former life, I was an English teacher, and during my teaching career, not a day went by when I wasn’t thankful for the preparation I had at Albion College—thankful for the academic rigor . . . thankful for the informed discussions and the nuanced debates . . . thankful for the scathing red-penned critiques of my writing . . . thankful for the rhythms of classrooms and seasons . . . thankful for a liberal arts education that held up over the course of a career.

About three years ago a video with an edgy little title, “Shift Happens,” made the rounds in education circles. It suggested, among other things, that knowledge doubles every 72 hours and that the average worker will hold 10-14 jobs before the age of 38. Then it begged the question, “What are the implications for education?”

At first blush, it would seem to imply a need to ramp up, even more, standards in math and science.

But that’s not how I see it. What I see is a greater need than ever for well-educated, well-read, well-rounded kids. We need students who are trainable over and over again. We need a world of kids who know how to acquire information and apply it, a

world of kids able to work with each other and the “other.”

Critics of liberal arts education allege that it does not build anything tangible, does not contribute directly to the gross national product, and may not make even one cent of difference in one’s paycheck.

I believe it does, however, make a difference in one’s life.

It makes us human. It helps us know ourselves. And, it teaches us, as author Toni Morrison describes it, “the dance of an open mind when it engages with another equally

open one.” And this, I believe, is ultimately our task in schools: the nourishing of open minds, a concept long trumpeted in liberal arts colleges.

I retired from North Farmington High School in June 2011. One of the most frequently asked questions I received as my career drew to a close was: “Are kids different today from when you began your career?”

And my answer was essentially this: “Not really.” Oh, certainly, kids have been exposed to a lot more stuff with travel, the explosion of the Internet, and so on. But kids today are not much different than they were when

Rick Jones, ’71, accepting his award.

April DuVal, ’65, (right) with Albion classmate Sharon Thorne Vydick, ’65.

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I started teaching in the early 1970s. They want to belong, they want someone to care about them, and they want to be good at something. . . . And they want a boyfriend or girlfriend. I can help them with the first three, not the last one.

And those simple beliefs are what drove me every day of my career as we tried to create a school environment where it was okay if everyone belonged, a school environment where every kid had multiple adults who cared about him or her, and a school environment that fostered excellence in everything we did—in academics, the arts, and athletics—and in reaching out to the world beyond our school’s physical footprint. . . .

As I thought about this award, I kept coming back to what I really learned at Albion, those sustainable lessons that I leaned on over the decades:

I leArNed the Rock started as a pebble, and the rest is just paint.

I leArNed hard work could be fun.I leArNed not every idea worth

consideration is worth a commitment.I leArNed not all desires need fulfillment.I leArNed some things are worth putting

first on my list of priorities.I leArNed when you build a school around

great themes, great projects, and great people that students will go about creating a more just, healthy, and self-fulfilling life for themselves and their children, and in the process, will advocate and contribute to the same destiny for every child in the village.

lessons taught . . . lessons learned . . . the right way, the Albion way!

2012 distinguished Alumni Award recipients

Josh A. Cassada, ’95Chief of Flight Operations/

P-8A Acceptance PilotDCMA Boeing Seattle, Washington

April duVal, ’65Executive Director (retired)The Council on Developmental

DisabilitiesLouisville, Kentucky

lori latowski Grover, ’85Assistant Professor of OphthalmologyWilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins

University Baltimore, Maryland/Scottsdale, Arizona

richard B. Jones, ’71Principal (retired)North Farmington High SchoolFarmington Hills, Michigan

duane A. Nelles, Jr., ’66Private InvestorDirector, Qualcomm, Inc.La Jolla, California

For more information on this year’s honorees, visit: www.albion.edu/homecoming. Nominations are welcomed for the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Awards. Note that new criteria for these awards go into effect for 2013 (see page 30 for more information). Find the award nomination form at www.albion.edu/alumni.

The 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees, pictured with President Donna Randall (center), included: (from left) Josh Cassada, ’95, Lori Latowski Grover, ’85, Rick Jones, ’71, April DuVal, ’65, Duane Nelles, ’66.

2012 Distinguished alumni awardsThe Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes College alumni for their genuine leadership and dedicated service to others.

Josh Cassada, ’95, with Martin Ludington, ’64, professor emeritus of physics.

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How do you view the role of the Office of Alumni engagement? Our mission in the Office of Alumni Engagement is to “ignite and sustain a passion for the Albion College experience.” It’s our job to make sure our alumni remain involved with Albion in whatever way that works for

them. That could be returning to campus for Homecoming or attending alumni events in their hometown. It could be recruiting a student or sponsoring an intern. It could be giving back financially. There are so many ways alumni can continue to be involved, and our job is to keep them engaged.

In addition to our regional programs, we are also developing some high-profile events like the Grand Getaway at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and the weekend at Churchill Downs in Kentucky. These offer a unique experience, a chance to get together with other alumni in a distinctive location, with some special perks made possible by our alumni who have leadership roles with the organizations that are hosting us. Our annual Grandparents College here on campus is another way that alumni can connect with one another and also share their Albion experience with the next generation.

What are some specific ways alumni can help in recruiting students?One of the easiest ways to help the College is to wear your Albion gear anywhere and everywhere you go. It’s amazing the conversations that get started and the connections you make. Beyond wearing your purple and gold, it’s helpful to talk about Albion to the people in your life who have children beginning their college search. In reaching out to families with children from eighth grade on up, alumni can encourage them to include Albion on the list of colleges they are considering.

What can alumni do to assist current students?The Office of Career Development welcomes alumni who are interested in serving as mentors to current students. Alumni can help in many different ways—from offering one-time advice about their career field to opening the door to an internship with their employer or in their community. The Career Visions program is an exciting new venture that involves our alumni as important resources for students. In this program, the Career Development staff, with help from my office, arranges a visit to a particular city during which the participating students meet

Elinor Marsh became Albion College’s executive director of alumni engagement in September 2011. Io Triumphe! recently asked her to reflect on her first year at Albion and on the many ways that our alumni can stay connected with their alma mater.

Get Involved!

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elinor Marsh says:

Io Triumphe!: Now that you have been Albion’s executive director of alumni engagement for a year, what particularly stands out for you in the relationship of Albion College and its alumni? elinor Marsh: When I’m meeting alumni for the first time, it’s very common for me to hear the phrase, “Albion made me what I am today.” For some alumni, their lives were shaped by their academic experience or the way Albion helped prepare them for their careers. For others, it’s about the quality of person they have become. Clearly, whatever the reason, Albion has had a lasting impact on their lives.


with alumni in a variety of occupations. The students learn firsthand about career options and identify potential internship opportunities along the way.

How are the regional chapters developing?Our regional chapters are coming along well. We now have 10 chapters stretching all across the country, but primarily here in Michigan. As they grow, our intention is for them to become self-sustaining. In the future, College staff will provide marketing support while the local alumni take the lead in planning and carrying out events and activities. The best scenario is to have an enthused group of alumni who are making these events happen for their fellow alumni in their home communities.

What else would you like alumni to know about your office?In our programming, we try to plan a variety of activities to reach alumni at different stages in their lives—for example, we do family-friendly events like the Grand Slam baseball outings, and we do business networking events for alumni in the middle of their careers. In particular, we would like to engage our younger alumni more. We want to capture their excitement and keep them involved through programming that’s attractive to them. One easy way for all alumni to keep in touch with Albion is through our e-newsletter, BritOnline, which is full of information about what’s happening on campus as well as what some of our alumni are doing. However alumni choose to be involved, the most important thing is just to stay connected.

Reach out to the Office of Alumni Engagement at [email protected] or 517/629-0448. And don’t forget to pass along your current e-mail address and other contact information so we can let you know about all the great things happening in alumni engagement. subscribe to BritOnline, our e-newsletter, at www.albion.edu/alumni.

. . . And here’s a way to startMany alumni are already helping current students and recent graduates as mentors, offering career insights and relocation assistance. Now there’s another way to get involved: the Career Visions program. Initiated by the College’s Office of Career Development, Career Visions (CV) is designed to connect current students with alumni at their places of work. CV programs have recently been offered in Traverse City and Chicago, and visits are planned in early 2013 for Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, with more cities to be added in the future. The alumni participants advise the students on how best to prepare for a career in their field and reflect on the typical responsibilities and opportunities for advancement the students will encounter in that field. CV also provides a valuable networking experience for the students and a way to learn about potential internships. Here are just some of the career fields represented in recent CV visits: accounting, finance, marketing, advertising, journalism, events management, fine arts and museum administration, and law.

To learn more about the Career Visions program, or other ways you can mentor our students: visit www.albion.edu/careerdev (search on “Alumni”), e-mail [email protected], or call 517/629-0332.

Erin Eldridge Simon, ’98, (center) is co-owner of Senior Helpers, an in-home care provider based in northwest Michigan. She introduced students Claudia Liu, ’16, Kacey Anderson, ’13, Annalee King, ’14, and Daniel Dai, ’14, to the social services field and independent business ownership during the recent Career Visions program in Traverse City.

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reconnecting with albion

. . . on campusFor the third straight year, Grandparents College packed a lifetime of memories into three action-filled days on the Albion campus. This year’s session, June 20-22, featured a multitude of recreational activities and kid-friendly courses such as “America’s Top 40,” “When You Wish upon a Star,” “French Cuisine,” “Horsing Around,” “The British Open,” and “Trains!”

and beyondAlbion’s 2012 Grand Slam Summer found alumni, parents, and friends rooting for their favorite teams at ballparks from Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. to Target Field in Minneapolis.

1. Nearly 100 alumni, parents, and friends turned out at Detroit’s Comerica Park including Imke Baumann, ’09, Jen Hopkins, ’10, Melanie Kapolka, ’11, and Laura Erikson, ’12.

2. Sandy Nahra, ’12, and Andrew Neagoe, ’10, were among the 71 Britons at the Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field.

3. Luke Thomas, ’25, (right) and his baseball buddy Hunter Hanlon cheered for the Detroit Tigers.

4. The West Michigan Whitecaps game attracted these Grand Rapids area alumni and friends.

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A Grand AffairThe third annual Albion College Grand Getaway weekend, Sept. 28-30 at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, was a smashing success. Hosted by Grand Hotel President Dan Musser, ’86, the sold-out event boasted over 400 guests who enjoyed beautiful fall weather, a relaxed atmosphere, and a weekend full of opportunities to mingle with fellow alumni, parents, and friends of the College. Special highlights this year included a conversation and College update with President Donna Randall and an open panel discussion with four current students. We joined in the hotel’s celebration of its 125th anniversary, and look forward to a fourth annual event Sept. 27-29, 2013.

1. Enjoying good company—and the stunning views from the Grand Hotel porch—proved to be a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.

2. Grand Getaway 2012 attracted Britons from the classes of 1950 through 2015, including Moose Scheib, ’02, and Casey Hoffman, ’12.

3. Dan Musser, ’86, Grand Hotel president and College trustee, offers a welcome at the opening reception.

4. Albion seniors Brian Weiss, Liz Frankowski, Krysta Schroeder, and Jace Garcia field questions from their alumni audience about life on campus today.

The Best of the BluegrassLouisville, Kentucky was the destination June 15-17 for 36 alumni and friends who enjoyed a night at the races at legendary Churchill Downs and tours of the Woodford Reserve Distillery and the Three Chimneys Thoroughbred farm.

1. The group gathers for a farewell photo at the historic Seelbach Hotel in the heart of Louisville.

2. Tom Jenkins, ’85, vice president of Churchill Downs, Inc., and Ellen West Jenkins, ’85, served as the local hosts.

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2013 Events CalendarGet the latest word on future alumni events at www.albion.edu/alumni. (Search under “Events.”)

April 18 Elkin R. Isaac Student Research Symposium Calvaruso Keynote Address: Alexander McCall SmithApril 19 Young Alumni Awards: Top 10 in 10May 11 CommencementJune 19-21 Grandparents CollegeAugust 3 Briton Classic Golf TournamentSept. 27-29 Grand GetawayOct. 11-13 Homecoming

Regional Chapter NewsRecent chapter events have ranged from a visit to Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo to volunteering at the Benzie Food Partners’ Soup Nite to a tour of the company that stages Detroit’s annual Thanksgiving Parade. Find out what’s happening in a regional chapter near you at www.albion.edu/alumni (see “Alumni Chapters”), and post a comment on the chapter’s Facebook page while you’re at it.

Changes Planned for Awards ProgramEach year, Albion College presents the Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of exceptional professional accomplishments and/or service to Albion College. The Alumni Association Board of Directors recently revised the awards criteria and created two award categories, as described below. These new criteria, which will take effect in 2013, will give the board additional flexibility in honoring the outstanding achievements of our alumni.

All alumni are invited to submit nominations for these awards. The nomination form is available at: www.albion.edu/alumni.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards CriteriaUnder the following awards structure, up to eight Distinguished Alumni may be chosen annually. The men and women selected must meet the following criteria:• Only alumni of the College shall be

eligible for the award.• Nominees must be living at the time the

nomination is submitted.• Exempted from consideration for the

award are current members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, members of the Albion College Board of Trustees (not including honorary trustees), faculty, and staff. Once an individual is no longer in any of the above categories, s/he will be eligible for consideration.

The distinguished Alumni Achievement AwardThe Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award is presented to alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their professions and achieved a career of noteworthy accomplishment. Recipients are selected on the basis of excellence in career achievements and contributions to community/humanity. An individual chosen for this prestigious award must be distinguished in his or her business, profession, or life’s work and be a person of such integrity, stature, demonstrated ability,

These Traverse City alumni chapter members volunteered earlier this fall for the Benzie County Food Partners' Soup Nite.

and renown that the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the College will take pride in, and be inspired by, his or her recognition. Career accomplishments, professional impact, and significant publications/research (primary authorship) will be considered when reviewing nominations.

The distinguished Alumni Service AwardTo honor the most outstanding gifts of service, the Distinguished Alumni Service Award aims to annually highlight and celebrate unselfish service and support to the College and/or Alumni Association. Recipients must have demonstrated a continuing interest in Albion College and must have contributed time, talent, or financial resources to one or more programs to benefit the College. Recipients must be individuals who reflect and recognize the importance of their education at Albion College, demonstrate pride in alma mater, and whose interest and loyalty are evident.

Io TrIumphe!The Magazine for aluMni and friends of Albion College

Celebrations Light up CampusReligious and cultural traditions from around the world were honored this fall as part of Albion’s Year of Global Diversity. Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, was celebrated with a dinner, sponsored by Asian Awareness Group, featuring Indian cuisine. The campus community also came together for the holiday Tree Lighting on the Quad and African-American Kwanzaa festivities.

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Io Triumphe! Fall-Winter 2012-13