On the Hill

Allegheny Invited to Join Great Lakes Colleges Association

Allegheny College has been selected to join the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA), a consortium of selective liberal arts colleges in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and, now, Pennsylvania. Allegheny's membership in the GLCA, one of the nation's oldest and most respected academic consortia, began July 1.

"Expanding the membership beyond the twelve founding schools, unprecedented in the forty-five-year history of GLCA, was the result of discussions among board members over a period of two years," says Richard Detweiler, GLCA president. "Involving an intense and thorough examination of a few select schools, the invitation was extended to Allegheny because it demonstrates the same high quality, character, and liberal arts mission as those of the founding members: Albion, Antioch, Denison, DePauw, Earlham, Hope, Kalamazoo, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Wabash, and Wooster."

The GLCA works to help strengthen and preserve its twelve member colleges and also serves as a leading force on behalf of education in the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences.

Recent Grads Receive Major Awards

Two recent graduates, Afua Osei '08 and Robert Charles Howe '05, have been named the recipients of prestigious national awards.

Afua Osei '08

Osei has been awarded a Fulbright Award to study and teach in Malaysia. "My independent research in Terengganu, Malaysia, will examine methods that Terengganu officials have used to balance the tension between the needs for economic and technological progress with the preservation of their historic culture," Osei says. "When I return, I plan to work with community organizations to develop strategies that promote sustainable revitalization without destroying the culture of an area."

A double major--she majored in political science and was the first student at Allegheny to design her own major in Black Studies--Osei served as the president of the Association for the Advancement of Black Culture, a student fellow for the Center for Political Participation, and Chairperson of the Community HIV/AIDS Awareness Committee. She was honored with a 2007-2008 Cornerstone Award at Allegheny and was a public policy and international affairs fellow at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University.

Charles Howe '05

Howe, a double major in environmental science and biology who minored in studio art, was named a recipient of a Jack Kent Cooke scholarship, a $39,000 grant. He is the first Allegheny student to win this prestigious award. In 2008 the Cooke Organization awarded just thirty-eight scholarships out of about 1,100 applicants, who themselves are nominated by their undergraduate institutions.

"He's a kind of poster person for what Allegheny students can combine, I think," says Associate Professor of English Ben Slote, who directed the College's scholarship mentoring program in 2007-2008. "After Allegheny he'd been in the Peace Corps, doing agroforestry work in Paraguay; in his junior year he spent a semester in Jaipur, India, studying international development, and a semester in the UK at Lancaster University. In 2003 he won a Doane Prize in sculpture and ceramics and a Gilman Scholarship from the U.S. State Department. Charlie is a person who, through both patience and adventure, has equipped himself to know his field of work in truly three-dimensional ways--with a full sense of its human consequence, its environmental responsibilities, its beauty."

Howe will attend the Harvard Graduate School of Design for landscape architecture.

Schwartz and Sinha Roy Receive Teaching Awards

Robert K. Schwartz

Two members of the Allegheny College faculty received honors for their continued dedication to teaching and higher education at the College's Annual Honors Convocation on April 29. Robert K. Schwartz '66 was awarded the 2008 Julian Ross Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Ishita Sinha Roy received the Thoburn Award for Excellence in Teaching for 2008.

Schwartz, a professor of geology, has been teaching at Allegheny since 1979. "Bob is a shining example of how teachers should inspire interest and enthusiasm in their students," said one Allegheny graduate. "He forced us to figure out what the rocks were telling us, instead of just giving us the answers. On field trips he expected us to question, observe, discover and solve the geologic questions firsthand. He was there to guide us, but ultimately we had to be the scientists."

Ishita Sinha Roy

Another former student says, "Not thinking for yourself was never an option in Bob's classes." That challenge to students to think for themselves, a colleague notes, has resulted in a record of students whose work is of such a high caliber that they often present their research at professional conferences while still undergraduates at Allegheny College.

An associate professor of communication arts, Ishita Sinha Roy has taught at Allegheny since 2001. Students who nominated Sinha Roy for the award noted her engaging teaching style and challenging but creative assignments.

"Professor Sinha Roy was hands down the most creative professor I ever had," said one student. "Her teaching style was unique, engaging and, most of all, effective. She did not just teach information, but she taught how to think."

Yet another student praised a video-conference course that Sinha Roy co-taught with Hollywood producer Lloyd Segan '80. "I met the head of the Sci-Fi Network, the head of the Game Show Network, two writers from 'The King of the Hill,' a talent agent, the director of development from the USA Network and several others," said the student. "All of these opportunities were made possible through her creativity."

This year's student-driven Relay for Life at Allegheny College raised nearly $40,000 to fight cancer, approximately $6,000 more than last year's total. Relay for Life events, the American Cancer Society's signature fund-raising activities, provide an annual opportunity for local communities to celebrate cancer survivors, to remember those lost to cancer, and to fight back against the disease by raising money and awareness. During the twelve-hour Relay for Life event at Allegheny, 420 participants walked laps on a luminary-bordered Brooks Walk and, along the way, visited the decorated campsites of Allegheny's thirty-six participating teams. The luminaries honored specific individuals who have faced cancer.

Recent Grad Wins Top Honor at Ivy Film Festival

Jaclyn Spirer '08 won the Best Documentary prize and the Grand Jury Award for her film Finding Matty's Voice at the seventh annual Ivy Film Festival. The Grand Jury Prize represents the festival's top honor.

Spirer's film, which was her Senior Comprehensive Project at Allegheny, was about a teenage boy with autism and his family. The film was selected from among 250 submissions from Oregon to Greece, a field that had been narrowed to 34 finalists.

"I could never have imagined that I would be competing against students who were in prestigious film schools and had been active in film festivals for years," said Spirer. "I am proof that if you are truly passionate about something you can go beyond your wildest dreams."

After graduation, Spirer accepted a position at Sesame Workshop in New York City working on the Sesame Street English pilot, which involves developing language learning projects to teach English in East Asia markets.

Recent Grads Garner Recognition for Their Writing

Two recent Allegheny graduates, Samantha Ricci '07 and Justine Law '08, have seen work they produced at Allegheny receive wide recognition.

Ricci, a law student at William and Mary, received the top award for an essay of literary criticism in the Sigma Tau Delta Review, the journal published by the English national honorary society. Ricci's essay was titled "Freedom in Madness in Webster, Middleton, Rowley, and Shakespeare."

"Essays are submitted by students from all over the country," says James Bulman, Henry B. and Patricia Bush Tippie Professor of English. "It's extraordinary, I think, that the Review selected not only Sam's essay as the winning entry, but another, by Alleghenian Meghan Cole, who also graduated last year, for publication as well."

A portion of Justine Law's Senior Comp was published as the cover story, "Fishin' Impossible: Can Anyone Diffuse the Tension Between Lke Erie's Commercial and Sports Fishermen and the State?," in Ohio's largest-circulation alternative weekly, the Free Times, on May 14.

Law's Senior Comp was titled "'Fishing Kills Me Exactly as It Keeps Me Alive': a Humanistic Look at Common Pool Resource Tensions in the Lake Erie Fishery."

Law, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa in May, majored in environmental science at Allegheny.

Allegheny Hosts Bonner Foundation Leadership Institute

Allegheny College hosted the Bonner Foundation's Summer Leadership Institute 2008 in June. More than 300 students, faculty, and college administrators from across the country registered for the program, "Summit on Political Engagement: Connecting Service to Politics and Politics to Service."

The Bonner Foundation's initiatives engage students at seventy- five colleges and universities in improving the lives of individuals and communities. The foundation's work strengthens student development and community impact while promoting civic engagement, community building, diversity, international perspective, spiritual exploration, and social justice.

Several national organizations were involved in the leadership institute, including representatives from CIRCLE (Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), Project Pericles, mobilize.org, the Roosevelt Institution, and Teach for America.

The conference agenda included forums and workshops featuring Allegheny programs, including the Allegheny College Center for Experiential Learning, the Civic Engagement Council, and the Center for Political Participation.

Pictured with Richard J. Cook, who retired this summer as president of Allegheny College, are new retirees and employees who have worked for the College for twenty-five years, honored at a reception in April in the College's art galleries. Pictured in the front row, from left, are: Diane D'Amico, professor of English; Cynthia Burton, reference librarian; Dawn Fichtner, data entry supervisor in Admissions; Cynthia May, Technical and Network Services office coordinator; Mary Jane Lombardi, Administrative Information Services programmer and analyst; and Joyce Cortes, Health Center nurse. In back with Dr. Cook are Sonie Esterly Parry, assistant to the dean of the College; Ben Haytock, registrar, associate dean of the College, and professor of mathematics; Roger Smith, plumber; Jack Steiger, assistant manager of athletic equipment; Richard Thompson, plumber; and Clarence Moyer, locksmith. Haytock, Lombardi, Parry, Smith, and Steiger retired this year; the other honorees were recognized for their twenty-five years of service to the College.

Founders House to Honor Richard Cook, Terry Lahti

Earlier this year, Allegheny College purchased the property at 908 Diamond Park on which once stood the log courthouse where Allegheny was founded.

At a concert by Professor of Music and Artist in Residence Alec Chien in April, board of trustees chair Christine Scott Nelson '73 announced that the property would be named the Founders House in Honor of Richard J. Cook and Teresa M. Lahti. The building that stands at the site now is being completely renovated and refurbished.

"While the physical structure of that first courthouse is long gone, re-establishing Allegheny's presence at this site where the College was founded and some of its first classes were held honors the vision of the leaders who created Allegheny College nearly two centuries ago," said Jonathan Helmreich, college historian and professor emeritus of history.

Cook, who retired this summer after twelve years as president of Allegheny College, and his wife, Terry Lahti, made strengthening the bonds between the community and the College one of the cornerstones of their work in Meadville. At the Chamber's annual meeting this spring, Cook was awarded the Governor Raymond P. Shafer Award for Distinguished Community Service.

The Founders House will house Allegheny's community engagement programs, providing working and meeting space for college students, faculty, and their community partners, as well as for college-community economic and environmental development initiatives. In addition, it will provide a residence and working space for fifth-year interns/community engagement fellows.

Financial support for the purchase and renovation of the Founders House was provided through gifts from Allegheny College trustees and other friends of the College.

In addition, a newly established fund named for Richard Cook and Terry Lahti will provide ongoing support for faculty-student research. Henry and Pat '56 Tippie, who provided the initial funds for the creation of this endowment, have invited others to join them in this tribute that recognizes President Cook and Terry Lahti's dedication to the College and the Meadville community.

For more information about contributing to the endowed fund, call the Development and Alumni Affairs office at 814-332-5910.

Allegheny Students Debate for Democracy

Two teams of Allegheny students traveled to New York City in April to participate in the Project Pericles conference "Debating for Democracy" (D4D), which encouraged students to research, advocate, and defend their stances on current political issues and methods of creating positive change on those issues.

Students attending the conference included Christy McShea, Samuel Rigotti, Didem Uca, and eric Winter. "It was an amazing experience," says Rigotti. "We heard from some powerful speakers and had the chance to meet former U.S. Senators."

One of the Allegheny teams was chosen as a finalist for their proposal on federal climate and energy legislation. The students who created the proposal--Eric Winter, Jenna Gathmann, Krys Castillo, Scott Gast, and Arielle Conti--worked under visiting professor Thomas Eaton.

The Allegheny team's proposal, chosen from a pool of forty others from twenty-one other schools, was selected by a panel of experts based on originality, substance, and relevance. The conference also hosted numerous workshops and discussions on active citizenship and social entrepreneurship, as well as panel discussions and presentations on three key areas of modern politics: energy and the environment; privacy and free speech; and race, income, and access.

Project Pericles, the sponsor of the event, is a nonprofit organization that encourages and aids in the integration of social responsibility and active citizenship in higher education.

Allegheny Hosts Conference on White Privilege and Racism

Allegheny College hosted a conference on white privilege and racism on April 4 and 5. Titled "Examining White- ness," the conference featured plenary presentations and an undergraduate conference.

Four eminent philosophers of race gave keynote addresses: Linda Martin Alcoff, Syracuse University; Charles Mills, Northwestern University; Lucius Outlaw, Vanderbilt University; and Shannon Sullivan, Pennsylvania State University.

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Eric Boynton and Professor of Philosophy Bill Bywater, who coordinated the conference, headed a campus-wide effort to weave the conference's themes into programs and curricula at Allegheny throughout the 2007-2008 academic year.

Related collaborations included a dance concert; a performance of African American spirituals by the Allegheny College Choirs, including a recently published spiritual by Jeffrey Webb '98; and a production by the Playshop Theatre of Venus.

Newest Friedman Book Quotes Allegheny expert

New York Times columnist and best-selling author Thomas L. Friedman includes several extended excerpts from the work of Professor Michael Maniates in his latest book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--And How It Can Renew America.

"Again, Michael Maniates, a professor of political science and environmental science at Allegheny College, in his Washington Post essay (November 22, 2007) said it best," writes Friedman in one chapter. Friedman then goes on to quote from Maniates' op-ed:

"Throughout our history it has been the knotty, vexing challenges, and leaders who speak frankly about them, that have fired our individual and communal imagination, creativity and commitment. Paul Revere didn't race through the streets of Middlesex County hawking a book on 'The Lazy Revolutionary.' Franklin Roosevelt didn't mobilize the country's energies by listing 10 easy ways to oppose fascism. And it's unlikely that Martin lLuther King Jr.'s drafts of his 'I Have a Dream' speech or his 'Letter From Birmingham Jail' imagined a practical politics of change rooted in individu- alistic, consumer-centered actions... The greatest environmental problem confronting us isn't melting ice, faltering rain, or flattening oil supplies and rising gasoline prices. Rather, it's that when Americans ask, 'What can I do to make a difference?' we're treated like children by environmental elites and political leaders too timid to call forth the best in us or too blind to that which has made us a great nation."

In its September 2008 issue Miller- McCune magazine said Maniates "May be the nation's leading authority on the politics of consumption."

He is currently writing two books about the politics of sacrifice within today's environmental movement: an edited academic volume tentatively titled "The Environmental Politics of Sacrifice," to be published by MIT Press, and a book aimed at a popular audience with the working title of "Selling Us Short: Grown Up Ways of Saving the Planet."

Website Helps Students Find the Right College

To help students and families navigate the college search process, Allegheny College has launched CollegeSearch101.org, a first of its kind, which features a series of short YouTube videos with tips from Scott Friedhoff, vice president for enrollment and communications. Visitors can also access the clips through the CollegeSearch101.org page on Facebook, the popular social networking site.

The minute-long videos take the confusion out of beginning the college search. Topics include "When to start your college search," "Should I rule out a college due to cost?," "Saving for college," and "The role of parents."

"We want to help students find the college that's right for them, whether it's Allegheny or another school," says Friedhoff, who has worked in admissions and enrollment at six selective institutions over the past thirty years.