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EphNotes
A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR WILLIAMS ALUMNI, PARENTS, AND FRIENDS
Volume 9, Number 2, February 2004
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If you wish to be removed from the EphNotes mailing list, please e-mail your name and class or parent year to alumni.office@williams.edu, with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
E-mail suggestions for EphNotes to Ted Gilley at tgilley@sover.net
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COLLEGE NEWS
COLLEGE AND TOWN MOURN PASSING OF ANSON PIPER
Beloved faculty member and alumnus Anson Conant Piper ’40 died on January 28 at the age of 85. He was, said President Morty Schapiro, “one of the most delightful members of our college and our community.” Piper taught at Williams from 1949 until his retirement in 1986 and was most recently the William Dwight Whitney Professor of Romance Languages, emeritus.
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php?id=619
TUTORIAL PROGRAM REACHING UP AND OUT
Significant growth in Williams’ Tutorial Program has raised the number of tutorials offered this year to 46 (from 36 in 2003) and will encourage sophomore enrollment in this successful and celebrated program, which pairs two students and a professor in intensive, semester-long meetings. Tutorial director Stephen Fix says a total of 50-60 tutorials per year is possible.
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php?id=603
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/chronicle/
WILLIAMS CAMPAIGN TOPS THIRD CENTURY CAMPAIGN
As of January 31, only five months into The Williams Campaign’s public phase, contributors have already given more than the College received during the entire Third Century Campaign (which ended at $173.6 million in December 1993). What matters most is how those gifts are working on behalf of Williams students and professors. To find out more, listen to President Schapiro’s commentary at http://www.williams.edu/alumni/campaign/about/. View construction of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance and much more at http://www.williams.edu/alumni/campaign/.
REGIONAL “ETHICS BOWL” CONVENES AT WILLIAMS
Williams students were joined by students from Dartmouth, Boston College, Smith College, and other schools on February 15 for the First Annual Northeast Regional Ethics Bowl. Guided by visiting assistant professor of philosophy Julia Pedroni, the six-hour competition found students considering a variety of ethical issues facing today’s world.
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php?id=626
WHALEN NAMED FOOTBALL COACH
Football will enter the post-Dick Farley era with a familiar face at the helm, as the College announced offensive coordinator Mike Whalen as the team’s next head coach. Whalen, who has also served as head wrestling coach in his eight years at Williams, has piloted the Eph offense since 2001, twice leading the conference in yardage and points …
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/athletics/news.php?id=7075
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FACULTY NEWS
SHEPARD PUBLISHES “PROJECT X” AND STORY COLLECTION
J. Leland Professor of English Jim Shepard has returned to print with his sixth novel, “Project X” (A. Knopf), and a collection of stories, “Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories” (Vintage Contemporaries). The collection’s title story appeared in the Best American Short Stories 1992. The New York Times called Shepard “a writer of peculiar but tantalizing gifts … a master at setting up our heartbreak.”
RICKY HILL APPOINTED TO PROFESSORSHIP IN DEMOCRATIC STUDIES
Ricky Hill, DePauw University’s Elizabeth P. Allen Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Black Studies, has been named W. Ford Schumann ’50 Visiting Professor in Democratic Studies for the the spring 2004 semester. Endowed in 2000 by the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy (formerly the Florence and John Schumann Foundation), the professorship is designed to help students examine the challenges that face modern democratic systems.
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php?id=610
POET LOUISE GLÜCK TAKES POSITION AT YALE
Williams lecturer and U.S. Poet Laureate Louise Glück has accepted a writer-in-residence position at Yale beginning this fall. College spokesman Jim Kolesar pointed out that Glück has several times in the past taken leaves to teach elsewhere and in each instance returned, and that because she is a valued teacher and colleague, the College hopes this will be the case again.
*SEE http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~1941298,00.html#
LAYLAH ALI ’90 TO EXHIBIT WORKS IN WHITNEY BIENNIAL
Williams art lecturer Laylah Ali ’90 will join other prominent artists in this year’s Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial Exhibition. The Museum’s signature survey of contemporary art will run from March 11 to May 30 and is curated by Shamim Momim ’95. Ali’s paintings, which deal with themes of political and social violence, recently appeared in the 50th Venice Biennale International.
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php?id=600
PASACHOFF HONORED FOR WRITING, TEACHING AND STARGAZING
Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy Jay Pasachoff was awarded the Education Prize by the American Astronomical Society, which noted his “intense advocacy on behalf of science education.” Pasachoff serves as president of the Commission on Education and Development of the International Astronomical Union. Recently he and fellow scientists observed a transit of Mercury (observation of the planet as it passed across the face of the sun) and will view a rare transit of Venus on June 8. Click on the second link here for professor Pasachoff’s transit Web page.
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php?id=609
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/Astronomy/eclipse/transits/
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STUDENT AND ALUMNI NEWS
GREG PLISKA ’84 NAMED ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
The College announced the appointment of Greg Pliska ’84 as the Arthur Levitt, Jr. ’52 Artist-in-Residence in Theatre for the spring semester. Widely recognized for his accomplishments as a composer, arranger, and director, Pliska also has worked as an arts educator with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Guild and composed music for the productions “HeartSongs” and “Verisimilitude,” among others.
*SEE http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php?id=616
WILLIAMS STUDENTS PITCH REDEVELOPMENT PLAN, TOWN CATCHES
Four Williams seniors offered the Williamstown board of selectmen a plan to resurrect the Photech plant on Cole Ave. Seniors Carlos Silva, Jonathan Langer, Peter Endres, and Saerom Park, in cooperation with Environmental Studies faculty members Henry Art and Sarah Gardner, developed a proposal for a multi-use package that would bring housing, recreation, and retail to the 10-acre site. Town manager Peter Fohlin said of the proposal, “This is the best I’ve ever seen.” Stay tuned.
*SEE http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article§ion=news&id=5156
ALUMNI FUND DOWN TO THE FINISH LINE
For all classes except those celebrating quinquennial reunions this June, this year's Alumni Fund campaign ends Saturday, February 28. If you'd like to make a gift, you can charge it to your credit card through our secure server at http://give2.williams.edu or call the Office of Annual Giving toll free at (888) 374-8110. (If calling after hours, please leave a voicemail message with your name and class year, gift amount, credit card number, expiration date, and whether or not you are giving jointly with a Williams spouse.) For instructions on giving via check or appreciated securities, or for assistance of any kind, simply e-mail annual.giving@williams.edu. Many thanks for your support!
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COOL WILLIAMS WEBSITES
A SPIN THROUGH THE PALAZZO DEL TE
Take a virtual tour of Mantua’s Palazzo del Te, produced by Prof. E.J. Johnson ’59, brothers Michael Gross ’02 and Barry Gross ’02, and Andrew Keating ’02 in collaboration with Williams’ Center for Technology in the Arts and Humanites and the Office of Information Technology. Downloading QuickTime will allow you to navigate throughout the palazzo and view high-resolution images of paintings and architectural details. It’s Italy, it’s warm. Why wait?
http://www.williams.edu/art/palazzote/
HOW THE HECK DID THEY DO THAT?
Last spring, the staff of the Williams College Museum of Art documented the work of the Tibetan monks of Namgyal Monastery as they painstakingly created an exquisite colored-sand mandala in the WCMA rotunda. The creation of the mandala, intended to reconsecrate the earth and its inhabitants, can be viewed from start to finish by clicking on this link (you must download QuickTime to view the time-lapse slide show):
http://cf.williams.edu/oit/announcements/article.cfm?id=mandala
And check out WCMA’s Tibet main web page at:
http://www.williams.edu/WCMA/exhibitions/tibet/index.html
HOW C-C-COLD IS IT?
The current temperature in Williamstown (plus wind speed and direction and graphs for the last 24 hours) is available at http://cf.williams.edu/public/hmfweather/. Data is transferred from the Center for Environmental Studies’ Hopkins Forest weather station to campus, and the Web site is updated every ten minutes.
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EPH SPORTS
Men’s Basketball (23-1) continues to roll in its national title defense, going undefeated in conference play and reclaiming the No. 1 in the D3hoops.com national poll. Williams will host Middlebury Saturday at 3 p.m. in first-round NESCAC tournament play. If the Ephs are victorious, the conference championships will be in Williamstown Feb. 28-29 …
Women’s Basketball (18-6) finished NESCAC play 5-4, and will travel to Tufts for a rematch in the first round of the conference tournament. The Ephwomen fell to the Jumbos 59-37 Saturday … Men’s and Women’s Swimming finished the regular season dual meet schedule strong, each easily topping Tufts. The teams will compete at NESCACs Saturday at Wesleyan …
Skiing prepared for the Williams Carnival Feb. 20-21 with its third consecutive fifth-place finish on the New England circuit, this time at Dartmouth … Men’s Hockey (10-7-3) took out Wesleyan 6-3 to reclaim the Little Three title. The win was number 200 for head coach Bill Kangas … Also winning Little Three titles were Women’s Hockey (14-7) and Men’s and Women’s Squash … Despite its record, Wrestling (6-12) has three athletes on the verge of qualifying for nationals, each ranked in the top three in New England.
For more sports, go to:
http://www.williams.edu/athletics/
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YOUR WILLIAMS CONNECTIONS
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Alumni Travel http://www.williams.edu/alumni/news/travel/
Online Giving: http://give2.williams.edu
Parents Online http://www.williams.edu/home/parents.php
Campus Calendar http://www.williams.edu/dean/calendar/
Eph Sports http://www.williams.edu/athletics/
Williams News http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases.php
The Williams Record http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/
The Williams Campaign http://www.williams.edu/alumni/campaign/
CONTACT US. EphNotes is an electronic publication of the Office of Alumni Relations & Development at Williams College. Editor: Ted Gilley at tgilley@sover.net
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Copyright 2004