The Trinity Reporter, Spring 2016
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SPRING 2016 The Trinity REPORTER FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME Sam Kennedy ’95 leads the Boston Red Sox as president CAMPAIGN FOR FACES OF 2016 EDUCATING INSIDE COMMUNITY 12 new alumni THE WORLD Cultivating a share their insights College launches partnership stronger Trinity with online platform edX 8 14 18 FEATURES Campaign for For the love Embracing Community of the game diversity Cultivating a stronger Trinity Sam Kennedy ’95 leads the Trinity students mentor Boston Red Sox as president Hartford fifth graders 2 / The Trinity Reporter / CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS SPRING 02 ALONG THE WALK 2016 04 TRINITY TREASURE 06 VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT 07 AROUND HARTFORD 36 ATHLETICS 41 CLASS NOTES 71 IN MEMORY 78 ALUMNI EVENTS 80 ENDNOTE The Trinity Reporter Vol. 46, No. 3, Spring 2016 Published by the Ofce of Communications, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106. Postage paid at Hartford, Connecticut, and additional mailing ofces. The Trinity Reporter is mailed to alumni, parents, faculty, staf, and friends of Trinity College without charge. All publication rights reserved, and contents may be reproduced or reprinted only by written permission of the editor. Opinions expressed are those of the editor or contributors and do not reflect the ofcial position of Trinity College. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Trinity Reporter, Trinity College, 300 Summit Street, Hartford, CT 06106 The editor welcomes your questions and comments: Sonya Adams, Ofce of Communications, Trinity College, 300 Summit Street, Hartford, CT 06106 or [email protected]. www. trincoll.edu ON THE COVER Sam Kennedy ’95, president of the Boston Red Sox, at Fenway Park PHOTO: SUZANNE KREITER/THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES 32 ON THIS PAGE 28 Trinity thespians take the stage 22 Women’s rowing during dress rehearsal for the February 2016 production of Grease. Educating Faces of 2016 at Trinity PHOTO: JOHN ATASHIAN 12 of Trinity’s newest alumni the world Celebrating 40 years share insights on themselves, College launches partnership as a varsity sport the College, and more with online platform edX For more photos from the show, please visit commons.trincoll.edu/Reporter. / Fall 2014 / 3 ALONG THE WALK ALONG THE WALK PHOTO: ROY GOODWIN ROY PHOTO: 2 / The Trinity Reporter / ALONG THE WALK A gift of TWO FACULTY MEMBERS RETIRING This June marks the retirement of two Trinity College faculty members, Ellsworth Morton Tracy Lecturer and Professor of Religion Frank Kirkpatrick ’64 and Professor of Computer Science Ralph Morelli. Kirkpatrick has taught at Trinity since 1969, five years after he earned a B.A. in religion from the College. He holds a master’s degree in comparative religion from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Brown University. ART Kirkpatrick specializes in three areas: the philosophy of religion, Christian social ethics, and the history of Christian thought in the Trinity College has received a gift of large liturgical furnishings and artwork West. In the classroom, Kirkpatrick sought to engage students in the ongoing conversations from a church in Boston, bringing the iconic Gothic Revival Chapel closer about religious and philosophical ideas that than ever to the full realization of the artistic vision cast by its principal have influenced western civilization. He architect, Philip Frohman, more than 85 years ago. exposed his students to the original writings St. John the Evangelist Church (Episcopal) in Boston recently merged with of major religious thinkers, having them discuss and debate the conflicts inherent in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, ending its century-long presence in its those ideas and helping them to come to their building and requiring new homes for all of its striking and ornate interior own understandings and creative responses. architectural appointments. According to Trinity College Chapel Curator Kirkpatrick served as interim dean of the faculty Christopher H. D. Row ’91, M.Div., Ph.D., the position of St. John’s Church in from 2004 to 2006, received the Dana Research the history of the American Gothic Revival style is significant. “Henry Professorship for 1993-1995, and was given the Brownell Prize for Teaching Excellence in 2011. Vaughan and Ralph Adams Cram — two of the greatest Gothic Revival Morelli came to Trinity in 1985, the same year architects of the third phase of the American Gothic Revival — were not only the computer science major was established. parishioners at this church … but they contributed their artistic talents to the Over the years, he has taught many of the fabric of the building itself.” The works of liturgical art being given to the courses in the major and has done research in areas such as expert systems, artificial College are a 24-foot-tall high altar reredos, or altarpiece, by Cram; a Lady intelligence, and historical cryptography. Chapel altar and reredos by Cram; a Vaughan screen with four sculptures; a Recently, Morelli’s teaching and research has set of Cram screens; and a 14-foot-tall great rood (hanging crucifix) by focused on mobile computing. In summer Vaughan. Martin Mower painted the central panel of the high altar reredos. 2011, he led a team of Trinity students that Coincidentally, the Trinity Chapel was designed to house precisely this developed a mobile application for a food security organization in Haiti as part of the type of artwork, which has been lacking since the building’s original con- Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software struction. “The Chapel was the gift of William Gwynn Mather in 1928,” Row (HFOSS) project. For the past several years, said. Mather’s initial bequest was for the building; its adornment with wood Morelli has served as the principal investigator carvings, stained glass windows, and more; and its maintenance into the of the Mobile Computer Science Principles project, a National Science Foundation- future. When the Great Depression arrived in the midst of construction, the funded initiative to help broaden access to decision was made to complete the building itself, leaving its adornment for computing among underrepresented groups, later generations to complete. That time has finally come. including girls, African Americans, and Hispanic The Reverend Allison Read, College chaplain, said, “When St. John’s Americans. The Mobile CSP project provides became aware of this space in all of its particularities, they were thrilled. both a professional development course for U.S. high school teachers and an Advanced There are not a whole lot of buildings of this kind and of this scale. These Placement course that introduces high school pieces fit here as if they were made for it: the style, the materials, the iconog- students to computer science by engaging raphy, the architects, the artists themselves. These artists worked with them in building mobile apps that serve their Frohman during his lifetime. The architect intended for this building to be communities. In fall 2015, Morelli taught “Mobile Computing with App Inventor,” one of Trinity’s furnished precisely in this way.” first MOOCs (massive open online courses) on The objects are being stored on site while a project outline, including a the edX platform. proposed time frame for the installation, is developed. One piece, however, is already on display: the central panel painting by Mower is hanging behind the altar on the east wall, where the full high altar reredos eventually will be CORRECTION / WINTER 2016 / A caption in the “Trinity installed. The Lady Chapel altar and reredos will be installed in the Friend- Triumphs” athletics section misidentified the golfer in its accompanying photo. Nate Choukas ’18 is the golfer in the photo. ship Chapel, and the screens will be installed at the west end of the choir. / Spring 2016 / 3 TRINITYALONG THE WALKTREASURE WRITING CENTER “If you write, you belong here!” That’s the motto of past five years, the number of tutoring appointments Trinity’s Writing Center, housed within the Allan per year has grown from approximately 350 to more K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric. Located than 1,750. Each fall, newly selected writing associates at 115 Vernon Street, the Writing Center opened its must take “RHET 302. Writing Theory and Practice” doors in 1989 as a one-on-one tutoring program for all before working in the center; the class explores theo- student writers. Each year, a select group of students ries, histories, and best practices of efective tutoring. join the staf as writing associates and tutor their Tennyson O’Donnell, director of the Writing Center peers to improve writing skills and since 2012, teaches the course. He is credited with confidence. Thirty-four writing expanding the center to ofer hours at two cam- associates currently work at the pus satellite locations and with completing a center, constituting a diverse major interior renovation of the main location. group of students from difer- O’Donnell says that beyond the longstanding ent majors and backgrounds. history and the impressive number of stu- Often booked back-to- dent appointments are the dedicated and back with appointments, driven people who work at the Writing writing associates Center. “While they are some of the work to improve oth- busiest people on campus,” O’Donnell ers’ writing, not just notes, “they collectively represent a for better grades unique blend of intellect and kindness but to make the that forms a strong and supportive students better academic community.” writers. In the Class of 1960 Presidential Scholar Elaina Rollins ’16, an educational studies major who is one of three head writing associates, takes part in training at the center. She says she enjoys meeting a variety of students across all grade levels and disciplines. “There are not many other places on campus where a senior educational studies major can talk with a first-year interested in political science, a sophomore biology major, and a junior applying for study-away opportunities — all in one afternoon shift!” EDITOR’S NOTE “Trinity Treasure” highlights a PHOTO: JOHN ATASHIAN PHOTO: person, place, or thing on campus that is just what the name implies: a Trinity treasure.