Teaching Spring 2007 • Scripps Magazine 270751 Scripps CVR R1 4/17/07 3:50 PM Page 2
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270751_Scripps_CVR_r2 4/19/07 7:27 PM Page 1 THE WOMEN’S COLLEGE • CLAREMONT Great teaching Spring 2007 • Scripps Magazine 270751_Scripps_CVR_r1 4/17/07 3:50 PM Page 2 editor’sPAGE A Room of Our Own I WAS AN ONLY CHILD—FOR A YEAR. That was when my about me.Would she once more be the “good” sister, the one who slightly older sister, Catherine, went off to college while I finished made me feel tongue-tied and inadequate by comparison? Even my last year of high school.We had shared quarters for the past though I now consider her a confidante and love her dearly, was 17 years in our hometown of Glendale, California. In my suddenly I ready to be in competition with her again? single room, I didn’t miss her; in fact, I relished afternoons lying Close to half a century of growing up makes a difference in on one of the room’s twin beds yakking with friends on the phone how one reacts to people and experiences.What once seemed so without unsolicited comments from an all-knowing sibling. I claimed important—my own room, my own bathtub, my own ego—was less half of her abandoned closet for my Pendleton skirts and Peter important than a chance to be with my sister for an extended time Pan-collared blouses and took lengthy baths uninterrupted by away from work and family demands, to have fun and learn together. pounding demands to “get out now!” Bliss. We were two of about 45 travelers who stayed at a hilltop villa in the Chianti region of Tuscany. My old friends became hers, and we each made new ones.We explored small medieval towns such as Colle Val d’Elsa and San Gimignano; on one of our free-time days in Florence, while others viewed David at the Academy or toured the Pitti Palace, the two of us studied the Gothic and early Renaissance art of the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, including Masaccio’s magnificent Trinity, and the complex and vibrant 14th- century frescoes by Andrea Bonaiuti in the Spanish Chapel (thank you, Scripps professor Juliet Koss, for the trip’s art history lectures) before stopping for pistachio gelato near the Ponte Vecchio. In the evenings, we all regrouped in the villa’s dining hall and shared stories of our day. Rather than sit at a separate table, I found mealtimes more enjoyable and entertaining with Catherine there. Was she a more amusing dinner companion, a better storyteller Sisters Catherine Russell and Mary Bartlett, on a Scripps alumnae trip than I? Perhaps. Did I feel diminished or in competition with her? to Tuscany last fall, share a room once again. Nope. I couldn’t have been more proud to show her off as my sister. Perhaps more important, I was no longer in competition with a person who had naturally done things earlier than I had, especially talk. She had claimed the role of the “good” daughter in our family, Mary Shipp Bartlett so early on I played the rough and tumble tomboy to gain attention. Editor She collected dolls and read incessantly; I collected comic books and climbed trees. Later, in high school, we both focused on journalism. Full disclosure: The first evening, we were thrilled to find a In the same year, she edited the yearbook and I edited the school small sitting room attached to our shared bedroom.We encountered newspaper, the Purple Press.Then, we both chose the same college. a little difficulty moving one of the twin beds into that room, but Comparisons were inevitable. we angled it and did the job. Bliss. So what was I thinking when I invited my sister to once again share a room with me, this time on a Scripps trip to Tuscany last Alumnae Speak—Next Topic: October? Over nine days, she would be in close contact with many alumnae and several of my colleagues, not to mention Scripps’ presi- Sisterhood. dent—people I try to “con” on a daily basis into thinking positively For information, please see page 30. vol.79N O. 1 DEPARTMENTS IFC EDITOR’S PAGE 2 BROWSING ROOM Campus news and events. Alumnæ News 30 LETTER FROM LORI STEERE 32 ALUMNAE SPEAK: “MY FAVORITE PROFESSOR” 36 CLASS NOTES Post Scripps 44 SUCCESS IN HARLEM by Jenny Sedlis ’04 Mary Shipp Bartlett ED I TOR Margaret Nilsson M A NAGI NG ED I TOR Pauline Nash A SS I S TA NT E D I TOR Professor of Biology Newton Copp and senior Whitney Michiels take a Carolyn Robles break from class and lab work outside Keck Science Building, which houses the Joint Science P R OD UCTI ON MA NAGE R Department. Copp has helped develop an innovative yearlong course for first-year students Matt Hutaff that integrates biology, chemistry, and physics, to be unveiled fall 2007; full details in the fall W EB MAS TER , S TAF F WR IT ER Scripps Magazine. Copp holds the Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr. Chair in Natural Sciences. Laura Benson ’10, Alysha Chan ’09, Lindsey Galloway ’07, Jennifer Loesch ’09, Susana Lopez ’09, Ilona Zbirun ’10 SPECIAL SECTION S TUD E NT INTE RNS Catherine Pyke ’79 10 Scripps in the Next Decade: A L UMNA E A S SOC I ATI ON LIAI SON Lime Twig Group Leading with Excellence D ES IGN Nancy Y. Bekavac introduces the College’s new strategic direction, Dual Graphics approved by the Board of Trustees in December 2006, as she plans PR I NTING her future after 17 years as president. Ian Bradshaw: front and back covers, pp. 3, 10, 16, 18, 20-24 FEATURES Amy Cantrell: p. 5, left Phil Channing: p. 39 David Gautreau: p. 6 16 What Makes Great Teaching? Matt Hutaff: pp. 8, 23 Students and professors talk about the personal attention and relationships Pauline Nash: p. 5, right that makes teaching and learning at Scripps distinctive. Margaret Nilsson: pp. 9, 19, 23, 28, 29 Emily Rankin: IFC Bill Youngblood: pp. 1, 2, 7 26 The Soul as Steersman of our Lives PHOTOGR A PHY Catherine Pyke ’79 examines the legacy of one of Scripps’ greatest early teachers, Hartley Burr Alexander. Spring 2007: Vol. 79, No. 1. SCRIPPS,The Women’s College, Keeping it in the Family Claremont (USPS #486-940) is published quarterly by Scripps 28 College, Office of Public Relations and Communication. Scripps is about making connections, and sometimes it’s all relative. Periodicals postage paid at Claremont, California. Copyright ©2007.All rights reserved. Postmaster: Send address changes to Scripps College, Office of Public Relations and Communication, Cover: Samella Lewis, artist and professor emerita of art history, photographed at 1030 Columbia Ave., Claremont, CA 91711-3948. Scripps on her 83rd birthday, by Ian Bradshaw. Printed on recycled paper. SPRING 2007 SCRIPPS COLLEGE 1 browsingROOM Nancy Y. Bekavac Resigns New as Scripps’ President Score for Michael humanities, increased campus diversity, Deane added faculty positions to meet a growing Lamkin student body, and presided over the Campaign for the Scripps Woman, the most When Michael Deane Lamkin leaves as successful capital campaign in the College’s dean of the faculty at the end of this 81-year history, which was supported by academic year, he moves into a new 85 percent of alumnae. designation: that of The Bessie and Cecil During her tenure, Bekavac oversaw Frankel Professor of Music. the design and construction of the Elizabeth Hubert Malott Commons, the construction A member of the Scripps faculty since of the Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Residence 1977 and dean since 1997, Lamkin’s Hall, the renovation of Garrison Theater, areas of musical performance include the creation of the Scripps Performing large ensemble works composed from Arts Center, and the start of construction 1740-1970, focusing on Europe and of the Sally Tiernan Field House. including the U.S. after 1850. He has “Most important, during her presi- special research interests in patronage dency, the student body grew from 600 in the Habsburg Empire, especially as to 850. Nancy hired remarkable teachers related to the Esterhazy family, Haydn, and scholars, while increasing the academic Mozart, and Beethoven. qualifications of entering students,”Wilson said.“Today, Scripps is positioned at the He is also the artistic director and princi- fter 17 years of service in which forefront of women’s and liberal arts edu- pal conductor of the Classical Music the College reached new levels cation in America.” Festival, which takes place each summer Aof academic excellence and exper- In President Bekavac’s letter to the in Einsenstadt, Austria. ienced critical growth, Nancy Y. Bekavac Scripps community, she said:“With all The Frankel Chair in Music was estab- announced that she will step down as good things there are times to move ahead lished in 2002 by the Scripps Board of president of Scripps College, effective and open new chapters. Most presidents Trustees to honor the generosity of the June 30, 2007. know when they have accomplished enough, donors, Bessie and Cecil Frankel. Funded Los Angeles attorney Roxanne and when it is time for new challenges, by a bequest from the Frankel family, it Wilson, chair of the Scripps College both for them and for their colleges. I have honors the couple’s lifelong devotion to Board of Trustees, said:“President Bekavac always felt it is important to leave when music and is given to a senior member accomplished tremendous things during things are going well, and for Scripps, of the Music Department for a term of her tenure as the college’s first woman things are going very well.