Art Faculty Show Work in Brattleboro

Exhibit

January 6–February 24 • Catherine Dianich Gallery 

Marlboro professors Tim Segar (sculpture) and Cathy Osman (painting) offer work in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, painting and drawing, at the Catherine Dianich Gallery in Brattleboro, Vermont. The show opens with a reception during gallery walk, Friday, January 6.

Perspectives on Cambodia

In May 2011, 10 Marlboro students, staff and faculty left for Cambodia as part of a service-learning and teaching journey. The students raised $2,500 in aid for organizations in Cambodia. They also brought children's books, medications and medical equipment including nearly a 1,000 pairs of donated eye-glasses, as well as 30 laptop computers donated by Pfizer, inc.

In a new video presented at the Marlboro student film festival in December 2011, junior Kirsten Wiking combined recent interviews of students with Cambodia footage from Max Foldeak, director of health services. The video will be used by the non-profit agencies in Cambodia, the World Studies Program at Marlboro College, and the agencies in the U.S. that donated to this service-learning project.

Making Fuel from Fodder

Chemistry students use crops from the organic garden to explore the production of biofuels.

Spanish professor wins theater prize

Rosario de Swanson, professor of Spanish language and literature at Marlboro College, received the prestigious Victoria Urbano Award in drama, presented by the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica (AILCFH). The award, for her play titled Metamorfosis ante el espejo de obsidiana (Metamorphosis before the Obsidian Mirror), was announced on October 21 at the annual meeting of the association at the University of Barcelona. 

“The play is a monologue in two acts,” said Rosario, who specializes in Afro-Hispanic literature, particularly women writers, contemporary indigenous literature and feminist and post-colonial theory. “It centers on the female protagonist’s struggles to overcome self-inflicted repression and oppression, as she also comes to understand her part in the reproduction of other’s oppression ingrained in her by cultural norms.” 

Although Metamorfosis is a contemporary approach to issues of female oppression, the play is deeply connected to Rosario’s Mexican roots and ancestry. “Being Mexican, I love music and I tend to draw from it a lot,” she said. “In this play I draw on Mexican popular and classical musical traditions, including the aria ‘Obisidian Butterfly’ by Mexican composer Daniel Catán, from his opera Rapaccini’s Daughter.”

In September, Rosario also presented a paper on “Dance as female affirmation in Ekomo, a novel from Equatorial Guinea,” at an international conference titled Africa and People of African Descent: Issues and Actions to Re-Envision the Future, at Howard University. The conference celebrated and reinforced the United Nations declaration of 2011 as the Year of Africa and People of African Descent.

Math professor and student collaborate on combinatorics

The current issue of Australasian Journal of Combinatorics (vol. 51: 243-257) includes a joint paper by Marlboro College math professor Matt Ollis and his former student Devin Willmott ’11. Titled “On twizzler, zigzag and graceful terraces,” the paper adds to our mathematical knowledge of balanced sequences known as “terraces.”

“There are three somewhat separate problems addressed in the paper, tied together through their use of terraces,” said Matt. “A terrace is a structured pattern that might or might not exist in each of infinitely many mathematical objects called groups. They were originally developed to help with the design of agricultural experiments but have since been found to have applications to other situations and mathematicians also study them in their own right.”

For example, “twizzler terraces”—named by previous authors for the turkey twizzlers found on the menu in some British schools—are terraces that appear to twist in on themselves. In their paper, Matt and Devin classify what types of twizzler terrace can possibly exist and exactly when they do.

“Terraces are combinatorial objects rooted in finite group theory,” said Devin, who collaborated with Matt on this paper as part of his Plan of Concentration at Marlboro on group theory. By leaving behind most of the mathematical rules we are familiar with, collections of elements, or “groups,” are found to interact with each other in new and significant ways. “The ideas behind group theory are fairly unlike any other discipline I have seen, and lead to surprising and unintuitive but elegant results,” Devin said.

Students use their heads for charity

“How much can I pay you to dye your hair blue?” “Pay me? I’d just donate it, so why don’t we make it $500 for charity.” This conversation between two Marlboro College students was the inspiration for this fall’s “Green for Blue” United Way Campaign. Anna Hughes, a senior at Marlboro, and Chuck Pillette, a junior with very white hair (pictured right), decided they wanted to raise money for the United Way to help those affected by the recent flooding as well as others in need. Jodi Clark, director of housing and residential life and a Marlboro alumna (also pictured right), was planning the traditional employee fundraising effort for the United Way when Anna asked for help getting her campaign going. 

“It simply seemed like a great way to accomplish both the employee campaign and this student led idea by combining them to make it a whole campus community campaign,” said Jodi. Jodi and Anna started asking other prominent community members if they would be willing to either dye or temporarily spray their hair blue for at least a day if the community campaign reaches specific giving benchmarks. Currently, there are 17 community members who are going to go blue for the United Way, including Ellie Roark, head selectperson, writing professor John Sheehy (his goatee) and Ken Schneck, dean of students. Even Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, president of the college, has pledged to spray her hair blue for one day if the community raises $5,000 by October 13. 

“The United Way of Windham County funds so many agencies and programs that aid families and communities all year round, whether there is a natural disaster to recover from or individual families facing hardships such as a fire, job loss or sudden illness,” said Jodi. “Other programs they support help strengthen our community, and all of the funding stays in Windham County.” For more information on Marlboro College’s Green for Blue United Way Campaign, contact Jodi Clark at jdclark@marlboro.edu.  

Amer Latif counsels love for humankind

In an editorial published in The Commons, religion professor Amer Latif calls for love, compassion and peace on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. "As a Muslim-American, I find such inspiration in the life of the Prophet Muhammad, who, when asked how one could change the behavior of one’s children, replied, 'Start with yourself,'” writes Amer. He says that seeing the suffering of the victims of 9/11 as no different from the suffering of the thousands of Iraqis who have died since is difficult work, work that begins with finding compassion within oneself.

Newsweek Ranks Marlboro College

In this week’s issue of Newsweek magazine, Marlboro College was featured in an article titled “The Best Colleges for You.” The article ranks American colleges based on 25 criteria, with the understanding that students have different needs and interests, and Marlboro was ranked fifth for “Accessible Professors.” These results were base on both the student-to-faculty ratio as well as an analysis of student-posted evaluations on RateMyProfessors.com, conducted by an education think tank called the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Marlboro also ranked 12^th for “Free Spirited.”

Jaysinh Birjepatil's new book excerpted in India Abroad

“I do not know of any place on earth where successive waves of immigrants have thrived so abundantly,” said retired literature professor J. Birjepatil, referring to the backdrop of his new book, The Good Muslim of Jackson Heights. His book was excerpted, and Birje was interviewed, in the August 12, 2011, issue of India Abroad. “It was also a place where several histories and traditions had collided, sometimes coalescing into a single story, but more often with many unresolved conflicts.”

The Good Muslim of Jackson Heights is the fictional story of an aristocratic Muslim family that flees sectarian violence in their native central India, only to find reverberations in multiethnic urban America. Birje, who was born to secular Hindu parents and went to English boarding schools, told India Abroad that he never knew what it felt like to be discriminated against. 

“Then 9/11 happened,” said Birje, who retired after teaching at Marlboro for 15 years in 2002. His book was born out of his own ambivalence between the need for U.S. vigilance and discrimination against Muslims and immigrants. “I have no ethnic or religious affiliations, but I could see myself being trapped into a Kafkaesque nightmare in some unknown xenophobic city where organized ignorance has trumped reason.” 

Tim Segar exhibit at Oxbow Gallery, June 27 - July 31

Visual arts professor Tim Segar is exhibiting his work in the back room of The Oxbow Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts through July 31. Call the gallery at 413-585-6300 or visit oxbowgallery.org for hours and directions.

John Willis on Vermont Public Radio

Photography professor John Willis sat down with Vermont Edition's Jane Lindholm to discuss his Guggenheim Fellowship and his work with area youth.

Virtual Plan Room

Explore Plan topics from graduates over the past sixty years.

Rice-Aron Library is "Open"

"What’s inspiring about the Rice-Aron Library is its openness: the open building, the belief in patrons honoring the privilege of the collection, the instruction sessions held out in the open for all to see and learn, and the leap to open source tools and finding out that they work just as well as commercial systems. While many libraries talk about transparency, this is one that is actually living it," Brian Mathews says about Marlboro College's library, which is featured in his May 2011 "Next Steps" column for American Library Magazine.

Perched on its knoll in the northwest corner of campus, the Rice-Aron Library serves the community in ways far beyond its collection of 75,000 books and 17,000 journals. There are classrooms and computer labs, a dedicated space for art exhibits, public reading and other interesting events. But it always come back to the collection. As the library's Facebook page pointed out recently, Marlboro students on average checked out 35 books during the 2010-11 academic year.

Summer service-learning trip to Cambodia

A community-wide auction of paintings, prints, photos, books, ceramics and other artworks created by students raised $2,500 in aid for organizations in Cambodia, just in time for the second service-learning trip to that country by the Marlboro Community in the past three years.

For two weeks this summer, 10 Marlboro students, faculty and staff members will visit Kampong Chhnang, Ang, Pursat, Omani andSiem Reap, among other locations, with support going to water control, irrigation and purification work, a sewing school and a school where children learn English and keyboarding skills to supplement the education they get at public school.

In addition,  the group will purchase and give E.S.L. books, children's books, medications and medical equipment donated from many local sources, including nearly a thousand pairs of eyeglasses as well as 30 laptop computers donated by Pfizer, Inc. Donations are being processed through the World Peace Fund, the Amherst/Cambodia Water project, and directly to the schools mentioned above.

While in Cambodia, the group will participate in E.S.L. classes in the schools and help with the water projects. Secondarily, but also important to this trip will be visits to the capital Phnom Penh, the temples at Angkor and memorials to those killed during the Khmer Rouge period.

International Fellows Enrich Curriculum

In the 2010-11 academic year, two international fellows are offering a broader perspective to Marlboro College students, as part of the world studies mission. Fulbright Foreign Language Fellow Ayman Yacoub is bringing modern Arabic to students at a time when Arabic-speaking countries are experiencing earth-shaking changes, and Classics Fellow William Guast is bringing students to Rome to reexamine classical history first hand.

Ayman, a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Egypt, feels that offering modern Arabic is a valuable addition to international awareness at Marlboro. Through world studies activities he is able to share his culture, as well as his language, and introduce students to a variety of programs and scholarships in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East.

“The whole world is paying attention to the Middle East, and Arabic is the official language for 22 countries,” said Ayman. “Offering modern Arabic opens many windows to Marlboro students who wish to pursue their studies in Middle Eastern studies or political sciences.”

In December, Ayman was one of the presenters at the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Mid-Year Conference, in Washington, D.C. There he shared his insights on education and technology, visited with other Fulbright fellows from around the world, and met with Assistant Secretary of State Anna Scott. The conference was addressed by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

Ayman also facilitated a lively discussion in February on the current events in Egypt, in conjunction with Amer Latif, professor of religion. The event was attended by over 55 students and faculty, including Brenda Foley, director of world studies, as well as President Ellen McCulloch-Lovell and trustees, including Vermont Senator Peter Galbraith.

In addition to offering ancient Greek and Latin, William Guast is offering a spring semester course called Rethinking Rome: Power, Society and Faith in the High Roman Empire. His nine students come from a diversity of academic backgrounds, from classics to art history, but all of them will be accompanying Will to Rome during spring break.

“The history of Rome is inseparable from the art, architecture and archaeology of the city of Rome, and students will find themselves referring to archaeological sources as often as literary sources,” said Will, who received First Class Honors and several academic prizes for Latin at Oxford.

In addition to considering how Roman emperors tried to control their image through art and architecture, students will consider the lives of the urban poor and aspiring middle classes through various well-preserved sites, as well as surviving evidence for the Roman’s radically different religious system. Some highlights of the visit will include the Colosseum, Rome’s ancient catacombs, Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, Pompeii and the huge baths of Caracalla.

“Many sites are too large or too complex in their layout, function or impact to be fully comprehended in printed form,” he said. “While in Rome, students will be asked to record and analyze the monuments and other sites in person, as they would have been experienced by their original audience.”

Will is delighted to have the opportunity to accompany inspired students to Rome, and is grateful for the support of world studies at Marlboro. He said, “It’s an enormous privilege to lead such a trip—something that in the U.K. would only be done by an experienced head of department who had been teaching for many years.”

Alumnus Screenplay Wins Amazon Studios Contest

Congratulations to Alex Greenfield '97, whose script, Memory, won first place in the Amazon Studios contest for Best Table Read. Greenfield splits the $10,000 prize with Christan Davis, who directed the reading.

Greenfield's screenplay was also one of six finalists for the $20,000 Best Script Award. Coincidentally, another one of the finalists was alumna Gina DeAngelis '94. Amazon Studios wrote about this phenomenon in their official blog.

Career Day, March 9

Marlboro's Career Development Office presents Career Day on Wednesday, March 9. A time to learn about how to get a job/internship, a time to be inspired, and a time to network with local orgs who have opportunities for you to volunteer, intern or work. 

Schedule:

10:30-11:30 - Job/Internship Workshop, Research Bar in the Library
1:15-2:15 - (during ded hr) Keynote Speaker, David Pakman, Ragle Hall
2:30-4:00 - Career Fair in the Dining Hall, featuring local orgs and grad schools

                Bring your resume and network with these orgs:

• The Youth Agriculture Project: Spring Education Intern, Summer Work and Learn Crew Leader, Spring 2011 Agricultural Intern

• Building a Better Brattleboro: Promotion & Communication Interns Needed

• Vermont Adult Learning: Volunteer Teachers Needed

• Girls on the Run: Volunteers and Coaches Needed

• Brattleboro Time Trade: Work Exchange Opportunities

• Marlboro School: Learn more about the new 1 yr Masters in Teaching with a focus on social justice.

• SIT Graduate Institute: Learn about masters degrees in Intercultural Management and Masters of Teaching

• Vermont Business for Social Responsibility: Over 20 Paid internships in VT!

• Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity: Intern needed

• Fertile Fields Farm: Farm Interns Needed

• Brattleboro Museum and Art Center: Summer Internship Available

• Yerba Buena Farm: Internship in Jamaica
• The Arts Council of Windham County: Economics and Arts Research Intern Needed
• The Experiment in International Living: International Group Leaders
  
  

Career Day, March 9, will feature David Pakman as our Keynote Speaker

The David Pakman Show (TDPS) is a nationally syndicated, multiplatform politics and news talk show and is known for controversial interviews with political and religious extremists, and both liberal and conservative politicians. The program focuses on the politics and news of the day, race and gender, technology and energy development, business, religion and more. TDPS airs on both radio and television affiliates around the US and across the world.

Host David Pakman holds an MBA from Bentley University and an undergraduate degree in economics and communication from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pakman, who started the program at age 21, then the youngest nationally syndicated political host, has been compared to Rachel Maddow, both for his incisive, sometimes sarcastic political analysis and for starting his radio career in the same city as Maddow, Northampton, Massachusetts.

~Delicious appetizers, sweets, coffee and tea provided~

Spanish professor publishes article on Afro-Peruvian identity

Rosario de Swanson's article, Women's Words: Orality, Myth and History in the works of Afro-Peruvian writer Lucia Charun Illescas will be included in a volume published by the University of Perpignan in France as part of their Latin American, Africa and Europe research group. 

The volume, entitled Postcolonial Discourses and Renegotiations of Black Identities: Africas, Americas, Caribes, Europas, is part of a joint effort by the Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios Africanos y de la World Diaspora Africana (Americas, Caribes, Europa), Howard university (US) and Le Groupe de Recherche Sur Les Noir-E-S D'Amerique Latina, Universite de Perpignan (France). Click here for their website (in French).

Wendell-Judd Cup - Feb. 19

Wendell-Judd Cup
Saturday, February 19, 2:00pm
Marlboro College Campus Center

Join novice and veteran cross-country skiers for the annual Wendell-Judd Cup ski event. Check in at the Campus Center between 1:00 and 1:45 p.m. before heading out on the 5.5 mile course from the college to South Pond and back again. The trails are suitable for all levels, and snowshoers are also encouraged to participate. Youth, men’s, women’s, seniors’ and pedestrian categories; mid-point start and shuttle available. Refreshments and awards will be waiting at the end. All are welcome to participate—the more the merrier!

For more information, contact Randy Knaggs at 258-9253 or rlknaggs@marlboro.edu. Rain date: March 5.

Marlboro professors make the grade

The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, an education think tank that produces the college rankings for Forbes magazine, did an analysis of the more than 11 million user ratings at Ratemyprofessors.com to develop a list of 25 Colleges with the Best Professors. Marlboro came in at #10.

Read about it on The College Solution blog at CBS Moneywatch.

Academic Minute

In the summer of 2010, WAMC Northeast Public Radio invited faculty from area colleges to submit short essays for a new segment called Academic Minute. Several Marlboro professors have already participated and more are to come. Here are links to the ones that taken place so far:

• The origins of Monopoly - Meg Mott (political theory)
• Moral responsibility and climate change - William Edelglass (philosophy)
• Olfaction and vibration - Todd Smith (chemistry)
• Reconsidering Sylvia Plath - Heather Clark (English)

The literature of Equatorial Guinea

Spanish professor Rosario M. de Swanson traveled to Equatorial Guinea during last year's spring break to study the literature and culture of this small African country. A former colony in the Spanish empire, Equatorial Guinea gained independence in 1968, and is the only country on the continent whose official language is Spanish.

Rosario has two articles forthcoming from her research, both in Spanish. “Autoenografía, espacio, identidad y resistencia en la narrativa fundacional de Guinea Ecuatorial: Cuando los combes luchaban (1953) de Leoncio Evita Enoy” will be published by Revista Iberoamericana, while the Hispanic Journal will publish her interview with writer Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, entitled “Si alguien dice que está desarrollado y no goza de los derechos humanos, no lo está”

Rosario's interest in the culture of Equatorial Guinea began while researching Afro-Hispanic American literature for her dissertation. "I was surprised to learn that there was an African literature written in Spanish that not many of us Latinoamericanistas knew about," she says. "I was also intrigued by the persistence of themes similar to those found in Latin American literature."