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Wheaton Quarterly Summer 2010

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Wheaton Quarterly Summer 2010 UARTERLY Q SUMMER 2010 Why are our R students winning so H many awards? O D Jay Goodman knows E S M A RU RS T MAN HALL W A T T H S RIG O LB N FU Inside Cover story: DEPARTMENTS Pathways to success 22 Between the Lines 2 A political science professor explores why Convergence 3 Wheaton students are winning so many national and international awards. Around the Dimple 4 By Jay Goodman Panorama 12 A change of course 28 Field Report 14 Deborah Haigh Dluhy ’62 is stepping Wheaton in the News 17 down as chair of the Wheaton Board Alumnae/i News 32 of Trustees and retiring as dean of the From the Alumnae/i Association School of the Museum of Fine Arts. On this page Class Notes 36 By Sandy Coleman Divers climb the ladders onto the Linda Mandolini ’85, executive director Millawanda at the end of their of Eden Housing, a nonprofit affordable 20-minute dive (and 15-minute housing developer. decompression). End Page 64 Photo by Susannah H. Snowden ’95 Rediscovering a lost brother, Wheaton connection Cover design by Jill Hunting ’72 By David Laferriere Deep blue dream come true Photographer Susannah H. Snowden ’95 receives the assignment of a lifetime, shooting an archeological site 150 feet beneath the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Turkey. Page 18 By Sandy Coleman WHEATON QUARTERLY VOL . XCVIII, NO. 3 Editor Sandy Coleman Assistant Editor/Class Notes Karen Mateer Senior Writer Hannah Benoit Art Director Barbara Dill P’92 Designer David Laferriere Staff Writers Scott Dietz, Josh Kessler, Lisa Nelson Assistant Vice President for Communications Michael Graca The Quarterly (ISSN 1068-1558) is published four times a year (summer, fall, winter and spring) by Wheaton College and printed by Lane Press of Burlington, Vermont. Periodicals postage paid at Norton, Mass., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Wheaton College, Norton, MA 02766. Wheaton College © 2010 BETWEEN THE LINES BY SANDY COLEMAN, EDITOR So what do you think? I have gained a whole new respect for No worries. Most of the feedback on In the category of academic and intel- “American Idol” contestants who are able the Quarterly was good. “Nice cover,” one lectual life, the topics that respondents to subject themselves to instant judgment. I judge said. “Strong images,” said another. “I said are most popular, ranked in order, are: got a taste of that in March when I attended don’t know if you needed two more photos individual faculty profiles, student research the Editors Forum, a conference for alumni of this person,” said the Simon look-alike. and academic experiences, faculty research, magazine editors presented by the Council I tell you this to let you know just how ea- faculty awards, faculty selection, promotions for Advancement and Support of Education ger we are to keep finding ways to improve and retirements, curriculum, and stories (CASE). our award-winning magazine. about individual courses. I signed up for “Magazine Idol,” a work- In the category of alumni life and activities, Readership survey shop in which editors brought three copies the most popular topics, in order, are: class of their magazine to a panel of judges. Each In a more serious effort, this fall and winter notes, alumni in their professions, individual scanned it and then the Wheaton Quarterly participated in the alumni profiles, alumni in their personal lives, gave their opinion—in CASE Member Magazine Readership Survey. alumni chapter activities and regional program- five minutes! One judge The survey was launched in 2009 for maga- ming, obituaries, and alumni volunteers for the actually looked like zine editors at colleges, universities and K–12 institution. Simon (short dark hair, institutions that are CASE members. We most enjoyed reading your answers to thick eyebrows), and It was designed to help us all evaluate how the survey’s open-ended questions, both the she was just as blunt. readers view our campus magazine and com- praise as well as the criticism. Well, OK, we “I don’t hate this de- pare the results to those of other institutions. didn’t enjoy the criticism, but we need it. sign, but I don’t love it,” More than 35,000 alumni magazine readers Many respondents expressed an over- she told one editor—not nationwide responded to the survey sent by whelming love for the class notes as a way me, thank goodness—as the rest of us sat more than 135 member institutions in the to keep the connection to Wheaton long wondering why the hell we had signed up United States. We sent the survey to a random after graduation. for this workshop. sampling of our readers for whom we have Several people wrote that they enjoy reading e-mail addresses. stories about collaborations between students Of the 2,055 surveys sent out, we re- and faculty members. However, readers would LETTERS ceived 366 responses back. (So our results like to see more stories about community ser- have a +/- 5 percent margin of error.) Thank vice involving students. And they not only want Good to know you so much to those who participated. to hear about the scholars, but also about the I want to tell you that I read your article on wonderful variety of students who are talented The survey says Wheaton’s archives in the spring Quarterly, in so many different ways. and I am quite impressed that they exist. There are too many findings to share here, This apparently is not something that was We’re listening available to students in the 1960s or so. I but here are some key ones: would have known about it, as I am somewhat Seventy percent of respondents said they We want to hear from you. E-mail (quar- of a “collector.” I have an admittedly small love reading the magazine in print form. [email protected]) or write and tell assemblage of old articles, including one newspaper report Fifty-four percent said they read most of the us what you like about the magazine, what about the first What’s on magazine, which is great, given the competi- you want to see more of, or suggest story landing on the your mind tion for attention. Thirty-one percent said the ideas. Tell us about an amazing alum doing moon, in 1969. The Quarterly welcomes? quality of the magazine content is excellent. work that we should know about. Q At some point letters to the editor on topics within the next you’ve read in these pages or few years, I hope on other topics concerning to organize this the Wheaton community. collection in Please address your letters to: some way. And In the spring issue of the Quarterly, we gave you a trivia quiz and asked you to go to then, hoping that Sandy Coleman, editor the web to answer three bonus questions for a chance to win a Wheaton T-shirt. A ques- there is some (al- Wheaton Quarterly tion about the number of cupolas on campus proved to be more challenging than the final beit small) value Wheaton College question on ”Jeopardy.” No one got it right. So we took the names of those who correctly 26 E. Main St. to it, I may pass answered the other two questions and came closest on the cupolas to enter into the raffle. Norton, MA 02766 the collection Here are the questions, the answers and the name of the winner. Congrats! on to Wheaton. I You can also e-mail us: know that some- [email protected] 1. How many Wheaton buildings have cupolas? 3. Which Wheaton graduate appears on CBS’ one may enjoy it. Six: Everett, Emerson, Knapton, Mary Lyon, the “60 Minutes”? As you can see, your article definitely presidents’ carriage house, the presidents’ barn. Lesley Stahl W1963. resonated. 2. Did Wheaton ever hold classes on Saturday? And the winner is… Sheila Kunian Vernick ’61 Yes, until 1961. Frances Hayes Rogovin ’51. 2 WHeatON Quarterly CONVERGENCE BY Ronald A. CRUtcHer, President Taking a new path Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood right answer, the question does encourage us to And looked down one as far as I could consider the ways in which culture influences the use To where it bent in the undergrowth. and abuse of alcohol. In Europe, for example, where young adults learn to enjoy wine at dinner with their The opening stanza of Robert Frost’s famous poem, families, the rate of alcohol abuse and binge drink- “The Road Not Taken,” speaks of an intersection ing remains far lower than in the U.S. Clearly, social and a choice to be made between two paths. norms play a large role in how we approach the use When it comes to alcohol and education, college of alcohol. students and colleges themselves stand at a critical Wheaton may not be able to shift society on its juncture: continuing to address the issue through own, but we can affect our campus culture and there policies and practices that restrict behavior and is good reason for us to try. In addition to reasons punish transgressions or seeking to address the root of public health, safety and legality, we know that causes of irresponsible and illegal use of alcohol. alcohol abuse undermines our efforts to create a vi- This situation is neither new nor is the position brant learning community. National studies show that entirely unique to higher education. The issue of alcohol abuse correlates with poor academic perfor- alcohol abuse transcends colleges and universi- mance, even the failure to complete a degree.
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