Lawrence University Lux Alumni Magazines Communications Fall 2019 Lawrence, Fall 2019 Lawrence University Follow this and additional works at: https://lux.lawrence.edu/alumni_magazines Part of the Liberal Studies Commons © Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Recommended Citation Lawrence University, "Lawrence, Fall 2019" (2019). Alumni Magazines. 115. https://lux.lawrence.edu/alumni_magazines/115 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Communications at Lux. It has been accepted for inclusion in Alumni Magazines by an authorized administrator of Lux. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FALL 2019 LAWRENCE Wan·der·jahr: n. noun, [vahn-duh r-yahr] /'van d re , ya r/ German. 1. A year or period of travel, especially following one’s schooling and before practicing a profession. 2. A life-changing year of exploration, discovery, and independence funded by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. Greetings from Appleton! LAWRENCE They say in Wisconsin there are two seasons of the year: winter and EDITOR construction. We are in the second season, which brings physical renewal Kelly B. Landiſ Not All of campus. It is also celebration season here at Lawrence, with two of ART DIRECTORS my favorite moments of the year: Commencement, when we sent 350 Liz Boutelle, Matt Schmeltzer graduates out to begin their lives after Lawrence, and Reunion, when ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF we welcomed more than a thousand of them back to reconnect with the COMMUNICATIONS Megan Scott community we share. Over the course of those two weekends, we hosted Who Wander close to 1,000 people in the President’s House. It is always a pleasure to CONTRIBUTORS Ed C. Berthiaume, Daniel Green ’20, Awa Badiane ’21 Isabella have the Lawrence family “in the house.” Even the new member of Mariani ’21, Kelsey McCormick, Joseph Vanden Acker David’s and my family, Homer, a three-month-old labradoodle, enjoyed CLASS NOTES Are Lost the festivities. Kevin LeBeau By Kelly B. Landis These celebrations are also moments to reflect on the extraordinary PHOTOGAPHY ways Lawrentians make their mark on the world, from setting out across Liz Boutelle, Ken Cobb, Mackenzie Huber, Garrett Katerzynske, Wan·der·jahr: n. noun, [vahn-duh r-yahr] /'van d re , ya r/.German. the globe in search of meaning and cultural knowledge like our many M. C. Kinney Photography, Thompson Photo Imagery, Paul Wilke Watson Fellows to shaping the pop cultural landscape like this year’s FOR CHANGE OF ADDRESS 1. A year or period of travel, especially following one’s schooling and before practicing a profession. Commencement speaker, Lee Shallat Chemel ’65. I hope you enjoy learning go.lawrence.edu/profile 2. A life-changing year of exploration, discovery, and independence funded by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. about some of these experiences in this issue. 920-832-6854 • [email protected] We are now getting ready to welcome another talented class of more TO SUBMIT IDEAS than 400 new students. The entering class is diverse in many respects, Lawrence University • Communications 711 E. Boldt Way including 25% domestic students of color and 14% international students. Appleton, WI 54911-5690 Thanks to the success of the Be the Light! Campaign and its Full Speed to 920-832-7325 • [email protected] Full Need initiative, the incoming class of 2023 will be supported by more Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent full-need scholarships—which allows Lawrence to meet the need of more Lawrence University policy. than 100 incoming students. Lawrence (USPS 012-683) is published by the Lawrence University Just as we celebrate our students and alumni, we must also recognize Office of Communications. Nonprofit postage paid at Appleton, Wis., and additional mailing offices. the people of Lawrence who make all of this possible. The talented faculty and staff who lead the University were joined by many new colleagues; they brought their experience and energy to bear on our efforts to provide a world class undergraduate education to 1,500 students every year. I know CONTENTS you join me in welcoming them to Lawrence as we begin the 2019-2020 academic year. NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST 3 50 Years of the Watson Fellowship Best, BREAKING SOUND BARRIERS 10 Operatic Innovations Take the Stage (and Mark Burstein, President Pool!) RAISING THE BAR 13 The Viking Room Marks a Major Milestone WHEN MARCH MADNESS CAME 36 TO LAWRENCE A Look Back at a Historic NCAA Tournament Run 16 Commencement 20 Reunion 22 Inside Lawrence 32 Be the Light! Campaign Update 40 Athletics 42 Class Notes Micha Jackson ’07 swims among the residents of Jellyfish Lake, Palau. 86 The Big Picture LAWRENCE 3 For many this is a difficult and beautiful question because no What Is Your Watson? one has ever asked it. The inner challenges to find your Watson and then create a concrete proposal that turns your dream into a Brian Pertl ’86, Dean of the Conservatory of Music, Watson Fellow viable plan of action is as daunting as crossing the Gobi desert or and Lawrence Liaison for the Watson Program battling homesickness in Namibia. This process of discovery is The whole premise seems impossible—a magical fellowship where the magic of the Watson resides. If done right, a student’s that provides enough money for lucky recipients to chase around life will be changed long before the official Watson selections are the globe for an entire year following their dreams. Oh, and it will announced. The world celebrates the chosen few who officially most likely change the course of your life. No big deal. receive the fellowship. I celebrate every one of the hundreds Actually, a very big deal. The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship of applicants who have dreamed big, opened themselves up to is very real and has been changing lives for 50 years. Thirty- endless possibilities, and have found themselves forever changed four years ago, it changed mine. My dream was to explore the by the experience. Australian Aboriginal didjeridu and Tibetan Buddhist sacred So, dear reader, what is your Watson? music. I would travel to Australia, China, Nepal and India as I pursued this dream. When I received the letter telling “I ended up writing a guidebook to the roughly Steven Licata ’75 spent his Watson year me I was chosen to be a Watson Fellow, 70 museums that I visited over the course of 18 studying attitudes to competitive sport in I was thrilled, but I had no idea what months…. The self-direction and organization that his project “The Ethos of Sport: People’s challenges and rewards this year would I had to exercise and develop has been critical to Attitudes Towards Competition in a Socialist present. I left thinking that this would my success in science.” Country” in East Germany, West Germany, be a wonderful year of adventure before England and Italy. His time with the Watson embarking on my career as an orchestral —CAROL ARNOSTI ’84 studied maritime traditions Foundation did not end there—he served a trombonist. in Northern Europe, Scandinavia, France, the United two-year stint as director of the foundation When I landed in Australia, I had Kingdom and Germany. She is now a professor in the from 1989–1991. He is an assistant district still never heard a didjeridu, let alone Department of Marine Sciences at the University of attorney for Milwaukee County. played one, and my first exposure to North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Lawrence can be very proud that they Tibetan Buddhism was the day I walked have been in the Watson program from into the Johkang Temple in Lhasa, its inception. The amazing thing about the Watson fellowship is Tibet. This journey of discovery could fill a book, and it has that the foundation isn’t really funding the project; it’s funding the somehow managed to fill a life—mine. My experiences working individual, asking the question, “Will this individual benefit from with musicians from such vastly different music cultures and studying this particular topic at this moment in their life?” my immersion in those traditions left me wanting to learn more This ethos came from Thomas Watson Jr. I was the last Brian Pertl ’86 plays a didjeridu for community members as part of the Mile of Music Education Team. about music traditions from around the world. director who would go to his office at IBM headquarters and meet Upon my return, dreams of playing trombone professionally with him. He wanted young Americans in all different fields to faded. Instead, I pursued degrees in ethnomusicology, focusing have potential for leadership, and he felt that they would be much his year marks the 50th anniversary “Watson’s mission is to work with our incredible The requirements are simple on their on Tibetan sacred music and Australian Aboriginal didjeridu better leaders if they had a different perspective on American life T traditions. Here is where my Watson year turned into my Watson of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, partner institutions to expand the vision and face: spend a year abroad— gained from having lived for a very intense period of time for a life. In 1990, Microsoft called asking me to record a didjeridu track “a one-year grant for purposeful, develop the potential of our next generation of no return to the U.S. allowed— full year outside the U.S. for a CD-ROM (a new technology no one had ever seen). This independent exploration outside the leaders,” says Executive Director of the Watson immersing yourself in other cultures turned into a position as an audio editor, which led to a 16-year United States.” Foundation Chris Kasabach.