� Whitman Magazine October �006 �

August 2005U.S. News & World Report once again ranks Whitman in its top tier. The Princeton Review ranks Whitman No. 2 in the category of “Happiest Students” and No. 15 in “Best Overall Academic Experience for Undergraduates.”

September 2005A student from Olympia, Wash., who had been attending Tulane University, takes Whitman up on its offer of no-tuition enrollment for college students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

October 2005Cedric Jennings, whose life was chronicled in the 1998 best-seller “A Hope Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League,” lectures on campus.

November 2005George S. Bridges is installed. Charles Z. Smith (pictured), retired justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, is guest speaker. Four past Whitman presidents – Lou Perry, Robert Skotheim, David Maxwell and Tom Cronin – participate in the installation.

December 2005Professor Paul Apostolidis and his Politics 402 students unveil the first comprehensive report on social conditions for Latinos in Washington state. The 350-page report is presented at a public forum attended by the executive director of the Washington Commission on Hispanic Affairs. The study receives regional and statewide media attention.

The President’s Report

The best reason to go to college

is to prepare oneself to improve

our world.

The best reason to choose Whitman

is the astonishing quality of learning

fostered by Whitman faculty, staff

and students.

— President George S. Bridges

July 2005George S. Bridges takes the helm as the 13th president of Whitman College.

P

� Whitman Magazine October �006 �

Associate Professor of Chemistry Frank Dunnivant (pictured) and alumnus Elliot Anders ’01 publish a new book, “A Basic Introduction to Pollutant Fate and Transport: An

Integrated Approach with Chemistry, Modeling, Risk Assessment, and Environmental Legislation.”

February 2006The Peace Corps names Whitman to its Top 25 list of small schools (those

with undergraduate enrollments less than

5,000) with the most alumni in the corps.

Faculty approve a new Race and Ethnic Studies major and minor to be offered starting Fall 2006.

March 2006With concern for Fair Trade issues and with an eye toward serving shoppers interested in natural, organic and gluten-free foods, the Sweet Onion Food

Co-Op opens its Buying Club with memberships available to Whitman students and local community.

January 2006The inaugural Women, Leadership and Society Lecture features Paula Boggs, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of the Starbucks Coffee Company.

Fund-raising for the new $16 million Center for the Visual Arts gets a boost by a $250,000 challenge grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Reflections from a first yearBy George S. Bridges

President’s Report: 2005-2006

n my commencement message last spring, I reiterated a remark I made to a class of grade-school students. “The best reason to go to college,” I said, “is to prepare oneself to improve our world.” A year later, I can be more specific. The best reason to choose Whitman is the astonishing quality of learning fostered by Whitman faculty, staff and students. The excellence of our faculty was enhanced dramatically in �00�-06 with appointments of seven talented faculty members to tenure-track positions. Of our

new hires, five also contribute to the ethnic diversity of the faculty. In �00�-06, we continued to widen our educational lens through the Ashton and Virginia O’Donnell Endowment, which annually provides opportunities for

Whitman students and faculty to hear and work with leading practitioners in their fields. One of many examples was a seminar in peace psychology co-taught by Professors Deborah DuNann Winter and Cristina Montiel from Ateneo de Manila University.

Faculty, college receivenational recognition

The accomplishments in �00�-06 of Whitman’s own remarkable minds would fill this report. I’ll share a fraction of them here. Professor Paul Apostolidis and students in his politics class produced, and then presented to state representa-tives in Olympia, the first comprehensive study on social conditions for Latinos in Washington. Professor Mary Anne O’Neil celebrated the publication of “Twentieth-Century French Dramatists,” a complete volume of the “Dictionary of Literary Biography,” which she edited. Professor Karl Storchmann’s “Journal of Wine Economics” made news in The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Forbes and media throughout Europe. Professor Katrina Roberts published a new poetry collection, “The Quick,” and Professor Zahi Zalloua celebrated his new book, “Montaigne and the Ethics of Skep-ticism.” Professors Nohemy Solórzano-Thompson and Robert Morrison each received $�0,000 fellowships in the humanities, where grant money is scarce and competition is keen. Professor Dan Vernon received a major grant from the National Science Foundation to study the functions of newly discovered plant genes, Professor U.J. Sofia brought home two astronomy

grants to investigate particles between stars, and Professor Skip Wade’s “Organic Chemistry” saw a sixth printing. Professor Ginger Winter’s research on dentrite growth in brain cells has forged a link between Whitman, the National Science Foundation Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell University and the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. More recently, Professor Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, our esteemed Baker Ferguson Chair of Politics and Leader-ship, was appointed interim dean of the faculty for �006-07. Tim has dedicated virtually his entire teaching career — �� years — to Whitman, and his readiness to serve in this new capacity only enhances the school’s educational mission. If I now know the college well, it’s largely because of the leaders of the Whitman community. Treasurer and CFO Peter Harvey and I worked closely with faculty, staff and students to create a new budget advisory committee. Under the watch of Peter and John Bogley, vice president for development and college relations, we completed the sparkling new Baker Ferguson Fitness Center — on schedule and on budget, with visionary financial support from many generous donors. Sport Studies Chair and Athletics Director Dean Snider and Professor of Sport Studies Tom Olson were instrumental in the planning and

preparation of the center. We also built the new Welty Health Center and attached it to a handsomely renovated Counseling Center. Two vital facilities for our community under one roof.

Budget is balanced; application and graduation rates hit record highs

In keeping with Whitman tradition, I’m delighted to report that we showed a balanced budget again in �006. Our investment return was 11.9� percent. Applications to the college soared to an all-time high. Most important, our graduation rate also climbed to a record 88 percent, a spectacular achievement matched by only seven colleges and universities west of the Mississippi. Spectacular, but not surprising. I know from my own years as an educator that students who are fully engaged by extraordinary learning experiences want to live in them. And alumni who’ve experienced four years at Whitman never forget them. In all of my visits to meet you — from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and San Diego to New York — I heard you describe your years at Whitman as a defining moment in your life. I know how much you love this college, and every day that I spend on campus I clearly see why.

For the ��rd consecutive year, more than �0 percent of you chose to contribute to Whitman. This is an amazing and envi-able display of sharing, and it’s a statistic that less than two dozen colleges and universities in the nation can match. We were particularly gratified with the 1� percent increase in the number of Presi-dent’s Associates donors, who annually give a minimum of $1,000. On behalf of the entire campus community, thank you for your support of the college.

Fund-raising reaches final stage for visual arts center

Almost $11 million has been pledged for a $16 million Center for Visual Arts, which will provide our students and faculty with more than triple the space of our current arts facilities. The new building will house separate studios for painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and book arts, and provide room for

6 Whitman Magazine October �006 7

Whitman receives a record 2,800 applications for its Class of 2010, admitting 43 percent of its applicants, a record low number. Sixty percent of admitted students, who represent 47 states and 20 nations, are ranked in the top 10 percent of their senior classes.

May 2006With President Bridges presiding over his first commencement, Whitman hands diplomas to more than 400 graduates. Ronald Takaki (pictured at right), a professor of ethnic studies at the University of California-Berkeley, gives the commencement address.

April 2006More than 150 Whitman students present research and creative projects at the eighth annual Whitman

Undergraduate Conference, exploring topics ranging from veganism to capitalism.

A panel discussion titled “International Sexual Rights: Homophobia and Human Trafficking,” financed by the new Ashton J. and Virginia Graham O’Donnell Visiting Professorship in Global Studies Fund, brings three scholars and human rights activists to campus.

Whitman joins Dartmouth and Northwestern as the only schools to advance two teams each into the elimination rounds of the 60th Annual National Debate Tournament (NDT), held on the Northwestern campus.

digital design and photography. Curric-ulum will expand accordingly. The final stage of gift-giving is our immediate challenge, and, quite frankly, it’s the most difficult stage in any fund-raising campaign. We hope and trust that those who believe in the core importance of the arts in the quality of our daily lives will join our effort. We had specific challenges this year. The passing of Whitman trustee Ralph Rittenour, chair of the investment committee, was a profound loss. Ralph was a remarkable man and a pillar of this college, and we’re deeply saddened by his passing. At the same time, we’re in very good hands. Peter van Oppen ’7�, a Whitman graduate, Harvard M.B.A. and member of the Board of Trustees, will fill Ralph’s position.

Focus needed on college’shuman infrastructure

The constant challenge for every college, of course, is achieving a balance between new initiatives that deepen the educational experience and an accessible, affordable education. There are no magical formulas to rely on. We have to work diligently and cooperatively to make sure we have the resources to attract a student body that’s diverse in culture and life experience. We need to be able to fund learning opportunities like the Whitman Institute for Summer Enrichment, an initiative that this summer brought low-income and minority middle-school students to our campus as preparation for a Whitman or Whitman-like experience. Historically through the early 1980s, this college has educated students from middle- and lower-income families. Education for all is part of the culture of the college.

We’ve invested substantially in the physical infrastructure of the college over the past several years. It’s imperative now that we invest more in the human infra-structure. Scholarships are part but not all of the equation. We need to fund trans-formative learning experiences that affect hundreds of students. Learning experi-ences that produce a Beth Pearson ’06, now a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, or an Ashifi Gogo ’0�, who’s gone from Ghana to Whitman to a doctoral program in engi-neering at Dartmouth, or a Danielle Garbe ’97, now in her fifth year with the Foreign Service and special assistant to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In the annual college guide published this summer by Washington Monthly magazine, Whitman ranked ninth among all liberal-arts schools in the country. Apropos of the new world of higher education, the editors used three core criteria in their study: how well a college performs as “an engine of social mobility,” how well it fosters humanistic and scien-tific research, and how well it nurtures “an ethic of service to country.” More and more Whitman students need to be in the world to change the world. Our sophomores and juniors need to be engaged in intern-ships in business, government and nonprofit organizations. We need to partner more effectively in urban centers. We need more programs like Professor Phil Brick’s pioneering Semester in the West, and more opportunities like Professor Bob Carson’s student expeditions to exotic locations, including Tibet and Iceland, and recently retired Professor Keiko Hara’s annual trip for senior art majors to New York City.

“Anewworldisonlyanewmind.”

William Carlos Williams, a doctor and a poet,

wrote these words. They’re plainspoken but strike a

deep chord as I reflect on my first year as president of

Whitman and help shape a vision for the future of the

college.

I believe the new world requires a new mind. It

demands expansive thinking and inclusive cultural

awareness, within higher education and beyond.

As a sociologist, my discipline and training direct me

to observe and reflect on people and organizations. In

my first year at Whitman, I’ve made a point to pause and

carefully consider what faculty, staff, students and

alumni have to say about the college. The experience

has given me a much clearer picture of where in the

new world Whitman needs to go. Now comes the time

for us to move forward.

Several questions — questions that materialize as

tangible challenges — loom as we chart the future of

Whitman. As higher education in America experiences

a period of unprecedented change, how do we at

Whitman create new approaches to learning, and new

environments for it, while strengthening our existing

programs? Recognizing that Whitman’s greatest asset is

its people, how do we best help our faculty, staff and

students enhance the quality of their work and their

contributions to the community?

Finally, given Whitman’s tradition as a vortex of

academic rigor, community service and extraordinary

personal growth, what financial resources must we

provide to advance these core elements of a Whitman

education in a world of fierce competition and high

achievement?

The answers to these questions form the fundamental

themes for Whitman’s future. We must pursue them

purposefully and diligently.

We need to foster a campus community of award-

winning students, faculty and staff who receive greater

recognition nationally for their accomplishments and

who reflect the mosaic of the larger society, a community

comprised of talented persons from different

backgrounds, perspectives and life experiences. To this

end, the Board of Trustees, I’m pleased to report, has

approved as many as three faculty positions for the �007-

08 year under the Initiative to Diversify the Faculty. For

their part, the faculty added Race and Ethnic Studies to

our list of majors.

We need to create more extraordinary academic and

living experiences for our students through study

opportunities, on campus and in the world, that are

grounded in our core disciplines and that focus on

regional and global issues.

We need to increase Whitman’s endowment

substantially to increase endowed professorships,

By George S. Bridges

New world,progressive minds

We need to create opportunities for every Whitman student to participate in research, faculty scholarship and the creative arts. More of our students need to be engaged in internships and study-abroad programs. We need greater support for the recruitment and retention of top-level faculty, and greater means for faculty and staff to participate in national and international conferences. We have every reason to celebrate the achievements of the past 1� months, and I applaud and thank all of you for your involvement and contributions. At the same time, we can’t rest on our laurels or trade on our reputation as one of the finest liberal arts schools in the nation. We can’t wait when the world is changing so rapidly, so dynamically. Just as the best reason to go to college is to prepare to change the world, the best reason to support the extraordinary learning expe-riences at Whitman College is to ensure that our students, educators and adminis-trators continue to lead the world.

President’s Report: 2007 and beyond

8 Whitman Magazine

June 2006Laura Valaas ’06, who capped a superlative Nordic ski career in March by placing fourth in one event at the NCAA National Championships, is named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-America “At Large” Second Team.

Three 2006 Whitman graduates and one class of 2005 alumnus are named national Fulbright Scholars.

augment facilities, offer full funding

for students based on financial need.

In short, we need to nurture a

learning culture that operates on the

leading edge of liberal arts education

and pedagogy.

This is the Whitman I see when I

chart the next �0 or �0 years for the

college. The best way to predict the

future is to invent it, and we must

answer the call together.

“To think with an enlarged

mentality means that one trains

one’s imagination to go visiting,”

Hannah Arendt wrote. Because I

believe that we learn first and fore-

most through our emotions, I would

add this thought to Arendt’s idea:

When we go visiting to imagine the future of Whitman, we must

bring along our hearts. We must learn, teach and contribute just as

William Carlos Williams, the son of an English father and Puerto

Rican mother, did in his daily care of the poor in Rutherford, N.J.

In our hearts as well as our minds, we have to ask: What will

make the Whitman experience qualitatively and quantitatively

better for students of all backgrounds, perspectives and

cultures? Once we’ve decided, the rest will follow. The

new world is here. It’s diverse, it’s challenging, and it’s

thrilling. We must, and will, embrace it, and, in so doing,

position Whitman not only to meet the future but also to

shape it.

We need to nurture a learning

culture that operates on

the leading edge of liberal arts

education and pedagogy.