Connecting the World 22 Kofi Amoo-Gottfried ’01 Steers Facebook’S Consumer Marketing
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MACALESTER 2017 FALL TODAY CONNECTING THE WORLD Kofi Amoo-Gottfried’s rise at Facebook is fueled by a passion for broadening access to the internet. PAGE 22 MACALESTER TODAY FALL 2017 10 12 16 FEATURES Prolific Producer 10 Making the Most of Your Roy Gabay ’85 brings plays to Money 26 life—both on and off Broadway. Alumni experts offer advice on managing your money and Theatrical Revival 12 planning for the future. By early 2019, Mac will have a new home for the performing arts. Learning from Notorious RBG 32 Golden Scots 16 Beth Neitzel ’03 on her recent They knew Macalester during clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court the Great Depression and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg World War II. Where did life take these alumni? Connecting the World 22 Kofi Amoo-Gottfried ’01 steers Facebook’s consumer marketing. ON THE COVER: Kofi Amoo-Gottfried ’01 Photo by Robert Houser STAFF EDITOR Rebecca DeJarlais Ortiz ’06 [email protected] ART DIRECTOR Brian Donahue CLASS NOTES EDITOR Robert Kerr ’92 PHOTOGRAPHER David J. Turner CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jan Shaw-Flamm ’76 ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Julie Hurbanis 22 32 CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jerry Crawford ’71 PRESIDENT DEPARTMENTS Brian Rosenberg VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT Letters 2 D. Andrew Brown Household Words 3 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 1600 Grand 4 Katie Ladas Class of 2021, astronomy MACALESTER TODAY (Volume 105, Number 4) prodigies, and a historic is published by Macalester College. It is mailed free of charge to alumni and friends baseball season of the college four times a year. Circulation is 32,000. Class Notes 34 TO UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS: Mac Weddings 38 Email: [email protected] Call: 651-696-6295 or 1-888-242-9351 In Memoriam 45 Write: Alumni Engagement Office, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105-1899 Last Look 48 TO SHARE COMMENTS OR IDEAS: Email: [email protected] Phone: 651-696-6123 Use b/w Macalester Today is printed version of on Rolland Enviro 100, a 100 FSC logo percent recycled paper. Our 38 printer, Royle Printing of Madison, Wis., is FSC® certified. (FSC® C22017) (LEFT TO RIGHT): EVAN SUNG, COURTESY OF HGA, COURTESY OF THE MARSH, ROBERT HOUSER, TRACEY BROWN LETTERS I’m so pleased to read that Mac is crafting responsive programming to Name trends students like those I’m serving today, I was amused by the piece “Hannahs vs. with backgrounds similar to mine. Rachels” in the Summer 2017 issue. It They’re smart, capable, and resil- brought back memories of Highland dance ient—and they deserve opportunities classes at Mac in the early 1980s, when on to learn at colleges like Macalester. But many occasions a majority of the dancers they need extra support to ensure that in the studio working on their flings and they know how valuable they are, how sword dances were named “Lisa.” I checked unique their experiences and abilities the 1981–82 Spotlight and found 21 people are, that they’re not alone, and that the named Lisa (with one Liza in the midst of college community will help get them them). I wonder if there is even one Lisa in to graduation and beyond. the student body of Mac today. I encourage Mac to do all it can Lisa D. Schrenk ’84 to recruit greater numbers of first- Albuquerque, N.M., and Tucson, Ariz. generation and low-income students. A Macalester degree will change their In our Spring 2017 issue, we jumped on the lives and their families’ lives forever. Mondale and Mac tartan adult coloring craze with an excerpt from Erika Orsulak ’03 What a pleasure to read of Walter Mon- our own Macalester coloring book—and Leavenworth, Wash. dale ’50 in the Spring 2017 issue. In my readers were ready with pencils and mark- sophomore year, several of us served on ers. Pictured here: the springtime shades Editor’s note: Erika Orsulak is the director Humphrey’s senatorial campaign. Politi- chosen by Gabrielle Hernan ’01. of education programs at the Community cal science became my major, leading to a Foundation of North Central Washington. lifetime of political activities. We can thank Fritz for helping to bring First-gen support the Macalester tartan to campus. In 1949, I was thrilled to read in the Summer 2017 On resilience President Charles Turck negotiated an issue about the Macalester Pathways pro- Thank you for “Fighting Scots,” the piece agreement with the head of the Scottish gram and Mac’s participation in the Quest- on resilience in the Summer 2017 issue. Macalester clan. Three young Mac stu- Bridge program. Having recently completed treatment for dents—Bob Willard ’50, Vern Steffer ’50, In recent years I’ve worked closely with stage III rectal cancer, I’m humbled to see and Fritz Mondale—were going to England low-income and first-generation college stories of other Mac community members to study the British Parliamentary system. students. The research shows that robust facing challenging conditions—though Turck enlisted the group to meet with Col- financial assistance and support programs I’m not sure the title fits the piece. While onel Macalester in London to receive that are critical to college persistence and I wouldn’t presume to put words into the permission. graduation attainment for students from mouths of the featured individuals, I’ve The next year the beautiful tartan was families without resources or knowledge noticed two common threads among featured in a variety of apparel—caps, about college. these resilience stories. One, each indi- scarves, vests, or whole suits—in the book- Having been a low-income, first- vidual came to recognize that challenging store; Turck even had draperies made out generation college student myself, I know conditions don’t discriminate—a difficult of it for his Old Main office. The bagpipe that all too well. Transitioning into life at diagnosis, an accident, or other upheaval band began shortly afterward, and then Mac and getting through to graduation can happen to any of us. And two, each the Highland games to capture the Scot- was extremely difficult. I struggled to be- chose to acknowledge their circumstanc- tish heritage students now enjoy. lieve that I belonged among my talented es rather than resist or deny them. Janet Ranes Willard Burns ’50 classmates who’d had access to more Each chose to face their experiences Denver, Colo. opportunities, struggled to believe I was in order to grow and, in many cases, to good enough to sit alongside them, didn’t figure out how to give back to others. The know how—and was ashamed—to access title of the piece doesn’t do justice to these LETTERS POLICY resources that would help. I barely stayed themes—while certainly these Scots have We invite letters of 300 words or fewer. Letters afloat during my five years at Mac. faced massive struggles, I saw stories of may be edited for clarity, style, and space and Fortunately, I graduated, helped in people embracing their realities and find- will be published based on their relevance to large part by supportive professors (special ing ways to grow and give back, not fight- issues discussed in Macalester Today. You can shout-outs to the geology department and ing their circumstances. send letters to [email protected] or Karin Aguilar-San Juan) and academic and Annie Schulein-Fournier Calm ‘07 to Macalester Today, Macalester College, 1600 personal counseling. But it was unbeliev- West Linn., Ore. Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105. ably trying. 2 / MACALESTER TODAY HOUSEHOLD WORDS A SIXTY-YEAR-OLD SMILING PUBLIC MAN BY BRIAN ROSENBERG even the most intemperate of emails with a polite “thank you for writing.” The first time I read “Among School Chil- At the same time, I must allow dren,” by William Butler Yeats, I was 19 students and faculty, alumni and years old and a sophomore in college. trustees, to see at least some of the person beneath the persona; I I walk through the long schoolroom questioning; must, even as I am playing my role, A kind old nun in a white hood replies; be honest; I must be as genuine as those around me will allow me to be. The children learn to cipher and to sing, Leaders who fail to do this are gen- To study reading-books and history, erally unsuccessful. To cut and sew, be neat in everything Even writing this column is a In the best modern way—the children’s eyes peculiar wrestling match between my public and private selves. Am In momentary wonder stare upon I neglecting my job by not writing A sixty-year-old smiling public man. about our newest academic pro- gram or fund raising or the latest I remember, even then, finding some- crisis to threaten higher educa- thing melancholy and quizzical in that tion? Or am I carrying out my job powerful final line of the opening stanza. by revealing that I am a person Surrounded by youth, the Nobel Laureate another stage to address another crowd, I who reads poetry and is transpar- and literary icon is keenly aware of how think pretty often about that line. ent enough to share at least a few of his his age and fame separate him from the When I hear or read about “President personal struggles? Am I being evasive or children and of the degree to which he has Rosenberg” or “PBR” or “BriRo,” I wonder clever or subversive? become, in their eyes, less a person than a about the connection and disconnection All I know for certain is that when the sort of beneficent walking statue.