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 Two new gifts to the College of $1.25 million each to create Colby's 32nd and 33rd endowed faculty chairs were announced in December. The Harriet S. and George C. Wiswell Jr. Chair was endowed with a gift from Mrs. ('48) and Mr. ('50) Wiswell, of Southport, Conn., and the Oak Chair in East Asian Language and Literature was funded by the Oak Foundation. After the College identified East Asian studies as a program needing the stability of more tenure-track positions, President Bill Cotter endeavored to find the necessary funding. "The status of Colby's pioneering East Asian studies program is terribly important as Asia continues to grow in importance in the world economy," he said. Jette Parker P '94, who chairs the Oak Foundation and serves Colby as a trustee, agreed. The international philanthropic foundation, which commits its resources to issues of global concern, made the gift for the named chair, which will be held by Tamae Prindle (Japanese) beginning next year. The Wiswells considered other needs at Colby before deciding that "With a chair you can put your money into something you're interested in," said Mrs. Wiswell, a history major. "Something you believe in," said Mr. Wiswell, who studied social sciences but went on to a distinguished career as a marine engineer. He retired with his name on 13 patents and world-wide renown as an underwater-problem solver. Various family members, including grandson Timothy Wiswell '01, have attended Colby. The couple attributes Colby's rise in prestige to a spirit of striving and cooperation that they saw in the Colby community of the late 1940s, when Colby was reinventing itself on Mayflower Hill and the Blue Beetle shuttled students between old and new campuses. "The roads were just dirt then," Mr. Wiswell said. "If the bus stopped in the wrong place to let a student off and got stuck, everybody got out to push." "Something has been done right here," said Mrs. Wiswell of the institution where the Wiswell Chair will serve students in perpetuity. "It's nice to be a part of it."
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