The Lawrence 50-Year Connection
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The Lawrence 50-Year Connection LEARNING FOR A LIFETIME By Doug Powell ’56 and Ted Katzoff ’65 Following the celebration of the successful conclusion of the Lawrence capital campaign in October 2011 a group of alumni met in Appleton to discuss forming the Lawrence 50-Year Connection (50YC). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways of giving older Lawrence and Milwaukee-Downer alumni greater incentive to remain engaged with their university and with each other after their 50th Reunions. We also have discovered that the 50YC program interests younger alumni and current students. One the goals of the 50YC was to provide value added to Lawrence University. Among the activities we visualized were assembling an oral history archive, providing guest lectures or panel discussions for students and alumni, assisting at road shows and college nights, and providing a Senior Resource Panel of active alumni wiling to donate their time and talent to other projects on campus. What we did not imagine at the beginning was the opportunity to contribute to a book in progress. Five members of the 50YC have written essays for the book, Learning for a Lifetime: Liberal Arts and the Life of the Mind at Lawrence University, edited by faculty and staff members David Burrows, Jerald Podair and Craig Gagnon ’76. Following the essays is a reflection about a liberal arts education by Provost and Dean of the Faculty David Burrows. We hope you enjoy this newsletter. TRANSITION TO LAWRENCE COLLEGE I also knew my Lawrence application faced various barriers, including not meeting its academic standards By Thomas Oakland ’62 and my inability to afford it. My high school career I began thinking seriously about attending college was distinguished by my leadership, not my academic in 12th grade. Many of my peers decided to work in skills. In 1958 I received a statewide award as the various industries in our community. I wanted something best leader among all male high school graduates. different. My parents and I never talked about what In addition, I worked various jobs after school. I was I would do after high school. Perhaps they felt they aware my B grade point average was below Lawrence’s lacked sufficient knowledge on this topic and thus were standards. My somewhat average SAT scores also did unable to guide my decisions. My mother graduated not distinguish me. In contrast, almost all Lawrence from third grade and my father from the 11th grade. applicants ranked in the upper 10 percent of their I regularly read the Chicago Tribune’s Sunday edition. graduating classes and many were valedictorians or In 1957, the Tribune’s review of many four-year liberal salutatorians. The spirit of ‘nothing ventured, nothing arts colleges in the Midwest ranked Lawrence College gained’ prevailed as I applied. My application was not at the top. I intuitively knew then my goal was to attend approved and I was placed on the waiting list. Lawrence. Continued on next page Transition to Lawrence College, continued from page 1 Important personal an introspective reality, focus on possibilities, rely on values and goals are thinking as a form of empirical logic and work to ensure attained through the events and people have positive impacts. Persons with assistance of others, these temperament qualities constitute about one not only through an percent of the population. However, importantly for me, individual’s efforts. A these qualities characterize my Lawrence experiences. Lawrence graduate, who Thus, I found a faculty and an institution that embraced also was a family friend and modeled my temperament-based value to strive to who I knew through be competent—perhaps world class. In addition, now, for church, took an interest the first time, I was surrounded by excellent professors in me, knowing I wanted together with many bright and high achieving peers who to attend Lawrence and collectively also were striving to be competent—a goal was not accepted. He worthy of pursuit yet one never fully attained surrounded intervened on my behalf me. I felt the need to rise to their level. by writing a supporting letter to the admissions Psychological research underscores the importance of office. Lawrence later achieving a good fit between one’s personal qualities accepted me while underscoring that I may have and those that characterize their workplaces and other academic difficulties. I affirmed their belief by being on environments. We feel good and perform best when academic probation my first semester. our personal qualities and our environments are in synchrony. I began to understand I needed to replicate I also had to resolve how to pay for Lawrence. The cost important features of Lawrence if I were to attain my of room, board and tuition the first year was $2,500. life goals. This figure seems ridiculously low based on current standards. However, this figure exceeded my family’s I majored in history, given my immediate intent to be a yearly income. My mother was making minimum wage public school teacher. However, after teaching middle as a cook at the local hospital and dad did not derive school for two years, I knew further work in public an income following his stroke six years earlier. I was schools did not constitute the best pathway to attain able to piece together a scheme that included working my life goals. Thus, I returned to another academic in the dorm’s kitchen, receiving some money from community, Indiana University, obtained a Ph.D. in Lawrence and taking a student loan. These funds were psychology, and rediscovered synchrony. supplemented by income I derived from summer work. I knew my striving to be competent would need to be The federal government provided low interest rate loans lifelong and require an academic atmosphere similar to to students who intended to go into teaching. This what I experienced at Lawrence. Key features of my two fit me perfectly. I maintained this scheme during the subsequent academic positions, first at the University remaining three years. of Texas at Austin and later the University of Florida, One’s college education should include exposure to further fostered this desire. My work increasing took me many of the world’s great cultural treasures, including to other countries—more than 50. languages, the physical and social sciences, together I trace the origins of my 2003 American Psychological with art and music. Herein lies the value of a liberal arts Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to the institution. The value of a liberal arts education also lies International Advancement of Psychology to my Lawrence in its profound and transformational impact on one’s life. experiences. I value all of my international experiences. My experiences at Lawrence had a transformational Two are most prominent. Both occurred in 1988. impact, in part, by fostering new ways of thinking in light While a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Brasilia of new information, perhaps epitomized best in Freshman I was invited to many other Brazilian universities as and Sophomore Studies. Lawrence introduced me to a guest speaker. I discovered almost all of Brazil’s some of the world’s greatest literature and thinkers in large and growing population of children was educated an atmosphere characterized by discussion and debate. in public schools that offered no school psychology Saturday afternoons typically were spent in the library services. I knew the strength of a profession depends rather than at the football field or basketball gym. on the strength of its professional associations. Thus, Lawrence also provided a broader atmosphere that a colleague and I established the Brazilian Association resonated with my temperament. I am self-directed, of Educational and School Psychology in order to intuitive, organized and reliant on my thoughts to make lobby the federal government for additional support decisions. Persons with these qualities strive to live in for the preparation of school psychologists as well as 2 Transition to Lawrence College, continued from page 2 the provision of their services in public schools. The that he sent to me in 1991: “I got this book while at Association’s first meeting, attended by approximately Lawrence this fall. As I walked the campus I could 1,000 persons, was the largest single gathering of imagine you there, knowing what a special time you had school psychologists internationally. there. I hope you enjoy this book. It talks about many Later in June my two sons and I left London for Beirut. things that you hold so true, especially the value of I was to teach at the American University that summer. a liberal arts education. Thank you for what you have Israel invaded Lebanon while we were in flight, resulting given me as a friend, father and educator.” in our plane being diverted to Larnaca (Cyprus). I will be forever grateful to Lawrence for taking a Concerned about my sons’ safety, I abandoned plans to chance on me and then nurturing the development of go to Beirut. We left for Israel three days later. fundamental and transforming qualities that continue to In May I met a Palestinian physician who was developing enrich my life daily. programs for children with mental retardation in Gaza through support from the U.S. Department of State. Thomas Oakland is professor emeritus at the University He invited me to visit and gave me his business card. of Florida and visiting professor of psychology at the I am unsure why I put it in my passport. However, this University of Macau, the University of Hong Kong, information now became important by providing a Beijing University-Zhuhai, Universidade Lusíada do Porto, passageway for us to travel from Israel to Egypt.