VERMONT ACTION CALL TO VQ

VERMONT
THE UNIVERSITY OF
Q U A R T E R LY
Nate Bosshard ’01 is among
a circle of alumni who have turned
love of action sports into careers
1
ACTION
also in this issue: CYNTHIA BARNHART ’81 • MILITARY VETS • DAVID ZWEIG ’96 • AMANDA PELKEY ’15
FALL 2014
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
CALL TO
VQ
VQ
FALL | 2014
PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
THE GREEN
Swan song for the fabled “shoeboxes” and other
campus building plans; Profs wrestle Big Data questions;
Student engineers tackle NASA project; and more.
2
4
14
CATAMOUNT SPORTS
As she heads into her final season, Amanda Pelkey ’15
has helped build UVM women’s hockey into a contender.
BY SARAH TUFF DUNN
16
ALUMNI VOICE Considering the potential and power of anonymous
work in an age of relentless self-promotion.
BY DAVID ZWEIG ’96
UVM PEOPLE V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
While online learning is helping make a UVM education
more accessible beyond campus, the technology is
also transforming the traditional classroom.
BY MEREDITH WOODWARD KING G’03
ART WORK
The Fleming Museum’s is a true working collection,
as art and artifacts help to deepen the academic
experience throughout the university.
28
BY AMANDA WAITE ’02 G’04
CALL TO ACTION
Love of the outdoors and action sports are a constant
among many UVM alumni. VQ checks in with a circle
of grads who have parlayed that passion into careers.
32
ALUMNI CONNECTION
Homecoming/Reunion 2014 unites UVM grads,
families, and friends enjoying the glory of an
autumn weekend in BTV.
20
CLASS NOTES
EXTRA CREDIT
With an unusual camera named “Big Bertha” and a
little help from their friends, a photography class
creates a striking self-portrait outside Williams Hall.
39
43
64
SUMMER 2008
2
18
BY JOSHUA BROWN
Cover photo of and by Nate Bosshard ’01.
Contents photo by Sally McCay
BY THOMAS WEAVER
BY THOMAS WEAVER
Professor Cynthia Barnhart ’81 is the first female
chancellor at MIT, and—with her recent appointment
as a UVM trustee—is also serving her alma mater.
TAKING THE CLASS TO THE STUDENTS
24
YELLOW RIBBON UVM is building a reputation as a top school for welcoming
military veterans starting the next chapters of their lives.
1
[PRESIDENT’SPERSPECTIVE
On the Value of a Liberal Education
2
EDITOR
Thomas Weaver
VQEXTRAuvm.edu/vq
ART DIRECTOR
Elise Whittemore
CLASS NOTES EDITOR
thinking that connects intellectual
curiosity and careful reflection. It should offer students both depth and
breadth on a broad array of topics that inform and shape
a coherent reasoning ability that inspires lifelong learning, maturity, and personal growth and development.
As I have often remarked, a broad liberal education
is a very valuable springboard for lifelong learning, understanding, and inquiry. It is a window to asking the
important questions of what is the meaning, nature and
purpose of life. A well-rounded education opens our
eyes and curiosity to the “analytical, empirical, moral,
and aesthetic” (Menand) issues that we will confront
in our lifetime. A worthwhile education should give
students ample opportunity to acquire both broad and
deep knowledge in certain fields, incorporating qualitative reasoning and quantitative analysis over a range of
ideals, values, including moral dimensions and cultural
and religious differences.
In a recent conversation with Professor Emeritus
Luther Martin of UVM, he shared with me several examples of the synergy that universities often achieve
when integrating qualitative and quantitative learning:
fields such as behavioral economics and the cognitive
science of religion. As Eric Kandel recently explored in
The Age of Insight (2012), “intersections of psychology,
neuroscience and art” reveal “the human mind in all of
its richness and diversity.”
A rigorous experience should encourage and teach
students how to write and speak clearly and persuasively, a set of skills that often have been decried as lacking in
the present generation of students. These skills cannot
be developed and sharpened unless there is fundamental knowledge and critical, analytical thinking beneath
the expression. It is often said that in today’s technologically-connected world we are flooded with information, but we are left with very little understanding of the
continued on page 63
SALLY MCCAY (2)
Kathleen Laramee ’00
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Joshua Brown, Lee Ann Cox, Rick Green ’82,
Jay Goyette, Meghan Ingraham ’17, Meredith
Woodward King G’03, Kathleen Laramee ’00,
Jon Reidel G’06, Sarah Tuff, Amanda Waite’02 G’04,
Jeff Wakefield, Basil Waugh, David Zweig ’96
PHOTOGRAPHY
Nate Bosshard ’01, Joshua Brown, Dana Buckhorn,
Robert Casella ’16, Bear Cieri, Chris Dissinger, Andy
Duback, Nancy Ford, Brian Jenkins, Chris Linder,
Sally McCay, Adam Moran ’00, Jessy Plume,
Dominick Reuter, Kari Rowe, Will Tidman ’96
ILLUSTRATION
Gerard Dubois
ADVERTISING SALES
Theresa Miller
Vermont Quarterly
86 South Williams Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 656-1100, [email protected]
ADDRESS CHANGES
UVM Foundation
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 656-9662, [email protected]
CLASS NOTES
Sarah S. Wasilko G’11
(802) 656-2010, [email protected]
CORRESPONDENCE
Editor, Vermont Quarterly
86 South Williams Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 656-2005, [email protected]
VERMONT QUARTERLY
After Sandy Hook
Alumnus helps lead effort to heal hometown
and counter gun violence
Journalist Rob Cox ’89 has built a notable
career—impressive for the variety of his
endeavors and the places they have taken him
worldwide. Currently global editor of Reuters
Breakingviews, a financial commentary website
he co-founded and sold to Reuters in 2009, his
work has appeared in numerous publications.
Cox’s personal and professional focus would
shift dramatically with the terrible events of
December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, the community where
he grew up and where he and his wife, Hannah (UVM ’89), moved
ten years ago to raise their two sons. Within twenty-four hours of the
massacre of twenty-six children at Sandy Hook Elementary School,
Cox and a circle of friends were working to found what would become
Sandy Hook Promise, an organization dedicated to healing their own
community and doing all it can to make sure others do not suffer the
same fate.
Cox, who received an Alumni Achievement Award at this fall’s UVM
Reunion/Homecoming Weekend, discusses his work with Sandy Hook
Promise in the VQ interview posted online.
publishes March 1,
July 1, November 1.
PRINTED IN VERMONT
Issue No. 70, November 2014
VERMONT QUARTERLY
The University of Vermont
86 South Williams Street
Burlington, VT 05401
VERMONT QUARTERLY ONLINE
uvm.edu/vq
VERMONT QUARTERLY BLOG
vermontquarterly.wordpress.com
The Rob Cox piece and several others were included in the September
edition of VQExtra. If you aren’t currently receiving an email when this
online edition is posted between our print issues and would like to be
alerted, let us know and we’ll add you to the list. Also, write us a note
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FA L L 2 0 1 1
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
O
ver the last several months, a debate has ensued
across higher education on a fundamental
question: What should be the responsibility
of a college or university in the education of
its students? A similar question has been posed: Do
Americans expect too much from a college degree? The
discussion was sparked by a new book and essay by a
former professor at Yale (Deresiewicz) arguing that
America’s elite universities are not teaching their students to develop the whole individual, including one’s
self and one’s soul. Other leading scholars (Pinker) respond that universities are not particularly equipped
to teach personal development or emotional maturity.
Other commentators (Bruni) believe that the current
discourse has been too narrow or that we should return
to a time when education was rooted in moral understandings and purpose (Brooks). Reading these debates,
one could quickly come to the conclusion that the discussion to date has been too unbalanced in a way that
reminds one that extreme positions are infrequently
persuasive and ultimately not very useful for reaching
consensus.
The debates, however, bring us back to two central
questions: what should be the purpose of a college education and what should it accomplish for the student?
As classes began at the University of Vermont this fall,
I asked our colleagues at the first meeting of the Faculty
Senate to spend this year considering several foundational questions, including what it means to be an educated person; what it means to be educated at UVM;
and what it means to hold a degree from the University
of Vermont. As the national discussion suggests, many
people will have differing views on this important subject, but every great educational institution should engage in asking the right questions and seeking a thoughtful exchange of ideas on these topics.
I hope we can all agree that the purpose of higher
education should be to expose the student to thinking
broadly and deeply about our collective knowledge and
new discoveries while fostering critical and analytical
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
VQ
FALL 2014
GREEN
THE
GATHERING NEWS & VIEWS
OF LIFE AT THE UNIVERSITY
Future of Central Campus
[CAMPUS]
STEM FACILITY
CORE TO CHANGE
4
the existing emergency room.
A new residence hall
complex to be built near the
CBW site will be constructed
by a private developer that
will design, finance, build, and
manage the new living space.
It will look more akin to a
traditional residence hall as
opposed to an apartment-style
complex like Redstone Lofts,
according to Robert Vaughan,
UVM’s director of capital
planning and management.
The residence hall complex,
slated to open in 2017, is
proposed to have between
450-650 beds with a large
dining hall that would replace
Billings’s Cook Commons.
While the new halls are
under construction, UVM
is negotiating to house 276
students in leased space at
Quarry Hill, just east of the
Athletic Campus; eighty
students at the Sheraton;
and thirty-five students in
reconfigured space in existing
residence halls.
Across the green west
of the CBW site, the largest construction project in
UVM history is slated to
SALLY MCCAY
Barrett gift
supports STEM
project
A $1 million gift commitment from Richard W.
Barrett ’66 and his wife,
Elaine, is the first major
private gift to the largest
capital project in the
university’s history. The
support will be allocated
to design and construction
CLASS OF 2018 Among the roughly 2,780 new undergraduate students this year are a record number of international students, nearly 120. Total international student
enrollment, including graduate students and undergraduate
pathway program students, is approximately 610—the most
internationally diverse student body in UVM history. More
photos of convocation: uvm.edu/vq
costs for UVM’s STEM
facility, a project that will
transform the central
campus and fulfill a
promising new academic
and economic development
vision for the university.
Barrett, president and
owner of Union Leasing
December 2016. Phase II, a
classroom and office building
located roughly on the footprint of the Cook Physical Science Building (which, along
with Angell, will be demolished), would be completed
in fall 2018. A renovation of
Votey Hall would occur in
multiple phases and finished
in fall 2018. All three of the
structures will be connected to
one another.
[ S T U DY A B R OA D ]
LONG JOURNEY,
DEEP LESSONS
F
or those with a
passion for Nepal,
nothing compares to
that first encounter
with the majesty and the
madness, the peace and
the pollution, absorbing a
world that contains both
the heavily populated city of
Kathmandu and the hidden
Kingdom of Mustang.
The students taking
“Nepal: Changing Communities—the Forbidden
Kingdom of Mustang” were
there to explore how issues of
globalization, environmental
change, and cultural preservation have reached into a place
so remote it was closed to
outsiders until 1992.
For Sydney Lister, an environmental science major, the
greatest reward was learning
from villagers and monks
and the native guides as they
chatted around the campsite
in the evenings, finding a disarming friendliness and easy
connection with the people
she met. “I didn’t expect to
fall in love with it,” Lister
says. “I’ve traveled a good
amount, but I’ve never been
impacted this much.”
Corporation, based in
Boulder, Colorado, is a longtime donor to the university’s College of Engineering
and Mathematical Sciences
through the family’s Barrett
Foundation. The couple’s
prior giving includes
support for a ten-yearold summer research
scholarship that supports
engineering students
working with faculty
mentors on projects. The
recently announced STEM
gift will bring the total
contributed by the Barrett
Foundation to more than
$2.5 million over nearly
three decades.
Total cost of the STEM
project is estimated at
$104 million, of which
$26 million must be raised
from non-debt sources.
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
C
hittenden-BuckhamWills, the trio of
residence halls known
to generations of
students as “The
Shoeboxes,” have long had
a counter-intuitive, Spartan
appeal—the students of CBW
wearing their residence as
a badge of honor. But, after
sixty-seven years, enough is
enough. When the buildings
are demolished next summer
it will signal the end of an era
and the first step in a dramatic
transformation of the central
campus. Within five years, the
area will see not only replacement residence halls; but a
state-of-the-art home for science, technology, engineering
and mathematics disciplines;
and an expansion of the neighboring medical complex.
Plans call for the residence
halls to come down next summer as Fletcher Allen (now
known as the University of
Vermont Medical Center)
begins construction of an
180,000-square-foot, sevenfloor in-patient building above
get under way in 2015.
The 250,000-square-foot
complex, will consist of
both new and renovated
space, dedicated to research
and teaching in what are
broadly referred to as the
STEM disciplines (science,
technology, engineering,
and mathematics).
Strengthening education and research in these
academic areas is a national
priority for developing
thinkers able to take on the
critical complex issues that face
our society and for strengthening our position in the world
economy. Closer to home,
STEM graduates are essential
for the state’s workforce and
broader well-being.
UVM Provost David
Rosowsky stresses the role
that STEM plays in the
academic life of the entire
campus. “Scientific literacy,
technological competency,
and an understanding of the
role science and technology
play in shaping our society
must be considered core
competencies for a UVM
graduate, as important to an
undergraduate education as
the humanities and the arts,
the social sciences, writing,
cultural competency, and
global understanding,”
Rosowsky says.
A multi-phase schedule will
enable the work of teaching
and research to continue as
current facilities are replaced
and renovated. Phase I,
consisting of a research and
teaching lab building located
roughly where Angell Hall is
now, would be completed in
5
[THEGREEN
Professor Abby McGowan and alumna
Lisa Conlon team up to introduce
students to the mysteries of Nepal.
UVM DOUBLE
The venerable John
Dewey, UVM Class
of 1879, was elected
president of the
American Psychological Association
(APA) in 1899. Dr.
Barry S. Anton,
who earned his
bachelor’s from
UVM in 1969, has
been elected
president of the
APA for 2015. In
sharing this news,
Professor Emeritus
Robert Lawson
proposes that
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
UVM is the only
6
university with
two undergrad
alumni holding
this distinction.
Seeing the intellectual pivot
students make as they absorb
what it means to learn from
rather than about a place,
is what trip leaders Abby
McGowan, associate professor
of history, and her teaching
assistant Lisa Conlon ’07, find
continually compelling. Or,
as Conlon puts it, it’s the fun
of “watching Nepal blow their
minds. I love seeing people,
instead of having their visions
fulfilled, be totally changed
by the experience. When you
leave with more things you
think you know than new
questions,” she says, “you definitely didn’t do it right.”
Conlon, whose mother is
Nepalese, knows the country,
having spent half her life
there, trekking the Himalayas
from toddlerhood and now
running Above the Clouds,
the adventure tour company
her father founded. She met
McGowan, an expert in modern South Asian history, in a
material culture class at UVM
and was inspired to change
her major from political science to history, taking all of
McGowan’s classes.
“It was the first time I
learned about a place that I
was deeply invested in in a way
in which I respected,” Conlon
says. “It totally changed my
opinion about the way that
history could be learned or
lived.”
Four years ago, she convinced her former professor
to team up to teach a studyabroad class. It wasn’t a hard
sell. With Conlon skilled
at covering tour logistics,
McGowan is free to focus on
helping students make academic connections. The two
also share a close and spirited
friendship—they’re rarely
together, it seems, without
an abundance of laughter—
which they believe serves as
a strong model when days on
the trail are rough.
For McGowan, the effect
on students when they watch
her interact with people in
poverty-ridden cities, in situ-
ations that riddle them with
discomfort over their wealth
as Americans, is incredibly
powerful. It’s a lesson she
suspects may be more critical
than any facts she can teach
them about trade routes
through the Himalayas or the
establishment of kingdoms.
“It’s about how you move
in the world in an ethical
way that acknowledges
disparities and provides
access to real human conditions,” McGowan says. “The
breadth of information they
see impacting their lives is so
obvious and so exciting for
students—nothing like learning for a test. It’s the most
pure teaching I’ve ever done.”
[ENGINEERING]
BEYOND ‘REAL WORLD’
EXPERIENCE WITH NASA
T
he frontiers of innovation
for UVM engineering
majors’ senior projects
have been varied and farreaching, impacting real-world
places and products from
cheese caves to golf clubs.
Now, a team of undergraduates, with mentorship from
three engineering faculty, will
create a prototype designed
for use in the farthest-reaching
frontier yet: deep space.
Through its Exploration
Habitat (X-Hab) Academic
Innovation Challenge, NASA
and the National Space Grant
Foundation have awarded
UVM a grant to develop technology in support of its deep
space mission. UVM’s winning
continued on page 8
RIGHT, ANDY DUBACK
JUST 3 QUESTIONS
NANCY MATHEWS
In July, Nancy Mathews arrived as the new dean of the Rubenstein School of
Environment and Natural Resources. She brings with her a rich understanding
of problems that blur boundaries between wildlife, ecology, and people—like
chronic wasting disease slowly permeating central Wisconsin deer herds. Her
decades of field research on white-tailed deer taught Mathews that, “first, we
need to let the data speak,” she says. And that, “solutions often begin with deep
listening to people on many sides of an issue,” she says—like hunters and state
regulators. Mathews, who was professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, also brings a commitment to service learning,
following four years as the director of Wisconsin’s Morgridge Center for Public
Service. VQ spoke with Mathews to discuss her plans for the Rubenstein School
and her vision for environmental education.
Q. Recently, Jennie Stephens, a professor in the Rubenstein School who studies
energy systems, said her research aims to
help people navigate a world of “extreme
complexity, radical uncertainty, increasing connectivity, unprecedented rates of
change, and overwhelming unsustainability.” Do you see the world this way?
A. Yes, she’s nailed it. From the stand-
point of sustainability, all trends point
in the wrong direction. As the dean, I’m
tasked with asking: how are we ensuring
that we are preparing students to thrive
and lead? We should not be mired in tradition. We need to be forward-thinking,
imagining how these issues are going to
play out twenty years from now. When
today’s students peak in their careers,
they must be prepared with the knowledge and skills they need to lead the efforts to resolve complex problems.
For example, we shouldn’t necessarily train doctoral students in our likeness.
Success is not only defined by going on
to a post at a research-intensive university. Success is having the impact that they
want to have—whether it’s going into
nonprofits, government, higher ed., or
corporate America. Executive directors
of environmental nonprofits have a huge
capacity to make a difference. They would
do well to have a PhD. that prepares them
to do that work.
I’m a big believer in experiential learning. Students learn things on-site, in communities, that they cannot possibly glean
from the classroom. Students need to be
honing communication skills, conflict
resolution, and negotiation. These are
the kinds of skills they’re going to need
to work in an interdisciplinary team; no
one will solve complex problems on their
own. I also want to see every student who
graduates from Rubenstein immersed in
a conversation about cultural awareness
and cultural humility. They’re not going
to be global problem-solvers if they don’t
understand some of the fundamental human elements of belief systems.
Q. How do you see conservation changing
in this century?
A. Conservation in the past—maybe it
wasn’t intended that way—was about
privilege. We’re realizing now that the
underserved are carrying the brunt of
many environmental catastrophes and
environmental injustices. And if we don’t
pay attention to these situations around
the world, we are going to see increasing disparities that lead to massive loss
of resources and loss of people. In the
Rubenstein School, we hope to build our
capacity to help prepare students to better understand key issues of human and
resource interactions. We will soon hire a
team of new faculty, a cluster, around the
theme of sustainability studies and global
environmental equity. They’ll engage in
research and teaching on issues related
to resource distribution, and power and
privilege. Disparity and inequity drives
many environmental issues now.
Q. Where do you see climate change fit-
ting into undergraduate education?
A. All students should leave all universities with an understanding of the role
that climate change plays in questions of
sustainability—and that it is not reversible. We are now into the Anthropocene.
If our students don’t know that term yet,
they will within the next twelve months,
because it’s part of the Rubenstein curriculum now! Technology is going to be
a part of the equation, playing a critical
role in mitigating the conditions that result from climate change—and students
need to understand that, too.
[THEGREEN
INSTAFOLIAGE
UVM in autumn is an
Instagrammer’s
paradise. Among the
scores who answered
our call to share their
best fall photos was
student Robert Casella
’16 who captured this
stunning photo of
Old Mill on a foggy
morning. See more fall
photos of campus—
and all the seasons—
on UVM’s Instagram
account:
instagram.com/
8
I
(SEED) program—a capstone on the undergraduate
engineering curriculum. The
NASA prototype will be one
of several projects engineering students can choose as
the focus for their senior year.
“It’s very exciting to have been
picked for such a competitive
award,” says Hitt. “We’re going
to teach students engineering,
we’re going to teach them design principles, and we’re going
to give them a tangible project
that’s really kind of exciting
and unusual—not your typical
design project.”
Hitt also serves as director
of the Vermont Space Grant
Consortium, a NASA-sponsored state organization comprising academic institutions,
professional and community
organizations and the private
sector working to promote
STEM and aerospace careers.
“How do we get students excited about these sorts of careers? We get them working
on neat projects, and we get
them working with NASA
people,” he says. “It makes a
huge impact.”
t’s not that Alexandria Hall is a contradiction, but she does, beneath her
understated, even shy demeanor, “contain multitudes,” says her mentor,
associate professor Major Jackson, echoing Walt Whitman to explain the
unexpected range of talent and achievement from this first-generation college student, a senior English major from Vergennes.
Hall—as poet—was selected for a 2014 Beinecke Scholarship last spring,
one of the most prestigious graduate fellowships in the United States. One of
only twenty Beinecke fellows in the country, she will receive $34,000 in funding which she plans to use toward a joint MFA and Ph.D., continuing a creative
and scholarly life.
“I totally remember being startled by some of the earliest poems she
STUDENT FOCUS
brought to class,” Jackson, a poet and Guggenheim Fellow, says
of Hall’s work. “They felt layered with various intelligences. I
could tell she was a reader but also that she had life experiences
that set her work apart.”
As a songwriter and musician, Hall has distinguished herself as well, a
Seven Days reviewer once dubbing her “the queen of woozy soul.” She took
a year off from her studies to tour the country, including music festivals in
New York City and Austin, performing her solo electro-pop under the name
tooth ache. (That’s two words, lower case, period at the end, though she says
she’s not as insistent about it as she used to be.)
Within the multitudes that distinguish Hall is also a facility for foreign
language. She calls herself proficient in Spanish, which she learned purely
through immersion during a study abroad year in Ecuador after high school.
But Hall’s passion is for German, which she studied intensively at the Middlebury Language School this summer.
For Hall, the thread between her pursuits is communication and
expression. “It’s just trying to find some way to get at that because
it’s really difficult,” she says. “It’s trying to get to a place of
understanding, to create connections.”
[ A G R I C U LT U R E ]
THE ULTIMATE ‘DIRTY
HANDS’ EDUCATION
I
n November 2013, Rachel
Hong quit her well-paying
job as an attorney, sold her
house in Seattle, bought an
Airstream camper, packed up
her two dogs—and drove to
Vermont. Now, on a hot July
afternoon, she wipes a piece of
duct tape over the leaves of a
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
universityofvermont
proposal, submitted by professors Darren Hitt, principal
investigator, Dryver Huston
and Mandar Dewoolkar, outlines a smartstructure deployable
airlock—an inflatable
chamber made with
“smart” materials that
might be able to selfheal in the event of a
small puncture, for
example, or to return
to its original shape
when subjected to environmental loadings.
The airlock is intended to move people
safely from one pressurized environment
to another—think
transfer from a spacecraft to a
habitat on Mars, for example.
The prototype will be designed and built here on campus in close cooperation with
NASA’s Exploration Augmentation Module concept team,
which is creating systems in
support of spacecraft Orion’s
extended deep space missions,
among others.
The prototypes developed
during the next year by the five
winning schools (including
UVM, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; the University of South Alabama; Oklahoma State University; and
the University of Colorado at
Boulder) “likely will become
heritage to actual systems and
technologies that will be flown
in space in the years and decades to come,” NASA says.
The project will be part of
UVM’s existing Senior Experience in Engineering Design
continued on page 10
SALLY MCCAY
9
[THEGREEN
MOVE-IN DAY
with a difference
On August 22, UVM
welcomed thousands
of new students, their
families, and many
packed-to-the-ceiling
minivans. It’s a transition every Vermont
alum can relate to.
The UVM Foundation
built on that spirit with
#moveuvm, a social
media driven fundraising initiative. The
day-of-giving challenge
far exceeded its goal
with contributions from
more than 500 donors
and the help of two
challenge pledges from
an anonymous member
of the Board of Trustees.
#moveuvm raised more
than $85,000 for the
university in twentyfour hours. Scroll
through photos and
text capturing the day:
10
experience before starting
this program. “I always cared
about food,” she says, “and its
connection to the wheels of
social justice. Our food system
is being taken over by forces
beyond our sight and out of
our control. I think it’s scary—
but this program is exciting.”
UVM started a horticultural
research station here in 1952,
on land that used to be an old
dairy farm. Known to many
as, simply, the “Hort Farm,”
the 97 acres has been evolving
its mission over the decades.
“There’s still lots of research
that happens here: grapes,
apples, trees,” explains director
Terry Bradshaw ’97 G ’11.
But the center has expanded
and formalized its educational offerings—including
its Farmer Training Program,
which began in 2011, as well
as other hands-on agriculture
courses. Beginning this year,
as a joint effort of UVM’s College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences and Continuing and
Distance Education, five acres
at the Horticulture Center fly
under the flag of a new name:
Catamount Educational Farm.
Students maintain their
own small plots, but they
also spend time walking and
looking together at other parts
of the farm, asking questions.
“This is their classroom,”
Laura Williams, Catamount
Farm manager, says. “Doing
is the only real way to learn
how to master some of these
skills. The goal of the program
is to fuse the theory with the
hands-on.” On Thursdays,
the students have rotations to
Ever-evolving, UVM’s
“Hort Farm” in South
Burlington now includes
the new Catamount
Educational Farm.
nearby certified-organic farms:
Bread and Butter Farm, Intervale Community Farm, and
Half Pint Farm. “The students
are with us for a whole growing season,” Williams says, “so
they go from planting potatoes
to harvesting potatoes to selling potatoes.”
[HONORS COLLEGE]
BIG QUESTIONS
ON BIG DATA
U
VM professor of engineering Donna Rizzo
knows how messy problems of groundwater
pollution can be brought into
a tidy framework. She’s developed mathematical techniques
to cleverly probe and connect
bucket loads of data collected
from, say, scattered well holes
dug around a leaking landfill. Her result: detailed 3-D
pictures of contamination
invisible from the surface—
and reliable estimates of where
and how fast underground
pollutants will flow. This kind
of mapping helps to reconcile
the competing interests of polluters, residents, and regulators—and it’s one example
of the growing power of Big
Data.
Of course, big is always a
relative term. And one man’s
data is another man’s poison.
Put the two together—with a
capital B and capital D—and
you have not just a zeitgeist-y
term of this decade, but also a
meaty topic for the eleventh
UVM Honors College faculty
seminar, “Big Data: Engaging
and Critiquing the Production
of Knowledge in the Digital
Age,” where Rizzo was one of
the invited speakers.
The annual seminars bring
together faculty from diverse
fields, reflecting the cross-disciplinary nature of the Honors
College itself. Past topics have
ranged from ethics to museum
studies to food systems to
neuroscience.
“Big Data’ signifies massive
sets of digital information
of unprecedented volume,
variety, and velocity, whose
JOSHUA BROWN
potential research applications
are felt across disciplines,”
notes professor of geography
Meghan Cope, who helped to
organize and lead the threeday gathering of nearly thirty
UVM faculty from throughout the university, including
mathematics, anthropology,
geology, medicine, history,
engineering, libraries, art,
computer science and others.
The faculty members
take turns around the circle
describing some of the large
data sets they are studying
or have gathered. Some have
thousands of data points—
others tens of billions. All
want to know how this
welter of information can
be wrestled into meaningful
patterns and stories: what can
maps of single-nucleotide
polymorphisms in human
genes tell us about disease
risk? What do the locations
of consular offices around the
world in 1895 tell us about
U.S. foreign policy?
A number of the faculty
involved in the Big Data seminar were united in their search
for new opportunities to collaborate across disciplines, or
to gather and sharpen research
tools—like the programming
language Python or the supercomputer at the Vermont
Advanced Computing Core.
For yet others, the seminar
raises basic question about
epistemology and consciousness. Joseph Acquisto, UVM
professor of French, wonders,
“how is Big Data changing the
ways we think we know what
we know?”
And, for some of the attendees, Big Data raises questions
about how fundamental
dynamics of societies may be
changing. “When it comes to
information on a network,”
wrote UVM Mathematics
Professor Jim Bagrow on his
application for the Honors
College seminar, “we’re all
in this together.” And that
togetherness may be changing
our senses of self.
“For better or for worse,”
Mara Saule, UVM’s chief
information officer and dean
of the libraries, says in her keynote address to the gathered
scholars, “we’re all someone
else’s data point.”
[MUSIC]
TAKING THE STAGE AT
CARNEGIE HALL
W
hen student David
Fickes played Carnegie Hall this summer, he brought his
trusty violin and the flashiest
PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED
We know parents of current students are some of our best
readers. Parent to parent, here’s a tip for you all, maybe something to bring up around the dinner table at Thanksgiving.
‘‘
Suggested script:
“I just read in Vermont Quarterly, (insert name of daughter/son),
that UVM is encouraging students to make career planning a fouryear effort. For the first time this fall, the university is presenting its
‘Four-Year Plan for Career Success’ to all incoming first-years.
“A list of strategies and tangible steps, the plan helps students
begin to figure out what they want to study, where they want to go
with their degrees, and how to get there. Organized by year,
the steps move from exploration to execution.
“While a first-year’s checklist includes joining campus clubs,
volunteering, and talking to friends and family about their
professions, seniors are focused on joining professional
associations, attending conferences and practicing interviewing.
“Sounds wise, eh sport? Now pass the gravy.”
Learn more: uvm.edu/~career
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
uvm.edu/vq.
squash plant in a garden at the
UVM Horticulture Research
and Education Center in
South Burlington. The tape
is bumpy with the eggs of
cucumber beetles.
“They’re really gross,” says
her workmate, Anya Dudek,
who is harvesting beautiful
bundles of cilantro in the
next row over. “It’s not at all
glamorous.”
But neither Hong nor
Dudek, nor the other twentytwo students in the UVM
Farmer Training Program are
spending six months learning
the science and art of organic
farming because they thought
it would be glamorous. They
knew it would be a lot of hard
work.
“I read so much these days
about how sitting is killing
us, and I was doing a lot of
sitting,” Hong explains. “And
there was a huge amount of
stress—and that’s the other
thing that’s killing us. I had
long hours and low job satisfaction. I felt like I was just
another fungible cog in this
huge corporate wheel.”
Hong had no agricultural
11
[THEGREEN
pair of sneakers he could find.
The shoes, loudly emblazoned
with the American Flag, were
part of his uniform in the
National Youth Orchestra, the
country’s top ensemble for
teen musicians. The nineteenyear-old is the first Vermonter
ever accepted to the prestigious program.
“It was the best summer of
my life,” says Fickes, who spent
June training with classical superstars and performing across
America, proudly dressed in
the orchestra’s playful stage attire, which pairs a traditional
black jacket and white shirt
with bright red pants and the
stars-and-stripes sneakers.
Fickes picked up the violin later than most elite musicians—at the age of eight—
and has largely focused on
academics at UVM, taking
a double major in computer
science and English literature,
with a minor in music. Until
recently, the UVM Symphony
performer still battled bouts of
stage fright before concerts.
“I never really thought of
myself as a high-level musician,” says Fickes, who credits
a first-year course with UVM
Classics Professor Mark Usher for inspiring him to chase
his dreams. “He taught me
that approaching your goal in
an unconventional way can
actually be a positive thing,”
he says. “It was an important
life lesson for me.”
To prepare for their six-city
tour, the 120-member orchestra rehearsed at Purchase College, SUNY. A rotating cast of
star mentors, including virtuoso violinist Gil Shaham and
conductor David Robertson,
shared experiences and tips
with the sixteen- to nineteenyear-olds. “It was unbelievable
working with so many superstars,” Fickes says.
In his spare time, Fickes
wrote several blogs for NYO,
tackling hot topics in classical music, including concert
etiquette and technology.
Despite classical music’s oldfashioned reputation, Fickes
says new technologies have
become essential tools for
musicians. “I find great classical music on streaming services like Spotify and use YouTube all the time to see how to
[ BRIEFS ]
Back to School
V
play tricky passages.”
Unsurprisingly for an orchestra of Millennials, the
ensemble has developed a
thriving online community,
which has produced an impressive number of selfies and
ad hoc jam sessions. “A Facebook post would be followed
with an online spreadsheet of
music—and a few hours later
you’d be rehearsing,” he says.
“It was amazing how fast and
easy it was.”
The orchestra’s six-city tour
kicked off at Carnegie Hall,
and included performances
in Los Angeles, San Francisco,
and Chicago. “The concerts
gave me chills,” says Fickes,
who met Yo-Yo Ma on the
road. “The venues and musi-
What I did this summer:
Student David Fickes played
Carnegie Hall as a member of
the National Youth Orchestra.
cianship were astounding.
So many legends have played
Carnegie Hall—The Beatles,
Bob Dylan, Nina Simone,
Leonard Bernstein—it’s unbelievable that I’ve performed
on the same stage.”
Walking offstage, Fickes
thought of his parents back in
Peacham, Vermont—both of
them hobby musicians—and
former music teachers. “So
many people have helped to
get me here, especially my parents,” he says. “My first violin,
the lessons, all the driving—I
owe them big time.”
[ QUOTE UNQUOTE ]
The only people that exist outside of ideology are corpses.
If you have blood running through your veins and you’re breathing, then
you’re subject to it. It’s not bad—it can be productive. But here’s a case
where these ideas that are rampant in society caused a young man’s death.
12
ersatile author Garret Keizer’s latest is the chronicle of his 2010-11 academic year teaching English
at Vermont’s Lake Region Union High School. It’s
a return to the place he taught for fifteen years before dedicating himself to writing full-time for the next
fourteen years of his life. Month by month, August to
June, Keizer presents an unvarnished, honest view of his
students, his colleagues, public education, life in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, and that hardest honest of
them all—about himself.
Professor Rashad Shabazz, a scholar of the geographies of race and racism, on the shooting of Michael Brown
in Missouri and how the ideological context of race, policing, and incarceration played into it.
Keizer, who earned his master’s in
English from UVM in 1978, is a serious man in a world that, in many ways,
seems to grow more frivolous by the
day. Previous books by the contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine and
former Guggenheim Fellow have taken
on broad societal issues such as privacy and noise. Much like Thoreau, his
prose reaches out with a firm grip to
give the world a good shake. But Keizer’s serious mind is balanced by a good
deal of humor and a great deal of heart.
His compassion runs deep and encircles his students who balance school
with chores on the family farm or a job
at the McDonald’s in town; the single
parents (some of them former students
from his first run as a teacher) trying
to make it all work; and, of course, his
fellow educators.
During his year back in the classroom, Keizer rises at 4:30 a.m. to grab
quiet time for planning before the drive to
school, and his car is often the last one in
the parking lot at the end of the day. He
tackles above-and-beyond projects such
as letting students know that he’ll be at a
luncheonette in Barton every Thursday
morning at 6:30 a.m. Students and parents are welcome to join him—breakfast
SALLY MCCAY
on the English teacher.
Throughout the year, just one student takes him up on the offer, though
the young man turns into a free-breakfast regular.
Reflecting on those often lonely
mornings at the luncheonette, Keizer
writes: “The project serves to remind
me of what has to be one of the most
central paradoxes of teaching: that you
must reach out to every student with
the belief that no student is beyond
your reach and that you must, at the
same time, hold to the conviction that
having served one student is worth the
effort of having tried to serve them all.
Losing sight of the first is a quick slide
to elitism; losing sight of the second is a
recipe for despair.”
Many will enjoy and draw something valuable from this book—educators, parents of high school kids, school
board members, for instance. But one of
the most important audiences might be
college students contemplating an education major and a career in the schools.
Whether they take Keizer’s view from
the front of the classroom as a cautionary tale or a call to arms will go a long
way toward telling them if the teaching
life is for them.
Pitiful Criminals
Counterpoint Press
Greg Bottoms
Author Greg Bottoms, UVM professor of
English, challenges readers with thirteen
genre-bending chapters that examine the
lives of small-time criminals driven, often
by confusion and desperation, to deeds
ranging from the absurd to the heinous.
The Los Angeles Times writes that Bottom’s
writing is invested “not with distance but
with an unbearable intimacy. Everything
matters, is what he means to tell us, and
yet we can never understand what it all
means.” Pitiful Criminals is illustrated with
drawing by W. David Powell.
Poetry of a Lifetime
Red Bard Books of Vermont
Charles Ballantyne ’50
Late alumnus Charles Ballantyne’s book of
poetry pays enduring tribute to the glory
of the Vermont landscape. Through an
expressive voice, Ballantyne captures the
essence of the wilderness: both the physical and the spiritual. His reflective works
allowsthe reader a glimpse into the
consciousness of one man’s deep
connection with nature. Dennis Mahoney,
UVM professor of German, edited this
volume of Ballantyne’s work.
From the Hip
Sun Ridge Poetry of Vermont
Stephen Cramer
The fifty-six-poem collection by
Stephen Cramer, lecturer in UVM’s English
Department, takes songs (and often music
videos) from “Rapper’s Delight” to “Nuthin
But a G-Thang” to “99 Problems” as starting
points and then explores them via the
vehicle of the sonnet form, somewhat
loosely defined. There’s intrigue, and
humor, in channeling hip hop’s swagger
through the gentility of a sonnet. Fans of
either art form are well-advised to give
this book a spin.
FA L L 2 0 1 4
‘‘
JUSTRELEASED]
13
ONLINE
CATAMOUNT
SPORTS
T H E G R E E N & G O L D : W I N , LOSE, O R D R AW
Fast Forward
No pause when Amanda Pelkey plays
14
also explains the ’do. And you’d have
killer organizational skills and a
trusty day planner, too, if you were
on Pelkey’s streak.
Think skating in all ninety-three
games of the last three seasons and
setting UVM and conference records
in goals and points after becoming
the youngest member of the U.S.
Women’s National U18 Team at age
fifteen and winning gold in Germany.
And, oh yeah, trying out for the Sochi
Olympic Winter Games last year.
What’s next? “I have to rush to coach
lessons one-on-one in Stowe, and I
have an exam tomorrow,” says Pelkey.
by Sarah Tuff
“I’m just trying to get through the
day, juggle my time management.”
Juggling would be right up
Pelkey’s alley, considering her
impressive coordination. When she
was a tot growing up in Montpelier,
Vermont, and still in diapers, Pelkey
wandered into her older brother’s
closet, slipped her feet into his
Rollerblades and breezed down
the hallway, perfectly balanced.
Her astonished mom said, “Figure
skates!” But her hockey-mad dad
BRIAN JENKINS
said: “No way. REAL skates.”
“And that’s how it all started,” says
Pelkey today with one of the many
laughs that pepper her conversation.
By age three, she was skating around
the backyard rink that Dad had built;
some of her most vivid memories of
specific goals trace all the way back to
toddlerhood.
“It just seemed like I was born to
be in that habitat,” says Pelkey, who
recalls elementary days mostly for
the way they were punctuated by
afterschool sessions on the ice, in the
backyard and at the practice rink in
Barre, right up until bedtime. “I loved
the flow of it; I loved stick handling,
and I loved watching games at Norwich; I was just glued to how the
plays would happen.”
Pretty soon, Pelkey was the one
making the plays happen, attending high school at the North American Hockey Academy in Stowe and
landing on the national team before
she’d even turned sixteen. With
women’s hockey beginning to take
center stage at the Olympic Winter
Games, Pelkey had no shortage of
role models, but says she was particularly struck while watching Cammi
Granato play at the Red, White &
Blue Camp (now called the August
Festival) at Lake Placid.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow,
could I really be that good someday?’”
says Pelkey. “And Cammi was always
the last person off the ice, and always
picked up the pucks. That’s respectful.”
Skip ahead to the tryouts for the
Sochi Olympic Winter Games, during
which Pelkey had not only reached
her role model’s level, but was also
emulating the Olympian’s grace,
determination, and respect on the ice.
That reflects brilliantly on the rest
of the UVM women’s hockey team,
says head coach Jim Plumer, who
DANA BUCKHORN
explains that Pelkey’s gifted offense is
augmented by extra time in the weight
room, her humility, and her refusal to
take anything for granted.
“She’s become a leader, and her
work ethic, competitive spirit and
humble, team-first attitude make her a
great role model for our younger players,” says Plumer. “As much as anything, Amanda has a passion for the
game of hockey, and that is something
that is definitely part of the spirit of
our program.”
Pelkey seems proud of the way her
team is playing these days, but quickly
deflects any credit for the team’s
recent success. “We’ve always been
an ‘in-the-mix’ program, but every
year since I’ve been here it’s been
an upward climb, so we’re becoming more of a threat than just a challenge,” she says. “This season, it’s leaps
and bounds already—on the ice,
the freshman class are smart, they’re
quick, they’re passing. Off the ice, you
couldn’t ask for better teammates. It
just gives us more depth, which can
go a long way.”
When it comes to going long ways,
Pelkey is a seasoned traveler who listens to Rascal Flatts while on hockey
bus trips and ticks off Germany, the
Czech Republic, and Calgary among
her favorite destinations. Still, despite
dreams of oh, maybe the Caribbean or
Italy with her mom (a hair stylist; Dad
owns a sandblasting company), the
senior hopes to be bound for Boston
next year, where she can continue to
compete and coach. She loves organizing the lessons, but there’s something else, as well, that brings it full
circle.
“I see that they look up to me, and
when they smile—that’s all I hope
they do, that they love it,” says Pelkey.
“But at times I think I’m still that
young girl looking up.”
Tough workout met team bonding when the
women’s soccer team did a trail run to the
summit of Mt. Mansfield early in the semester.
Catch the Cats
At home or on the road, there will be plenty
of chances to cheer on the Catamounts
through the winter sports seasons. Here are
just a few you’ll want to put on the calendar:
BURLINGTON The UVM Alumni Association will host the annual Chittenden County
alumni game on Saturday, November 25. The
men’s varsity team will take the ice against
UMass Amherst at 7:05 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA The UVM Alumni Association
hosts a pregame reception on Saturday, January 31, when the men’s hockey team plays
Penn State at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The men’s basketball team will be in
Philly on November 22 to play St. Joseph’s.
BOSTON Alumni living in Greater Boston can
support the men’s hockey team when they
hit the road against Boston College, February
13 and 14, or UMass Lowell, February 27 and
28. The women’s hockey team will be through
town to play Northeastern, November 22 and
23, and Boston University, January 24 and 25.
Men’s basketball will be in the area January
25 to play UMass Lowell. Women’s basketball
takes on BU on November 22 and returns to
the area on January 25 to play UMass Lowell.
The men’s and women’s track and field teams
will compete in the New England Championships at Boston University on February 27
and 28.
LAKE PLACID The NCAA Ski Championships
will be held on eastern snow next March. St.
Lawrence hosts the event at Lake Placid.
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
I
t’s a Monday afternoon in Patrick
Gym, and Amanda Pelkey ’15
is drinking something pink, her
hair wrapped in a ballerina-like
topknot as she gushes about her secretarial skills.
Make no mistake, however. This
is a woman who can whip just about
anyone on the ice, as the star forward for the Catamounts hockey
team. That pink drink? It’s a Biosteel high performance recovery
formula; after a practice session in
the rink, the exercise and movement science major has just logged a
workout in the weight room, which
UVMATHLETICS.COM
FOR SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION
15
[ALUMNIVOICE
uvm.edu/vq
Interview with David Zweig
The Power of Invisibility
Quiet work in our ‘microcelebrity’ age
by David Zweig ’96
The United States,
as is broadly acknowledged, the rowers in a kind of perfection, where time melts away
has always been a nation of strivers and ingenuity. Anyone who’s made the effort to come here is a motivated individual. And for a long time this motivation gene has been
in our cultural, perhaps even biological DNA, and still is in
many respects. This American characteristic has two components. And just as the oars on both the starboard and port
sides of a racing shell must move with equal force to propel
the boat directly forward, the equilibrium of these two com-
16
Component #1, or let’s call it the Port Side, is the Protestant work ethic of American lore, a nose-to-the-grindstone, silent determination. We saw it with the Puritans,
the settlers out west, the stoical drive of our immigrant
wave that bloomed in the decades around 1900 (by
that time informed by more than Protestant traditions
and heritage alone), and in the past century with the
“company man” honorably satisfied with his role in the
machine and the proverbial gold watch and pension at the
end for a job well done. This “quiet dignity of the average
American,” as David Foster Wallace once referred to it, is
essential not only to our business acumen, but I’d argue
also to one’s sense of self. Equally as important, however,
is Component #2, the Starboard Side. This is our brashness, our Hollywood Klieg lights that reach to the world,
our uniquely American noise. Not just the robber baron’s
gilded mansions, but Cornelius Vanderbilt’s awesome
sideburns. From Elvis’s swinging hips to hip-hop’s bling.
In the sport of rowing there’s a revered, almost-mythic
state when the crew operates as a unified front, the strokes
of the oars on both sides matched in force and technique,
term “Invisibles”—such as computer coders and technical analysts are in great demand in an otherwise deflated
employment environment.
While a variety of factors are leading to the demand
for these types of unseen jobs, it is telling that the need
is coinciding with our uptick in personal promotion.
Through the Internet and its ancillary mobile apps, now
more than ever, people are seeking, and have the means,
to draw attention to their every thought and action. We are
in the era of “microcelebrity.” As Clive Thompson wrote
about the phenomenon in Wired, if you have a blog or are
on Facebook or Twitter, then “odds are there are complete strangers who know about you—and maybe even
talk about you.” Relatedly, the notion of the “branded
self” is a growing phenomenon. As Peter Stromberg, professor of anthropology at the University of Tulsa, noted
in a Psychology Today piece, branding coaches and business features today teach you to “figure out your strengths
and then figure out how to market them, thereby creating a public relations image for yourself.” Stromberg asks,
“What is Facebook other than a vast platform for creating
brand you? For the same reason that movies get louder
GERARD DUBOIS
This essay is adapted from the author’s new book, Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion (Portfolio/Penguin).
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
ponents has been crucial for the country’s advancement.
as the shell glides across the water with majestic speed.
Rowers call this state swing. And it’s our American Swing,
the equal force, the synchronicity of these two sides that
has enabled our prosperity economically, culturally, individually. And yet it seems in recent years the oars on the
Starboard Side alone are feverishly outpacing those on
the Port Side, steering us perilously off course, risking our
personal and collective potential.
We’ve been taught that the squeaky wheel gets the
grease, that to not just get ahead, but to matter, to exist
even, we must make ourselves seen and heard. But what
if this is a vast myth? And, if you pull back even further,
what if our very choice of fields to work in is affected by
this overall ethos?
Deborah Rivera is the founder of the Succession
Group, a New York executive search firm. Her specialty
is quantitative and analytical positions for global investment banks. “There aren’t enough Americans who are
prepared to compete for Wall Street’s growing quantitative and technology roles that require degrees in math or
engineering from top universities,” Rivera told me. “It’s
really a cultural issue,” she observed. “In the U.S. people
want jobs that get recognition. All of my friends who are
successful, hard workers in Wall Street or doctors, attorneys, many of their children are pursuing careers in the
arts or entertainment (and thus far aren’t able to support
themselves).”
Even among the quantitative analysts, or “quants” as
they’re called in the industry, Rivera noted, too many of
them were after “the fame, the fortune with the larger
project but not the grunt work to get there.”
Behind-the-scenes jobs where the worker gets little
outside recognition (though is often highly respected
among his peers), that require meticulousness and often
have great responsibility—the three key traits of those I
and brighter and more violent each decade:
there’s a competition going on for people’s
attention.”
What if the Invisibles’ approach to work,
which runs counter to this ethos of attentionseeking, not only is beneficial, indeed, critical
for us on an individual level—both in our professional and business lives—but also economically essential on a societal level? The highly
influential economist and sociologist Thorstein
Veblen famously derided conspicuous consumption (a phrase he coined in his 1899 book
The Theory of the Leisure Class) and displays of
wealth and status; instead, he valorized the class
of engineers and craftsmen, people with “artisanal instinct or workmanship, a taste for gratuitous curiosity”—essentially Invisibles—“as
motors of economic, social, and scientific progress.” Succinctly, what impacts on our economy
and society as a whole could there be if more
people embraced the values of Invisibles, rather
than focusing on personal status and gaining
notoriety, as is the dominant value today?
In a case of “be careful what you wish for,”
it could be argued that a culture of recognition
dovetails with a culture of excessive supervision. If the
expectation of recognition for nearly everything we do
becomes increasingly normalized, what affect does that
attitude have on our relationship to privacy, in particular
to employers, corporations, and governments overseeing
much of what we do?
Our race for more attention has profound consequences, both overt and indirect, societal and personal.
There is, however, an antidote to this ever-escalating
desire for acknowledgment.
Invisibles are found in all walks of life. Like many of
the most memorable characters in novels and on screen,
we relate to Invisibles and at the same time see something
in them that’s better than ourselves. These individuals are
not an exclusive group; they are simply at the far end of
a spectrum we all live within. What binds them is their
approach—deriving satisfaction from the value of their
work, not the volume of their praise.
17
UVM PEOPLE
By Joshua Brown
photo by Dominick Reuter
Cynthia Barnhart ’81
CHANCELLOR
In February, Cynthia Barnhart was appointed chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first woman to fill this post. You wouldn’t be alone in asking: just what is a chancellor?
“That’s always the first question!” she says with a laugh. “The chancellor at MIT is all things students,” she explains. Following her recent role as MIT’s associate dean of engineering, the new job is
a big change for Barnhart and one she relishes. As chancellor, she’s focusing on several major issues
in higher education—sexual assault; the pressures of academic life in our age of intense digital connectivity; and the student facilities of the future, residence halls to classrooms; among others.
ENGINEER
Barnhart studied civil engineering at UVM and then completed her master’s and doctorate at MIT.
Across the past twenty years, she’s worked as professor of civil engineering and director of Transportation@MIT, a program involving hundreds of MIT faculty working on design solutions addressing
the environmental impacts of transportation— like airplanes that could use seventy percent less fuel
than current models.
Barnhart see engineers at the center of societal advance from creating renewable energy to
increasing the efficiency of the U.S. airline network to bringing clean water to developing countries.
“That’s a large part of why we see an increasing number of students who are majoring in engineering,” she says, “they understand that it’s not just the pocket protector-wearing nerd who gets into it.
It’s for people who want to make the world a better place.”
Recently appointed to UVM’s Board of Trustees, Barnhart is pleased to have a hand in helping
her alma mater move forward on plans to construct a new world-class science and technology building. “It’s so important, when pushing the frontiers, to provide people with the opportunity to do
their research in a state-of-the-art facility—that allows them to work closely together, across disciplines, to think differently in addressing some of the world’s toughest challenges,” she says.
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Neither of Barnhart’s parents went to college, but they saw that all of the kids in their Barre, Vermont family—Cynthia, her sister Kathy ’80, and brother Richard ’82—earned their degrees from
the state university. “My parents valued education a lot,” she says. “UVM was a great launching
pad for all three of us.”
As a woman entering engineering in the late 1970s Barnhart didn’t feel like a pioneer, she says,
but she did stand out. “UVM had a very supportive culture,” she says, “but I did my studying
with men, because most of the class was men.” When she wasn’t studying, she enjoyed Friday
happy hour at the fabled Chickenbone, sandwiches at Carbur’s, and she and her now-husband
Mark Baribeau ’81 had season passes to Sugarbush.“I was studious and engineering isn’t easy, but
I didn’t have a million activities, so I had time to relax,” she says, “and by the time I was a senior I’d
figured out how to arrange my schedule so I could take days off to go skiing.”
VQ
SUMMER 2014
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
STUDENT
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ONLINE LEARNING
Taking the class to the students
In the rapidly evolving world of online education, UVM leverages
the Web to reach both beyond Burlington and enhance campus courses
by Meredith Woodward King G’03
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Betty Rambur remembers what it was like to juggle a full-time job, graduate school, a colicky
baby, and her second pregnancy. It was the 1980s. She was working at a hospital in inner-city
Chicago, commuting via subway to graduate school at Rush University. Holding her baby in
one arm, she took a final exam for biostats with the other.
“It can be done, but it does take a lot of discipline to go back to school when you have a job
and a family,” acknowledges Rambur, professor of health policy and nursing at UVM. “The
effort it took to be a graduate student, mother and full-time employee was astonishing. If I
could have avoided the additional emotional toll of the time and expense of the commute to
the university, with my baby on the subway, that would have been remarkable.”
Almost three decades later, Rambur, with a master’s and doctorate from Rush at the foundation of her twenty-page curriculum vitae of accomplishments, is on the other side. Her third
and last child is in high school; the other two have long since graduated. She is now the experienced researcher and professor, teaching mostly adult students who are balancing schoolwork,
home life, and careers.
But this time around, Rambur and her students aren’t dealing with Vermont’s version of
the ugly commute—lengthy, harrowing drives on icy roads—to reach the Burlington campus.
Instead, they are sitting at home, in an office or anywhere else they have found an Internet connection, communicating with each other, watching Rambur’s video clips and screencasts, and
completing assignments, all online.
Part of the more than 350 online course sections offered year-round at UVM by more than
125 instructors, Rambur’s classes meet “asynchronously,” meaning students can access course
materials, assignments and virtual classroom discussions at any time, as long as they complete
their work by stringent deadlines. Rambur has been so successful with her transition two years
ago to teaching fully online that she was awarded the prestigious, international 2013 Sloan
Consortium Excellence in Online Teaching award.
“I don’t think of it as teaching electronically but as taking all these rich multimedia tools and
putting them together to make a vibrant, contemporary learning experience,” she says. At the
same time, she sets the bar high, uploading a lively welcome video three weeks before class to
project her “zeal” for the topic and outline the course’s strict expectations.
Rambur first became interested in the possibilities of virtual learning in 2004 as she watched
her five-year-old son begin to read via a computer game, Zoo Tycoon. Ten years later, like most
in his generation, he connects with peers and learns-through-play in an online environment.
“The whole gaming strategy to pull people in, progressively with more complexity and constant feedback on performance, really intrigued me,” Rambur explains. “I thought if a group
of fifteen-year-olds could stay in houses playing these games for hours on end, then there was
something to these new modalities. It’s very clear to me, watching my son as he ages, that you
can create a very connected community. Now, how do you take this thing and make it sing and
dance, not just taking what you are doing in a classroom and doing it online, but creating a very
lush environment?”
Rambur incorporates written, video, and audio interaction and assignments to meet the
multiple learning styles of her students, many of them nurses, physicians, and other health care
professionals. Because her online class requires everyone to respond to discussions, “there is
plenty of space for the introvert,” she explains, “and it creates new opportunities.”
She expects that online learning environments like Blackboard, used by UVM, may eventually incorporate gaming strategy, which allows students to progress only when they have
mastered a “level.”
For now, Rambur has created her own version: Her class features a weekly quiz, “so students know exactly how they are doing,” she says. “I review each one of them on a screencast,
so the quiz becomes a constant form of feedback, almost like a game query.” If she discovers
that the class is struggling with a particular topic—say, “cost-shifting” in health care policy and
finance—she prepares a detailed, conversational video.
photograph by Bear Cieri
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V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
Long before her successful career as a health care leader and academic in Vermont,
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the university launched its first fully online degree program—the Master of Public Health—and it plans to roll
out more online degree programs soon, according to
Cynthia Belliveau, dean of CDE.
“What online learning means now,” Belliveau says, “is
that anyone from anywhere in any place and at any time
can access the quality and richness of this university.”
Online learning also presents new opportunities
for enrollment growth, she explains. Nationwide, the
growth rate for online education is three to four times
that of classroom enrollment, according to a report prepared by The Learning House Inc. and Aslanian Market
Research.
“The ‘post-traditional’ audience is growing, and
a whole lot of people—including alumni—cannot
access this wonderful place unless we go online,” Belliveau says. “We’re very focused on providing quality,
innovative, niche-focused programming to engage
people in Vermont and beyond. Online education is
the future of higher education, and it’s happening right
here, right now.”
Margaret Aitken, a program outreach coordinator
in nursing, deals with those demographics every day.
She supports registered nurses returning to school—
sometimes after two decades away—for a bachelor
of science in nursing. Through UVM’s RN to BS Program, they take all but one required course online, fitting the program into their busy personal and professional lives.
“Twenty years ago, it wouldn’t have been possible
to have an online program because people didn’t have
high-speed Internet access,” Aitken says. “It’s all about
accessibility. It doesn’t matter if there’s three feet of snow
on the ground or not, our students out in the rural areas
can still participate.”
Jennifer Carpenter is one of those students. Like
Betty Rambur in the 1980s, Carpenter, a full-time nurse
at Brattleboro Hospital who lives in Vernon, is balancing
home, family, and school. But unlike Rambur, Carpenter
doesn’t have to deal with a tough commute—which, in
her case, would be a five-hour round trip to Burlington.
Instead, her ten to twelve hours of driving each week
involve her two daughters’ sports practices and games,
and trips to and from their schools. With her books in
tow, Carpenter sits in the stands and reads. In the evenings at home, she signs onto Blackboard and watches
streaming videos or screencasts, participates in online
discussions, and uploads assignments.
“I get the schoolwork done whenever I can,” she
says. “I knew that to continue onto my bachelor’s
degree, it definitely needed to be a program in an
online format because I wasn’t going to sacrifice any of
my kids’ activities.”
Master’s in Public Health
When UVM launched Vermont’s first Master of Public
Health program this fall, it also became the first time
Meanwhile back in
Burlington, UVM’s
traditional undergraduates also benefit from innovative
online pedagogy. In disciplines ranging from accounting
to psychology, students now can take a hybrid course
during the academic year. More than twenty-five faculty
have taken a semester-long course offered by UVM’s
Center for Teaching and Learning to help them convert
conventional classes to hybrids.
“I saw hybrid as an opportunity for UVM to build on
our strengths,” Dickinson says. “We had a very strong
online training program and very strong face-to-face
teaching.” So she decided to combine those strengths.
Anthropology professor Emily Manetta decided a
hybrid course might help students in her introductory
syntax class—which explores the universal principles
underlying the grammar and syntax of human languages—make sense of complex material.
Each week, the class met once as a whole face-to-face
and twice with only half the students in the classroom.
The other half stayed home to practice new skills via
Manetta’s interactive video lessons.
Before her hybrid experiment, “my students were not
able to go home by themselves in a vacuum and just simply practice what they’ve learned,” she says. “So I saw the
hybrid model as a way to take required class time and
convert it to a time when they could do structured practice of the things that I wanted them to be good at, the
skills that I wanted them to acquire.”
The result? The weaker students did better, overall course attendance approached 100 percent, and
Manetta received glowing evaluations. “I’m so glad I
tried this experiment,” she says.
For Dickinson, who has taught in all formats as a
professor of anthropology, Manetta’s experience is not
uncommon.
“Most faculty who invest successfully in using
technology say the same thing: The teaching does
not change. The underlying principles do not change,
but the ways you engage students and the ways you
give feedback on how much they are learning is what
changes,” she explains. “If you switch it up and try different things, students can use their minds in different
ways.”
VQ
the university had offered a degree program entirely
online.
The forty-two-credit program covers current public
health and health policy issues as well as providing
students with a strong foundation in population health
sciences. The courses have been built for a virtual
environment, allowing students to “attend” at all hours.
Students can complete the program within two years
if they are matriculating full time and five years, if part
time.
“It affords students the flexibility so if they are working in health care or in public health, and they may
not have a formal degree in public health, they can fit
the MPH program into their schedule,” explains Dr. Jan
Carney, associate dean for public health at the College
of Medicine and program director for public health
graduate programs. “Someone may be seeing patients
in the daytime and taking courses in the evening from
home.”
There is a growing demand for advanced study in
public health, Carney notes, and very few universities
offer MPH programs entirely online. UVM also offers an
online Certificate of Graduate Study in Public Health.
“UVM’s leadership in interdisciplinary and health
care education, along with our close affiliation with
Fletcher Allen Health Care (now The University of
Vermont Medical Center), make the university a strong
choice for public health students,” Carney says. “Our
faculty have depth of knowledge and experience in
public health, and this new graduate program offered
online will appeal to a diverse cohort of public health
students from around the globe—including medical
and nursing students, researchers, and health care
professionals.”
Chelsea Carman ’09 began the MPH program this
fall. A laboratory technician at UVM, she hopes to
pursue a doctorate in epidemiology. She says the
program’s flexibility allows “many different people
to take these classes, which enriches the discussions
as the class represents a variety of backgrounds and
opinions.”
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Professor Betty Rambur’s online
pedagogical technique is similar to the one most
famously used by Salman Khan, whose step-by-step
YouTube math videos for his young cousins went viral
in 2006. His free, non-profit, online Khan Academy
now attracts ten million users each month. Likewise,
MOOCs—the Massive Open Online Courses offered
by edX, Coursera and Udacity—draw millions worldwide to free courses without offering traditional academic credit. Although some colleges and universities
are venturing into MOOCs, even more institutions,
including UVM, have converted accredited courses
to online learning for tuition-paying students seeking
degrees.
Statistics paint a picture of higher education’s mixed
feelings about online learning. In 2013, 33 percent,
or 7.1 million of 21.3 million college students took at
least one online course, compared to about 9 percent in
2002, according to the annual Survey of Online Learning by Babson Survey Research Group and the College
Board. Only 5 percent of higher education institutions
currently have MOOCs, yet another 9.3 percent plan to
offer them. More than two-thirds of chief academic officers see online learning as critical to their institutions’
long-term strategy, yet two-thirds remain concerned
that credentials for MOOCs will lead to confusion
about higher education degrees.
“My response consistently has been that MOOCs
don’t fit with our teaching profile,” says J. Dickinson,
director of UVM’s Center for Teaching and Learning,
which assists faculty’s transition to online learning. “I
didn’t feel MOOCs were a good fit for the emphasis on
individually oriented student education that we pride
ourselves in at UVM. It’s not about being online but
about quality teaching.”
UVM was one of the early adopters of online education, starting in 1999 with nine classes for sixty-five students, many of them undergraduates accessing coursework from their hometowns; last summer, that number
grew to 175 fully online classes, or 30 percent of all
courses offered May through August, serving more than
2,200 students of all types.
Now, mostly through its Continuing and Distance
Education (CDE) division, the university offers yearround online courses and “hybrids,” which blend Internet with face-to-face classroom learning. Students also
can choose from a host of fully or mostly online course
sequences and certificate programs, from educational
technology to speech-language pathology. This fall,
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el
ylow
ribbon
Building on the Post-9/11 GI Bill,
UVM has become a top school for veterans
by Thomas Weaver
d
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veterans services, knows something about dramatic transitions. In 2004, he went from earning his diploma at Burlington High School to enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps, then
from boot camp to Camp Fallujah, Iraq, in a matter of several months. A second deployment, in Ramadi, and a third,
as a reserve on a ship in the Mediterranean, would follow.
When Carlson completed his military duty, returned
home, and decided to continue his education, he knew he’d
be coming to the classroom with very different life experience than most of his fellow undergrads at UVM. At age
twenty-four, with a youthful face, Carlson really wouldn’t
stand out much. Still, he says he did what he could to blend
in even more. “I grew a beard and wore a Mountain Hardware jacket,” he notes.
photography by Sally McCay
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V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
avid Carlson ’11, UVM’s coordinator of student
As soldiers in the Vermont Army National Guard,
Ryan Britch, Corey Tefft, and Robin FitchMcCullough shared a military base during their
deployments in Afghanistan. In recent years, the
three friends have shared a common experience
as veterans returning home to college at their
state university.
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uvm’s
efforts have earned the university a spot in the top ten
in a U.S. News rankings list of veteran-friendly schools.
Carlson notes that recognition is partly due to participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program, an initiative through
which the difference between in-state and out-of-state
tuition has been covered, in a 50/50 split, by a student’s
school and the Veterans Administration. “That’s UVM
saying, in no uncertain terms, in dollars and cents, that
we are trying to support veterans,” Carlson says. (For
in-state students, the Post-9/11 GI Bill provides full instate tuition and fees, plus a housing allowance.)
“Dave has a lot on his plate,” says UVM history major
J.T. Batchelder ’14, a military veteran who came to the
university after two years at Community College of
Vermont. While Batchelder is frank that trying to make
the worlds of veterans benefits and university financial
offices mesh has been sometimes frustrating, he says
having someone on board as veterans services coordinator is helping matters. “He’s someone I can talk to rather
than bouncing from office to office all over campus.
Dave has made my life much easier.”
Batchelder enlisted with the U.S. Marines between
his junior and senior years at Burlington High School
and was off to basic training just days after his graduation in 2006. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 were a key
motivator for him. “I felt like this was my time to do
something,” he says. “I’d gotten so much already from
the country and I was going to give something back.”
Batchelder says college barely crossed his mind in
high school. He figured he would join his father in the
building trades after his military service, but the Post9/11 GI Bill suddenly opened the door to higher education for him. Batchelder and fellow student veterans
note the decidedly different life experience they bring to
college than most undergrads.
Collier Harmon, who is simultaneously a medic in
the Army Reserve and a UVM nursing student, says,
“The possibility to be called up to deploy is constant
and not something many students can relate to.” She
is also frank about some frustrations with the system,
particularly the difficulty in transferring military credits to UVM as academic credits, but says she feels the
situation is getting better. “Overall, there are many areas
in which UVM can be improved for student veterans,
but the hardworking individuals set on making these
changes have been met with a largely receptive administration, and together we are making strides to serve
those who have served,” she says.
For Ryan Britch, a senior in sociology from Franklin, Vermont, the college funding of the GI Bill was a
motivator to enlist, a path to an education he otherwise
could not afford. Britch says when he enlisted in the Ver-
mont Army National Guard at age seventeen he was also
driven by a certain sense of adventure and the desire to
serve. “I feel very fortunate to be an American,” he says,
“and I wanted to give back in some fashion.”
Britch says his transition into college life after the
military was initially challenging. He found a defining
moment in difficulty when a professor made a disparaging
comment about the U.S. military, expressing the opinion
that soldiers are solely individuals on the fringe of society, the unemployed and uneducated duped into putting
their lives on the line for oil interests. Britch approached
the professor after class, spoke of his own experience, and
asked her to recant the statement. She declined.
Though Britch and fellow veterans say that one experience contrasts with typically supportive and respectful treatment they receive from faculty and students, he
took it as an additional level of motivation to prove himself through his academic work.
O’Neil-Dunne praises UVM’s undergrad student
body for their ability to separate the political from the
personal, noting the contrast with the Vietnam era. “I
would bet that the majority of our students are not in
support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet they are
able to set aside policy differences and make that separation.” He notes the support for a Veterans Day event
on campus, students stopping to offer their thanks and
help as he collected the small American flags set out on
the Bailey/Howe green in memory of fallen soldiers. “I
love the young people we have right now because I think
they are a much smarter generation,” he says.
For the student veterans, entering a welcoming community where reflection is part of the educational experience can be an ideal next step from the military as they
move forward with their lives, O’Neil-Dunne says. And
he adds that being a little older and with a deep, intense
well of life experience from the military, the student vets
are ripe for learning.
That’s something Ryan Britch has experienced
firsthand during his time at UVM. “I definitely feel
more motivated, more organized, more focused than
I was when I was eighteen. That could be age; it could
be maturity; but I also believe it is because of things I
learned while I was in the Army.” And, with a wisdom
and perspective born of that experience, he adds, “Three
years ago I was in a foxhole on the Afghan/Pakistan border, freezing cold. Now I’m in a university classroom sitting next to my peers. I feel very fortunate to be here. I’m
ecstatic to be here.”
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As coordinator of student veteran services,
a new job for Carlson and a new role at UVM
with the outset of the past academic year, he
takes a central role in helping his fellow military vets make a smooth transition into the
university and negotiate the new environment
once they’re enrolled. “For the veterans who
have done two or three enlistments and then
come back to begin college when they’re age thirty or
thirty-five, that’s another challenge,” he says. “They’ve
got a family at home and here they are in Calc I with
thirty freshmen. That is going to be more difficult.”
Chris Lucier, the university’s former vice president
for enrollment management, notes that the initiative to
better serve military veterans’ higher education needs
came from several places—the President’s Commission, Student Government Association, the Veteran’s
Assistance Committee, and leaders in state government.
“Given the benefits of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the
number of veterans leaving service, we felt it not only
was a moral imperative to support the men and women
who had fought for our country and ensure their success, but also a component of creating a diverse community,” says Lucier, who left UVM in June for a vice
president’s post at the University of Delaware.
Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne G’04, director of Geographic
Information Systems in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and a veteran from the
earliest days of the Iraq War, was among those on campus
As a military veteran
and UVM grad,
David Carlson ’11 is
well suited to his role
as the university’s first
coordinator of student
veterans services.
championing veterans’ issues. Focused on intelligence
work and based in Kuwait as a U.S. Marine Corps officer,
O’Neil-Dunne downplays the challenge of his deployment compared to those who would follow. A captain in
his late twenties, he remembers being struck by the youth
of the fighting force. “You look around and it’s as if you
grabbed UVM and sent us off to war—but without most
of the faculty and staff. Very, very young people.”
Years later with his military experience behind him,
O’Neil-Dunne crossed paths with Ryan Little ’13 in
the UVM Fitness Center one day and struck up a conversation based on the student veteran’s Marine Corps
T-shirt. That connection would eventually lead to
O’Neil-Dunne taking on the role of advisor to the student veterans group. In the short term, he added his
voice to those advocating for stronger veterans support
and found many allies.
Like Lucier, he notes the diversity that veterans bring
to the institution. “But the purpose of diversity isn’t for
that minority,” he says. “It is not just to help them out.
It’s for the majority. The vast majority of students we
have on campus are drawn from New England, generally upper middle class, likely without a parent in the
military. I tell student veterans that they may be the only
chance some students have to interact with someone
who has served in the military and been deployed in
America’s longest wars. Do what you can to share your
experiences with them and educate them.”
That, in itself, is a balance. The all-too-real challenges
many veterans face with issues such as PTSD also create
stereotypes. Student vets mention the occasional sense
they’ll get that someone is wondering if they’re a “ticking time bomb.” While fellow veterans Ryan Britch and
Corey Tefft both wear black metal memorial bracelets
honoring a fallen comrade, they otherwise look like any
other pair of UVM undergrad guys in baseball caps, and
generally like it that way. Tefft says, “I don’t mind talking about it sometimes. But it’s easier if not everybody is
asking me a million questions.”
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Art
The Fleming Museum’s collection reaches far beyond its gallery walls
Everyone’s a curator these days. From iTunes playlists to
Fleming’s seminar room. Members of the Arts Initiative residential learning community housed in the Living/Learning Center, they’re here for
their class, “Exploring Art and Culture through the Fleming Museum.”
Across from them sit their three instructors: Margaret Tamulonis, manager of the Fleming’s collections and exhibitions; Ann Barlow, director
of the Arts Initiative; and Sarah Reid, residential learning community
program director. Between the groups, laid out on the table are ten sculptures, varying in color, size, material, and age, each originating from an
African culture. The students’ task is to conceptualize and create a case
for the museum’s African Gallery. Their research on each of the figures
now complete, the work of selecting and organizing—and choosing a
theme—must begin.
It’s a tense moment; the stakes are high. The class has a real product
to deliver in less than a month, and their work will be public. Standoffs
happen, both groups occasionally as silent and still as the figures between
them. Questions are posed, but few answers are given. Finally, one student says, “I think we need to touch the statues. Is that OK?”
Work
by Amanda Waite ’02 G’04
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
Netflix queues to Pinterest boards, humans are selecting, organizing, and
presenting content more than ever before. If the spark started with the
ubiquity of the mixtape in the 1980s, technology-enabled curation for
the masses has been set ablaze by social media. Whether consciously or
unconsciously, curating is on our collective minds.
In this era, museums—places with deep anchors in the past—have a
new relevance and immediacy in the future we’re all creating. How can
distinct objects, artwork and ideas be brought together to describe a person or people, a place, or to tell a story? “This activity,” says Janie Cohen,
“has become everyone’s—not just a select group of curators.”
Cohen is director of the University of Vermont’s Robert Hull Fleming Museum, an institution that for eighty-three years has enriched the
campus and surrounding community with galleries of its own collections
and changing exhibitions, with museum talks, tours and demonstrations.
Increasingly, the Fleming is drawing students into the curation work
that’s long been the domain of the museum.
But if the practice of curation has become commonplace, museums
still have one up on the digital landscape: their physicality. UVM’s Fleming Museum is home to a trove of primary source material—25,000
objects, spanning the history of civilization. It provides students and
faculty the opportunity not only to view an amazing range of art and
artifacts, but also to work with those objects on research and creative
projects, enriching the scholarly life of the university as a whole.
In late spring, half a dozen students are gathered at a table in the
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A smile flashes across Tamulonis’s face. It’s an important turning point.
With white gloves on, the students stand and carefully position and reposition the figures. The tension
is broken, and a conversation erupts: How should the
items be grouped? What will their grouping communicate? What, if anything, should be cut? What’s missing?
One month later, they reconvene in the African Gallery, ready to officially arrange their selections before
the glass is lowered onto the display. Their final choices,
which will be on view through fall 2014, explore the
stages of the life cycle as represented within African
cultures. Landing on that theme as a class, “was a light
bulb moment,” says Taylor Perry ’15. For her, working on the objects’ labels, a unique writing project for
the double major in English and studio art, was one of
the best parts of the class. Final decisions made, Perry
stands in front of the display with her classmates. Cell
phone cameras out, they snap photos, and of course,
selfies, with their work—a clear sign of pride in their
joint accomplishment.
The Fleming has offered a course with a student curation component for years; many have been led by Tamulonis. In addition to the Arts Initiative class, now in its
second year, an Honors College sophomore seminar
also gives students an introduction to museum studies.
This past year, Tamulonis and Jennifer Dickinson, associate professor of anthropology, worked with students
to create “EAT: The Social Life of Food,” which was on
display in fall 2013 and spring 2014. The exhibit, with
objects ranging from a eighteenth-century Japanese picnic box to a piece of Civil War hardtack, explored the
connections between people and food, revealing how its
preparation and consumption provides not just physical but also social and cultural sustenance. This fall, a
new initiative takes yet another approach to student
curation. An art history class taught by Professor Kelley
Helmstutler-Di Dio and an anthropology class of Dickinson’s will work together to co-curate an exhibit.
CROSSING CAMPUS
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very personal, and it really just speaks to that individual.“
It’s not only graduate-level students digging into
research assignments at the museum. This past semester,
Di Dio assigned students in her “Global Baroque Art”
class an item from the Fleming to research and present
in an online exhibition. Her approach to teaching the
class was changed by an exhibit she saw in London a few
years ago. “When I came back and looked around the
Fleming to see what we have, I was struck by the fact
that I could actually do a global Baroque approach with
the class and have them work firsthand with objects,”
she says. “The Fleming has some great objects—some
really unusual objects.” One group worked on a set of
four playing cards, for example, items Di Dio notes that
are beyond the realm of traditional art history. “I try to
incorporate all sorts of material culture,” she says, “and
the Fleming’s great for that.”
Solidly within the realm of traditional art history,
though, was student Kelly Costello’s assignment: one
of the Fleming’s Rembrandt prints. “I was so excited
to see it in person,” says Costello ’17 of the Dutch
master’s etching, part of the museum’s permanent collection that was pulled from storage specially for her
viewing. “It was a great opportunity for me as a firstyear in the art history program to be able to see a Rembrandt in person right away. I got to see it up close,” she
says. That access was critical to her assignment, which
involved researching how the piece was created. With
eyes inches from the work, Costello was able to see and
understand the subtle etching techniques that revolutionized printmaking at the time. Details “you would
never notice,” she explains, crystallizing the value of
that hands-on experience the museum’s holdings provide, “if you were looking at it online.”
VQ
Student Power
The Fleming is an important contributor in a universitywide effort to give more students the opportunity for work
experience before graduation. Nearly 100 students are
employed each semester at the museum, in work-study
positions and internships with responsibilities ranging from
gallery attendants to marketing assistants. Students have
helped catalog nearly all of the museum’s 25,000 items, unpack new arrivals, and inspect items’ conditions over time.
Occasionally, an intern gets to take on a curatorial role.
In spring of 2014, Cornelia Clay ’15 from Newburyport,
Massachusetts, worked alongside museum director Janie
Cohen in a dream position for the double major in art history and studio art. Cohen, an expert on Picasso, is curating
an innovative show on the artist’s famed 1907 painting,
“Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” slated for spring 2015. Clay’s
task was to explore what contemporary artists have been
influenced by the piece, “and she made some absolutely
great discoveries,” Cohen says, one of which will be part of
the exhibition. “It’s been a good exercise as an art historian,”
says Clay, who has learned the ins and outs of planning an
exhibit, from researching work to drafting loan letters as
part of the for-credit internship. “Janie’s a wealth of knowledge,” Clay says. “It’s like taking a Picasso class but more
memorable.”
FA L L 2 0 1 4
While entire courses like these are designed around the
museum, the Fleming plays a supporting role for dozens of classes each semester. Art and anthropology may
be the disciplines you’d expect to find interfacing with
a museum—and they do in large numbers—but the
Fleming’s reach is much broader. Medical students, for
example, visit to practice observation, a crucial skill for
a clinician. A religion class has walked through the space
to consider museum-going as ritualistic activity. Education students visit to learn about integrating the arts into
their curricula.
The Honors College, Cohen says, has played an
important role in expanding the Fleming’s reach in
recent years. In addition to its museum studies seminar
for students, the college invited the Fleming in 2006 to
host its annual faculty seminar. Nearly twenty professors came to the museum for three days of discussion
on topics ranging from museological issues to history
of academic museums to history of the Fleming. “Then
we let them loose in storage—in a controlled manner.
They were like kids in a candy shop! We charged them
with identifying an object or a set of objects that connect to teaching in their field.” The experience made a
lasting impression on the faculty, and the result, Cohen
says, has been “so incredible. We expanded the breadth
of disciplines and the number of departments using us,
and the ways in which they use us.”
Faculty awareness of the Fleming’s resources translates to richer experiences for students. For graduate
student Kassandra LaPrade Seuthe, taking history lecturer Andrew Buchanan’s course, “War and Culture in
America,” that meant working with two items in the
collection: Union uniforms from the Civil War. For her
research paper, “Outfitting of Union Troops During the
American Civil War,” Seuthe made a visit to the museum
to see two coats, one belonging to Charles Wainwright, a
nineteen-year-old Burlington soldier with the Vermont
volunteer infantry regiment.
Seuthe is no stranger to museum work; before coming to UVM, she spent four years at the Holocaust
Museum in Washington, D.C., where she worked as a
German language researcher on an exhibit that opened
in 2013. Coming to UVM, drawn by the Holocaust
Studies program and the legacy of the late, renowned
Professor Raul Hilberg, she was eager to continue her
focus on material culture—just the sort of opportunity
the Fleming’s collections allow. Her paper explored how
the Union uniforms are an item of personal significance,
particularly for Wainwright, who remained active in veterans associations in the post-war period; they’re also a
product of the greater wartime economy, a boon for a
variety of parties, from seamstresses to wool growers.
“When you see the garment in person,” Seuthe says,
“so many additional things are revealed, particularly in this
case. I could compare the construction of both coats. One
is a captain’s frock coat, and one is a private’s frock coat,
and you see a marked difference in the construction. It’s
31
In the college admissions fight, it does not hurt to have the Green Mountains
in your corner. When Nate Bosshard was a high school kid in La Crosse, Wisconsin,
deciding where he wanted to go to college, he considered his priorities,
snowboarding among them: “I wanted to be able to go to a good school, close to
mountains. I picked UVM because I really liked the blend of lifestyle and academics.”
CALL TO
ACTION
As a prospective student, Bosshard was not alone in that.
Nor is he alone as an alumnus who found a way to turn his
love for action sports into a livelihood. In this issue we check
in with Nate Bosshard and fellow alumni who followed their
32
photographs by Adam Moran ’00
nate
BOSSHARD ’01 isn’t
a guy who does things in halves. A
WRUV DJ during his student days
and for a few years beyond, he figures
that he listened to every single record
in the student radio station’s collection
of vinyl, the largest in the state. “I’ve
never succeeded in anything if I wasn’t
truly, truly, deeply passionate about it,”
he says. For Bosshard, that arc of galvanized interest traces through hip hop
music and snowboarding to a career in
action sports brand marketing.
After establishing his credential at
Burton Snowboards, then moving to
the West Coast and working for North
Face, Bosshard’s next step would be
heading up brand marketing at GoPro,
a rapidly growing company that bridges
the action sports and tech worlds with
headquarters in Silicon Valley. He
describes his unit’s role as being “the
hub on the wheel,” collaborating with
GoPro colleagues from engineering to
sales to public relations in the steps of
bringing a new product to market.
So, how does a political science
major find his way to a top job at
GoPro? For Bosshard, it began with
listening to his mom. When he told his
parents, both lawyers, that he didn’t
want to follow them into the profession, his mother suggested he diversify
his education with internships in the
things that did interest him. He laughs
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
passions into careers in the action sports industry.
by Thomas Weaver
33
lifestyle shots off. Moran, who lives in
Venice, California, is now a full-time
photographer for Burton.
“The biggest misconception that my
friends have is they think that I’m just
always snowboarding,” Moran says.
“But when you’re out shooting, your
snowboard becomes just your transportation to get to the next shot. You
have a forty-pound pack on with camera gear, and you’re following people
around. Some days you bring your
snowboard, but it might not get used.”
Still, Moran adds, that makes the
rare day when it’s just him and his
snowboard all the sweeter.
nate
“I took everything I learned at Burton and kind of put it in fifth gear with
North Face,” Bosshard says. “I’m really
happy with the work I did over four
years. It was more of the same, ‘hub on
the wheel,’ a lot of creative autonomy,
bigger stage, bigger company.”
The tech industry’s magnet is powerful in the Bay Area and, particularly as
he built friendships with professionals
in the field, Bosshard started to feel its
pull. He found a fit that bridged action
sports and tech in GoPro, but this summer made the decision to jump into
tech with both feet. He’s now marketing director for Dropcam, a software
company that does cloud-based wi-fi
video monitoring.
Married, a four-year-old and a twoyear-old at home, and a demanding job
in a new industry, some things have
changed dramatically over the past
dozen or so years for Bosshard. And
others have not. “I still get out,” he says.
“I surf, I mountain bike, I snowboard.
That’s who I am. That’s what makes me
happy.”
NATE BOSSHARD PHOTOGRAPHED BY NATE BOSSHARD WITH A GOPRO
If ADAM MORAN ’00 was a little
full of himself, you could forgive him.
Friend and business manager to Shaun
White and a professional snowboard
photographer for Burton, those are
things that could go to a guy’s head. But
Moran is humble and without attitude.
“I love what I do,” he says. “A combination of snowboarding and photography, the two things I like the most.
I’m sorry, it’s kind of a dream job that
it actually worked out like that in life.”
Moran, a studio art major at UVM,
began work in the Burton store in the
iconic company’s Burlington headquarters in 2002. It was the proverbial
“foot in the door” job, and he quickly
moved on to roles with greater and
greater responsibility, a fairly typical
trajectory at Burton, several alumni
who have worked for the company say.
From photo editing to team management, Moran’s focus and skills came
together as he traveled with White and
other Burton athletes. He was constantly with some of the world’s best
snowboarders and able to capture spectacular action shots on snow and cool
ABOVE: ADAM MORAN ’00; RIGHT: KARI ROWE
amen
AMEN TETER ’99 is global director of action sports at Octagon, the
world’s largest sports marketing agency.
In addition to the action sports athletes
on his management team’s roster, their
client list also includes Olympic athletes such as Michael Phelps, Apolo
Ohno, and Mikaela Shiffrin. The brother of Olympic gold medalist
Hannah Teter and professional snowboarders Elijah and Abe, Teter
has been around top-flight snowboarding most of his life.
VQ caught up with him on the phone one day in May as Teter
drove from his home in Portland, Oregon, to Mount Hood for an
annual Snowboarder Magazine event that brought together the sport’s
best for a day of photo and video opportunities. Here’s a look at some
of what he had to say:
On his current focus
“ I just spent the last month with Jamie Anderson, who won gold in
slopestyle at Sochi. I’ve been traveling the country on her media tour,
taking care of business opportunities for her, just really taking advantage of the Olympics. I just got back from Washington, DC, where
we were at the White House Correspondents Dinner. The president
actually gave a shoutout to Jamie at the dinner, which was really amazing. It’s been a whirlwind since the Olympics. I’m still a little frazzled.”
On his field’s youth culture
“ These are young sports and it keeps me young. That being said, it’s a
more and more sophisticated business. I think ten years ago, it was fully
FA L L 2 0 1 4
34
at the suggestion that it’s impressive he actually heard her out: “My mom continues to be a good
source of advice. My dad is more of the lifestyle coach,
and my mom is more of the career coach.”
Bosshard soon found his way to JDK Design, a Burlington-based firm with an impressive list of hip national
clients, including Vermont’s own Burton Snowboards. Not long after
graduation, he was on the staff at Burton in brand marketing—the
lowest paid guy in the department, a considerable workload in volume, variety, and responsibility, but with all of the learning opportunities that brings.
Besides, he worked at Burton. “I remember when I first got my Burton email, when I first had [email protected]. I was like, ‘I’ve made
it.’ I would go snowboarding before work and on the weekends. I was
interacting with professional snowboarders who were my heroes. I
could bring my dog to work. In my twenties, that was my dream job.”
Bosshard made his mark at Burton by conceiving the “Poachers
Campaign,” a challenge for boarders to ride at resorts that banned
snowboarding, create videos of their lawlessness, and share them with
the carrot of a $5,000 prize for the best among them. In terms of usergenerated content, the idea was ahead of its time, and it drew wide
media interest from USA Today to National Public Radio’s “All Things
Considered.”
That work and the contacts he built from it, helped Bosshard take
his next step, all the way across the country to San Francisco in 2008,
where he signed on with North Face as the company’s new brand
manager when the mountaineering-rooted clothing manufacturer
looked to create a cooler, action sports brand.
adam
“I will be bringing other
young agents into the business. Those type of people
are very important—people
who are really embedded in
the industry, live it, breathe
it, sweat and bleed it.”
35
Family Affair: Search for “Stella and Quincy”
on YouTube to see a GoPro video of alumni
couple Wil and Jill Tidman’s kids’ first
experience with snow. (Keep an eye out
for Quincy’s UVM hat.)
a young person’s game. It required
a young person able to navigate the
scene, be in the midst of it, party
with the crew. It’s becoming more
sophisticated, and experience is
being shown to prevail more and
more in our business. Being able
to make smart decisions with a
smart group of people is what
ends up winning out. I’m in a position now where I’m working with
other agents, so I will be bringing
other young agents into the business. Those type of people are very
important—people who are really
embedded in the industry, live it,
breathe it, sweat and bleed it.”
36
On a defining moment
“ I met Paul Cascio ’94 my first day at UVM. We became roommates
and best friends. I learned so much from him. I probably have about
a hundred people I would consider trustworthy friends that I met
through this guy. He was a connector—this bright light that brought
people together, had this infectious laugh, wanted to include everyone.
After graduation he got a job at Cantor-Fitzgerald in New York, and he
ended up dying in the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. Paul embodied UVM for me and losing him was one of those things that shapes
your life. I wouldn’t say I grew up then. I had plenty of formative years
from that point, but I realigned myself around what really matters and
makes a difference to me.”
wil
Like most people, I’ve never seen a
pelican’s-bill view of the world. At first,
the video “Pelican Learns to Fly” makes
me laugh—looking up the long bill at
the narrow, swiveling head and blinking
eyes, the sheer weirdness of the perspective. Then, as the young bird rescued
by a sanctuary in Tanzania begins to
slowly flap its long wings and take flight
over water, I quickly trade my little LOL
moment for, let’s say, more profound
matters like awe at natural grace and the
miracle of flight.
“Pelican Learns to Fly” is on a short
YouTube watch list that WIL TIDMAN ’96, media producer for GoPro
cameras, suggests to me during a phone
interview conducted one morning as
he drives from his home in central San
Francisco to company headquarters
in San Mateo. After the African bird, I
move on to an American kitten, a housefire scene shot with a GoPro mounted
to a firefighter’s helmet in Fresno, California. Late to the party, I become the
21,601,960th person on the planet to
watch “Fireman Saves Kitten.”
WIL TIDMAN AND SON PHOTOGRAPHED BY WIL TIDMAN WITH A GOPRO
daniel
It’s been a little more than a year since DANIEL NEUKOMM ’01
took a milestone career step—assuming the role of CEO at LaJolla
Group, one of the world’s top multi-brand apparel companies with
some 450 employees, international offices, and a fleet of retail stores.
Asked about the pressures of the job, he says, “I’d be lying if I told you
it didn’t take some getting used to. But it’s extremely rewarding and
fulfilling. It is a lot of fun to be brought into a company with the expectation of making changes versus the expectation of being less creative
and just operating a pre-existing structure.”
LaJolla Group, with its centerpiece brand O’Neill, was part of an
industry-wide trend in surf/action sports as all “recalibrated their
portfolios,” (Burton, Quiksilver, Billabong…) to consolidate focus,
including installing a different profile of executive leadership in the
C-suite. Previously, the typical CEO was someone whose roots were
in their passion for the sport and whose career was built within the
young industry; the new leaders running the surf brands are more
typically experienced chief executives bringing their talents from outside the space (brands like Nike and Disney, or non-consumer back-
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
On an agent’s approach
“ You expect an agent to be just as cutthroat as possible, right? Agents
are kind of seen as sharks, guys that are a necessary evil. In the beginning I felt like, I’ve got to learn to play that role—I’ve got to learn to be
more cutthroat and always squeeze every last drop out of every deal that
I can. I think what I’ve learned over the years is that, more so, having
a win-win in relationships is the most important thing. Because, look,
talent fades and if you’ve squeezed the rock dry, it always creates ill will.
If you’ve squeezed every last bit out of a company, when it comes time
to cut the budget your athlete can be on the chopping block quicker if
they’ve taken more than what’s perceived as their fair share. So I think
my role is to work with brands to make sure it’s a win-win, making sure
everyone feels they’ve gotten a good deal. And that’s tricky. That takes
time and experience and knowing market value and understanding how
much to push and when to back off.”
The world famous kitten and pelican
are what’s known in the business as UGC
(user-generated content), Tidman says.
For a company like GoPro, it’s a key way
to market their brand to a loyal following
and the uninitiated. Tidman’s unit will
discover something like the kitten rescue video, connect with the individual
who created it, enhance the production
quality, and push it out to the world in
numerous ways. “It’s one of the most fun
things we do every day,” he says. “When
something great comes in, everyone
huddles around a computer to look at it.”
Overseeing a team of nearly seventy
employees, Tidman’s unit not only harvests the best of GoPro on the internet,
but they create a considerable amount of
incredible video shot by talented, fearless individuals with cameras strapped
on themselves. For GoPro’s last product
launch, Tidman sent eight teams to eight
different countries—tracking lions in
Africa, surfing in Fiji, skiing in Chile, for
example—to create weekly video stories. Efforts like that have nudged GoPro
into a place as an emerging media company in addition to selling cameras. An
Xbox platform and a channel on Virgin
America flights are among their new
directions.
Tidman says that though GoPro’s
roots in action sports remain strong—
a core market of mountain bikers and
snowboarders documenting their personal gnarliness—the demographic has
broadened as the world takes this new
tool and figures out new things to do
with it. “It’s a life capture,” Tidman says.
Musicians are mounting GoPros on the
necks of their guitars, dog lovers are sharing Rover’s view as he bounds through
the underbrush, parents like Wil Tidman
are documenting family life with his young children, Stella and Quincy.
“Disruptive” is an important word in the advertising, marketing,
media worlds. And GoPro is disruptive, Tidman says, dramatically
changing the way the world is viewed and media is created.
Tidman has loved film all the way back to “movie nights” at home
when he was a kid. A psych major/art minor and varsity soccer player at
UVM, after graduation Tidman headed out with close friend and teammate Jesse Cormier ’95 on a classic cross-country trip. While Cormier
would fly back and embark on a soccer career (he’s been UVM’s head
coach since 2003), Tidman stayed in California and worked his way
into film production. Before GoPro, he was head of production at the
sports marketing agency IMG for seven years.
His wife, Jill Tidman ’94, also works in the film/media world. She’s
a producer for the Redford Institute, making films for environmental advocacy. The couple often discuss ideas and projects. Wil helped
bring surfer Kelly Slater, a GoPro athlete, on board for a serious-intent/
humorously delivered PSA with Will Ferrell and Robert Redford. (Also
on the YouTube watch list. Look it up. You’re welcome.)
While Wil Tidman says he feels “incredibly blessed” to have a job
that is so intertwined with his personal interests, it’s also a demanding
pace at a company that has gone from one hundred employees to nine
hundred in the five years he’s worked there.
“It is intense,” he says. “I’ve never had a job where I was so busy,
where there was just no time in the day to take a breath. But, luckily, the
people I work with are very talented and the culture at GoPro is pretty
amazing. We all realize we’re at the bottom of the first inning and there
is a long way to go.”
37
the
Burton
factor
For several of the alumni featured in this
article and many other UVM grads, the
path to a career in the action sports industry began just a few miles from campus
at the Burlington headquarters of Burton
daniel
ALUMNI
CONNECTION
Snowboards.
Some, such as Jenny Stavish ’01, built
their credentials at Burton and eventually moved on to other brands in the
industry. Stavish has worked for Sole Tech,
Quiksilver, and is now with Nixon Watches.
Same goes for Jeff Brusven ’02, specialty
sales manager for performance and snow
sports at North Face.
An impressive array of UVMers currently
work for Burton in a variety of roles. Leaders at the pioneering Vermont snowboard
and lifestyle clothing/gear company
include: Dave Driscoll ’01, global team
manager; Billy Allen ’04, brand manager;
Frankie Chapin ’08, team manager for Burton Snowboards/Analog Clothing/Anon
Optics; Evan Rose ’95, director of creative;
Todd Ciardelli ’96, senior demand planner;
and Israel Maynard ’96, managing director
for Burton China.
Maynard notes that he and his Burton
colleagues Rose and Ciardelli are all grads
of the Recreation Management Program
in the Rubenstein School of Environment
and Natural Resources. In an e-mail from
Beijing, Maynard, an eight-year veteran at
Burton, rattles off what he’s tackled since
the move to China in 2012. One senses
that a certain action sports honed comfort
38
asset in this business world as Burton
explores new territory. He notes in closing,
“The economic scene in China can best be
described as the wild west—and that may
be putting it mildly.”
JESSY PLUME
Rite of Autumn
Reunion and Homecoming Weekend 2014 offered
an inspiring glimpse of a university that President
Tom Sullivan told alumni “is transforming itself
both inside and out.” From the groundbreaking for
the new Alumni House—opening next fall—to an
announcement of a $1 million gift from Richard W.
Barrett ’66 for the new STEM Complex to the gatherings across Burlington for generations of grads,
the annual event drew upon both UVM heritage
and fresh energy on the 223-year-old campus.
SALLY MCCAY AND JEFF CLARKE
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
with speed and uncertainty might be an
grounds in management consulting and investment banking).
Neukomm looks like something of a hybrid of those two types. The
Green Mountains’ snowy slopes helped draw him to UVM; he had a
brief and unsuccessful run at professional freestyle skiing after graduation; started a business (with fellow alumni Kesha Seeley ’01 and Seth
Owen ’01) selling oxygen to soften the effects of altitude sickness on
flatlanders visiting Western ski resorts; and recounting when he and
his wife got their three-year-old twin daughters, Charlotte and Mackenzie, on skis in Colorado last winter says, “as a ski bum that may be
one of the most fulfilling milestones of my life.”
At the same time, Neukomm, who was a political science major/
economics minor at UVM, is an executive who earned an MBA at the
International School of Management in Paris, where he focused his
work in strategy and finance, while writing his thesis on using social
media to build brand affiliation, an area of expertise that would earn
him an interview in Forbes Magazine. Prior to taking on the CEO role
at LaJolla, Neukomm was an executive vice president focused on analysis and strategy for the company.
“I definitely am more of a back-end operator than a front-end marketer or brand evangelist type. I’m systems and process oriented,”
Neukomm says. “Ultimately, my goal is to build structure and tools to
make other people here successful.” He adds that a priority is creating
a corporate culture in which employees don’t just tolerate their work,
but embrace it. “One of the most important ways to do that is not to
force things, but to fuel things,” he says.
For many on LaJolla Group’s staff, love of the sport is where it all
begins. For Neukomm, that’s just as relevant from his corner office
view. “Although I’m older than the middle of the bell curve of our primary demographic,” Neukomm says, sounding every bit the analyst,
“I’ve been the consumer. I still am. At the end of the day I have the passion and the emotional attachment to the environments these brands
represent. We’re in the business of really selling the dream, selling to
aspirational consumers. And, absolutely, having an emotional connection to that aspiration is something that I find helping me guide
decisions.”
VQ
39
[REUNIONHOMECOMING
A flavor of the weekend
The Alumni Association honored
Olympic athlete Lowell Bailey ’05 and
entrepreneurship advocate Scott
Bailey ’09 with the Outstanding Young
Alumni Award; North Hero innkeeper
Walter Blasberg ’71 and UVM hockey
hall of famer Ian Boyce ’89 received the
Distinguished Service Award; Sandy
Hook Promise founder and journalist
Rob Cox ’89 was this year’s recipient of
the Alumni Achievement Award (see
page 3 for more on Cox); and Lois McClure with the Lifetime Achievemnt in
Philanthropy Award.
40
Reunion class giving grew to more
than $9 million for the year. And all
gifts through December 31, 2014 will
still count toward the reunion giving
campaign.
A Saturday morning groundbreaking ceremony heralded the coming of
the university’s first Alumni House. The
historic former Delta Psi house, on the
northwest corner of Summit and Maple
streets, will open in the fall of 2015 after
undergoing extensive renovations,
including an added pavilion to be used
for university and community events.
The building project, funded entirely by
an ongoing fundraising campaign, will
cost $11.2 million. More than five hundred donors have contributed nearly $6
million to the effort thus far. The new
pavilion was funded by a $2 million gift
from UVM graduate Jack Silver, class of
1964, earlier this year.
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V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
Speaking at the fortieth anniversary
of the Royall Tyler Theatre, Pulitzer
prize-winner Tony Kushner told the
crowd a playwright’s job is “to entertain
people by telling the truth … nothing
matters more than that.” Other weekend speakers included Eric Fingerhut,
president and CEO of Hillel International, who delivered the Dan and Carole
Burack President’s Lecture, and UVM
engineering professor Donna Rizzo
G’94, winner of the Alumni Association’s
George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty
Award for 2014.
SALLY MCCAY AND JEFF CLARKE
41
[ALUMNICONNECTION
P RO FILE S IN GIV IN G
ALUMNI CALENDAR
NOVEMBER
LIFE BEYOND GRADUATION
Burlington, November 25 Chittenden County Hockey
DECEMBER
Strangefolk Power
Washington, D.C., December 2 Alumni Association Holiday Party,
Anderson House
A
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
ANDY DUBACK
uvmfoundation.org/giving
‘‘
Jack Schweberger writes:
Dick Dalton, you are the reason I espoused to everyone who would listen through
the years the value of being assigned a college roommate during freshman year.
Meeting you for the first time, and having you for a roommate, introduced me to many,
many wonderful Vermonters who I otherwise might never have met. You all were personable,
friendly, caring, happy, and helpful people who forever enriched my life.
Boston, December 2
Alumni Association Holiday Party,
Millennium Bostonian Hotel
New York, December 3
Alumni Association Holiday Party,
Celsius at Bryant Park
San Francisco, December 4
Alumni Association Holiday Party,
Google
’’
— Class of ’67
Burlington, December 9
Alumni Association Holiday Party,
Shelburne Museum
JANUARY
Stowe, January 30-31
UVM Ski & Ride
33-64
Philadelphia, January 31
Men’s Hockey vs. Penn State
FEBRUARY
Washington, D.C., February 2
Admitted Student Reception
Philadelphia, February 3
Admitted Student Reception
New York, February 4
Admitted Student Reception
Stratton, February 6-8
UVM Ski & Ride
Burlington, March 22
Etiquette Dinner
“Dinner with the Boss”
Burlington, March 30
Admitted Student Reception
Burlington, April 8
Career Networking Event
Chicago, April 8
Admitted Student Reception
For details &
registration
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Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
APRIL
alumni.
uvm.edu
40
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
MARCH
uvm.edu.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
75TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
GREEN & GOLD REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
80TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
36
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
Send your news to—
Mary Shakespeare Minckler
100 Wake Robin Drive
Shelburne, VT 05482
Francis Nye phoned to report
that he and Nina Van Ausdal,
whom he has known for forty
years, were married on April 23 in
a Catholic Church in Alburquerque,
New Mexico. He is 95 years old and
his wife is 91. Arnie Becker shares
that it is incredible that he met Ruth
Spiwek ’42 at UVM 76 years ago. He
writes “We married 71 years ago and
we are still in our home in Connecticut. We stay in touch with Art Wolk
and George Tulin and are surrounded
by family.” Carole Stetson Spaulding
died June 25, 2014 at Allenwood in
South Burlington. She graduated
with a degree in commerce and
economics and was a member of
Delta Delta Delta sorority. Carole and
Albert “Bud” Spaulding ’38 were
married for 65 years and made their
home in Burlington and summered
on Colchester Point. Carole was
employed in the Burlington school
system. She was actively involved in
the UVM Alumni Association. After
retirement, she and Bud traveled
extensively and often brought one or
two grandchildren along.
Send your news to—
Maywood Metcalf Kenney
44 Birch Road
Andover, MA 01810
[email protected]
42
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
43
Florence Smith White is doing well and enjoying life. She
is a strong UVM supporter,
remembering with pride her years
there. I wish I had other news from
classmates, but I did hear from a former student of mine, Don Panoushek
’54. He recounted a cruise that he had
just taken on the Mississippi and Ohio
rivers from Memphis
SUMMER 2008
ndre Gardner ’95 was drawn to UVM for its top-notch environmental
studies program and still reflects fondly on influential faculty. In particular, Bill Eddy’s environmental philosophy class made a lasting impression. Gardner has held onto the worn three-ring binder with Eddy’s eyeopening reading list.
It was through the environmental studies program that Gardner first came into
contact with Jon Trafton ’95, lead guitarist and founding member of the popular folkjam band Strangefolk. Gardner remembers the acoustic concerts that Trafton and fellow founding member, Reid Genauer ’94, played at Slade Hall. A love of Strangefolk’s
music eventually led him to a six-year stint as tour manager for the band.
Those two UVM experiences come together with Gardner’s recent gift to the UVM
Foundation to create The Strangefolk Scholarship, benefitting students in the Rubenstein School for Environment and
“It’s kinda weighty to think that our junky School Street
Natural Resources. “I am so grateful
for the time I spent at UVM,” Gardner
band could be a permanent part of higher education.”
says. “It just made sense to me to do a
small part in helping someone else experience the same outstanding education.”
Gardner fronted the initial $25,000 to establish the scholarship and is hoping that
Strangefolk fans and friends will rally to help the fund reach $50,000, the minimum
for an endowed scholarship.
“I recall a mild bout of the chills,” says Genauer about hearing news of the scholarship. “It’s kinda weighty to think that our junky School Street band could be a permanent part of higher education.” Since then, the band has helped to promote the
scholarship and even donated a portion of the proceeds from their October show in
Burlington to the cause—and they’re not stopping there. “I sent out an email to 30,000
people on our mailing list and went nuts on Facebook. I’m hoping to continue to help
by reaching out personally to a few kindred spirits who hold a place in their hearts, if
not their pocketbooks, for Strangefolk and UVM.”
There is precedent, in fact, for Strangefolk fans—or “Strange Rangers” as they
are known—to give back. In 1997, fans formed a small, non-profit organization that
mobilized volunteers to collect food items at concert sites and donate them to local
food banks.
To date, the Strange Rangers have not disappointed on the UVM scholarship
front. Gardner’s initial donation has been almost doubled, bringing the current total
to more than $44,000 and he is optimistic that number will keep growing. “I’m lighting the fire and I hope the Strangefolk community will turn this into a raging inferno.”
42
CLASSNOTES
43
[CLASSNOTES
to Cincinnati in eleven days on board
the American Queen. On a somber
note we grieve with Don over the
loss of his dear friend and classmate,
Charles Lloyd Hughes ’53.
Send your news to—
June Hoffman Dorion
Maples, Apt.114
3 General Wing Road
Rutland, VT 05701
[email protected]
44
Christo F. Bicoules, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, died
on June 11, 2014, following
a short illness. He visited UVM often
through the years, and he always
enjoyed his time on campus and his
connections with classmates.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
45
70TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
46
Send your news to-Mrs. Harriet Bristol Saville
468 Church Road, #118
Colchester, VT 05446
[email protected]
44
48
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
49
Gladys and Malcolm Severance write, “We are sorry to
have been so remiss in not
keeping in touch with our classmates
through the Quarterly. This will be
a real quick 65-year catch-up. After
graduation, Gladys taught for two
years while Malcolm worked on his
doctorate at Wisconsin. Then a year of
graduate work at Cornell for Gladys
and we were married and returned
to Wisconsin to finish Mal’s degree.
Since then our lives have revolved
around UVM—one of the best places
on earth. When we returned to UVM
in 1953, and for the next four years,
Gladys was the “House Mother” at
Converse Hall. (Remember closing hours and signing in and out?)
The 100 women students felt special
having a “House Father” and “House
Babies.” Malcolm taught economics
from 1953 until retirement in 1986
with two stints in administration:
assistant dean of Arts and Sciences
from 1961-64, and special assistant to
the president from 1964-67. The last
nine years before retirement Malcolm
was chairman of the new business
department after it was separated
from economics, and he brought it
to school status. At the same time
he served on various boards in the
community. After retirement, he was
director of the New England School
of Banking for seven years, spent
eight years in the Vermont House of
Representatives, 1998-2006, and was
a trustee of UVM for two terms, 199096 and 1999-2005. In the meantime,
Gladys ran as fast as she could keeping up with Malcolm, served an elective office in the Town of Colchester
for 13 years, did the usual volunteer
work involved with three kids active
in Girl Scouts, Little League, and 4-H
horse club, drove kids and horses all
over Vermont, ran Malcolm’s campaigns, and was instrumental in starting Meals on Wheels in Burlington.
We loved to travel, visiting Europe,
Africa (Egypt and a safari in Kenya),
China, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, and all of the 50 United
States. Malcolm’s last project was the
most demanding (for both of us)—
writing his History of Business Education at UVM. It is the story beginning in 1899 with a gift of $50,000
from John H. Converse. It follows the
challenges through the years up to
the present and the promise of the
school’s bright future. Hopefully the
book will be published by Reunion
time.” Harry J. Dzewaltowski Sr.
passed away on April 28, 2014 at
the age of 93 at home after losing a
long courageous battle against bone
cancer. He left with his wife and son
from the east coast after working for
General Electric and Raytheon companies, for the Boeing Company in
Seattle, Washington in 1958 where
he worked as a manufacturing engineer for over twenty five years until
his long retirement. Luke A. Howe
writes, “I graduated from UVM in 1949
and from UVM College of Medicine in
1952, interned at Mary Fletcher Hospital for one year, then did general
practice with my partner and classmate, Brewster Martin, for 10 years
at the Chelsea Health Center in Chelsea, Vermont. I then went with my
wife and two children for four years
to Palau and Saipan as Civil Service for the U.S. government at the
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
from 1964 to 1968. I then returned
to Townshend, Vermont, to do general practice until 1964 when I joined
the United States Public Health Service in Virginia, and then with the
U.S. Coast Guard until I retired in
1992. After enough CME studies I was
board certified as a family physician
in 1970. My wife, Patricia, and I then
lived in Florida in the winter and summered in Vermont until she died in
2011 after 58 years that we were married. In 2012 I moved to Harvest Hill,
a retirement home in Lebanon, New
Hampshire, where I have enjoyed
being here ever since. I guess that’s
the end of my story.”
Send your news to—
Arline (Pat) Brush Hunt
236 Coche Brook Crossing
West Charleston, VT 05872
50
65TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Patricia Varn Somerscales
from Troy, New York, writes, “My hus-
band, Euan (that’s Scottish), and I are
very active in Troy and the Capital District of New York. We also have family
members we visit in Albany, Milwaukee, Elmira area, and England, and
Scotland. I would like to hear from
anyone I once knew. Greetings to
all Class of 50’s, and those in classes
either side of that date.” I am happy
to announce that, with the help of
Professor Dennis Mahoney of the German and Russian Department, my
husband Charlie Ballantyne’s, Poetry
of a Lifetime has been published by
Wind Ridge Books of Vermont. Next
year will be our 65th Reunion so do
please plan ahead for that. I look forward to seeing you then if not before,
this fall.
Send your news to—
Hedi Stoehr Ballantyne
20 Kent Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
[email protected]
51
Willie Gibson ’85 and Mary
Truax, son and daughter of
the late K. Stewart “Stew”
Gibson, accepted the posthumous
2014 R. O. Sinclair Cup Award for their
father on Saturday, May 10, 2014, at
the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences’ Alumni and Friends Dinner.
This award honors retired faculty who
served with distinction, achieved
excellence in their profession, demonstrated an exemplary record of service, and a commitment to fulfill the
land-grant mission to serve the people of Vermont. Stew passed away on
October 1, 2013. Alan Smith of Santa
Barbara, California, writes that it is sad
to learn of the passing of Leonard
Miller and Sanford Epstein. “We were
part of the gang of six that graduated
from Burlington High School in 1947.
We have all lost touch, but the memories are still with us. Laura Mindick
Smith and I are in a senior facility and
still very active.”
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
52
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
VQEXTRA
online
ROBERT ’52 &
JEAN ’53 GILPIN
“Lewis Feuer had a
tremendous influence
on a lot of people like
me. We had come from
very small Vermont
towns and were very
inexperienced intellectually and every other
way. Feuer just opened
up a world to us that we
didn’t know existed.”
—Robert Gilpin on the
influential professor who lit
a fire that would lead him to
a professorship at Princeton,
numerous publications, a
Guggenheim and two Rockefeller fellowships—all parts
of a fascinating journey for
an accomplished alumni
couple.
read more at
uvm.edu/vq
53
Julia Rickard Kuntz from
Saint Clairsville, Ohio writes,
“When I was in grade school,
I lived in Burlington. The backyard
and porch were adjacent to the tennis court of the Delta Psi house. We
watched the boys play different
sports and marveled at their method
of cutting the grass on the hill. They
were very kind and let us use the tennis court if it was vacant. What a wonderful place for the Alumni House. I
am still working at the motel, with
the help of my son. This area is very
busy with drilling and pipe liners.
Would like to hear from others.” Don
Panoushek writes about his classmate, Charles Lloyd Hughes who
passed away in November of 2013:
“After joining the army for two years,
he received the G.I. Bill for a college
education and attended the University of Vermont. He met his future
wife, Joyce Bosley ’55 while in college. Colonel Hughes’ medical career
was outstanding. Noteworthy was his
renowned lifesaving, first ever, jaw
restorations while on military tour
in Vietnam. These were magnificent
feats!” Send your news to—
Nancy Hoyt Burnett
729 Stendhal Lane
Cupertino, CA 95014
[email protected]
54
Nancy Beauchamp writes,
“Last summer seven Pi Phis
got together for a mini
reunion at Mary Meeting Lake in central New Hampshire. Louis Ewart
Long of Orchard Park, New York;
Nancy Burden Tapley of Groton, Connecticut; Jean Spear Barker of Port
Saint Lucie, Florida; Cynthia Stafford
MacDonald of Montpelier, Vermont;
Martha Marvin Kelley of Exeter, New
Hampshire; Gretchen Ganow Kuyk
of Willow Street, Pennsylvania; and
Nancy Buchheim Beauchamp of
Rutland, Vermont; all gathered for
several days at the lake home of Lou’s
daughter, Susan, near Lake Winnipesaukee. All lived together as seniors
at the Pi Phi house and shared many
memories of the nearly 60 years since
graduation. All are well and are hoping to continue yearly gatherings.”
Matthew Baigell from New York,
New York, shares that his latest book,
Social Concern and Left Politics in Jewish American Art, will be published
in 2015. Jean Spear Barker writes,
“Bob Barker ’53 and I and our two
daughters and their husbands spent
five days in the Placerville, California, wine country above Sacramento
in June for our granddaughter Emily’s wedding. Our son, Bob Barker III
’81, who will be ordained next year
as a Lutheran minister, performed the
ceremony at a mountain top winery,
Fredericks, overlooking other wineries and snowcapped mountains in
the distance.”
Send your news to—
Kathryn Dimick Wendling
Apt. 1, 34 Pleasant Street
Woodstock, VT 05091
[email protected]
55
60TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Philip Snyder and his wife,
Sara Fisher ’57, met at UVM. She
wants to share that her husband
passed away peacefully on May 22,
2014. “He loved UVM then and now.
He had a wonderful sense of humor
and kept in touch with his college
friends. He will be very sorry to miss
his 60th Reunion in 2015.” Arlene
Scher Leiter shares that she is enjoying retirement. “I am living a quiet life
at the Rye Riviera at Water’s Edge in
Rye, New York. Gerard “Jerry” Allen
Mullen lost Jane Aronson ’55, his
best friend of 58 years and wife of
57, last year. He is now running for
a House seat from the Washington/
Chittenden district including Bolton,
Buell’s Gore, Huntington and Waterbury. Also getting electric bills of zero
due to 32 solar panels in the addition where his son, Rob Mullen ’78,
and his wife have moved in. Marilyn
Dukoff has a new address 401 East
80 St. Apt. 27H New York, NY 10075
and would love to hear from others. Helene Widder Chusid spent the
weekend in the Berkshires with Marilyn in July. “Next year more should
join us; let us know and we will put it
together.” Martin “Marty” Louis Warren writes, “After living in Omaha,
Nebraska, for thirty years, I have lived
in Chesterfield, Missouri (suburb of St.
Louis) for the last twenty-five. I have
been married 53 years; two sons and
families live in New York area. Blessed
with four grandchildren. Would love
to hear from old friends!” We would
love to hear from more of you. Please
send in your news!
Send your news to—
Jane Morrison Battles
Apt. 125A
500 East Lancaster Avenue
Wayne, PA 19087
[email protected]
Hal Lee Greenfader
Apt. 1
805 South Le Doux Road
Los Angeles, CA 90035
[email protected]
56
Ralph Winer writes, “I would
love to hear from classmates.
We retired to Delray Beach
on the East Coast of Florida 24 years
ago, moving into a country club community, with two golf courses and
21 tennis courts which keeps us very
active. We just celebrated our 58th,
and fortunately we enjoy pretty good
health. Unfortunately, we lost our
oldest, Pete, in an accident two years
ago. On the positive side, our daughter, Gail, is the senior vice president
of the very large Jewish Community Center in Baltimore, and our son,
Howard, is the national promotion
manager for CNN in Atlanta. We have
seven grandchildren, including triplet
boys now age 14, but they are spread
out between Boston, Providence,
Nashville, and Atlanta. The oldest
two granddaughters are in Berkeley School of Music and Rhode Island
School of Design. I have been on the
board of directors of our condo association for many years, and four years
ago I was elected to the board of governors and have been the president
of the club for the last two years. We
are in the midst of a complete renovation of the property, which takes
care of any free moments. I would
enjoy hearing from classmates/fraternity brothers and my email is [email protected].” Gil Dedrich
is trying to save Walden Pond, his
neighborhood pond, in the city of
Burnsville, Minnesota. Residents
have noticed the absence of wildlife
around the pond, and they fear that
“decades of contaminants collecting on the floor of the storm water
pond have created a hostile environment for animal and plant life.” Gil is
grounds director for Walden and has
led the effort to monitor the twoacre, 45-year-old pond and press the
city to dredge the contaminated soil.
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
47
Dorothy Frazer Carpenter
from Burlington, Vermont, is
still doing Meals on Wheels
and playing duplicate bridge with
gusto, but may have peaked. “I have a
twice a week exercise class that keeps
me going,” she writes. “Looking forward to a three-week visit to Cape
Cod. Most fun is having grandson
Frazer Carpenter from Seattle entering his sophomore year at UVM. He
will graduate with the class of 2017,
one hundred years after great grandfather Fred Carpenter came to UVM
to head the German department.”
Send your news to—
Louise Jordan Harper
15 Ward Avenue
South Deerfield, MA 01373
[email protected]
45
[CLASSNOTES
Please be sure to note my new e-mail
address: [email protected]
Send your news to—
Jane K. Stickney
32 Hickory Hill Road
Williston, VT 05495
[email protected]
57
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
58
Patricia Doherty Denmead
shares that she and Bob Denmead ’60 are still living in
Venice, Florida, and enjoying retirement. “We lead an active life in the
community and leave only for trips
abroad or visits to the kids in Chicago. Would love to hear from any
UVM alums living in Florida.” Michael
Wayne Abdalla writes, “Last year I
retired from my orthopedic medical practice at the age of 79 and currently reside in a retirement community. I have retained my membership
in the Rotary Club of Orange, California, and served as a trustee of The
Rotary Foundation in 2004-2007 after
serving as a president of my Rotary
Club and subsequently as a District
Governor in D-5320 in Southern California. I have also served as the chief
of the medical staff of Saint Joseph
Hospital in Orange.” Carol Conner
Frei writes, “We have taken one of our
15 grandchildren this summer on a
Road Scholar Intergenerational river
boat cruise from Paris to Normandy,
France.”
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
Send your news to­—
Henry Shaw, Jr.
112 Pebble Creek Road
Columbia, SC 29223
[email protected]
60
55TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Barry Lessinger left Costa
Rica in 2013 after six years in Uvita.
“Pushed for Florida and live in Ocala
National Forest with the bears and
love it, pontoon boat on the St John’s
River.” Richard Gottileb is celebrating the thirty-fourth anniversary of
Grey House Publishing. “We’re one of
the last of the independent print reference/information publishers. Those
with memories of evenings spent at
Billings will remember working with
‘Books In Print,’ and ‘Readers Guide to
Periodical Literature,’ which we now
produce. Son, Nicholas Gottlieb, is
a UVM alum from the class of 2004.”
Gene Parent writes, “Our home has
been in Brookfield, Vermont, since
1972. I have enjoyed retirement since
1994. Activities include painting
and marketing my art, growing our
own food, and singing bass in a local
singers’ group since 1991. We were
blessed with a grandson two years
ago. His mother, Sarah, is currently
serving as Mrs. Vermont. We are very
proud.” Robert Meshel writes, “My
wife, Miriam Reiner Meshel, and I
recently received a surprise visit to
our home in Marin County from fellow 1960’s alum and my fraternity
brother, Gerry Josephson. After all
those years we had a lot of UVM and
family memories to share. Our conversations continued on a tour we
took to a nearby Napa Valley winery, and also a visit to an art preserve
where Miriam had acted as a docent.”
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
61
Grant Corson writes, “I have
been busy pursuing my two
post retirement joys, boat
building and writing. The Ratcatcher’s
Son and The Weed Road Chronicles are
both available on Amazon in either
print or digital versions. The former
is a biography of my great grandfather—a very interesting character—
and the latter is my own memoir of
raising a large family in rural Vermont.
A third, The World According to Nub,
is nearly complete and awaiting final
editing and ready for launch this fall.
My wife and I live in Essex, Vermont,
when we are not out on the lake in
Festivus.” Louise Magram Weiner is
pleased as can be that her grandson
will be attending UVM in the fall as
a fourth generation Catamount fan!
Caroline Braun Leone writes “Our
newest grandchild arrived May 5, Juliana Marie; she joins her sister, Isabella
Marie. Andy continues to improve
from his surgeries and I keep busy
selling books (when I’m not busy in
the garden). We’ve discovered a channel with Italian and Swedish mysteries; subtitles are annoying but
the plots are good.” Martin Sonkin
shares, “I am enjoying the carefree life
of retirement living at the luxurious
Moorings Park continual care retirement community in Naples, Florida.
I am looking to sell my beautiful, historic condo near Williamstown, Massachusetts, so I can do more traveling.
Would love to hear from old friends.”
Linda Sack Fossier writes, “I live in
Newport Beach, California, in the
winter months, and recently I have
become close friends with Rhea Salzberg Dorn ’55. Rhea and I were both
born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. We attended the same elementary, junior, and senior high schools,
but six years apart. She volunteered
as a candy striper at a local hospital
and so did I, and we both attended
religious school at the same synagogue. Then, most surprising, she
went to UVM, met and married a man
who later became a doctor. So did I!
Rhea’s husband took her to California where he practiced medicine until
his death about six years ago. My second husband brought me to California, and that is where we met. However, the final coincidence is that
Rhea’s mother and my first motherin-law were born in Canada and are
part of the same family! That makes
us almost cousins! Small world.” Marcia Smith Rushford reports, “We are
still living in Rutland and spending
some time at our camp in South Hero.
We do leave Vermont for the winter
and enjoy three months in Roatan in
the Bay Islands of Honduras where
we have been visiting for 30 years.
We recently bought a condo there
we like it so much! If anyone would
like any info about Roatan, I would be
happy to oblige. Don Rushford and I
will celebrate our 30th anniversary as
second time-arounders this December. He and I are both retired. Don
was a lawyer and VP general council
at CVPS and I was a real estate broker. We stay very active with biking
and swimming. We feel very lucky to
have 13 children between us (four
of them UVM grads) and 20 grandchildren. All are doing well! I would
be delighted to hear from anyone
who would like to contact me.” Judy
Enright Daly says, “We’re gearing up
for a trip to Germany with our daughter, her husband, and three kids (Germany was their choice). Kristen was
on two exchanges one in high school
and then a college semester in Germany so we are visiting the two families she lived with in addition to touring around the country. Since she is
fluent in German, it should be easy.
We’ve been to Austria and Switzerland skiing but we really didn’t need
to speak the language.” Karen Kellers
Donovan reports, “I lost my dear
husband nine years ago to pancre-
atic cancer but continue to live in
our home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Life is very busy and I am rich
in friends and family. I play a lot of
golf and tennis and in fact I co-chair
the women’s tennis group at our club
which is part of Wellesley College. I
am now a snow bird and spend six
months in Naples, Florida, where I am
a member of Bears Paw Country Club.
I have a new man in my life which is
wonderful and I feel very lucky, so life
is good! Hope you all are healthy and
happy as well.” Robert Stanley Williams died on March 19, 2014. Bob
graduated from Rumson-Fair Haven
High School in New Jersey and then
attended the University of Vermont.
Bob spent most of his career in the
construction equipment industry. He
started out with Foley Machinery Co
in New Jersey. He then went on to
start New England Equipment Co. in
White River, Junction, Vermont. New
England Equipment soon became
one of the top John Deere Equipment
dealers in the United States, winning
many awards for excellence. After
selling New England Equipment he
went on to work for Milton Caterpillar before founding another success-
ful business with his sons, International Construction Equipment (ICE).
At ICE, he was most proud to work
alongside his sons Rob and David.
Bob was a highly respected member of the construction equipment
industry with friends and colleagues
from all around the world. In addition
to his work, Bob served on the Town
Council of Colts Neck, New Jersey and
the board of directors of the Marble
Bank in Vermont. He loved gardening,
boating, cooking and traveling with
his family. Bob was most passionate
about his family and celebrated his
50th wedding anniversary in 2012
with Barbara and the rest of his family
in Tuscany, Italy.
Send your news to—
Steve Berry
8 Oakmount Circle
Lexington, MA 02420
[email protected]
62
Send your news to—
Patricia Hoskiewicz Allen
14 Stony Brook Drive
Rexford, NY 12148
[email protected]
63
Bob Tank writes, “My wife
Linda Clemons Tank ’65 and I
have been married for over 50
years. We met on campus in 1961. We
have two children. Daughter Stephanie lives in Connecticut and son Rich
lives with his wife, Jill, in North Yarmouth, Maine. After many years in
Connecticut, we moved to South
Florida in 1996. Along with retirement, we relocated to North Florida nine years ago. Our days are kept
full with a variety of volunteer activities, church work, and hobbies.” Jack
Hayden Titus reports that he moved
into a new house in August. The city
of Nampa (not Napa) has a population of about 100,000 in Western
Idaho about 20 miles from Boise, the
capital, located in the Treasure Valley. It is a beautiful city, with an old
section and a sterling new section.
He says, “We moved off the Snake
River after eight years, built a custom home, near shopping, hospitals,
nearer to the airport. This city is not
cowboy oriented like most of the cities in Idaho. Great dining, too! Stop by
and see us. Plenty of room to entertain. Still working at my business,
Cow Packaging and Consulting.” Elise
Green Living
At Wake Robin, residents have designed and built three
miles of walking trails. Each Spring, we make maple syrup
in the community sugar house and each Fall, we harvest
honey from our bee hives. We compost, plant gardens, and
work with staff to follow earth-friendly practices, conserve
energy and use locally grown foods.
Live the life you choose—in a vibrant community that
practices “green” ideals. We’re happy to tell you more.
Visit our website or give us a call today to schedule a tour.
802.264.5100 / wakerobin.com
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
59
Cynthia Mindick Weitz
writes that her mystery, Feisty
Old Ladies, is available on
Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.
Follow her website: www.feistyoldladies.com and contact her at [email protected]. Priscilla
Roberts Carpenter says, “Hello,
members of the class of 1959. I am
continuing to be happy living in
Saint Albans after 47 years in Burlington, plus four years at UVM. Life
in the ‘slow lane’ is somehow busy
and full of wonderful activities. Russell and I don’t go south in the win-
ter but have managed to get weeks
away from time to time. Hilton
Head in January with my five siblings, the 11th year we have all gotten together for a week, different
places...nice thing to do. Also, New
Orleans in March, Boston for four
days in June and a week in Maine
in July. We have a small garden plot
in our association so I have canned,
preserved, frozen, made jelly. Going
back to my roots! Live vicariously
through the grandkids activities.
Three have graduated from college:
UVM, Bentley, and Saint Michael’s.
Still attending: two at UVM, one at
Middlebury, one at Norwich, one
at Endicott, and another going to
Endicott in September. The last little chick is going to be a senior in
high school. Great little basketball player, short, only 5’3”, deadly
with the three-pointers from outside. Fun to go to her games. Life is
good. We are enjoying good health
and fun activities. Looking forward
to our Reunion. Happy to be on the
Reunion planning Committee. Hope
to see many of you in October.” Jerry
Heller retired a few years ago after
a successful career in commercial
real estate and law in Boston. Since
retirement he has been involved
as a volunteer with several organizations in his hometown of Wayland, Massachusetts. As chairman of
Community Preservation Committee for 13 years, he was instrumental
in preserving a large parcel of land
in perpetuity through a conservation agreement, and currently he is
a member of the Corporate Executive Council for WGBH, Boston’s NPR
station. Jerry was recently elected
a Trustee of Sea Education Association (SEA), an educational organization that introduces college students
to study various aspects of the ocean
while living and sailing on a research
“tall ship” for academic credit. It is a
“hands-on” science and leadership
program. Jerry and his wife, Anne
Beaudin Heller ’72, recently went
on a SEA development cruise from
Tahiti. Jerry is a member of the New
Bedford Yacht Club where he sails
with Anne on their 36-foot sloop,
“Wings.” He also pilots a singleengine plane from Hanscom Field in
Concord, Massachusetts. Jerry plans
to attend our 55th Reunion this fall,
and, weather permitting, will fly to
Burlington.
200 WA K E R O B I N D R I V E , S H E L B U R N E , V E R M O N T 0 5 4 8 2
46
47
[CLASSNOTES
Moeller Widlund says she is loving
being back in Vermont after raising
the family and raising the business.
Forty-eight years later she is now
ready to have fun again in Vermont.
She would love to have folks visit.
Send your news to—
Toni Citarella Mullins
210 Conover Lane
Red Bank, NJ 07701
[email protected]
48
65
50TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Priscilla D. Cameron died
May 28, 2014. Early in her career she
practiced at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and taught nursing at
Texas Women’s University. Later she
became interested in computer education and taught computer science
at Wyoming Seminary Lower School
and used her computer skills to work
as a library assistant at Wilkes University. She retired to Media, Pennsylvania, and is survived by her husband, Donald D. Cameron, M.D.; Lisa
Cameron, Ph.D.; Mark Cameron, and
two grandchildren. Robert M. Rasmusson passed away on October 11,
2012 at the age of 71. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity
and ROTC. He was a member of the
Lutheran Faith. Bob was employed
by the Okonite Company for thirtytwo years. For ten years, Bob was the
Madison County Solid Waste Coordinator. He brought recycling education into the local school system and
was an active member of SWAK and
revived the Kentucky Riversweep at
Boonesboro. In 2008, Bob was presented with the Chamber of Commerce Community Service award. He
enjoyed spending time with the Madison County Industrial Management
Group. As an avid outdoorsman, Bob
enjoyed gunsmithing, ballistics, hunting, fishing, skiing, and swimming. He
was a member of the Richmond Optimist Club and a Boy Scout Leader and
Cub Scout Leader. Sumner Silverman
is in the seventh year at Burningman,
teaching a jewelry workshop. “I am
living full time on Martha’s Vineyard
with my wife, Sally Pierce. Still practicing as a psychologist.” Vicky Rafter
McCaffrey is still working as a veterinarian three days a week and running
our 180-acre farm raising Shire draft
horses and beef; two grand kids only.
Best to all!” The publication date for
Rose Levy Beranbaum’s 10th cookbook, The Baking Bible, is November
4, 2014, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
The Library Journal review referred to
it as “timeless recipes,” and Publisher’s
Weekly as “a must have.” Preorders are
available at discounted prices from
Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Rose
baked her first lemon meringue pie at
UVM 53 years ago! Lester Frederick
Jipp, 87, of Columbus, Ohio died Sunday morning July 20, 2014. His career
in education spanned six decades,
including stints as a high school
social studies teacher and administrator in New Hampshire and Vermont; college professor at Chatham
College, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
and as founder/director of The Learning Juncture in Worthington, Ohio.
At the time of his death he remained
a passionate and active advocate for
innovation in public education. Lester was an avid camper and bicyclist,
and a voracious e-reader. He began
most conversations with “Did you
see the article in the New York Times
about…?” He took enormous pleasure in time spent with his family and
friends on multiple continents, challenging all of them to work harder,
think bigger, do more, and write more
often. John G. Westcott writes from
Catharpin, Virginia, that he is retiring
from The Boeing Company in August.
He has been the director of business
development for GEOINT programs
since he retired from the CIA in 2003.
John and his wife recently completed
trips to Hawaii and San Diego. He has
no retirement plans except to travel
and enjoy time with his family and his
two Labradoodles.
Send your news to—
Colleen Denny Hertel
14 Graystone Circle
Winchester, MA 01890
[email protected]
66
Bill Gillespie passed away last
October after a six month battle with cancer. He was a navy
veteran and a member of Sigma Nu
fraternity. Alan “Chip” Platow moved
back to Connecticut in 2013 to restore
a 1750 farm house. “I’m about halfway through and starting to realize
I am 70 years old. Love to hear from
classmates and you are always welcome to stop by for a glass of wine
and a Labrador hello. Cheers.” Craig
Watt retired from Henry Ford Health
System, Detroit, in 2006, after 20
years of emergency medicine practice and seven years occupational
medicine. He worked part-time occupational medicine thereafter until
2013. He is now enjoying grand kids
and travel with his wife, Christine.
Send your news to—
Kathleen Nunan McGuckin
416 San Nicolas Way
St Augustine, FL 32080
[email protected]
67
Victor L’Esperance is the
president/CEO of Radiorax Aviation Systems, Inc. in
Lake Stevens, Washington, which is
a manufacturer of avionics mounting hardware for general aviation and
a suppliers for the Bell 429 helicopter as well as a wide range of general aviation aircraft. Dwight Ovitt
is back in Vermont for the summer
writing a book about the Ovitt family. “Three of my family members
are attending UVM. I have found
over 220 Ovitt’s in Franklin County
alone and 30% are directly related
to me. Found out our name is incorrectly spelled and should be Oviatt.
I’m doing the book online so it won’t
cost anyone anything to read it. It
has been fun but need to go back to
Hawaii to continue my regular job
being an advocate for limited English speaking residents who are disabled.” Elizabeth Ann Fishe shares,
“After 46 years of full-time employment, with the majority of that time
being spent as a medical librarian, I
retired at the beginning of this year.
So far, I am keeping busy with reading, catching up on projects around
the house, and spending time with
family and friends.” Anthony “Tony”
Rishe writes that he loves to read the
Quarterly. This past year has been
great with more travel and outdoor
activity. Prague, Budapest, Las Vegas,
Tahoe, Montana, and more Montana. Great outdoors fun with twin
grandboys who are three and a half
and love grandpa taking them on all
sorts of adventures. Would love to see
or hear about some of your adventures and hope all UVM folks are also
enjoying their lives.” Anthony and
friends went on their annual back
country trek to Montana and there
is a photo on the Alumni Association website photo gallery at alumni.
uvm.edu. Lloyd “Sandy” Sanborn
Van Norden says, “Hi everyone. We
had a summer full of visitors and family. We have six adult children and
seven grandchildren, also all adults,
and one great granddaughter. My
wife, Lory, and I are both retired pastors and are serving one church as
a pastoral team part time in our
retirement. It keeps us young and
refreshed. It is always good to hear
the news of great things happening
at UVM.” Janet Parsons writes, “I see
in the Class Notes on page 68 of the
Vermont Quarterly that the GMAC I
had included was switched to Green
Mountain Athletic Club. Actually the
place I worked was at General Motors
Acceptance Corporation on Shelburne Road, just south of the city of
Burlington.” Jack Schweberger was
reminiscing about his years at UVM,
and how fortunate he was in the relationships that he made. He writes,
“Dick Dalton, you are the reason I
espoused to everyone who would listen through the years the value of
being assigned a college roommate
during freshman year. Meeting you
for the first time, and having you for
a roommate, introduced me to many,
many wonderful Vermonters who I
otherwise might never have met. You
all were personable, friendly, caring,
happy, and helpful people who forever enriched my life. Bill Bates ’69,
a fantastic, card-playing engineering student had a smile for everyone;
Bill Burling ’69, a great student who
cut my hair before every one of my
ROTC drills. Bill, no one has ever done
a better job! Carl Lisman, champion debater, who was always helpful when I needed academic assistance, and went on to become a fine
UVM Trustee. I have fond memories
of Vermonters I met on the sports
field—Dick Hebert, Deane Kent ’66,
Mike Burke ’66 “The Rutland Flash”,
Tom Mungeon ’64 and Ken Burton
’64. It was a privilege knowing all of
you. I keep in touch with Ode Keiderling ’68, who lives in his home town
very near me in Flemington, New Jersey, and Jim Culhane ’68, who was
a high school and college teammate
of mine from Weehawken, New Jersey, then moved to Wisconsin and
became a successful attorney. To all
of my Vermont classmates, thanks for
the memories.”
Send your news to—
Jane Kleinberg Carroll
44 Halsey Street, Apt. 3
Providence, RI 02906
[email protected]
68
Jonathan T. Tifft Longley has
been helping out planning
the curriculum and teaching
Exploring Engineering at Andover
High School in Massachusetts. Rick
Howard just moved from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, a pre-retirement change that gets us closer to
grandchildren, Lily and Nik. Also welcomed a granddaughter, Frances, on
July 3 in Seattle, five weeks early but
completely healthy and thriving. I’m
still consulting for the Li-ion battery
industry, gardening, and woodworking as time allows. Saw a few other
UVM alums: Ed Germon, John Mitchelides, and Mary Lou Rupprecht at
our recent 50th high school reunion.
Jay B Weintraub shares, “Our daughter, Julie, just had her first child, a son,
Caleb, who is our first grandchild and
we could not be happier. She lives
with her husband, Aaron, in Denver, Colorado and is in her last year
of residency in radiation oncology at
the University of Colorado Medical
Center in Aurora. Jeffrey H. Barnes
shares that he talks regularly to Fred
Schlapp ’69 and to his brother, Gary
Barnes ’72. After working as a sales
territory manager trainee for a Fortune 500 company following graduation, he says, he decided corporate
America wasn’t for him. Eventually, he writes, “this alum became in
touch with his roots. He discovered
that he was and always has been an
Askenzani (Russian) Jew.” Through
prayer and study, he says, today he
enjoys good physical health and
would like to hear from other UVM
friends.
Send your news to—
Diane Duley Glew
64 Woodland Park Drive
Haverhill, MA 01830
[email protected]
69
Marc B. d’Avignon has retired
after 35 years in active medical practice in Pennsylva-
nia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts
having received his medical degree
from the University of Connecticut.
Marc’s wife, Karyn, was on the faculty
at UVM having received a master’s of
science from Ohio State University.
They met when Marc was in graduate school and took one of her classes
as an elective in the department
of microbiology. They were married in 1970 in Burlington and have
two children, Marc E. who resides in
Santa Monica, California, and Ross C.
who resides in New York City. Marc is
enjoying retirement, occupying his
time as a consultant in medical practice and continues to garden and
to restore and collect antique cars.
Karyn devotes some of her free time
to providing meals to the aged and
repairing and preserving antique
quilts. Karyn shares in Marc’s love of
gardening. Marc and Karyn volunteer
tutoring children in remedial reading and math skills. They enjoy traveling and look forward to returning to
Burlington and attending the 1969
alumni reunion October 10–12, 2014.”
Bill Furman writes, “Wish I could
beam myself back in time to the
grrrreat ole days at UVM! I submitted
a photo to the alumni photo gallery
at alumni.uvm.edu of Burk Mantel
and his wife, Joan, who were married
in April 2013. (Burke’s first marriage
at 65!) The photo was taken in Idaho
(Bogus Basin, Boise) and it celebrates
their love. We skied steep and deep!”
Send your news to—
Mary Moninger-Elia
1 Templeton Street
West Haven, CT 06516
[email protected]
70
45TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Norine Freeman Noonan
is returning to the classroom after
a successful five-year term as chief
academic officer at the University of
South Florida, St. Petersburg. He is
heading back to the faculty as a full
professor of biology teaching intro
biology for non-majors (my fave
class) and intro to the health professions and also mentoring students in
research and organizing activities for
our first biology living/learning community. Judy Paulus Myers writes,
“Most of my classmates probably
have the Medicare card, the government’s way of telling us we are getting older. I dislike the word ‘retired’,
so I just say I am ‘professionally inactive’. Since our son, Paul, was killed by
a drunk driver in 2006, I have helped
others through MADD. I am also
in my sixteenth year volunteering
for juvenile criminal justice. We see
young people who are in warm water
with legal matters. If we have a person who already has alcohol issues, I
have variations of my story and I try
to get them to think about what they
are doing and I have a goal to get
them self-motivated to improve their
ways. My husband has had some
health issues, so I am his caregiver/
advocate. My husband’s wife was a
nurse practitioner in her (my!) previous life. I miss Vermont sometimes,
but not some of the winters! Greetings to my classmates.” Jim Fitzpatrick G’70 and his wife, Susan, recently
sold their web business, SchoolSpring.com, which helps school districts hire educators, and helps teachers find jobs. The sale of the company
was covered in a feature article by the
Burlington Free Press.
Send your news to—
Douglas Arnold
11608 Quail Village Way
Naples, FL 34119
[email protected]
71
First, a correction to my
Class Notes from the spring
2014 VQ: I misspelled John
Mawhinney’s name in a list of other
alums Marc Milosky remembers
fondly. John lives in Massachusetts
and plans a trip to Vermont to visit
friends I knew at UVM. In June, I had
a lively lunch with Annie Viets and
just asked her to meet up before she
heads back to Saudi Arabia, but just
learned that she’s “back in the desert.” When we last met, she told me
about all of her ’13-’14 travels that I
thought I’d share: she visited Hong
Kong; Kurdistan, Iraq; Sri Lanka and
Dubai as well as Saudi destinations:
Madein Saleh (Nabatean tombs) and
the Asir Mountains (Yemeni border).
She says, “Over the prior year and a
half, I found myself in Ethiopia, Nepal,
Vietnam and Turkey. Not sure where
I’ll go this year. There are so many
choices! You can also mention my
intrepid daughter, Anna Viets ’11,
who has been cycling the length of
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
64
Marilyn Elaine Keith Rivero
reports, “From 1964-68 I was
in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer working as a registered nurse
in rural health clinics. I came back in
1968 with a Peruvian husband and
my first two daughters, Lina and Mita.
We settled again in Vermont where
my five children grew up. Victor, Amy,
and Nicholas were added to our family in 1971, 1974, and 1978. I worked
many years at Fletcher Allen Health
Care in Burlington in many areas and
nursing specialties, lastly as a vascular
access nurse. From 1991-2001 I was a
Vermont State House Representative
from Milton, which was a very intriguing experience. Now I work a little
and travel a lot, visiting my children
and 10 granddaughters in Colorado,
Omaha, Nebraska, and Boston.” Jeffrie Brent Felter still works two days
per week in an orthopedic clinic in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, but does
not do any more surgery. He spends
six months per year in Cabo San
Lucas, Mexico, working as a marshal
at Palmilla Golf Course. He remains
in contact with Dave Umstead and
Pete Landry. Abbott Brayton writes,
“My third book and second historical novel has been published. Highland Brigadier is a sequel to Outpost
Scotland. It tells the story of the Eastern Highlands during the early stages
of World War II. Susan Weatherby
Engbrecht and her husband, Ron,
are retired and have purchased the
house they have been renting near
Aviano Air Base. It is a lovely home
with a view of the mountains in the
village of San Giovanni de Polcenigo.
They will split their retirement time
between Italy and Binghamton, New
York, in Sue’s family home. Right now
I am once again on the banks of Lake
Champlain in Addison enjoying a fabulous summer. I am looking forward
to seeing many of you at our 50th
reunion in October. I surely hope we
have a wonderful turnout. You won’t
be sorry if you have decided to join in
the festivities. Valerie Felten Robinson has a camp down the lake from
us and spends her summers there
with her husband, Robbie. They winter in Mexico and will, unfortunately,
be back there before our reunion. I
have also seen Susan Benton Prezzano who will miss reunion due to a
trip. I will have more to report after
reunion so if you miss it, you will have
a bit of knowledge of our fun weekend.
Send your news to—
Susan Griesenbeck Barber
1 Oak Hill Road
P.O. Box 63
Harvard, MA 01451
[email protected]
49
50
South America since January”. Earlier
this summer, I chatted with Nancy
Blasberg and learned that daughter,
Libby Blasberg UVM College of Medicine ’14, married Sam Hobbs ’05 the
end of May. Congrats to Nancy and
Walt! As I write, Libby has begun her
ENT Residency in Albuquerque New
Mexico. John Radimer shares, “On
August 4-7 I competed in the Fina
World Masters swimming championships in Montreal. I was joined there
by former UVM swimmer (and Kakewalker) David Edsal ’70. Unfortunately the results were not available
until just after the submission deadline. I was seeded in the top ten in
several events (out of over 100).” Norman Edminster and his wife, Chris,
are moving to an in-law apartment in
Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They will
be going to the Daytona area to buy
a vacation condo. They are pleased to
report that their three children have
blessed them with eight grandchildren (six boys and two girls). Sandra
Campbell Simpson writes that lots
of new places in Africa are opening
up. “I have been very busy with the
Defense Logistics Agency ensuring
delivery of medical supplies to over
70 new locations there. Hope to retire
in the next year or so at my house
near the sea in the Netherlands.”
David Poirier writes, “After 30 plus
years of living out of a suitcase as a
working actor, I opted for early retirement and moved to San Diego, into a
lovely studio overlooking the bay on
one side and downtown on the other.
Got quickly bored with retirement,
went back to work last fall doing a
show in Florida, and just closed my
first show here in San Diego. But the
suitcase is dusted off, and I guess I’ll
be hopping around the country until
I can’t hop anymore.” Ellen Bader
Kandel writes, “Ann Hussey Hogaboom, Carole Cook Freeman, and I
met in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, this
summer for our annual reunion. It’s
always a great time for catching up
with life-long friends, eating a sumptuous seafood dinner, and attending a show at the Boothbay Opera
House.” Patricia Hunt Vana has been
happily retired since 2011 and living
with her mother, Gerrie Hunt ’41 in
their home on Lake Memphremagog.
She is currently secretary/treasurer
of Newport Country Club and spends
many of her free winter moments
curling two miles from her home in
Beebe, Quebec. Her older son, Bud
Vana ’14, graduated in May from
UVM College of Medicine and her
younger son Evan Vana ’05 will be
marrying Andrea Patrikis ’06 on Pat’s
65th birthday in September. And, to
wrap it all up: my daughter, Mary, was
married August 2 at the Brick House
in Shelburne, Vermont. It was an
amazing event. Mary’s brother, Robert Sprayregen ’01, was an attendant and responsible for escorting
his four-year-old twin sons down the
aisle to the bridal party where they
handed over the rings. It was a day
Paul Sprayregen and I will never forget. As a final note for those looking
for classmates, UVM has a Facebook
page, a Twitter feed, and a LinkedIn
site. Enjoy the fall!
Send your news to-Sarah Wilbur Sprayregen
145 Cliff Street
Burlington, VT 05401
[email protected]
72
I am very pleased to let you
know that I welcomed my first
grandson into the family this
past May. My son, David Moss ’02,
MBA ’10, and his wife, Akeesha Shah
’04, MD ’10 are Daniel’s proud parents. Three generations of our family
have graduated from UVM, so Class of
2035, get ready to welcome Daniel!
Send your news to—
Debbie Koslow Stern
198 Bluebird Drive
Colchester, VT 05446
[email protected]
73
Linda M. Kohn ’73 received
the 2014 Outstanding Alumni
Award on Saturday, May 10,
2014 at the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences’ Alumni and Friends
Dinner in the Grand Maple Ballroom of the UVM Davis Center. This
award commends alumni who have
achieved excellence in their professional fields, demonstrated significant leadership, followed the landgrant ethic, and contributed to their
community, state, and nation. Robert
Frowenfeld writes, “I have worked for
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons for almost
30 years, I retired from the corporate
world in 2001. Since then I’ve been
enjoying life and selling model trains
with my wonderful wife, Bonnie. We
enjoy traveling in Europe (been to
Germany more than 30 times), golfing and hanging out with friends.”
James M. Betts shares that he is continuing to enjoy a pediatric surgical
practice at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California. “Amazing that I’ve
been in one place, on the West Coast,
for 31 years! Still a Bennington-Vermonter at heart and in soul. Extending warmest regards to all.” Robert
McWilliam reports, “I have a thriving private practice in psychiatry and
child and adolescent psychiatry in
Woodbury, Connecticut, specializing in autism spectrum disorders. I
am on the clinical faculty of the Child
Study Center, Yale University School
of Medicine, and teach a seminar on
psychopharmacology. I enjoy toiling
in our renowned beautiful gardens at
home. I sing in the Connecticut Choral Society and performed in Carnegie Hall last year.” Pamela French
Summers and Rodger Summers ’72
celebrated 42 years of marriage this
year. “We now live in Massachusetts
and have one grandson. It’s nice to be
in New England again after all these
years.” John Mele wrote to deliver sad
news of the death of one of our classmates, Al Luther, who passed away
in February from complications of a
stroke. “Al was a devoted caregiver to
both his parents for many years,” John
said. “One of the highlights of each
summer for Al was our annual clambake in New Hampshire at the cottage of Barry Lundquist, and his wife,
Nancy. We have been having this
reunion every summer for the last 30
years, and ‘Big Al’ never missed one.”
On a happier note, John also said he
recently retired after 40 years in the
building materials industry. He’s been
volunteering on the Sugarbush Ski
Patrol for the last 13 years “with a lot
of other UVMers, some even older
than me.” He said Tim Crowley and
his family are also part-timers in the
Mad River Valley. John and his wife,
Pam, just celebrated 40 years of marriage by taking a cross country camping trip. They still live in Wrentham,
Massachusetts.
Send your news to—
Deborah Layne Mesce
2227 Observatory Place N.W.
Washington, DC 20007
[email protected]
74
Paul Kenny is happy to be celebrating 40 years since graduating from UVM, and 40 great
years living in Sun Valley, Idaho. “I’ve
applied my economics degree and
VQEXTRA
online
PAMELA HINDS ’73
“I didn’t want to lose my
nursing language and
experience. I needed
grounding and to
understand what I was
learning, and going
back to work really
helped me with that.”
—Pamela Hinds on
balancing practice and
research in her career as a
nurse. Hinds is director of
the Department of Nursing
Research and Quality
Outcomes at Children’s
National Health System in
Washington, DC, and the
inaugural recipient of the
William and Joanne Conway
Chair in Nursing Research.
read more at
uvm.edu/vq
my skiing experiences in Vermont in
every one of my 40 years here. Thanks
UVM for the very good foundation
you gave me.” Mark Biedron was
recently elected as president of the
New Jersey State Board of Education.
Chuck Smith writes, “I am free at last,
free at last, shout out to the whole
world: free at last!” Marilyn Martin
Siple and Sam are proud grandparents of three-year-old Madison and
care for her four evenings a week
while her parents are working. We
are expecting our second grandchild,
Miles, sometime in July! Steve Rice
and his wife, Anna, recently sold their
home of over 30 years in East Nassau,
New York, to downsize into a third
floor apartment in Brunswick, New
York. “We can see from our balcony
the deer feed in the meadow, and
the geese usually take a daily walk,
stopping traffic,” Steve writes. Semiretired, Steve is doing fundraising
with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Anna retired in late July from
the state of New York after a 35-year
career. “We are hoping to relocate at
least part of the year to Costa Rica,”
he notes. Steve and Anna are proud
grandparents of two boys, ages two
and newborn. He would welcome
hearing from old classmates at his
email address: [email protected].
Deborah Jeanne Greene taught for
a total of 40 years, 30 with the Board
of Education: K-6 in New York City;
four years at the Academy of St. Peter
Claver, K-8; and six years at the Laurelton Performing Arts Center, K-8.
She received a master’s from Adelphi University in special education
and completed certificate programs
from Columbia University, Mahoney
Business School Certificate, and New
York City Teacher Consortium Center. She was voted Special Educator
of the Year and is now retired as of
June 2014.
Send your news to—
Emily Schnaper Manders
104 Walnut Street
Framingham, MA 01702
[email protected]
75
40TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. John Krowka is working in
Washington, D.C. as a senior micro-
biologist for the Personal Care Products Council, studying jazz guitar, and
nurturing his recently-planted chestnut orchard in Boonsboro, Maryland. Judy Bernek Vinson writes, “We
have been blessed with four beautiful grandchildren so far. Three born
in the last year! This gets us back to
Stowe, Vermont, and Kittery Point,
Maine, for visits. Curt and I are now
splitting our time between Florida
and Montana with a new home at
the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky. We
are living the healthy life with skiing,
golfing, hiking, fly fishing, and mountain biking at our doorstep. Montana is Vermont on steroids! Craig
Purinton is now national director of
individual giving at Amnesty International USA. Glory Lanphear Douglass
Reinstein has one year left to teach
which will be her 38th year of teaching. She presently teaches music at
Essex High School. On the side, she
has founded Bluebird Promotions
(of Vermont) which promotes the
music of Vermont-based independent singer/songwriters to TV and
film. She plans to make that business
a full-time occupation upon teacher
retirement. Barbara Schenk Ferguson shares, “It’s been a long time
since I was at UVM, and the first time
I have sent in an update. I started
out in Brockton, Massachusetts, in a
nutrition education program, was a
home economist for Kraft in Chicago,
a worker in a florist/nursery, a mother
to three sons (guess I still am, but
they are grown and out of the house),
a library aid in a primary school, and
now a human resources specialist at
New Trier High School in the northern suburbs of Chicago. For a while
I worked in the College/ Career Center at New Trier and encouraged
many kids to choose UVM as their
post-high school destination. I just
became a grandmother to a beautiful
granddaughter, and downsized to a
smaller house. Another new chapter.”
Andrew Gary Reid writes that he selfpublished his first book, Serena’s Wish,
a story of hope and possibility, on
Amazon.com. Bruce MacLeod Muir
is entering his 25th year of marriage.
“I have two girls, both at the University of New England completing their
degrees in nursing and pharmacy.
North Country Hospital in Newport,
Vermont, has been my employer for
20 years. This year I was the recipient of the Community Nursing Excel-
lence Award. My degrees, both in
zoology and nursing, from UVM have
given me a very rewarding and exciting career.”
Send your news to—
Dina Dwyer Child
1263 Spear Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
[email protected]
76
Richard “Richie” Alan Sobel
shares that he, Michael
Fitzmaurice, and Greg Vautour celebrated their 31st year of skiing together at Mammoth Mountain in California this year. After 31
years living in San Diego, Richie now
resides in Carlsbad, California, and
continues as a psychologist in private
practice. Daughter Victoria Sobel ’17
just finished freshman year at UVM,
and loves it. “We’re still skiing Mad
River Glen,” he writes. In May, Matthew Mehr was ranked in the 2014
edition of the prestigious Chambers USA directory of the national
law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP. He
was recognized for Real Estate Law.
Michael Diederich writes, “Still practicing law in New York. Retired from
Army Reserve JAG Corp last year, with
tours in Iraq (2004-05) and Afghanistan (2012).” Peter Stephens reports,
“After 30 years of steel industry jobs
and living in the industrial cities of
the Midwest, my wife and I opted
for a major life style change and purchased a rustic cabin resort in Northern Michigan on a beautiful lake in
the middle of the Huron National Forest. If any UVM alumni are looking for
a little slice of Vermont in the Midwest, be sure to get in touch!” Shelley Bouchard Richardson says, “After
33 years at Champlain College, I semiretired from my position as vice president for advancement this June!
Wonderful feeling, fabulous career,
they gave me a beautiful retirement
party and I was truly humbled and
honored. An extra special time as my
mother Betty Kerin Bouchard ’51
and my two daughters and several
sisters were also there, and my oldest
daughter Corey Ann Richardson surprised me by speaking...and had the
crowd rolling in the aisles with laughter and tears. I will go back in the fall
and work part-time for a little while
to help with the transition to new
leadership at the college.” Jean Graham Hight writes, “Hi to all at UVM.
Steve Hight and I met in college and
married a year after graduation. UVM
led us to our current careers, me as a
nurse educator with Plymouth Public schools in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Stephen as a project manager for IBM.” Ruth Feldman tells
us, “This past June 2014, the New
Haven Public Schools awarded Ruth
one of its first Community T.A.P.S.
awards, acknowledging her contributions and commitment to the district’s youth and programs through
her work connecting students and
teachers to the theatre.” Molly Stranahan shares, “In 2011 I moved with
my husband, Tom Curtin, to live at
Miraval Spa and Resort in Tucson, Arizona. Miraval focuses on mindfulness and life in balance. I often teach
a class called the Path to Peace About
Money, which brings together my
economics major with my later doctorate in psychology (Rutgers University). I am having fun teaching people
how to be happier through The Path
to Happiness (www.pathtohappiness.
com) which I founded in 2002. Please
let me know if you will be at Miraval, I’d love to connect with any UVM
alumni!” Gail Meehan is the founder
and principal of AgeWise Advisors,
LLC. She works nationally with families, individuals and businesses on
issues related to aging. Gail divides
her time between New York City and
Colorado where she lives with her
partner, Fritz Augustin, forestry engineer, mountaineer, and former international motorcycle racer and their
two dogs! She sends her best to the
great and aging class of ’76! Rock on!”
Great to hear from Betsy Fay who is
getting ready to celebrate 33 years
of marriage to Norm. They moved
two years ago to Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina, where Betsy works as a registered nurse in labor and delivery.
Norm is retired but busy playing golf
and running their three oceanfront
condo rentals. Children, Katie and
Ben, are both working in California.
Betsy would love to know if anyone
knows how to get a hold of Martha
Glick Evancich. She lost contact with
her and would love to find out how
she is. Also, Betsy asks if anyone has
heard from Pete “Yogi” Schiller ’77.
Joel Feldman has turned the tragic
death of his daughter, Casey, who
was fatally struck and killed in a crosswalk by a distracted driver in July
2009, into a national campaign working with lawyers across the country
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
[CLASSNOTES
51
[CLASSNOTES
to establish distracted driving educational initiatives for high school students. Joel launched the Vermont
campaign in October 2013 and spoke
with students at Essex High School.
Mary Blankenhorn Losure writes
that her newest book, a middle-grade
fantasy called Backwards Moon, will
be out this fall from Holiday House.
(Mary imagines her botany professors would be surprised to see the
turn her career has taken.) She has
two other books for children out,
both non-fiction: The Fairy Ring, Or
Elsie And Frances Fool the World (Candlewick, 2012) and Wild Boy: The Real
Life Of The Savage Of Averyon (Candlewick, 2013). Mary lives in Minnesota
now, but misses Vermont!
Send your news to—
Pete Beekman
2 Elm Street
Canton, NY 13617
[email protected]
52
NYU Polytech graduate program in
transportation planning.” Kurt Haigis
shares that every year, Paul Low Jr.
’55, hosts Paul Low III ’80, Kurt Haigis, Don Hunt ’76, and Andy Hunt,
Don’s brother and son of Pat Hunt
’49 and Paul Hunt ’49 on the Robert
Trent Jones Trail in Alabama.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
78
Stephen Seitz has just published his second Vermontbased mystery novel, Terror
Strikes Downtown, about the repercussions from a series of explosions
in the fictional Vermont town of Valentine. The book is available online in
print and e-book formats. Seitz also
hosts the cable access program, “Book
Talk.” Miriam Bolwell Foerster retired
to Tennessee in 2002. “I am now 84
and still painting also teaching in my
studio when time allows. I graduated from UVM with youngsters. I do
miss Vermont and read the alumni
news.” Judy Ketcham Knaub writes
“Lisa Fernandez ’79, Janet Terp ’79
and I met at the beach in Ocean Park,
Maine. We shared many laughs while
remembering our college days and
how females were treated pre-Title 9.
I also got to see Linda Johnson Norris ’81 who was celebrating the 4th of
July with family in Ogunquit, Maine.
Judy’s new endeavor is assisting
senior citizens with using technology
and teaching classes on various applications. So I am recruiting my UVM
classmates, except we are not senior
citizens yet...right?”
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
[email protected]/classnotes
79
Mary Pat Crowley Hank
graduated from UVM School
of Nursing in 1979 and has
worked in various nursing jobs. “I
have been studying energy medicine
through Healing Touch Program and
am now a Healing Touch Certified
Practitioner.” Ron Krupp G’79 writes
“I would like to present my new Vermont garden book, The Woodchuck
Returns to Gardening. Just like my first
book, it is rooted in organic methods. The book begins with My Gar-
den Journal from 2012 and 2013, a
recounting of two dynamic years in
my gardens at home and the Tommy
Thompson Community Garden in the
Intervale in Burlington, Vermont. A
jester called the “Chuckster” follows
me around making fun of my gardening adventures and asking questions that allow me to offer helpful
insights. The main part of the book
travels into the world of vegetables,
berries, and fruits. It includes stories,
history, observations and information
from the “Garden Patch.” There are
many sketches and black and white
photos, but this time, I’ve added colored paintings and photos in the new
book. And a good gardening to you.”
John Parke and Jim Nolan were seen,
on the down-low in Denver. A copy of
the then-and-now photos are posted
on the Alumni Association website
gallery for your viewing pleasure.
Another great summer Pi Phi weekend reunion was hosted by MaryKay
McGuire Conte and her husband,
Dr. Chuck Conte, in Manhasset, Long
Island. Joining in the fun was Susan
Thomas Englander and her husband,
John; Eileen McCann and Peter
McCann ’78; Anne Trask Forcier and
Larry Forcier; and Beth Gamache.
Dorothy “Dee” Olive wanted to write
and give you an update. “I enjoyed
last winter in my home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While the polar vortex has raged, south Florida enjoyed
a particularly warm winter—no brag,
just fact! A group of us took a cruise
to Alaska last July for a grander version of our annual ‘girls’ weekend’.
On the cruise were Shari Klein Sanderford, Hilary Fisher Jaques, Gail
Leach Ansheles ’78, Diane Kupcewicz Krupka ’78, Jane Dubarry, and
Gloria D’Alessandro ’80 arriving from
Houston, Oakland, Madison, Santa
Fe, Seattle, and Boston respectively.
Between whale watching and glacier hiking, and lots of food and wine,
we had a great time catching up! It’s
unbelievable that we are approaching our 35th UVM reunion! We cherish these lifelong friendships that
started freshman year at ‘Groovy UV.’”
Send your news to—
Beth Gamache
58 Grey Meadow Drive
Burlington, VT 05401
bethgamache@burlington
telecom.net
80
35TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Richard Marriott in 20102011 was the vice president and
newsletter editor of Albany Society
of Engineers and president in 20112012. Mario A. Iglesias has been
named a Legal Elite attorney from
Fort Lauderdale for Real Estate. The
Elite attorneys represent fewer than
two percent of the active Florida
Bar members who practice in Florida. Heidi Lawrence Winslow writes,
“After living in Aspen and Telluride
Colorado for 28 years, my family
recently moved to Manchester, Massachusetts. Being a mother of two
wonderful daughters, running a small
private training business and being
the CCO of WellnessConnect.info
keeps me feeling grateful and happy.”
Betsy Neustein Ross is running the
Weekend Retreat for Professional
Women, October 24-26, at the Norwich Inn & Spa. This unique retreat
provides busy, successful professional women an opportunity to rest
and reignite, learn new skills and new
ideas, and make new personal and
business connections over the course
of one weekend. Betsy has previously
run two weekend retreats that were
well attended and very well reviewed.
Participants come from all over New
England and New York, but if you are
a UVM alum, you will receive a special gift at check in! For more info, go
to: betsyrosscoaching.com/retreat.
Chris Crowley graduated from the
Environmental Studies Program with
a focus on landscape architecture,
Chris celebrated his 30th anniversary in June with New York City Parks,
where he has designed over 120 sites
of which 40 have been built. David L
Schneider is currently in Hong Kong
working with a start-up company
patented system that will eliminate
medical billing fraud in the U.S. and
abroad and also will prevent patient
misidentifications. I am looking for
projects to assist third world countries in the development of sound
clinical practice in the field of cancer treatment. Miss UVM and the Vermont community!” Ned Golterman
and Nora Ryan are soon to be empty
nesters after 26 years of raising three
kids! “We got together with Quila
Burr on Cape Cod earlier this summer
which was lots of fun. We would love
to get together with any UVMers who
find themselves in St Louis!”
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
81
Tim Anderson writes, “After
coaching high school lacrosse
for a couple of years in Newport Beach, California, I recently
started a new venture with Guckenheimer in San Francisco creating
strategic alliances within the health
and wellness area with an emphasis
on nutrition and the corporate cafe.
I continue to live in Orange County,
married to Nickie with three kids. The
oldest will be starting her pediatric
residency in Denver in June. The next
is in the gaming industry in California,
and the youngest is a business major
in college. Life is good in Southern
California, especially the weather!”
James B. Anderson received the
2014 Outstanding Alumni Award at
the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences’ Alumni and Friends Dinner
in May. This award commends alumni
who have achieved excellence in their
professional fields, demonstrated significant leadership, followed the landgrant ethic, and contributed to their
community, state and nation. Donna
Helene DiCello shares that after leaving academia last year as an administrator and faculty member at the
University of Hartford’s doctoral program in clinical psychology, she has
entered private practice full-time with
offices in New Haven and Wallingford,
Connecticut. She is also assistant clinical professor at the Yale University
School of Medicine, department of
psychiatry, and is enjoying supervising interns in the behavioral medicine
program this year. Along with her coauthor Lorraine Mangione, Ph.D., she
will be releasing a book titled Daughters, Dads, and the Path through Grief:
Tales from Italian America this fall.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
[email protected]/classnotes
82
Maeve Huntley Kim has been
a writer since junior high. She
writes, “I’ve had short stories and articles published, but I also
have a fat folder of rejection slips.
This spring I checked off a major
item on my ‘bucket list’ by publishing
one of my novels. There’s Nothing 86
Tonight is available at northshire.com
and at several independent bookstores in Chittenden County.” Physical therapist and American Physical
Therapy Association (APTA) member
Beth Moody Jones, received APTA’s
Dorothy E. Baethke-Eleanor J. Carlin Award for Excellence in Academic
Teaching. Beth is an associate professor in the Physical Therapy Division of
the Department of Orthopedics and
Rehabilitation in the School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico.
She is also an associate professor in
the University’s Department of Cell
Biology and Physiology. Jones was
honored by the University of New
Mexico with the Apple for the Teacher
Award for Teaching Excellence, Apple
BEAUTY
VERMONT
HISTORY
BURLINGTON
SPIRIT
UVM
The University of Vermont: Tradition Looks Forward
captures UVM in striking color photography and
text that will stir memories for all alumni.
A great gift for new graduates... or older ones.
Hardcover, 112 pages, $29.95
Available through the UVM Bookstore:
uvmbookstore.uvm.edu
1-800-331-7305
& at the Davis Center or Church Street stores
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
77
Sara Jane Von Trapp became
the Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens’ new executive director.
Her extensive background in horticulture and fundraising position her
perfectly to help the Bartlett fulfill its
mission to educate the community
about botanical environments and
the importance of protecting them
for future generations. The Bartlett
Arboretum & Gardens is a 93-acre
preserve in north Stamford offering
outstanding educational opportunities for people of all ages including
students attending Stamford Public Schools. Jane brings more than
20 years of horticultural experience
to the Arboretum. After graduating
with a degree in plant and soil science from UVM, von Trapp owned
a landscaping and wholesale nursery business in northern Vermont as
well as a retail garden center. She is
a landscape designer and past president of both the Vermont Association
of Professional Horticulturists and the
New England Nursery Association.
Von Trapp is the author of three howto books on landscaping, Landscape
Doctor (Chapters Publishing), Landscaping from the Ground Up (Taunton
Press) and Landscape Makeover Book
(Taunton Press). She is also the U.S.
researcher and writer for DK Publishing’s A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden
Plants and has contributed to several magazines and books, including
Martha Stewart Living, This Old House
Magazine, and IDG’s Landscaping for
Dummies. Von Trapp has spent the
last dozen years working as a fundraiser and communications specialist
at independent schools in Connecticut and New York and as development director at Western Connecticut State University. She is a graduate
of the Leadership Danbury program
and serves on the Board of Directors of the Lake Dunmore Fern Lake
Association in Salisbury, Vermont.
Von Trapp makes her home in Redding, Connecticut, with her husband,
Thomas Goelz. Allie Stickney is officially retired. “No, it’s not early retirement. I am one of the ‘old’ members
of the Class of ’77, having returned to
college as a single mom and graduating from UVM at the ripe old age of
32. I retired from my job as president/
CEO of Wake Robin Life Care Community in Shelburne, Vermont, and
enjoyed the summer in Vermont as
a retired person. It was delightful!”
Wendy Pearce Nelson shares, “Colorado Springs has been home for the
past 30+ years, and my photography
studio BlueFoxPhotography.com just
celebrated its 25th year in business.
Whew! My entire career has been
spent making clients look their best.
We recently won the CS Business Journal 2014 Best in Business award, so
we must be doing something right!
My only son, Patrick, is graduated
now, living on his own and gainfully
employed. I visit the Boston area once
a year to visit friends and family, and
still have wonderful memories of my
time at UVM! Fellow alumni friends,
please look me up!” Donna French
Dunn just completed the Coast to
Coast walk across England. Upon
her return she joined Tecker International, a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning and organizational assessment for non-profit
organizations. Tom Joslin writes, “I
have some milestone news to report.
I am preparing to retire from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation after 31 years as an
environmental engineer and have
incorporated Prospect Environmental Services PLLC, to do marketing
and applied research. This past spring
I did a community service project in
Anju Dahiya’s bioenergy course at
UVM, which I highly recommend. Our
son, Ben Joslin ’13, graduated from
UVM last year, with a degree in civil
engineering, and has enrolled in the
53
54
for the Teacher Award for Overall
Excellence in Curricular Leadership,
and “HIPPO” Award for excellence in
teaching anatomy. Mitch Danaher,
deputy controller of General Electric
Company, will serve as national board
chair. He has worked at GE since
1982, when he served as a recruit in
their Financial Management Program.
Danaher has served as a member of
the U.S. delegation to the International Accounting Standards Committee, as well as a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s
Emerging Issues Task Force. Randy
Ross tells us, “My one-man show, ‘The
Chronic Single’s Handbook,’ was featured at fringe theater festivals in
Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; Orlando,
Florida; and Edinburgh Scotland. Info
on the show: www.chronicsingle.
com. Marianne S. Folsom Marsha
is excited to announce that the Civil
War era diary, written by Mary Stearns Cushing (age nine to age fifteen),
from 1861 to 1866, which forms the
heart of a book on which Marianne
collaborated with two other Charlestown Historical Society members, was
published last fall. Entitled The Judge’s
Daughter, all proceeds from its sale
benefit the historical society. Katy
Lise Abrams is an orthopedic PACU
Nurse, RN, living in Flagstaff, Arizona.
I have two boys, ages 15 and 18, who
share my love of adventure in Northern Arizona. Lee Kleiman reports,
“I recently biked along the Austrian
Danube with my wife, Laura, and
three daughters: Hannah, 22; Sasha,
20; and Ellie, 15. I spend my time as a
facial plastic surgeon and also enjoy
playing as a drummer in two bands.
Nan “Barbara” Merriam Thompson
completed a master’s in education
at Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. She studied neuroscience and education while enrolled in
the Mind, Brain and Education program. She continues to live in Framingham, Massachusetts, and is hoping to integrate her new ideas into
the field of education through her
teaching job or through a new leadership role. Pamela Smith is celebrating the release of her book: Global
Trade Policy: Questions and Answers.
Send your news to—
John Peter Scambos
20 Cantitoe Street
Katonah, NY 10536
[email protected]
83
Lucinda “Ceci” Prior Desautels shares, “My biggest news
is that our oldest child, Dana
Desautels ’14 just graduated from
UVM with a degree in computer science! We are very proud of him. Our
other son, Raphael Deasutels ’17
will be a sophomore majoring in biology at UVM in the fall. We are proud
of him as well! I haven’t kept in touch
with my UVM classmates but did see
Jamie Laughlin (who was in mechanical engineering with me at UVM)
at our 35th high school reunion this
year! Health and happiness.” Louise H. Calderwood received the 2014
Outstanding Alumni Award at the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Alumni and Friends Dinner in
May. This award commends alumni
who have achieved excellence in their
professional fields, demonstrated significant leadership, followed the landgrant ethic, and contributed to their
community, state, and nation.
Send your news to—
Lisa Greenwood Crozier
3370 Sally Kirk Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
[email protected]
84
We’re sad to report that
William “Bill” Simendinger
passed away unexpectedly on
July 14. Christine Moriarty, certified
financial planner and president of
MoneyPeace, Inc. celebrates twenty
years helping people solve financial
problems, understand financial wellness options, and plan for a secure
financial future. “I am so grateful to
my original clients, my workshop participants, my speaking audiences
and all the people who helped me
see what is truly possible.” Ms. Moriarty received the Outstanding Senior
Woman award at UVM and graduated
with distinction from Babson College
with a master’s in business administration in entrepreneurship. In addition, she has consulted a variety of
organizations from the New England
Life Insurance Company and SunLife
of Canada, to Outward Bound, and
the Massachusetts Special Commission on Financial Services. She has
extensive public speaking experience
including regional financial planning
conferences, weekend retreat centers, on-site employee groups, and
national trade conferences. Christine lives on the edge of the beautiful
Green Mountains of Vermont with her
husband, fulfilling her dreams and
supporting others to do the same.
Susan Podell Mason says, “Hello to
the physical therapy program class of
1984! I am fortunate to see some of
my classmates from time to time in
my work as the clinical consultant for
the Department of Vermont Health
Access. I enjoy the job, especially getting out to spend time with therapists
in the field. My daughter is a recent
graduate of Castleton and has joined
the workforce as a development coordinator, and my son, Seth Mason ’17
is at UVM, a philosopher! Best wishes
to all.” Meg Keeshan McGovern
posted a photo of the Keeshan family reunion on the Alumni Association
photo gallery at alumni.uvm.edu. It
highlights alums and incoming freshmen: William Keeshan ’56, Meg
Keeshan McGovern ’84, Deb Keeshan Peirce ’81, Kim Keeshan Moran
’85, Sandra Concannon Keeshan ’61.
In the back row are Chris Moran ’83,
Peter McGovern ’18, Isaac Moran
’18, O’Neill Keeshan ’60.
Send your news to—
Laurie Olander Angle
12 Weidel Drive
Pennington, NJ 08534
Abby Goldberg Kelley
303 Oakhill Road
Shelburne, VT 05482
[email protected]
Kelly McDonald
10 Lapointe Street
Winooski, VT 5404
[email protected]
Shelley Carpenter Spillane
336 Tamarack Shores
Shelburne, VT 05482
[email protected]
85
30TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Kevin Drew shares that
his daughter, Leslie, is part of UVM’s
incoming Class of 2018 and will enroll
in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Heather Smith Kreitler tells us, “This
summer I am living with all four kids
at home probably for the last time
as Jack just graduated from Colorado College and is now employed
in New York City and will be permanently moving out soon. Henry will
be a sophomore at Tulane, Charlotte
a senior in high school, and Annabelle a first-year middle schooler!
My husband John (Princeton ‘85)
continues to work in finances from
home and we are both very involved
in local charities. I use both of my
degrees (UVM bachelor’s in education and Columbia master’s in social
work) in my philanthropic work helping families from lower income areas
in schools and hospitals in nearby
Bridgeport, Connecticut. Fonda
Ambrose Hereford and Page Hereford ’84 are celebrating their 26th
year of wedded bliss and first year
of empty nest hood. “Sally, Tom-o,
and Emily have all for the most part,
flown away. We have traveled a lot
and continue to enjoy our place in
Maine in the summer and skiing
as much as possible in the winter.
Please visit us in St. Louis any time!”
Cathy Irish Tremblay writes, “I joined
the Alumni Association as a lifetime member along with my daughter Erica Tremblay ’15, and we are
enjoying the many benefits that are
included with membership!” Rick
Phillips says, please join fellow classmates and make a donation to the
Billings Renovation Fund. The goal
is to raise enough money for naming rights on behalf of the Class of
1985. Visit the Facebook page “University of Vermont Class of 1985” for
details. It’s almost 30 years folks! Let’s
get our class name on that UVM icon,
Billings!”
Send your news to—
Barbara Roth
140 West 58th Street, #2B
New York, NY 10019
[email protected]
86
Helen Raboin Condry graduated with a master’s in nursing education from the University of Central Florida in May. She
states, “I have waited many years to
get this degree but I finally achieved
my dream. I am looking forward
to teaching the next generation of
nurses!” At its annual May convention,
in Columbus, Ohio, the membership
of the Ohio Association for Justice
elected Paul Grieco to be vice president of the organization. Grieco is a
member of the organization’s Executive Committee, and has served in the
past as treasurer and secretary. He is a
partner with the Landskroner Grieco
Merriman law firm based in Cleve-
land. He has also been a member of
OAJ’s board of trustees since 2007, a
member of the Ohio State Bar Association, the American Association for
Justice, The Justinian Forum, and the
Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys.
Maria Swanson writes, “Our youngest began college this year, so I’m taking advantage of the empty nest by
indulging in lots of traveling: Barcelona, Florida, Arizona, and many days
at Holiday Valley, New York, for skiing. It’s no Mad River Glen, but loads
of fun. I’m still working with developmentally delayed pre-school students two to three days each week
and also enjoy volunteering at our
local library and refereeing our community youth soccer games. In addition to running his own remodeling firm, Michael Patterson currently
serves on the board of directors for
the Washington, D.C. Metro Chapter of the National Association of
the Remodeling Industry, and is also
active in educational activities for
the organization, having taught various certification courses over the last
several years. He had an article on
project scheduling published in the
December 2013 issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine. He wonders how
the hell he is turning 50 this year, but
lives happily nonetheless, with his
wife and three daughters, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Susan Johns Lackey
is proud to have served as the president and executive director for the
Miss Vermont Scholarship Organization, Inc., a state preliminary for the
Miss America Organization, for the
past five years and looks forward to
this coming year. “It is a wonderful
501(c)3 to get involved with if you
believe in developing women leaders. Why not give me a call and ask
how you can help the next development class? Vermont has a first in the
nation program for teaching life skills
that also prepares young women to
compete for academic scholarships.
We can use your contributions!” Barb
Dean Carskaddan passed way unexpectedly on Saturday, June 7. Barb
graduated from the HESA program
and is survived by her husband Gary
Carskaddan G’87, son Adam, and
daughter, Paige.
Send your news to—
Lawrence Gorkun
141 Brigham Road
St. Albans, VT 05478
[email protected]
NANCY FORD
87
Julie Sussman Izsak shares
“I got married in 2000 to Len
Izsak, who I met on a hiking
trip in Austria. We have lived in Bedford, New Hampshire, since 2006,
where we are raising our two boys
who are 9 and 11 years old. I work as
a registered dietitian in private practice.” Brenda Bouchard Singal has
been practicing pediatrics at York
Pediatric Medicine for the past 20
years and enjoy my adventures with
it. This year my youngest son is starting his college search. I had the pleasure of going with him to check out
UVM. He was impressed with the
campus, the people, and learning
about the Honors College as well.
It was great being back on campus
and remembering the good times
at UVM.” Dara Levine Hillis writes,
“I exhibited my photography at the
Harlem Arts Fair at Marcus Garvey
Park in New York City on June 28-29.
Kim Kontrick-Anderson and Jeanette Beer-Becker came into the city
to support me. We had a great time
recapping McAuley years. Nancy
Hacohen-Slavkin circulated an article
to Carolyn Beatty-Murphy, Jeanette
Beer-Becker, and Petra GersterberRowland that Peoples Express Airlines was coming back! Petra Gerstberger-Rowland worked there
in the early years! She still has her
badge and wants to be called back!
The launch of the airline brings back
great memories for all of us. For now,
PE flies only between select cities
and Newport News, Virginia. http://
www.flypex.com/ but it is cheap! I am
letting others know...Sara PrineasWurzer (who by the way has five children!!), Eileen LaRochell-Ramer and
Beth Phillips-Whitehair. July 22 was
Kees Goudsmit’s birthday. He would
have turned 50 years old! Happy
Birthday, Kees! Lesley McBride (his
wife) and their daughters Cy Goudsmit, 13, and Anneke Goudsmit, 8 in
August, are doing great and he would
be very proud of both of them! That is
all for now. Have a great fall all! Love,
Dara Levine-Hillis, one of the original
McAuley Girls.”
Send your news to—
Sarah Reynolds
2 Edgewood Lane
Bronxville, NY 10708
[email protected]
88
Wendy Webster Farrell says
that after two years as a
designer for the STRUT fashion show, she will be coordinating
the show as part of Burlington, Vermont’s SEABA Art Hop in September.
Kimberly Wilson Murchie says “Hello
to former class mates from the nursing program and to my friends with
whom I have lost touch. I have been
busy since graduation with my career
and raising a family. I have been a
practicing family nurse practitioner
for 20 years and this May completed
a post-master’s in an adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner
program. I have been working for 15
years in a local emergency room. I do
get up to Burlington more these past
two years as my daughter is going to
be a junior at St. Mikes! Will be showing off UVM to our older son this
summer on a college tour road trip.
I have not yet ‘found’ social media
but do use email and I would love to
hear from folks! My email is [email protected].” Two years after the
creation of the NMC Comprehensive
Pain and Addiction Management Service, William Alan Roberts is shifting his schedule and running for state
senate! “I hope to recruit and continue working on this project and if I
don’t get elected will consider it the
beginning of retirement planning.
Will is a junior at Geneseo, Clayton is a
sophomore at Saint Andrews in Scotland and Leslie is a frosh at UMass,
Amherst. Amy is back in practice part
time and we are back in Fairfield at
the farm.” Carroll E. Neville is group
manager—national accounts for Norfolk Southern (NS) Corp. He leads
NS’s Domestic Intermodal Marketing
Team responsible for sales/marketing coverage of NS’s intermodal retail
and manufacturing customer base.
He joined the company in August
of 2008 as a market manager in the
International Marketing Group and
has held his current position since
September of 2013. He has 24 years
of experience in the domestic and
international transportation industry. Prior to joining NS he worked
for Maersk Line for 18 years, holding sales management positions in
locations throughout the U.S., Hong
Kong and Denmark. He has attended
the executive course at the Darden
School of Business in Charlottesville,
Virginia, and Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England. He is
VQEXTRA
online
KATHERINE STAM ’88
“We put them in some
of the least desirable
neighborhoods. They
don’t have cars. Our
city doesn’t have good
transportation. Their
biggest struggle is
poverty. They came with
nothing. We put them in
situations which don’t
allow them to thrive.”
—Kathryn Stam on the
challenges faced by refugees
arriving in the United States.
A professor at the SUNY
Institute of Technology, she’s
also a leader in support
efforts for new Americans in
Utica, New York.
read more at
uvm.edu/vq
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
[CLASSNOTES
55
[CLASSNOTES
also a member of the executive committee for the Supply Chain Leaders
in Action (SCLA). Carroll and his wife,
Amy, reside in Norfolk, Virginia, and
have two children.
Send your news to—
Cathy Selinka Levison
18 Kean Road
Short Hills, NJ 07078
[email protected]
56
90
25TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Lana Levine Joslin, her
husband, Chris, and their two children, Bella and Harris, are heading
to Israel for two weeks in August for
Harris’s bar mitzvah. Bonnie Borton Paz writes, “Our family moved to
central Pennsylvania two years ago
with a new job opportunity for my
husband. I will be starting a new job
teaching French at Messiah College
this fall.” Meg Laferriere Horrocks
shares, “I live in Vermont with my husband and two children (Lucienne, age
11, and Bridgette age 6). I’ve spent
most of my post-UVM years working in athletics from the grass-roots
level to World Cup events, as well as
the Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games.
These work adventures took me from
living in Colorado and Utah, back to
Vermont. Along the way I’ve had the
great pleasure of meeting up with
and meeting new alumni from UVM.
I currently work in alpine ski racing
at a local ski club, and enjoy watching my girls participate in the sport
too. Sadly I also share the heartbreaking information on the passing of our
dear friend Jennifer Reynolds McKillop ’90, who lost her battle to breast
cancer last October. She was living in
Placerville, Colorado, near Telluride,
and had spent all her post-UVM years
in the Telluride area. She was surrounded by an incredibly supportive
community. She loved the outdoors
and shared that passion with her
friends and family, passing that love
on to her two children. Many wonderful memories were shared at her
memorial, including some from UVM,
as well as numerous other adventures she had taken before leaving
us all too soon. She is survived by her
husband John; son Sean, 7; daughter
Caitlin, 6; mother, Margaret; and sister, Kate, and her family; she was predeceased by her father, Tom.”
Send your news to—
Tessa Donohoe Fontaine
108 Pickering Lane
Nottingham, PA 19362
[email protected]
91
Laurie Way moved to Boston
several months ago (after 14
years in New York City) and is
currently working in stewardship and
donor relations at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which she loves. She
and her boyfriend, Paul, are enjoying summer daytrips, and she is also
taking oil painting classes and pursuing her ballroom dance hobby.
She enjoys attending UVM events in
the Boston area, and looks forward
to seeing many of you there in the
future! Greg Doubek sends a shout
out to all the Patterson Hall and 99
Loomis gang. “After 23 years in the
Army, I was recently promoted to Colonel and have started an assignment
with the Defense Information Systems Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland. If you are traveling through the
Baltimore or Washington, D.C. area,
please drop by for a beer or three!”
Send news to—
Karen Heller Lightman
2796 Fernwald Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
[email protected]
92
Teresa Gnassi Cuesta shared
that her dear friend Kent
Batchelder passed away June
11, 2014. Dannette “Dani” Allen
Bronaugh writes, “After living in the
Northern Virginia area for 17 years,
working, raising kids (Taylor Jeanne,
16 and Bobby, 14) and going back
to school, I am now living with my
family in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I
completed my doctorate in special
education from George Mason Uni-
versity in May of 2013 and am currently an assistant professor and the
graduate program director in Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities Department at James Madison
University.” Anne Phyfe Snedeker
Palmer is now approaching her eighteenth anniversary as owner of 8
Limbs Yoga Centers in Seattle, Washington. She has also returned to writing, putting her UVM English degree
to work. Her piece “Dashed,” about
the loss of a pregnancy at twenty
weeks, was recently published in the
anthology Three Minus One: Stories of
Parents’ Love and Loss. Anne is in the
final stages of the first draft of her
memoir about yoga and ambition,
and how loss aligned the two. Wayne
Chadbourne wrote in about a weeklong Southern-Vermont summertime
get-together that included Angie
and Ken Sturm ’92, Kelly and Wayne
Chadbourne ’92, Arnie Juanillo ’92,
Renee and Chris Jones ’92, Melanie Edwards Furr ’93 and Mark Furr
’92, Mandie and Mags Davis-Ford
’94, and their children; nine in total!
The week was filled with lots of hiking, swimming, relaxing, World Cup
viewing, game playing and reliving
great memories of the old UVM days,
including Ken Sturm’s legendary
photo slide shows.
Send your news to—
Lisa Kanter
6203 Walhonding Road
Bethesda, MD 20816
[email protected]
93
Will Kohler shares, “My
14-year-old son attended a
three-week film program in
Burlington this July so I spent two
weekends at the Hotel Vermont.
Great new hotel! Nice to be back in
Burlington!” Allison Blew Gurley was
promoted to partner in the Insurance Defense Practice at Weston Patrick, P.A.
Send your news to—
Gretchen Haffermehl Brainard
[email protected]
94
Alison Croke married Matthew Roach on September
7, 2013 in Newport, Rhode
Island. The couple reside in Wakefield, Rhode Island. Greg Ehle is married with one and four-year-old boys.
“Meghan, my wife, and I live in Colchester and I have been working in
cardiology for 11 years now at the
University of Vermont medical center. I see Tom Baggott, Stacey Steinmetz, and Ken Sturm on a regular
basis.” Stephanie Sadwin Masiello
writes that she, Meg Eby Boothby,
Linda Heidbrink Klieman, and Patty
Levy Glick are looking forward to
reconnecting at Reunion 2014! CJ
Gauss says, “Hello from Boulder, Colorado where I have lived the last 20
years, with my wife, Melanie, and our
two little boys, Chance and Mason.
I am a resident director with Merrill Lynch and feel lucky to live here
every day.” Mary Martialay and her
husband, Andrew Casabonne, welcomed the arrival of a new addition to the Class of 2036. Ruth Isabel Florence Casabonne was born
on July 7. Allison Stollmeyer Gorelick and her husband, Jeff, moved
to Paris this past summer. They have
left their real estate investment business in Reno, Nevada, in the hands
of their very capable employees and
set off for a year (or two) abroad with
their two boys, Lucas, 9, and Eli, 6.
While their boys will be getting some
great schooling in French-immersion schools, Jeff and Allison are looking forward to many great meals
together, taking some language and
architecture classes, and working
hard to slow down and enjoy life!
Send your news to—
Cynthia Bohlin Abbott
141 Belcher Drive
Sudbury, MA 01776
[email protected]
95
20TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu.
Send your news to—
Valeri Susan Pappas
vpappas@davisand
ceriani.com
96
Elizabeth Sondheim
Levesque writes, “I want to
give a shout-out to my buddies Robin Keary Duggan, Jaap
Feenstra, Charlie Wallace, Lisa
Caunt, Jonathan Snyder, Alice Peterson, and Jenny Smith. It’s been over
20 years since we met and I miss that
time very much. Wishing you all my
best from Freeport, Maine. Come
visit! Summer in Maine can’t be beat.”
Deborah Savino Gregory writes,
www.LMSRE.com
“My husband, Dave, and I welcomed
our third son, Zachary Tyler, who was
born on April 21, 2014, with a smile.”
Send your news to—
Jill Cohen Gent
31760 Creekside Drive
Pepper Pike, OH 44124
[email protected]
Michelle Richards Peters
[email protected]
97
Judith Kline attended the
wedding of Jeff Walsh ’96
in Dorset, Vermont, July 26,
with Ryan Weiderkehr, Guerric
DeColigny, Dan Selicaro, Spencer
Dubuque, Damon Gurnsey, Charlie Elkins, Jay Seideman, and Sara
Hutchinson. Charity Clark shares,
“My husband, Rob Lietar, and I welcomed our daughter, Charlotte
Draper Clark-Lietar, on May 5, 2014.
Charlotte was born at Fletcher Allen
Health Care. It was a comfort to look
out at the UVM campus while I was
in labor and to bump into some old
college friends among the hospital staff!” Sarah Eley got engaged to
Brad Libbrecht in April and they married in Vermont this September. Sarah
owns her own personal training business where they both live in Boulder,
www.LionDavis.com
Colorado.
Send your news to—
Elizabeth Carstensen Genung
362 Upper Hollow Hill Road
Stowe, VT 05672
[email protected]
98
Since receiving a master’s in
interdisciplinary studies in
1998, Islene Runningdeer
says, “I have been focusing my studies on music as medicine. I’ve provided
music therapy for palliative and hospice patients and families throughout
central Vermont. I’m happy to share
that my book, Musical Encounters with
Dying: Stories and Lessons, was recently
published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in London and Philadelphia.
Readers in the U.S., Canada, Australia
and UK are finding it a useful guide in
working with the dying. My continuing thanks go to Professor Robert Nash
for supporting the educational foundation of this rich work!” Brian Sommer is a member of the Pittsburgh law
firm Meyer, Unkovic & Scott’s Litigation
& Dispute Resolution, Employment
Law & Employee Benefits, Intellectual
Property and Sustainable Development Groups. Brian was named to the
Pennsylvania Rising Stars list of the top
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FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
89
Ray Quesnel and Wendy Tayler Quesnel celebrated their
25th wedding anniversary
recently with a renewal of vows ceremony on Menauhant Beach in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Among family members in attendance were John
Quesnel ’64 and AnnMarie Quesnel
Swenson ’87. “It’s hard to believe it’s
been so long since we first met, freshman year in our “shoe boxes,” Chittenden and Buckham Halls.” Gina DeVivo
Swain writes, “Rob and I are celebrating our 14th year for our business in
the British Virgin Islands, Swain Sailing School and Charters. This is our
sixth season for our Newport, Rhode
Island branch. Our oldest son will be
a freshman at High Point University
in August. Our younger son starts
high school this year in Rhode Island.
I was thrilled to tour UVM with my
son last winter. I hadn’t been back in
two decades. The renovations and
additions are really impressive.” Betsey Green Dempsey, Don Dempsey
and their two kids had a wonderful
visit with their good friends, Rachel
Murray Vanasse ‘90, her husband,
Jay Vanasse, and their four terrific
kids! Everyone is doing well and they
wish they could get together more
often to reminisce! Maureen Gonsalves shares, “I had a great trip to
Scottsdale, Arizona, with many of my
UVM friends this spring. It was great,
as always, to spend four kid-free
days with Kate Fallon Croteau, Kate
Barker Swindell, Susan Mooney
Noonan, Emily Katz Moskowitz, Kim
Slomin McGarvey, Diane Peligal
O’Halloran, Robyn Fried Boyd and
Stefanie Conroy Wallach. It’s like we
never left Coolidge 3rd.” I was able to
see Christine Striano Arella both in
New York and Boston this summer.
Christine lives in Manhassett, New
York, with her husband and three
kids. Kyle McDonough and his wife
Jill McDonough ’88 live in Manchester, New Hampshire, with their two
kids. Kyle is hoping to make it to Ver-
mont in October for our Reunion and
would love to see his old teammates
and friends. Tommy O’Hara writes
that his oldest son will be attending
UVM in the fall, so our Reunion weekend will also be parents’ weekend for
him. Scott Green wrote to say that he
won’t be able to make it to Reunion,
but it sounds like he has plenty of
excitement in his life. He has three
kids and a great wife and is a school
teacher in Westhampton, Massachusetts, and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. He participates in triathlons and traveled to London last year
as a member of Team USA and competed in the World Triathlon Championships. He headed to Milwaukee
in August 2014 to attempt to qualify
for the World Championships in Chicago in 2015.
Send your news to—
Maureen Kelly Gonsalves
[email protected]
57
[CLASSNOTES
VQEXTRA
online
JUSTIN GREGG ’98
“I’ve had to reiterate
many times that yes,
indeed, dolphins are
smart animals. But the
science of what ‘smart’
is and just how smart
dolphins are is a lot
more complicated than
most people realize.”
— Justin Gregg on public
and press reaction to his
book Are Dolphins Really
Smart?. In addition to his expertise in dolphin cognition,
Gregg is an accomplished
voice actor.
read more at
58
99
Hello UVMers! Elinor Payeur Kostanski got married
on September 5, 2013 in her
hometown of York, Maine, to Erik
Kostanski (not a UVM grad, unfortunately). They had a beautiful day to
celebrate! Other UVM grads (and dear
friends) in attendance were: maid
of honor, Erin McKie Drew, Robert
Pontbriand, Brande Jeffs, Jennifer
Wolff Turner, Magen Maxner Schaiberger, and Meghan Curci Palmer.
Chris Frier and his lovely bride, Sara,
hopped the pond and moved to London with their adorable little man,
Colby. Best of luck to you! Kristen
Donnino shares that she and her husband, Rob, welcomed a daughter,
Lily Isla, to the world on January 19!
I’m sure there will be lots more exciting updates next time around, please
send them in!
Send your news to—
Sarah Pitlak Tiber
42 Lacy Street
North Andover, MA 01845
[email protected]
00
15TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Katherine “Kate” Kelly
passed away April 3, 2014. Lara Cushing Robtoy shares, “I have been a registered nurse at Fletcher Allen Health
Care and Northwest Medical Center
for the past 14 years. My husband,
Jason Robtoy, and I were happily
married on August 10, 2002. We have
four children Nat, 10; Lilly, 8; Lisey,
5; and Colleen, 3. I am very excited
to further my education and will
start program studies for my family
nurse practitioner in the fall. Courtney Daly McGuire writes, a mini UVM
reunion took place in beautiful Biddeford, Maine in July 2014. Enjoying
the beach views and sunshine were
Jody Matthews ‘99, Meagan McKiernan Barry, Jen Laberge, Rebecca
Stoops Reed, Pat Reed ‘99, Courtney McGuire and husband, Ryan
McGuire. Good times were had by
all! Rayna Freedman writes, “I was
accepted into Northeastern University’s Doctor of Education, Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership concentration. I also recently
attended an Alpha Delta Pi Gamma
Tau chapter reconnection event.
Thanks to Carly Baker ’99 for organizing. It was well attended and we had
a great time!”
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
[email protected]/classnotes
01
Kelsey MacCabe Frost tells
us, “My husband, Ryan, and
I recently bought our first
home in Brunswick, Maine, and are
settling in to our new neighborhood.
We are also expecting our second
child, another girl, due in late December. Our first born, Stella, just turned
two in May, and she is very excited to
have a baby sister. Sarah Cloutier is
engaged to John McCarthy of Alexandria, Virginia. A May 2015 Vermont
wedding is planned.
Send your news to—
Erin Wilson
[email protected]
02
Tim Tourville shares that he
graduated from UVM with
a master’s degree in 2002
and doctorate in clinical and translational science in 2012 and is currently
a research faculty member at UVM.
He was recently named the recipient of a national doctoral dissertation award provided by the National
Athletic Trainers Association Research
and Education Foundation. Ben Battles and Krista Bera were married in
2012 in Fairlee, Vermont, and welcomed their son, Harlan, last December. After a decade or so working and
playing in various parts of the country, Ben and Krista recently returned
to the Green Mountains and settled
in Waterbury, Vermont. Krista is a naturalist for the Stowe Land Trust, and
Ben is an assistant attorney general
for the State of Vermont. John Bainton writes, “I am currently living in
Darien, Connecticut, with my wife
and one-year-old son. We bought a
house here in the fall of 2013 and renovated the property while filming a
TV show for HGTV. I am a realtor and
work for William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. If you are in the Fairfield County area and need any assistance with real estate please look
me up.”
Send your news to—
Jennifer Khouri Godin
[email protected]
03
Jodie Macht recently married Daniel Ackerman in October near the eastern shore in
Maryland. Jodie is currently in graduate school for the second time,
working toward a degree in school
counseling at George Washington
University.
Send your news to—
Korinne Moore
[email protected]
04
Gabriel Rothblatt received
the Democratic nomination for U.S. Congress in Florida’s 8th district, the Space Coast.
James D. Henley received the 2014
New Achiever Alumni Award at the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Alumni and Friends Dinner in
May. This award celebrates alumni
who have graduated within the past
15 years from the college and demonstrated outstanding professional
achievement and show potential for
future accomplishments. Ryan Kuja
recently completed a master’s in theology and culture from The Seattle
School of Theology and Psychology.
Candace Attaway was accepted to
Charleston School of Law and will
be attending in the fall 2014. Chris
Moultroup and Melissa Moultroup
welcomed Belle Marie Moultroup into
the world on June 6, 2014. Nancy
Morin Sunderland’s small babywear
business, Poe Wovens, celebrated its
one year anniversary in July. Also, she
has partnered with Eaton Hill Textile Works of Marshfield, Vermont, to
offer a line of specialty hand-woven
baby wraps. Laura Tilghman shares,
“In May 2014 I received my doctorate
in anthropology from the University
of Georgia. My dissertation was based
on over two years of research in Madagascar on the lives and economic
strategies of rural-urban migrants. I
am now working as a postdoctoral
research associate for University of
Georgia’s College of Public Health.”
Hazen K. Baron married Lauren M.
Davis at Evans Memorial Chapel in
Denver, Colorado, on May 25, 2014. In
attendance were fellow UVM alumni
Christopher Lazzari, Benjamin Dzialo, Donnell Much ’03, Bradley Ross
’03 and his wife, Karen Ross ’02. Alan
Rivoir and his wife, Katie, welcomed
into the world their first daughter,
Colette Monet Rivoir, on December
9, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. They
recently relocated to Denver from
New York City in early 2013, when
Alan took a position as head trader
at hedge fund RK Capital. Prior to
moving to Denver, Alan worked as a
trader at Brahman Capital for six years
and his wife, Katie, worked as a buyer
and merchandiser for the Calvin Klein
brand at PVH Corp.
Send your news to-Kelly Kisiday
39 Shepard Street, #22
Brighton, MA 02135
[email protected]
05
10TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Russell B. Buchanan joins
the Baker Donelson Firm as an associate in the business litigation group,
where he focuses his practice on real
estate, bankruptcy, and litigation.
While attending the Florida State University College of Law, Russell served
as a law clerk for John McCain’s
presidential campaign, where he
researched and wrote memoranda on
various aspects of federal and Florida election and administrative law.
Anne Scheideler Sweet is back in the
northeast for a little while as her husband serves overseas. It has been a
great excuse to volunteer with the
admissions office and catch up with
her favorite Catamount friends!
Send your news to—
Kristin Dobbs
Apt. 1, 301 King Farm Blvd.
Rockville, MD 20850
[email protected]
06
We have had quite a bit of
Catamount love this past
year! Our congratulations
are extended to Brent Wilson and
Jenna Coffey, who were married in
April 2014 on the island of Abaco, in
the Bahamas. There were many Catamount alumni in attendance, including the bride’s sister, Regan Coffey Torney ’01 and her husband,
Mike Torney ’01. Other UVM alumni
included: Bill Wilson, Mike Maher,
Matt Smith, Melissa Belcher ’08,
Moira Griffin ’91, Robert Torney
’81, Sally Ressler Torney ’81, and
Paul Obuchowski ’77. Brent and
Jenna currently live in Colorado and
are expecting their first baby in February 2015! Sara Schultz married
Seth Peichert on June 14, 2014 in
Brooklyn, New York, where they currently reside. Jamie McCune, Patrick Brown, Ryan Milliken, Kevin
Bell, Louis Moran, Mark Bitter, Ben
Alexander, Brendon Porter, Christina Grady Porter, Chris Sloane,
Kesse Kooperman ’07, Fraser Seiftert ’07, Holly Seiftert ’05, Shara
Rudman Kohart ’08, Nick Kohart, ’05
and Steve Murphy ’05 were among
the UVM alumni in attendance. Our
congratulations to Chris Sullivan
and his wife, Rachel Reilly Sullivan,
who are expecting their second child
this fall. Christopher Scherbel was
recently engaged to Katie Gryckiewicz. Meredith Costello and husband
Ben recently welcomed their second daughter, Quinn. Syndey Chatkin Sifers and husband, Jaime Sifers,
recently welcomed their second
daughter, Leni. The Sifers recently
returned to the United States where
Jaime will play hockey with the
Springfield Falcons after spending
three seasons in Germany with Adler
Mannheim. Sarah Hall Magoon ’06,
G’07 married Kaleb Alan Magoon
on June 14, 2014 at the Echo Lake
Inn in Ludlow, Vermont. Bridesmaids
included Linky le Roux Ohm, Kate
Haggerty, and Molly Theodorakos Antos ’05. Amira Bakr sang an
Avett Brother’s song during the ceremony. Also in attendance: Nickii
Whitney Davignon, Jake Davignon,
Andy Antos ’03, Jen LaRoe Diggans
’05, Courtney Breslin ’04, Ryan Allgrove’ 05, Betsy Harlow, Ben Visich,
Andy McGovern’ 05, and father of
the groom, Sam Magoon ’79. Sarah,
a high school teacher, and Kaleb, a
master electrician, currently reside
in Denver. John Britten shared, “I am
the digital director at Judicial Watch,
a conservative non-profit in Washington, D.C. While traveling to New York
for Phish recently, I enjoyed a meal at
Dorrian’s Red Hand with fellow Sigma
Phi brothers Jeremy Haft and V.
Noah Campbell.”
Send your news to—
Katherine Murphy
32 Riverview Road
Irvington, NY 10533
[email protected]
VQEXTRA
online
07
Petra Smejkal Winslow is a
member of the board at Seeds
of Joy Village, a Waldorf preschool and kindergarten program in
the South Bay of Southern California.
Carly Brown, a 2007 and 2013 graduate of the University of Vermont,
was one of 32 exceptionally talented, early career science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM) teachers to be awarded a
2014 KSTF Teaching Fellowship. KSTF
seeks to improve STEM education by
building a stable, sustainable cadre
of networked leading teachers, who
are trained and supported as leaders
from the beginning of their careers.
This fall, Carly will begin her first year
of teaching at Craftsbury Academy.
Alaina Dickason Roberts graduated
from Columbia University this past
May with her master’s in civil engineering. She is still working for Boeing just outside of Philadelphia and
has recently taken a rotational position in business optimization. Her
husband, Jonathan Roberts, also
graduated in May with a BSN from
Jefferson University. He is now a registered nurse in Pennsylvania. Alexis
Penkoff and Clyde McGraw were
married at Black Rock Yacht Club in
Bridgeport, Connecticut, in May. UVM
alumni in attendance included Adrienne Borek, Peter Hein, Sean Layton, Kent Matthews, Clayton Phillips-Dorsett, Darryl Swarts, Daniel
Zwirko, and aunt of the groom, Anne
McGraw ’52. Alexis and Clyde live
together in New York City.
Send your news to—
Elizabeth Bitterman
[email protected]
08
The New England Foundation
for the Arts announced that
Steven Fenton has joined
the organization as executive assistant. Prior to joining NEFA, Steven
PARVEZ
POTHIAWALA ’06 &
ALMA HARTMAN ’12
“One day in Peru, we
literally wrote emails to
our professors, saying,
‘We didn’t get it before,
but we get it now!
Thank you! I was
ripping my hair out!
I didn’t get it! Now
I’m understanding it
because it’s in practice.’”
— Alma Hartman on
lessons coming to life as
she and Parvez Pothiawala
established their business,
Rock + Pillar, which works
with Peruvian artisans to
bring their hand-made
clothing and textiles to the
U.S. market.
read more at
uvm.edu/vq
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
uvm.edu/vq
up-and-coming attorneys for 2014. His
practice focuses on commercial litigation, particularly securities litigation,
intellectual property disputes, Marcellus Shale litigation and shareholder
rights. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and
resides in Squirrel Hill. Jennifer Vellano and her husband, James, just celebrated their daughter, Emilia Charlie’s, first birthday; older brother, Lucca,
celebrated as well! They reside in Bedford, New York and own their own
company, Maison Prive Chefs. Check
them out at locallygrownchefs.com.
Send news to—
Ben Stockman
[email protected]
59
60
served as communications coordinator at the Office of the Boards of Advisors for Tufts University, where he
planned meeting logistics and support for ten volunteer boards across
the university. Currently residing
in Somerville, Massachusetts, Steven received a bachelor’s in art history. “Steven’s experience makes him
a great fit for NEFA at this time,” said
NEFA’s interim co-executive director Laura Paul. “We are thrilled to
welcome him.” Jody Podell Damsky and Bill Damsky ’05, PhD ’11,
MD ’13, celebrate their second wedding anniversary in November. The
college sweethearts live in Hamden,
Connecticut, where Jody works at
the Association of Yale Alumni and
Bill is a dermatology resident at YaleNew Haven Hospital. Ryan Guthrie
got married to the beautiful and talented Taylor Buonocore on August
31 on Keuka Lake, New York. He is
happy to have completed a Half Ironman Triathlon in Lake George this
year and is looking forward to competing in the Ironman Maryland
in September. Ryan completed his
sixth year with Merrill Lynch Wealth
Management and is now a member of the PBC Wealth Management
Group in Florham Park, New Jersey.
Lynn Baker and Benjamin Barone
’07 were married at Hawk Mountain Resort in Plymouth, Vermont on
August 16 of this year. Many UVMers
will be in attendance. Stay tuned for
some photos of the awesome celebration! Sumana Serchan writes, “I
recently graduated from Yale School
of Forestry and Environmental Studies and am currently working with
Urban Resources Initiative in New
Haven. In August, I will start my work
as a forester with New York City Parks
Department.” Ashley Vaughan Rivers and her husband, Aaron, welcomed Eloise Beatrice Rivers on May
8, 2014. She joins big brother Bentley.
Justin John Oakes currently works
for Bloomberg LP based in Beijing,
China. Please feel free to reach out
to him at justin.john.oakes@gmail.
com with any questions regarding living/working abroad in Asia, or general information about the financial
services/commodities industries. On
August 16, 2014, Brenna O’Donnell
and Ricky Mahoney ’07 married on
Cohasset Harbor in Massachusetts.
The two have been together since
their undergraduate days and cel-
ebrated in true UVM style! Several
alumni were present including the
bride’s sister and brother-in-law, Kelley and Dan Ruane ’01. Other UVM
party guests: Missy Giordano, Jessica
Stanley, Sarah Hoffman, Erica Schlank ’10, Rob Donohue, Nate Smith,
Ryan Palumbo, Joe Heaslip, and Eric
Lynch ’07. The couple will continue
living in Boston, where Brenna is a
teacher and Ricky is a copy writer.
Send your news to—
Elizabeth Bearese
[email protected]
Emma Grady
[email protected]
09
Stuart Flanagan says, “My
partners and I at Newport
Renewables develop commercial and utility scale renewable
energy projects, and design-build
zero net energy homes.” You can
Google a recent article in the Providence Journal about Stuart’s success!
Shaun M. Gilpin received the 2014
New Achiever Alumni Award at the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Alumni and Friends Dinner in
May. This award celebrates alumni
who have graduated within the past
15 years from the college and demonstrated outstanding professional
achievement and show potential for
future accomplishments. Alexander
Mervak writes, “I very reluctantly
left Burlington this summer to start
graduate school at the University
of Michigan. I’m enrolled as a dualdegree student in their schools of
business and public policy. UVMers,
look me up if you’re in Ann Arbor
or greater Detroit!” Danielle Cloutier-Simons and Thomas Cheney
were married on July 12, 2014, in
Stowe, Vermont. Many UVM alumni
were on hand to celebrate. Danielle is an 8th grade science teacher
and Thomas works for Congressman
Peter Welch. The couple currently
resides in Washington, D.C. David
Helfand married Anna Kupchik in
Princeton, Massachusetts, on July 13,
2014. David is finishing his doctorate from the Massachusetts School
of Professional Psychology in 2015.
They reside in Bedford, Massachusetts, and Anna is a child and family
therapist in Salem, Massachusetts.
David plans on specializing in neuro
feedback. David and Anna plan on
settling in the greater Boston area.
David grew up in Cabot, Vermont.
Send your news to-David Volain
[email protected]
10
5TH REUNION
OCTOBER 2–4, 2015
alumni.uvm.edu/reunion
If you are interested in planning your
upcoming reunion, email alumni@
uvm.edu. Claire Joslyn writes, “Vermont...the motherland forever.” Patrick Sullivan will be studying medicine after having been accepted into
Clarkson University’s Master of Physician Assistant Studies Program, starting January 2015.
Send your news to-Daron Raleigh
58 Madison Avenue
P.O. Box 660
Hartford, VT 05047
[email protected]
11
Lindsay Weinberg graduated
from Pace University with a
master’s in forensic science.
Heather Czapla and Nathan Wheeler
’12 were recently engaged in Paris,
France. The two met at the University
of Vermont in 2009. They plan to get
married in Connecticut during the
summer of 2015. Rebecca Sananes
shares, “Thanks to my time as a double major in English and film studies
at UVM, I’m starting at Boston University’s College of Communications
this fall. I will be getting my master’s
in broadcast journalism and teaching
World Communications 101. Miss You
UVM!” Carolyn Wlodarczyk received
a J.D. from the University of Connecticut’s School of Law. Stephanie Marks
is living and working in New York
City. She was recently involved in a
new product launch at Ipreo, a financial services firm in Midtown. Ipreo
partnered with Ezra Hagerty’s ’10
firm, OpenExchange, for the project
and the two Catamounts now work
closely together on daily operations
and client service. Stephanie and Ezra
have been friends since they studied
in Qingdao, China, in 2008 during the
inaugural Doing Business in China
summer program.
Send your news to—
Troy McNamara
[email protected]
12
Sara Cleaver currently lives
in the small town Yakutat,
Alaska, working for the U.S.
Forest Service Fish and Wildlife Biologists.
Send your news to—
Patrick Dowd
P.O. Box 206
Newbury, VT 05051
[email protected]
13
Meredith Louko writes, “It’s
amazing how fast a year can
go by since I graduated from
UVM! With a year done and hours of
hard work completed, I am happy
to say that I am more than halfway
through my dietetic internship at
the Sodexo Southcoast Weight Management Program in Massachusetts.
Thus far, I have interned in an array
of nutrition concentrations and been
able to gain a better understanding of what I want to pursue as a registered dietitian. Last month I had a
wonderful opportunity to attend the
AND Public Policy Workshop in Washington, D.C. Oddly enough, the state I
traveled with shared a table with the
Vermont Public Policy team consisting of Marcia Bristow ’07 G’10, Katy
Lawson ’12 and Stephanie Roque
’12. I also saw another UVMer, Sierra
Guay, at the workshop. It was great
to see familiar faces so far from Vermont! Currently, I am in my clinical rotation at St. Luke’s Hospital and
work closely with a past UVM dietetics student, Heather Haines ’10. You
would be proud to know she is the
nutrition support expert at St. Luke’s.
After working with many different
preceptors at Southcoast, it is unanimous that the students graduating from UVM are among the best
prepared. I want to thank all of you
again for helping me throughout my
undergrad career to prepare me for
this internship. I feel that every class
I took as a dietetics student has been
relevant during my internship. Even
my accounting and business classes
that I was clueless as to why nutrition students had to take have come
in handy. With my internship in fullswing, I have gotten to know a lot of
great people. After learning about
my love for running, my co-intern,
who suffers from Crohn’s, introduced
me to Team Challenge New England. Team Challenge is the endurance training and fundraising section
of the Crohn’s and Colitis Founda-
INMEMORIAM UVMALUMNI]
tion of America. Through Team Challenge, I committed to running the
Jamestown, Rhode Island, Half Marathon in July. When I joined Team Challenge I had no idea what to expect.
I thought that I would be training
for another race, but I already feel a
part of a team. I have become friends
with some amazing people, some
that have Crohn’s or colitis and many
who are racing in honor of their close
friends with IBD. As a dietetic intern,
I have learned about IBD through my
rotations and through friends’ experiences. As much as I wish diet could
solve everything, this is one case
where it can only help alleviate the
problem.” Courtney Robinson just
completed her first year of graduate school, studying speech and language pathology at the University
of New Mexico. Katelyn Chaffe has
accepted a position in the Nuclear
Medicine Department at Massachusetts General Hospital. Katharine Hawes will begin her first year
at New England School of Law this
fall, in Boston, Massachusetts. Madelaine White has accepted a position with UVM Student Life. Stop by
and say hello next time you’re on
campus. William Kearney passed his
Fundamentals of Engineering exam
this spring. He is currently living the
dream in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Send your news to—
Katharine Hawes
[email protected]
Madelaine White
[email protected]
14
Hillary F. Laggis received the
2014 L. K. Forcier Outstanding
Senior Award at the College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Alumni
and Friends Dinner in May. This award
recognizes the accomplishments and
character of one senior who exhibited
the highest standards and promise
in research and scholarship and provided distinguished service and commitment to the college, UVM, and the
community.
Send your news to—
UVM Alumni Association
411 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Alumni.uvm.edu/classnotes
Phyllis Stockwell Roberts ‘35, of South
Burlington, Vermont, February 7, 2014.
Burnett S. Rawson ‘37, MD’39, of Essex
Junction, Vermont, June 30, 2014.
Ruth Bronson Crockett ’38, of
Hamden, Connecticut, May 1, 2014.
Bernard Lisman ‘39, of Fort Myers, Florida,
May 18, 2014.
Adele Kanter Luck ‘39, of Hockessin,
Delaware, January 31, 2014.
Roger W. Mann MD’39, of Jeffersonville,
Vermont, July 31, 2014.
Everett C. Bailey ’40, of South Burlington,
Vermont, August 2, 2014.
Carole Stetson Spaulding ’41,
of South Burlington, Vermont, May 14, 2014.
Ruth Jones Carpenter ’42, of Athens,
Georgia, January 31, 2014.
June Riddell Clark ‘42, of Reston, Virginia,
June 11, 2014.
Margaret Charles Lang ‘43, of Punta Gorda,
Florida, June 9, 2014.
Robert L. Marcalus ’43, of Wyckoff, New Jersey, June 18, 2014.
Robert S. Stockwell ‘43, of Naples, Florida,
January 8, 2014.
Christo Fred Bicoules ‘44, of Fitchburg,
Massachussetts, April 11, 2014.
Rayelen Prouty Moore ’45, of Charlotte,
Vermont, April 28, 2014.
M. Helen Nisun Giard ’47, of Queensbury,
New York, April 12, 2014.
Guy W. Nichols ’47, of Waltham,
Massachussetts, January 27, 2014.
John M. Wood MD’47, of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, April 2, 2014.
Harry J. Dzewaltowski ‘49, of Tacoma,
Washington, April 25, 2014.
Robert W. Freeman ‘49, of Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey, May 2, 2014.
Eugene A. Glysson ‘49, of Ann Arbor,
Michigan, June 13, 2014.
Stanley Merlin Grandfield ’49, of Montpelier,
Vermont, May 30, 2014.
Luton R. Reed ‘49, G’51, of Plano, Texas,
May 12, 2014.
Millicent James Rooney ’49, of Weybridge,
Vermont, March 12, 2014.
Eunice Anderson VanWyck ’49, of Concord,
New Hampshire, June 15, 2014.
Abbie Marsh Brown ‘50,
of Longmeadow, Massachussetts,
March 5, 2014.
Margaret Jenne Gallant ‘50, of
Burlington, Vermont, April 29, 2014.
Sylvia Morrison Kadetsky ’50, of Bethesda,
Maryland, April 10, 2014.
Rodger Hughes Lawrence ’50, of East
Montpelier, Vermont, June 16, 2014.
Marjorie Durkee Morse ’50, of Calais,
Vermont, May 5, 2014.
Dominic A. Paul ‘50, G’56, of Augusta,
Maine, June 2, 2014.
Jean Preston Puechl ’50, of Asheville,
North Carolina, January 12, 2014.
Freeman Keith Creasey, Jr. ‘51, of Scotia,
New York, March 3, 2014.
Robert E. Durkee ‘51, of Hampton, Virginia,
January 26, 2014.
Maxine Flint Griffith ‘51, of Williston,
Vermont, March 31, 2014.
Calef Edwin Heininger ’51, of Colchester,
Vermont, February 4, 2014.
Charles W. Kehoe ‘51, of Park Forest,
Illinois, May 3, 2014.
Mabel Sullivan Weiss ‘51, of St. George,
Utah, May 28, 2014.
William Joseph Adelman, Jr. G’52, of
Falmouth, Massachussetts, January 10, 2014.
Janice Delaire Barrett ‘52, of Tarpon
Springs, Florida, July 6, 2014.
Nancy Churchill Bothfeld ’52, of Northfield,
Vermont, April 21, 2014.
Eloise Liston Harrington ‘52, of St. Simons
Island, Georgia, March 3, 2014.
Dorothy Bierman Kirby Kettley ‘52, of
Damariscotta, Maine, July 3, 2014.
Frank Robert Laing ‘52, of Daleville, Virginia,
February 6, 2014.
William C. Morehouse ‘52, of Lebanon,
Connecticut, March 2, 2014.
John Newton Russell ‘52, of Alexandria Bay,
New York, August 8, 2014.
Philip O. Widing ‘53, of Warren, Connecticut,
June 14, 2014.
Austin B. Carter ‘54, of Berea, Kentucky,
March 18, 2014.
Lloyd B. Durbrow ‘54, of Shelburne, Vermont,
April 14, 2014.
Malia Dean Honnold ’54, of Carthage,
Indiana, January 4, 2014.
Kathryn Dimick Wendling ‘54, of Woodstock,
Vermont, January 12, 2014.
Paul E. Demick MD’55, of Palm City, Florida,
May 17, 2014.
Mary McGlaflin Devney ‘55, of Andover,
Massachussetts, June 16, 2014.
Janet Parker Harkleroad ‘55, of
Bandon, Oregon, February 5, 2014.
Donald K. Josselyn ‘55, of Ithaca, New York,
March 19, 2014.
John Jefferson Paige ‘55, of Ludlow, Vermont,
May 3, 2014.
Philip Snyder ‘55, of Hallandale Beach,
Florida, February 5, 2014.
George Ellis Roberts ’56, of Fair Haven,
Vermont, March 24, 2014.
Mary Nash Beaupre ’57, of Waterville,
Maine, January 3, 2014.
William B. Blakeman ‘57, G’68, of Ottawa,
Ontario, January 3, 2014.
Helen-Mary Lull Danyow ’57, of
Ferrisburg, Vermont, March 29, 2014.
Ernest A. Graer ‘57, of Walpole,
Massachussetts, January 2, 2014.
FA L L 2 0 1 4
V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
[CLASSNOTES
61
62
Patricia Solod Lipson ’57, of Worcester,
Massachussetts, January 17, 2014.
Charles W. Paine ’57, of New Haven,
Vermont, July 11, 2014.
Edward J. Quinlan, Jr. MD’57, of Honolulu,
Hawaii, May 1, 2014.
Frank J. Schmetz, Jr. MD’57, of Scotts Valley,
California, June 18, 2014.
Judith Newton Emery ’58, of Cape Porpoise,
Maine, February 5, 2014.
H. James Wallace, Jr. MD’58, of Rutland,
Vermont, April 26, 2014.
Jerome P. Hall ’59, of Arlington, Vermont,
February 18, 2014.
Fred Sanford May ’59, of Barton, Vermont,
January 28, 2014.
Luther C. Porter ’59, of Cheshire,
New Hampshire, February 19, 2014.
Gail H. Backus ’60, of Acton, Massachussetts,
April 10, 2014.
David A. Billheimer ’60, of Essex Junction,
Vermont, June 1, 2014.
Suzanne Miller Hosmer ’60, of Andover,
Massachussetts, June 16, 2014.
Margaret Day Miller ’60, of Ontario,
Canada, July 25, 2014.
Alice Clark Rowe ’60, of South Hero,
Vermont, March 29, 2014.
Amory Carson Smith ’60, of Louisville,
Kentucky, March 25, 2014.
Stanley P. Leibo G’61, of New Orleans,
Louisiana, April 28, 2014.
Robert Stanley Williams, II ’61,
of University Park, Florida, July 26, 2014.
John J. Hartnett ’62, of Richmond, Virginia,
April 12, 2014.
H. Scott Johnson ’62, of Hood River,
Oregon, March 18, 2014.
Ronald B. McKenny ’62, of Vero Beach,
Florida, July 20, 2014.
John B. Burns MD’63, of Eagle, Idaho,
July 15, 2014.
Nancy Davis Pratviel ’63, of Norwich,
Connecticut, June 18, 2014.
David Giles Saunders MD’63, of East
Greenbush, New York, January 29, 2014.
Martha Hakins Thompson ’63, of Collegeville,
Pennsylvania, June 18, 2014.
Harold N. Trombley ’63, of Bristol,
Vermont, May 2, 2014.
Carl Edward Eells ’64, of Essex Junction,
Vermont, April 26, 2014.
Priscilla Dixon Cameron ’65, of Media,
Pennsylvania, January 23, 2014.
Lester F. Jipp G’65, of Columbus, Ohio,
January 4, 2014.
Susan Ellen Connolly ‘66, of Falmouth,
Massachussetts, March 19, 2014.
Sheila Coleman Eddy ’66, of Bondville,
Vermont, January 9, 2014.
Evered W. Hinkley ’66, of Perkinsville,
Vermont, April 6, 2014.
Walter A. Meyer ’66, of Montclair,
New Jersey, May 11, 2014.
Norman A. Jodoin ’68, G’79, ‘85,
of Arlington, Virginia, February 8, 2014.
Allan G. Works ’68, of Tucker, Georgia,
January 1, 2014.
David F. Mousaw MD’71, of Glens Falls,
New York, March 18, 2014.
Michael Lewis Pierce ’71, of Berlin,
Vermont, July 20, 2014.
Steven A. George ’72, of Endicott,
New York, June 11, 2014.
Gary Robert LeFave G’72, of Peabody,
Massachussetts, June 4, 2014.
Charles Alan Luther ’73, of Sun City Center,
Florida, February 1, 2014.
Dennis Malcolm Cote ’74, of St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, July 6, 2014.
B. David Forman G’75, of Bristol, Vermont,
January 29, 2014.
Susan Fitts Martin ’75, of Salt Lake City,
Utah, January 24, 2014.
Gary E. Murphy ’75, of South Ryegate,
Vermont, January 7, 2014.
Todd B. Quinlan ’75, of New Paltz,
New York, January 14, 2014.
Leslie Karen Gray-Morgan G’76, of Asheville,
North Carolina, March 28, 2014.
David Arne Johnson ’77, of Bristol,
Rhode Island, January 27, 2014.
Katherine Zabarsky Cope G’80, of Stowe,
Vermont, April 18, 2014.
Paul Albert Roussin G’80, of Clay, New York,
May 16, 2014.
William Ronald Steinhurst G’80’88, of
Montpelier, Vermont, March 2, 2014.
Noreen Carr O’Connor G’81, of Englewood,
Florida, July 9, 2014.
John Russell Meyer ’83, of Burlington,
Vermont, July 11, 2014.
Don Ready-Grout G’83, of Mesa, Arizona,
June 17, 2014.
Cynthia Jeanne Vize ’83, of Burlington,
Vermont, February 25, 2014.
Carl Lewis Ciemniewski ’84, of Middlebury,
Vermont, January 28, 2014.
Kevin Louis Ianni MD’84, of Cornwall,
Vermont, July 14, 2014.
William Edward Simendinger ’84, of South
Burlington, Vermont, January 10, 2014.
William M. Hammond ’85, of Rutland, Vermont,
January 18, 2014.
Beatrice Martha Woodward ’89, of Brattleboro,
Vermont, February 25, 2014.
Pamela Marie Sugden ’91, of Stratford,
Connecticut, May 3, 2014.
Kent Allen Lee Batchelder ’92, of Sturbridge,
Massachussetts, June 26, 2014.
Rosanne Buckley Callas G’92, of Coram,
New York, January 18, 2014.
Daniel Allan Coffman ’93, of Alpharetta,
Georgia, May 23, 2014.
Willis J. Racht G’98, of Essex Junction,
Vermont, February 7, 2014.
Katherine Anne Kelly ’00, of Seattle,
Washington, April 20, 2014.
Elizabeth V. Miller G’04, of Plainfield,
Vermont, February 21, 2014.
Brianna Marie Bailey G’11, of Proctor,
Vermont, January 11, 2014.
UVMCOMMUNITY
The university mourns the recent loss
of several veteran professors: Gardiner
Barnum, geography; Laura Fishman,
sociology; Wolfe Schmokel, history;
and Alex Vardamis, ROTC and English.
See VQ online for more on their careers.
[CLASSIFIEDS
VACATION RENTALS
GRAND ISLE, VT
Rustic elegance with a sunset view. 5BR year
round retreat on 520’ of private lakefront.
Call Becky Moore ‘74. 802-318-3164 or
[email protected].
HARWICHPORT, CAPE COD
2-4 person apt – $650/wk, June-Sept,
end-road-beach: DVD/WIFI, CC Bike Trail
nearby; National Seashore 15 miles:
[email protected]; 508-432-0713.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA
Let me help you find the perfect vacation
home to buy or rent. Visit our website at
<www.lighthousemv.com>. Call Trish
Lyman ’89. 508-693-6626 or email
[email protected].
MYRTLE BEACH, SC
1 or 2 BR oceanfront condos in Myrtle
Beach, SC. Weekly rentals, monthly
winter rentals. <[email protected]>
ST. MAARTEN
Private 4 bedroom family home, view
of St. Barth’s. Gorgeous beaches.
Shopping, dining in “Culinary Capital
of the Caribbean.” Special UVM discount.
<www.villaplateau.com>
1
9/10/14
1:08 PM
PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
continued from page 2
nuances or complexities around us.
The mere learning of information is not
enough; there must be an ability to think
through the avalanche of facts and information to reach an understanding what
the acquired information means across
many dimensions, including morals,
ethics, and practical application to one’s
daily activities and ambitions, including
personal growth, maturity, and career
aspirations and successes.
At the University of Vermont, our
faculty over a course of years has developed six learning outcomes within
its general education criteria. These
learning outcomes are 1) communication, writing, and information literacy;
2) quantitative reasoning; 3) science,
systems, and sustainability; 4) cultures,
diversity, and global perspectives; 5) integrating and the application of knowledge; and 6) art, aesthetic and design.
These carefully considered learning outcomes, I believe, address almost all of
the issues contained in the debate about
the purpose of an education and the responsibility of our universities.
They also are complementary to important developmental outcomes that
we seek for our students before graduation. The mission statement of UVM
is clear on this point; it captures the essence of the University and the meaning
of an engaged educational experience:
“To create, evaluate, share, and apply
knowledge and to prepare students to
be accountable leaders who will bring to
their work dedication to the global community, a grasp of complexity, effective
problem-solving and communication
skills, and an enduring commitment to
learning and ethical conduct.”
—Tom Sullivan
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[INMEMORIAM UVMALUMNI
PillsburyPzlAd_June_Sept.pdf
63
[EXTRACREDIT
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY
UVM Alumni Association Awards
CONGRATULATIONS
2014 AWARD WINNERS
OUTSTANDING YOUNG
ALUMNI AWARD
Scott C. Bailey ’09
Lowell C. Bailey ’05
ALUMNI
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Robert B. Cox ’89
DISTINGUISHED
SERVICE AWARD
Walter J. Blasberg ’71
Ian D. Boyce ’89
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
IN PHILANTHROPY
Lois H. McClure
64
The title of this work by students in an Art & Art History Department photography class this semester refers to the amount of time taken for the full exposure. (We’ll do the math for you: That’s an
hour and forty-five minutes. And, yes, everyone sat still for that long.) A past class of Professor Tom
Brennan built the large format camera, dubbed “Big Bertha,” several years ago, and Visiting Professor Peter Shellenberger and his students put it to fine use for this group self-portrait in September.
The student photographers pictured are Caroline Bick, Rebecca Carpenter, Connor Cummings, Rachel Feniger, Olivia Fontaine, Ian Furrer, Joshua Holz, Galen Milchman, Tasha Naula, AliciaRose
Pastore, Rowan Shalit, Dana Solcz, Sarah Whetzle, and Tim Yager. Also pictured and part of the
photo process: Shellenberger and teaching assistant Brian Needles.
GEORGE V. KIDDER AWARD
Donna Rizzo G’94
With more than 105,000 UVM alumni
worldwide, we’re relying on you,
our constituents, to help us identify
the outstanding members among us.
Help us shine the spotlight in 2015 by
nominating a deserving alum or faculty
member today.
Nominate by the end of 2014, for all
2015 award winners. Visit alumni.uvm.
edu/awards for more information on
nominating a fellow Catamount!
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V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
6300 seconds
Nominate today for the
2015 Alumni Association
Alumni Awards
65
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