Spreading JAM
All Around

What began as a modest expression of cultural pride by a handful of Colby students has exploded into an international event incorporating more than 70 colleges throughout the United States and in five foreign countries.

Jewish Awareness Month was observed at Colby during March, but its outreach went well beyond Mayflower Hill. The series of activities celebrating Jewish traditions and heritage was conceived last year in a meeting of the Colby chapter of B'nai B'rith Hillel. Led by Scott Kadish `94 and Matthew Medwick `95, of East Lyme, Conn., the group organized Colby's first Jewish Awareness Week with help from a Pitt grant from International Hillel. This year the organization embraced Colby Hillel's idea and promoted it to colleges around the world. With Medwick serving as a consultant, International Hillel prepared kits that provided support for Jewish awareness events on other campuses. Jewish Awareness Months are now planned at colleges in Russia, Australia, Canada and Israel as well as at more than 60 public and private colleges in the United States.

Medwick says Jewish Awareness Month was important for the Colby community because of the lack of recognition and understanding of Jewish cultural and religious traditions. Rather than a militant expression of disaffection, he says, Jewish Awareness Month is an attempt to reach out to the non-Jewish community. "We just want to build awareness," he said.

"Since the first day I arrived, I knew there were some things that needed to change at Colby--and there are still some things that need to change." Medwick recalls that the first day of classes his first year at Colby were scheduled for the same day as Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar. "As a result, Jewish students were torn between going to synagogue or going to the first day of classes," he said.

Although Jewish students comprise about 12 percent of the Colby population--their total is estimated at about 200--Medwick feels there is little recognition of this segment of the campus community. "One result of the Jewish Awareness Week we had last year was an increase in membership and in active involvement in Hillel," he said. "It created awareness and visibility."

Jewish Awareness Month included a traditional shabbat with students from Yeshiva University in New York, a debate between representatives of the Likud and Meretz parties of Israel, a discussion of Hasidism by a Portland rabbi, a Purim party, as well as informal gatherings and film showings. It culminated March 22 with a discussion of Judaism and diversity by associate professor of English David Suchoff.


Tenure for Ten
In January the Board of Trustees confirmed the recommendations of the Promotion and Tenure Committee and granted tenure to 10 Colby faculty. Eight who received tenure appointments were promoted to associate professor.

Debra Barbezat earned her B.A. at Smith College and her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan before joining the Economics Department in 1992. She has published many articles in the economics of higher education and labor economics.

James Rodger Fleming specializes in the history of science in America and the history of the geophysical sciences. He earned degrees in both science and history, including a doctorate from Princeton University. He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Smithsonian Institution and visiting appointments at MIT and Penn State. His books include Meteorology in America, 1800-1870; Science, Technology and the Environment: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (co-edited with Pugh Family Professor of Economics Henry Gemery); and the International Bibliography of Meteorology (co-edited with Roy Goodman).

D. Whitney King, whose field is chemical oceanography and environmental chemistry, earned a degree at St. Lawrence University and a Ph.D. at the University of Rhode Island before joining Colby's Chemistry Department in 1989. He is active in natural water photochemistry research funded by several national organizations.

Shakespeare scholar Laurie Osborne taught at Oakland University in Michigan before coming to Colby's English Department in 1990. A Yale graduate, she earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from Syracuse University.

Ursula Reidel-Schrewe, a native of Hamburg, Germany, did her undergraduate work at the University of Tübingen. She has an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and has taught German language, literature and culture at Colby since 1989.

David Suchoff, whose areas of interest are Victorian literature, comparative literature and Jewish studies, joined the Colby English Department in 1992 after teaching for several years at Boston University. His degrees are from the University of California-Berkeley. He is the author of many articles and a book, Critical Theory and the Novel: Mass Society and Cultural Criticism in Dickens, Melville and Kafka. He was co-translator and author of the introduction to a translation of Alain Finkielkraut's The Imaginery Jew.

Historian James Webb specializes in the economic history of Africa and pre-colonial African history. After obtaining his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University, he studied in Mauritania on a Fulbright grant and was a development economist in Senegal for three years before joining the Colby faculty in 1987. He is the co-author of Mauritania and author of Desert Frontier: Ecological and Economic Change Along the Western Sahel 1600-1850.

W. Herbert Wilson Jr. came to the College in 1990 after three years of teaching biology at the University of Washington. A specialist in the identification and migration patterns of birds and in marine biology and ecology, he has been awarded numerous research grants. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of North Carolina and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. Wilson has completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Harbor Branch Foundation and for NATO at Dalhousie University.

Cheshire Calhoun in philosophy and Eva Linfield in music were awarded tenure having previously achieved the rank of associate professor. Calhoun's expertise is in ethical theory, feminist philosophy and gay and lesbian studies. She co-edited What is an Emotion? She earned her B.A. at Northwestern University and an M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Texas-Austin.

A native of Germany, Linfield is a musicologist who specializes in 17th-century European music and music theory and director of the Collegium Musicum. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. from Brandeis University and came to Colby in 1993 after teaching at Yale and the State University of New York-Stony Brook.


A Facelift for the Spa
The Joseph Family Spa re-opened in early February after a one month, $60,000 renovation. Students generally seem pleased with the changes, which included removing large support pillars in the main dining room, and replacing them with ceiling beams, constructing a small stage in the north-east corner of the dining room, and lowering partition barriers in the small boths near the snack bar. Kim Berget `97, told the Echo "From what I've heard, people generally like what's been done. It makes the place look brighter and more open."

DIG THIS
Excavation at the site of the new Olin Science Building began late in February and construction is expected to be underway by the middle of this month.

The 37,000-square-foot facility--made possible by a $6.4 million gift from the F.W. Olin Foundation--is expected to be completed by the fall of 1996. In addition to technologically advanced classrooms and laboratories, the new building will house a science library and a computer center.

HOUSING DECISION DELAYED
The Trustee Commission on Multicultural and Special Interest Housing was unable to reach a consensus and extended its deadline for a final recommendation until this spring. Members of the commission were "sharply divided" at the conclusion of its December 15 meeting, leading to the decision to extend discussion and debate, says James Crawford '64, commission chair.

The commission held another meeting on March 4 and was expected to make a final recommendation to the Board of Trustees at its April meeting.

MAJOR OVERHAUL
The College has approved a new major in economics with a concentration in financial markets that will replace the administrative science major in 1998,when all currently enrolled students will have graduated. Students who choose the financial markets track will take four more courses than a traditional economics major, three of them in administrative science. Administrative science will continue to be offered as an interdisciplinary minor.

The decision was made following nearly 18 months of study and debate and on a recommendation by a review committee made up of economics and administrative science faculty. Evaluation of the administrative science program was prompted by the retirement in 1993 of Professor Yvonne Richmond Knight '55, which left only two full-time faculty, both of whom share appointments with other departments, in the administrative science program. Douglas Professor of Economics and Finance Randy Nelson will become more focused in finance, and Associate Professor of Administrative Science Leonard Reich will focus more heavily on science technology studies. Both will continue to offer classes in administrative science. Currently enrolled students will be permitted to declare the administrative science major, and sufficient courses will be provided to fulfill that major through the spring semester of 1998.


Living History
Organizers of this summer's Alumni College say that an all-star faculty lineup, an interdisciplinary curriculum and a World War II theme make the five-day event one of the most attractive ever offered by the College.

Designed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Alumni College will by held July 29-August 3 on the Colby campus. "We wanted to do something special for our war-years alums, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity," said Director of Alumni Relations Sue Conant Cook '75. "The quality of the faculty and the curriculum will interest all alums, not just those who lived through the war."

Seven current and former Colby faculty members will teach classes at the Alumni College. Gillespie Professor of Art and American Studies David Lubin will lead a discussion about the film The Best Years of Our Lives, a classic "coming home" movie that depicts the experiences of three soldiers returning from the war. Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Terry Arendell will teach a course about changes in the American family brought about by World War II and its aftermath. Associate Professor of English David Suchoff will teach "The Holocaust as History and Memory." Associate Professor of English and African-American Studies Cedric Bryant will examine the great northern migration of African Americans and the literature inspired by the war years. Distinguished Presidential Professor of Government G. Calvin Mackenzie will teach "World War II: The Century's Political Pivot." Retired Professor of Philosophy Robert Reuman will teach about conscientious objectors of the war. Lee Family Professor of English and American Studies Charles Bassett, who helped organize the Alumni College, will teach a class titled "Snobbery on the Homefront."

"We want to expose alumni to faculty that they know well and showcase new faculty that the College is excited to have on board," said Demetra Giatas `88, assistant director of alumni relations.

Bassett says the classes will be team taught to capitalize on the interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum. "This being a small college where most of the faculty know each other and where team teaching is encouraged, this seemed like a good opportunity for us to get together," Bassett said. "Cedric [Bryant] and I may even be in the classroom at the same time. That's been a sort of modus operandi we've used in American studies classes to get two perspectives at once on the same subject."

Bassett says the Alumni College is interesting for him not only because he gets to see old friends and teach a different age group, but because it is a learning experience for all involved. "I get to talk to Cal Mackenzie about World War II, which is something I usually don't get to do. Most of the time when we're together we're talking about baseball or gossip or the same things that everybody else talks about. To have an opportunity to sit down with Cal and say, `Hey, how can I work this in with what you're doing,' it will be a learning experience for the faculty," he said.

Giatas says the opportunity to return to campus and enjoy a few days of summer in Maine is always an attraction of the Alumni College. "We have a lot of events and activities planned outside of the classroom for people to enjoy," she said. "We'll have a dinner at the Alumni House the first night. We have the Al Corey Band Trio playing Wednesday night, and there will also be a movie playing every night."

Cost for the full session, including all meals, room and tuition is $295. Early arrivals on July 29 may pay an additional $30, which includes a room for Saturday night and a Sunday breakfast. Persons wishing to remain after the College is concluded may select an additional $60 package that provides a room Thursday and Friday nights and Friday and Saturday breakfasts. "We wanted to arrange a program that would allow people to make a mini vacation out of their trip," Giatas said. Free daycare will be available throughout the week, she added.

Bassett says the fact that many of the participants will have lived through the war themselves will make for lively classroom discussions and a compelling week of study. "You're going to have people who can say, `I was there' and who may challenge some of the things that are said in the class. We're going to have people in this course who were Rosey the Riveter working in an airplane plant. We're going to have people who went to Colby in the 1940s and who remember what it was like to be down on the old campus and have a virtually all-female college for a number of years. There will be a substantial portion of students who will have had direct experience with the material."

One Continuing Education Unit is available for persons who complete the course. Alumni who wish to get more information or to register for the Alumni College may call the Alumni Office at 207-872-3190.


Pushing the Envelope

Colby's ethic of environmental stewardship shows up in several ways, including its campus-wide mantra of "reuse and recycle." Envelopes often criss-cross the campus to half a dozen or more recipients before being discarded. But an envelope received recently in the Communications Office may set the record for longevity. The original recipient was Professor James Armstrong, former chair of the Music Department who taught at Colby from 1971 to 1983. That would date the envelope at least 12 years, except that the second recipient was Dean Parker Johnson, who retired from Colby in 1978 (he died in 1986), which means the envelope has been circulating around Colby for nearly two decades, and perhaps longer. Also included on the family tree of users are Religion and Philosophy professor Gustave Todrank, who died in 1983, retired Professor of Music Dorothy Reuman, the Accounts Payable Office and Associate Professor of Art Michael Marlais.

Associate Director of Communications Stephen Collins '74, the most recent recipient, said it's the first time he has bestowed historical significance on an envelope in campus mail. "It's practically an artifact," he said.


Good Service

The appointments of Alumni Secretary Sid Farr '55 and Dean of the College Earl Smith to the rank of full professor were announced at the January meeting of the Board of Trustees. The promotions recognize "comparable records of extraordinary service to the College in a variety of roles," said President William R. Cotter.

Farr's retirement after 35 years of service prompted Cotter to promote him from associate to full professor. After he had made that decision, Cotter says, he realized Smith was equally deserving.

Farr served as alumni secretary, director of financial aid and career counseling, vice president for development and secretary of the corporation. "Sid is unique. Never a harsh word about anyone and never a harsh word from anyone about him," Cotter said.

About Smith, Cotter said, "Whatever Colby asks him to do, he adds it to his plate and then produces results." Smith served as director of student activities, director of communications, assistant to the president and dean of students before becoming dean of the college.

"They are both confidants to very large circles of people, and that kind of accessibility in the top levels of administration is essential to the College," Cotter said.

SIDEWALK TALK

Bucking a national trend, Colby's Admission Office is having a record setting year. In early March, the College already had received 4,200 first-year applications, a 23 percent increase over last year's total and a 47 percent increase over the total two years ago. Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Parker Beverage attributed the success in attracting prospective students to several factors.

"The College is truly on the move and is finally earning recognition for the extraordinary educational institution we are," he said. He credited faculty accomplishments as well as faculty involvement in the recruiting process, enthusiastic student tour guides and lobby hosts, recent fund raising success, and a committed and talented admissions staff for making Colby one of the hottest colleges in the country.

In addition to the increase in applicants, Beverage points out that more than 200 students already have been offered admission through the early decision program, which means that about 40 percent of next fall's incoming class identified Colby as their clear first choice prior to January 15.

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