Oberlin AMAM 100, PEEK OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE FALL 2017 P. 2O PERFORMANCE, P. 42 INTRODUCING PRESIDENT AMBAR PAGE 14 WALTER NOVAK Contents DEPARTMENTS FEATURES 2 From the President 10 Thought Process 14 Introducing 42 Booker Peek’s Sci-fact writers, drawing President Ambar Empowering Words 3 Obereactions academy, poem, top of the Bop Meet Carmen Twillie Ambar, Following a nearly half-century Stop, electric car—unplugged, Oberlin’s 15th President. run, the Oberlin professor 4 Around Tappan Square Dying questions, plus Bookshelf brings his gap-bridging Tappan Map, the other Oberlin 20 To Keep Bright the educational program to a close. museum, teen memes, sanctuary 46 Class Notes city 1940s-style, Chaon TV, STEM Torch of Learning grant, awards and fellowships 60 Losses One hundred years ago, the Allen Memorial Art Museum 64 Endquotes opened its doors. This page: The Cass Gilbert-designed Allen Memorial Art Museum, along with the Venturi-designed addition. On the cover: Carmen Twillie Ambar, WALTER NOVAK WALTER photographed by Tanya Rosen-Jones ‘97 OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2017 / FALL 1 From the President VOL.112 NO. 2 Editor Jeff Hagan ’86 Art Director Emily Crawford ’92 Designer Ryan Sprowl Editorial and Photography The World Needs Oberlin Projects Manager Yvonne Gay his is my first column for the oberlin Alumni Magazine, and it might be the Copy Editor Rudd Crawford first time that some of you in the Oberlin community will hear from me. I hope that it’s the beginning of a productive dialogue. Director, Print and Publications I plan to be in touch often—all of my statements will T Kelly Viancourt be easily available online—and I welcome feedback. I want to use this space now and in the future to talk Vice President for Communications a bit about our purpose together. We know these are Ben Jones ’96 times of national challenge. We know we have challenges a transcendent vision about what higher education specific to higher education, and to Oberlin in particular. could mean, not only to individual souls, but also to the Executive Director, Alumni Just two years before the founding of Oberlin, our soul of a nation that had been from its inception a Association nation found itself in the midst of tremendous political source of great hope, and yet, in equal measure, a source Danielle Young and social tumult. At that time, there was an outsider of great despair for many of its citizens. president who captured much of the nation’s attention Oberlin was an early institution—the first in a num- The Oberlin Alumni Magazine and had successfully helped orchestrate an Indian ber of crucial instances—in demonstrating that hope (ISSN 0029-7518), founded in 1904, Removal Act in 1830; in 1831 the first tribes from Ohio needn’t be misplaced, that despair needn’t be defining. is published quarterly by Oberlin’s and other states were forcibly removed and marched Oberlin was born in a period of national struggle Office of Communications and westward. That year also saw Nat Turner’s rebellion in and crisis. There was great contention about who we distributed to alumni, parents, and Southampton County, Virginia. William Lloyd Garrison, were, and who we were to become. Oberlin’s founding friends of Oberlin College. the great abolitionist leader, began publication of The has me asking today: What is the purpose of an Oberlin Liberator. A Second Great Awakening was underway. education in times of national crisis? EDITORIAL OFFICE 247 W. Lorain St., Suite C Here at Oberlin, the seeds of a new college were I think often of what we saw in Virginia this past Oberlin, OH 44074 being planted. A new vision was soon offered about who summer. As I watched those marching in Charlottesville, PHONE: 440.775.8182 could be educated, who could teach, and who, indeed, I was struck by their youth. They looked as if they were FAX: 440.775.6575 could one day lead. It was the beginning of a vital the age of many Oberlin students. I began to say to EMAIL: [email protected] history, not without flaws and imperfections. Yet, it was myself—given what we hope our Oberlin students will www.oberlin.edu/oam go out and do, to change the world for good—that our OBERLIN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION mission of academic excellence and social justice has Dewy Ward ’34 Alumni Center never been more relevant. Our charge, then, is to be 65 E. College St., Suite 4 good stewards, to make the difficult decisions that Oberlin, OH 44074 PHONE: 440.775.8692 ensure Oberlin’s sustainability. Because Charlottesville FAX: 440.775.6748 says that we are needed more today than we have ever E-MAIL: [email protected] been needed. www.oberlin.edu/alumni POSTMASTER carmen twillie ambar Send changes to Oberlin College, President, Oberlin College 173 W. Lorain St., Oberlin, OH 44074 TANYA ROSEN-JONESTANYA '97 2 Obereactions was a one-year program that utilized the Students and faculty members must always Oberlin BONNER THE SORRELL OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 CENTER AFFEKT, SPOTLIGHT, P. 3 8 P. 28 resources and strengths of Oberlin College, meet the highest academic standards. A topic the Oberlin City Schools, and the local can be relevant to both scholarly debates and community toward a Master of Education to social, political, or economic controversies. degree. After the program ended in 2009, Such a topic can be studied as rigorously as there were quite a few educational materials any other, and the results can be presented remaining. These included an iPod for listen- with proper documentation, clarity, and order. ing to picture books and chapter books, big For example: take a white, middle-aged, male, books for group reading, jeweler’s loupes for unemployed, one-time factory worker—racist, Marvin Krislov sketching, and tiny plastic bears for practic- sexist, homophobic in his feelings and jokes. Says Goodbye PAGE 18 ing counting. He regularly listens to right-wing talk shows, Professor Deborah Roose, former director and he votes for right-wing candidates, WAITING TO EXCEL of GTEP, wanted to ensure these materi- even occasionally attends rallies for them, i loved reading the piece from Lilah Drafts- als went to a good home. We are pleased to though at those rallies he only stands and Johnson ’18 (“All Roads Lead to Oberlin… report that Roneisha Kinney Campbell ’08 cheers, nothing violent. Are there moral rights Eventually,” Summer 2017) about being (GTEP MEd ’09) now uses these materials in that this “deplorable” doesn’t have because of waitlisted at Oberlin. I think a lot of us, in her third-grade classroom in Canton, Ohio. his attitudes and conduct? If so, which ones retrospect, appreciate that Oberlin may have All of the children in her school are on free and why? handed us our first real taste of rejection and or reduced lunch, and her students did not Alumni must help maintain Oberlin’s tra- failure. Those of us who do truly appreciate it have many supplies and enrichment materi- ditions. One tradition is outreach beyond the no doubt realize how these experiences have als. Roneisha reports that her students loved campus, and one way alumni could continue shaped us into the best, most resilient versions the gift and use the materials all the time. this work would be to organize conferences— of ourselves. To lack the experience of failing Each year, most of the children in her class on campus but also in places where there are is to never truly know oneself. The constant make almost two years of academic growth. resource-rich Alumni Association chapters— struggle to maintain perfection keeps us from The success of Roneisha’s students is a prime at which relevant topics would be treated becoming who we were meant to be in this example of how great teachers and rich, in intellectually responsible ways by experts world. Thanks for your story, Lilah! engaging materials matter. We are proud (including, as appropriate, some of the many of all of our Oberlin classmates who are alumni who have become professors), with alison doniger ’08 teachers and are grateful that our class could presentations geared to educated non-special- Berkeley, Calif. support the important work of Roneisha and ists and sessions open to non-Oberliners and, other GTEP alumni. if possible, posted online. One topic might Well done, Class of 2007! be the physical, economic, and legal obstacles THERE’S ALWAYS TIMARA facing homeowners trying to reduce their i finally found time to read “The Conserva- julia doctoroff ’07 personal dependence on fossil fuels. Another tory at 150” (Oberlin Conservatory Magazine, London, UK might be doing more to protect workers from 2015) and wanted to add to your timeline mathilda mcgee-tubb ’07 harmful impacts of globalization and techno- for the year 1989. This was the year TIMARA Boston, Mass. logical change. became an official major; until then it was only Too many of those in power today do not offered as an “independent major.” I served as The writers are president and vice president, care whether the poor have health care, think it the student representative on the committee respectively, of the Class of 2007. is better to win than to have allies, and all but to create the official major requirements and boast of their invincible ignorance regarding also became its first graduate. If I remember global warming. Decent people should respond correctly, Professor Gary Nelson and Visit- RESOURCE-FULL to the harm they do. Members of the Oberlin ing Professor Denise Ondishko were the two here are some ways the Oberlin com- community should go beyond protest and use faculty members on the committee.