The One Hundred Eighty-Fifth Commencement Program of LAFAYETTE COLLEGE Virtual, August 1, 2020 Easton, Pennsylvania THE ORDER OF PROGRAM WELCOME John Meier Provost and David M. ’70 and Linda Roth Professor of Mathematics INVOCATION Alexandra M. Hendrickson Chaplain of the College and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life IN MEMORIAM Alison R. Byerly President Madeline Kate Smart ’20 November 25, 1997–March 24, 2019 Michael Szydelko ’20 May 6, 1998–April 28, 2020 PRESIDENT’S REMARKS President Byerly TO THE CLASS OF 2020 WELCOME FROM THE Robert E. Sell ’84 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chair, Board of Trustees CONFERRING OF President Byerly HONORARY DEGREE Introduction by Mr. Sell Temple Grandin Doctor of Science COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS Dr. Grandin CONFIRMATION OF President Byerly DEGREES AWARDED AND RECOGNITION OF Robert G. Root CLASS VALEDICTORIANS Clerk of the Faculty Provost Meier Michael Olin Dean of Advising and Co-Curricular Programs Trisha Agarwal ’20 Joslyn Ann Brodfuehrer ’20 Jodi Lea Graf ’20 Emma Curtin Weaver ’20 GREETING FROM Tracy Hagert Sutka ’82 P’17 THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION President, Alumni Association PRESENTATION OF Riley Francés Alvaro ’20 SENIOR CLASS GIFT Kamal Sarah Bookwala ’20 Nyla Kumari Durdin ’20 Randy Young-Rong Zhou ’20 Chairs, Class of 2020 Gift Committee PEPPER PRIZE Joslyn Ann Brodfuehrer ’20 RECIPIENT’S REMARKS Introduction by President Byerly THE ALMA MATER Lindsay Ruth Altschuler ’20 Words and music by Walter C. Stier 1884 Emily Kathryn Emick ’20 Ryan Rogers Fainor ’20 Matthew Schuman ’20 Selected by Jennifer W. Kelly Director of the Arts and Associate Professor of Music We’ll gather by the twilight’s glow In front of old Pardee. In all the world no other scene So fair, so dear to me. O Lafayette, O Lafayette, To thee our voices raise! While loyal lips and loyal hearts Unite to sing thy praise. CHORUS We’ll gather by the twilight’s glow In front of old Pardee. In all the world no other scene So fair, so dear to me. CLOSING REMARKS President Byerly BENEDICTION Chaplain Hendrickson RETIRING FACULTY ELECTED TO EMERITUS STATUS SUSAN A. BASOW, Charles A. Dana Professor of as an expert in matters of assessment and the use of student Psychology, has been a member of the faculty for 43 years. evaluation data. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Douglass The English department’s first writing specialist, College, Rutgers University, in 1968, and Master of Arts and Donahue founded the Lafayette’s nationally recognized Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Brandeis University in College Writing Program and served many years as its 1970 and 1973, respectively. She joined the faculty as assistant director. She is one of six faculty members who helped professor in 1977 and was promoted to associate professor design and teach the initial iteration of Lafayette’s in 1982 and to full professor in 1991. She was named Dana First-Year Seminar. She played key roles in establishing Professor in 1996. She is licensed for the private practice of the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning, psychology in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. and Scholarship and, more recently, in the College’s Basow has taught a broad range of courses, many drawing reaccreditation by the Middle States Commission on upon her expertise in clinical and counseling psychology. Higher Education. She developed and taught one of the College’s first gender Donahue’s scholarship has focused on reading theories, studies-focused courses, Psychology of Gender. She was disciplinary and pedagogical histories, and the construction coordinator of study programs at Universidad Veritas in San of difficulty. She is co-author of The Elements (and Pleasures) Jose, Costa Rica, and Saint Louis University, Madrid. of Difficulty and co-editor of Reclaiming Pedagogy: The Basow co-founded the Professional Women of Lafayette, Rhetoric of the Classroom and Reading the Archives of the first group for women faculty at the College. The Composition. She was chosen as a Carnegie Scholar in the organization’s support activities eventually morphed into a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. study group in women’s studies and then became a curricular She is the recipient of the College’s Marquis force, driving forward the idea of a women’s studies program Distinguished Teaching Award; Carl R. and Ingeborg for which she served as chair from 1986 until 1993. Beidleman Research Award, recognizing excellence in An activist for gender and LGBTQ equity and promoter applied research or scholarship; and Christian R. and Mary of inclusivity, she has authored many scholarly articles F. Lindback Foundation Award, for excellence in teaching and book chapters and earned national recognition for her and outstanding contributions to campus life. writing on gender issues, including classroom interactions, Donahue has served as department head and associate relational and physical aggression, and body perception. head and on departmental committees and elected She is the recipient of Lafayette’s Marquis Distinguished committees of the faculty, including the committees on Teaching Award; Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Governance, Curriculum and Educational Policy, Teaching Award, for superior teaching and scholarly contributions to and Learning, and Student Appeals. a discipline; Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Faculty She has served as editor of the journal READER, Lecture Award, in recognition of excellence in teaching published at Lafayette; a member of the editorial board of and scholarship; and Joseph Johnson Hardy Memorial The WAC Journal (Writing Across the Curriculum); reviewer Fund Award. for journals and conferences, including College English, Basow has served as head and assistant head of Pedagogy, and the Conference on College Composition her department and on many search committees and and Communication; and elected delegate for the Modern committees of the faculty, including the committees on Language Association. Governance, which she chaired, Faculty Academic Policy, Faculty Compensation, and Appeals and Grievance. She G. LYLE HOFFMAN, professor of physics, has been a has served on the Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory member of the faculty for 37 years. Committee since 2009. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth She has held leadership positions in the American College in 1974 and Master of Science and Doctor of Psychology Association’s Society for the Psychology of Philosophy degrees from Cornell University in 1980 and Women and received its Heritage Award for Distinguished 1983, respectively. He joined the faculty in 1983 as assistant Teaching. Basow has served as consulting editor for professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1989 Psychology of Women Quarterly and Sex Roles and member and to full professor in 1997. of the editorial board of Greenwood Publishing Group’s He has shared his passion for physics and astronomy Women’s Psychology series. in a wide range of courses for non-science students and physics majors, including general physics, accelerated PATRICIA A. DONAHUE, professor of English, has been physics, astronomy and astrophysics, mechanics and a member of the faculty for 35 years. thermodynamics, and quantum theory. He developed She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the and taught the First-Year Seminar Uses and Abuses of University of Redlands in 1974 and Master of Arts and Science in Science Fiction. Hoffman has taken formal Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of piano instruction to enhance his teaching of a course in the California, Irvine, in 1976 and 1981, respectively. She joined physics of music. the faculty as assistant professor in 1985 and was promoted Hoffman’s scholarship focuses on extragalactic radio to associate professor in 1992 and to full professor in 2004. astronomy. His research has been in the study of galaxies, Among the courses she has taught are Psychoanalysis and specifically using some of the largest radio telescopes in Literature; Detective Stories, Thrillers, and Serial Killers: the world to observe the hydrogen content of galaxies Tradition and Innovation; Trapped in a Golden (C)age: for such purposes as surveying the local universe for Representations of Women in the English Renaissance; and low-mass galaxies that might otherwise be missed. He Language, Rhetoric, and Power. She has earned recognition has been actively involved with the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA L-band Feed Array (ALFALFA) consortium, a large, CHARLES F. NUTAITIS, associate professor of international collaborative project focused on data gathered chemistry, has been a member of the faculty for 33 years. at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Nutaitis received a Bachelor of Science degree from The author of dozens of papers, Hoffman has involved Kings College in 1980 and Doctor of Philosophy degree more than 30 students in his research. He is the recipient in organic chemistry from Dartmouth College in 1985. He of the College’s Mary Louise Van Artsdalen Prize for joined the faculty as assistant professor in 1987, after serving outstanding scholarly achievement. as a research associate at Dartmouth and the University of In addition to serving as department head, Hoffman has Virginia. He was promoted to associate professor in 1993. served on a variety of appointed and elected committees, He has been a challenging instructor who commonly including the Library Advisory Committee, which he has taught introductory to advanced organic chemistry chaired, and Academic Research Committee. He also has courses. As a staunch defender of no more than four bonds served on many faculty search committees and has been a to carbon, his research in the area of organic synthesis has regular reviewer of journal articles, textbook manuscripts, resulted in at least 22 Lafayette-based publications, almost and grant proposals. all with student coauthors. He also has mentored students in independent studies. MARGARETE LAMB-FAFFELBERGER, professor of Nutaitis served as the chemistry department’s safety foreign languages and literatures, has been a member of the officer for 29 years.