Fall 2016 LandscapeFor Alumni and Friends of Landmark College COMING FULL CIRCLE Page 2 Rae Jacobson ’06 talks about her ongoing journey of self-discovery and professional success. LC’S SCHOLARSHIP FUND GALA Page 10 FIRST CLASS OF LC BACCALAUREATES Page 14 30TH ANNIVERSARY Page 20 Landmark College’s mission is to transform the way students learn, educators teach, and the public thinks about education. BOARD OF TRUSTEES EMERITUS MEMBERS TABLE OF CONTENTS Robert Lewis, M.A., Chair Robert Munley, Esq. Partner, CKL2 Strategic Partners, LLC Partner, Munley Law Francis Fairman, M.B.A., Vice Chair John Perkins, Esq. Head of Public Finance Service, Palmer & Dodge (retired) Piper Jaffray & Co. 2 Coming Full Circle: Rae Jacobson ‘06 Charles Strauch, B.S. Robert Banta, Esq. Owner, GA Services 8 A New Era for Athletics and Wellness at LC Banta Immigration Law LTD William Cotter, Esq. COLLEGE ADMINISTRATION Retired Owner, Food Manufacturing Business 10 “Unlocking Futures” Scholarship Fund Gala Peter Eden, Ph.D. Robin Dahlberg, Esq. President 14 LC’s First Baccalaureate Graduates Documentary Photographer Manju Banerjee, Ph.D. Peter Eden, Ph.D. Vice President for Educational 15 Donor Profile: Theo van Roijen ’00 President, Landmark College Research and Innovation Jane Garzilli, Esq. Corinne Bell, M.B.A. 16 Faces of Landmark College President, Garzilli Mediation Chief Technology Officer and Bretton Himsworth, B.S. ’90 Director of IT 19 Alumni Advisory Board Director, CentralEd Mark DiPietro, B.A. Linda Kaboolian, Ph.D. Director of Marketing and 20 30th Anniversary Celebration Lecturer, Kennedy School of Government, Communications Harvard University 24 Supporting Innovation Grants John D. Lobrano, Esq. Gail Gibson Sheffield, Ph.D. Vice President for Academic Affairs Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP 25 Alumni Gatherings Kevin McLaughlin, M.B.A. Michael Luciani, M.B.A. Managing Director, JP Morgan Vice President for Student Affairs Jon F. Moran, M.D. Jon A. MacClaren, M.B.A. Professor of Thoracic Surgery, Vice President for Administration Landscape is published annually by Landmark College’s Offices of East Carolina University (Retired) and Finance Marketing & Communications and Institutional Advancement. Stephen Moschetta, Esq. ’95 Adrienne Major, Ph.D. Attorney, The Moschetta Law Firm Academic Dean OFFICE OF MARKETING & OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL Robert W. Munley III, Esq. ’89 COMMUNICATIONS ADVANCEMENT Carol Nardino Attorney, Munley Law Senior Director of Institutional Mark DiPietro Ellen Smith Belle Brooks O’Brien, M.A. Advancement and Special Assistant Director Vice President Trustee, The Morgan and to the President Madeline Bergstrom Carol Nardino Belle O’Brien Foundation Ellen Smith, M.A. Assistant Director Senior Director of Institutional Advancement Maryellen Rancourt, Ed.D. Vice President for Institutional and Special Assistant to the President Paul Siegel Grants Administrator, Essex North Shore Advancement Webmaster/Graphic Designer Tricia Stanley Regional Technical School District Assistant Director of Alumni Relations James Vander Hooven, Ed.D. Nan Strauch, B.S. Vice President for Sherry Aldrich Trustee, Landmark College Enrollment Management Assistant Director of Institutional Advancement Diane Tarbell Lynne Feal-Staub Chief Administrative Officer Grants Manager Rhodes Associates, Inc. Photo Credits: Madeline Bergstrom • Mark DiPietro • A. Blake Gardner • FJ Gaylor • Todd Miller • Kari Post • Tom Raffelt • Tricia Stanley • Suzanne Sutcliffe Photography © Copyright 2016 Landmark College. All rights reserved. To update your address, contact Landmark College, Office of Alumni Relations, 19 River Road South, Putney, VT 05346 From the President’s Desk We are truly an inclusive “community that adapts to the evolving needs of our students and their families.” Many colleges and universities claim, but few actually deliver, alumnus Adam Weinberg ’16 interviews Rae Jacobson a promise to be “mission focused and market sensitive.” ’06, comparing notes on their experiences as LC students and One of Landmark College’s strengths has been our ability finding kinship over shared personality traits, which the outside to remain constant in our mission to transform education world sees only as “differences.” while providing access to all learners. This has resulted in LC’s focus will continue to be our students, while also significant neurodiversity among our students and reflects striving to erase the “deficit model” the outside world imposes a distinguishing characteristic of LC: that we are truly an on those who learn differently. The most effective way we inclusive community that adapts to the evolving needs of combat negative perceptions is by producing alumni who blaze our students and their families. into the world with all the strengths they honed while at LC. The past year has seen several milestones that have been With the graduation of our first baccalaureate-level graduates, visible affirmations of LC’s ability to succeed with adaptive we are beginning an even more exciting era in our history. But change. These include the: we all recognize that challenges still exist. Just as our students • Opening of the Nicole Goodner MacFarlane Science, and alumni face challenges, LC must continuously work Technology & Innovation Center harder to generate funds for campus improvements and student • Addition of two new bachelor’s degree programs: scholarships. Access to our education remains a challenge for a B.A. in Studio Art and a B.S. in Computer Science many families, and scholarship resources must be increased each year. In April, we held our second New York City • Establishment of a strategy and structure that allows fundraiser, with the theme of “Unlocking Futures,” to raise many LC students to gain professional experience in scholarship support for LC students. With help from our LD the workplace through internships and other hands-on Luminary Award recipient Holly Robinson Peete, alumni like opportunities Aaron Wolf ’02, and current LC students Alicia Keating and • Dedication of Alumni Hall (formerly Middle Hall) to Isaac Alam (pictured above on the right, with his father, Bob recognize the invaluable contributions of LC alumni Alam, and me at the Bryant Park Grill in New York), we raised over the past 30 years nearly $250,000 in scholarship funds. • Launch of a major gifts campaign to build an We will maintain the momentum the College has built over the all-weather athletics field — scheduled for completion past 30 years, even as changes in the economy and in higher later this year education continue to challenge us to think and even operate • Graduation of our first Bachelor of Arts in Liberal differently. We are grateful for, and welcome, the support Studies recipients and involvement of you, our extended family, in Landmark College’s continued dedication to its mission. Connecting all of these are our students, who become part of the LC family once they declare their intention to enroll. In this publication, you will read about the successes of our extended family — students and alumni — from near and far. Our cover Dr. Peter Eden story features a meeting of past and present when recent President, Landmark College Landscape • 1 COMING FULL CIRCLE A decade after graduating from Landmark College, writer and author Rae Jacobson ’06 talks about her ongoing journey of self-discovery and professional success with recent LC graduate (and aspiring writer) Adam Weinberg ’16 Photos by Suzanne Sutcliffe Photography 2 • Landscape For many Landmark College students, organizing and planning ahead is nearly impossible. Time management? Life down the line? How about life in two weeks? Constant stress and anxiety not only cloud our current self-images, but also contaminate and erode confidence in our futures. Like so many of us, Rae Jacobson ’06 crashed and burned — and crashed again — before finding Landmark College when she was 21. “I was in this mode where I was like, ‘I suck, and this is all on me!’” she says in a recent interview. Thankfully, tales of struggle and success can inspire dispirited souls, especially souls like mine that tend toward demoralization brought on by repeated failure. As a current LC student talking with an LC alumna 10 years removed, I felt an immediate kinship with Rae when I called to set up an interview. (I graduated with an A.A. in Liberal Studies in May, just a few months after conducting this interview.) Among our common bonds is an identical diagnosis of ADHD. At each of her disclosures, I found myself gushing, “Holy smoke — me too!” I couldn’t conceal my excitement at finding a fellow traveler. Rae’s journey highlights the ruts that characterize the struggle of a student with LD and Landmark College’s epitomic essence as a place where you can embrace your brain and learn what you are capable of achieving. Each of us had battled on two fronts: we felt flanked by academics on one side and authority on the other, and were forever anxious about being overwhelmed. I often landed myself in the principal’s office or, worse, got suspended because of my disrespectful words; Rae was flipping off teachers between hisses of spit. When I ask her how hapless she was before finding Landmark College, she laughs. “Ha! Hapless would definitely be the best description,” Rae tells me from her home in Brooklyn, where she lives with her five loves — husband, Adam; two dogs, Ellie (a 17-year-old pit bull) and Stas; and two cats, Gray Cat and Black Cat — and pursues a successful career as a writer. Landscape • 3 “Before Landmark, I never had any idea I was failing until the last minute, and I was very good at pretending everything was OK.” 4 • Landscape ‘A LONG, BLEAK COLUMN OF F’S’ These days, Rae is enjoying a fruitful career as a staff “I was in a place of real shame when I visited writer and content engagement specialist with The Child Landmark,” Rae recalls. “I’d never been around Mind Institute in New York City. She also freelances and other people who’d had experiences like mine has been published in websites and magazines such as Understood.org, The Daily Beast, and New York magazine.