Big Solutions. We Need the Liberal Arts

THE MAGAZINE OF OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY Winter 2014 REVITALIZING URBAN HOUSING IN AMERICA From OWU classmates to national leaders Page 12 10 Meet the 18 Glacial 26 Tweeting for 34 The Business New President Mathematics Liberal Arts of NatGeo MURAL MASTERPIECE More than 200 OWU students, faculty, and staff members came together during Homecoming Weekend to create a new mural that celebrates diversity, social justice, acceptance, and the importance of community. See our story on page 7. 12 18 26 28 30 Features 12 Home Sweet Home in the City Making a dent in housing inequities. Three alumni thank their OWU professor for showing them the way. 18 The Mathematics Behind the Melting How do glaciers respond to our ever-changing climate? A troupe of Ohio Wesleyan researchers traveled to Alaska to gather important data and put their mathematical modeling skills to work. 26 Libby and Art–and Jeff Davis ’81 Promoting the liberal arts, 140 characters at a time. 30 Celebrating 30 Years of Inspired Learning For the last three decades, the Sagan National Colloquium has linked the liberal arts to the civic arts of citizenship. Departments 02 LEADER’S LETTER 09 IN WRITING 34 ALUMNI PROFILE 03 LETTERS 10 COMFORT ZONES 36 ALUMNI HAPPENINGS 04 FROM THE JAYWALK 17 OWU TIMESCAPES 38 CLASS NOTES 08 GIFTS AND GRATITUDE 28 BISHOP BATTLES 48 THE FINAL WORD ON THE COVER: Carol Galante ’76 led efforts to develop affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay area before President Obama selected her to serve in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cover photography courtesy of San Francisco Business Times. 2 | OWU Leader’s Letter BIG CHALLENGES? BIG SOLUTIONS We need the liberal arts. occurs when people are free to imagine population growth and hunger; the new and creative solutions to old and increasing scarcity of potable water; complex problems. The creativity of the poverty. At its best, a liberal arts artist is reflected in the entrepreneurial education leads one to consider big spirit that gives birth to bold new ideas ideas in search of big solutions. in business, industry, public service, For 17 decades, Ohio Wesleyan education, and the very fabric that alumni have taken the benefit of a holds our society together. liberal arts education into the world, A liberal arts education forms where they have made impacts, small the intellectual capacities, the social and large, in communities, on the sensitivities, and the moral foundations national or global stage, in industry necessary to engage in such life- and commerce, and in public service. changing, life-giving innovation. A In this issue of OWU Magazine, we liberal arts education challenges share some recent stories of alumni students to hone capacities for critical who have launched big ideas to make he question grows weary on and analytical thinking, to master the a difference, ideas that come naturally T those of us who feel the answer to those with the benefit of a liberal is so clear. But the persistence of the arts education. And we explore how question reflects a growing concern THERE IS NOTHING the campus works to foster that kind of in the larger society that demands our MORE IMPORTANT THAN thinking today, through a travel-learning attention. The question is simple and course focused on mathematical yet profound: What is the value of a LIBERATION OF THE MIND models of climate change, and the liberal arts education? FROM OLD, NARROW WAYS Sagan National Colloquium’s focus on Ohio Wesleyan’s charter states water. that “the University is forever to OF THINKING IN ORDER TO In the basement of St. Paul’s be conducted on the most liberal IMAGINE A NEW AND Cathedral in London lies the grave of principles, accessible to all religious Sir Christopher Wren, the architect denominations, and designed for the BETTER FUTURE. who designed the cathedral. The Latin benefit of our citizens in general.” engraving can be translated, “If you The liberal principles on which ability to communicate persuasively, to seek his monument—look around you.” this university was founded do not work with teams of people to explore What is the value of a liberal arts represent political ideology. They complex problems from multiple education? The evidence is all around represent a claim that there is nothing perspectives, to listen smartly and learn us. more important than liberation of the that asking the right question almost Thank you for your support of Ohio mind from old, narrow ways of thinking always precedes discovering the right Wesleyan and for your affirmation of the in order to imagine a new and better answer, to embrace diversity as a value of a liberal arts education. future. source of creativity and power, and to Our society renews itself when develop empathy as a tool for human individuals are free to imagine a better, flourishing. more just, more humane world. Our Imagine the challenges facing our quality of life advances with scientific world today: global conflict and the Rock Jones and technological innovation that search for peace; climate change; President, Ohio Wesleyan University Leader’s Letter Letters Teaching Legacies THE MAGAZINE OF OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY I enjoyed reading through the Fall edition of OWU Magazine and stories devoted to teaching excellence. Throughout my teaching career, I came to recognize the superiority of the education that I received during my years at Ohio Wesleyan as compared to my colleagues who graduated from other colleges and universities. The best realization of this came when a middle school student in the later years of my WINTER 2014 | Volume 91 Issue N0. 4 career told me: “Mr. Alspach, there is not a question that you cannot answer.” The blend of my scientific and liberal arts education at OWU, coupled with some excellent public school teachers in the Lancaster, Ohio, school system that I www.owualumni.com experienced, led to such an observation. My graduate work in the zoology, botany, Ohio Wesleyan Alumni Online Community and education departments of several universities also made major contributions to my students providing such feedback. But it was Ohio Wesleyan that made Vice President for University Advancement Colleen Garland the difference. The impact of Professors Hahnert, Chase, Stull, Shirling, Bossert, Maxwell, Jennings, Leathers, Crosby, and so many others helped me to be the Chief Communications Officer effective educator that I think I became. Will Kopp —Robert Alspach ’65 Director of Alumni Relations New OWU Magazine Brenda DeWitt What a fine job you and your staff have done in upgrading theOWU Magazine. The thematic content of the Fall 2014 issue, and its format and photography, are Editor just outstanding! The theme of teaching excellence, and the influence of prior Pamela Besel individual OWU professors upon current ones (at OWU and elsewhere), seemed Class Notes Editor to capture the essential heart of the University, in both the past and present. I Amanda Zechiel-Keiber ’09 think I recall someone as having written to the effect that the influence of a great [email protected] teacher upon the future has no limits or boundaries (I’m paraphrasing). This issue illustrates that point vividly. Designer The photography jumps off the page—like the inside front cover, for example. Walker Design & Marketing Congratulations to you and your staff. –Jim Russell ’65 Contributing Writers Dave Ghose, Andrea Misko Strle ’99, Amanda Congratulations on my newest OWU Magazine. With 20 years of teaching in New Zechiel-Keiber ’09, Mary Cavanaugh Thompson ’84, Will Kopp, Pam Besel, Cole Jersey and Michigan, “The Art of Teaching” (Fall 2014) was read with joy. Hatcher, Karson Stevenson ’16, Brian Cook ’15 —Betty Cramer ’52 Contributing Photographers Thanks for the very clever issue of the Fall 2014 OWU Magazine. Ohio Wesleyan Lisa Di Giacomo LaRae Scheurell was always known for its emphasis on excellent teaching. Thanks to the Magazine Paul Vernon Mark Schmitter ’12 staff, the message will be broadcast loud and clear. —Evan Bukey ’62 Office of University Communications (740) 368-3335 Today’s Tech-Savvy Students Alumni Relations Office “A Delicate Balance” in the Fall 2014 OWU Magazine made me think about the (740) 368-3325 advantages and disadvantages of learning via devices such as iPads, e-textbooks, [email protected] laptops, and through social media. I brought my MacBook, iPad, Kindle, and iPhone to campus with me this year and probably use all of them at some points. Website: www.owu.edu Using my laptop, for example, allows me to get more information down during the OWU Magazine: http://magazine.owu.edu class period than I would be able to do if I were writing, but there are bound to be people who play on Facebook or surf the Internet when they should be listening to The Ohio Wesleyan Magazine their professors. I tend to buy e-versions of my textbooks as well, which allows me (ISSN 0030-1221) is published in Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring by Ohio Wesleyan to have back issues and carry fewer heavy textbooks. As for social media, I am not University, Delaware, Ohio. Periodicals a huge fan, but still do connect with friends and family via Facebook. postage paid at Delaware, Ohio, and —Megan Buys ’15 additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Magazine, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio 43015. General University telephone number: (740) 368-2000. OWU Magazine welcomes your thoughts of 300 words or less. Please sign and include your class year. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Please address your letter to: OWU Magazine, 61 South Sandusky Street, Delaware, Ohio 43015, or share at: Printed on recycled paper magazine.owu.edu/yourthoughts. 4 | OWU From the JAYwalk From the JAYwalk Top Prez Award Goes to Rock Jones OWU President Rock Jones has earned hundreds of OWU students have the 2014 Outstanding Performance as a experienced study-away programs College or University President Award coupled with dozens of Travel-Learning from Region IV-East of the National courses made affordable by extensive Association of Student Personnel underwriting of costs by the University.

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