URSINUSmagazINe

Winter 2013

The Independent Learning ExperienceDiscover how this innovative program defines Ursinus graduates

The dapper Mr. Harold Goldberg, Class of 1937, walks across the football field at Homecoming to take part in the coin toss on game day.

In This Issue

On the CoverThe Independent Learning Experiences (ILE). Through broad and vibrant research opportunities,

Ursinus students expand on their ability to create and achieve more than they imagined possible. Story p. 12.

FeaturesBig Projects, Small College 12A critical mission at Ursinus is to help shape eager, talented students into confident, indepen-dent adults ready to meet the rigors of graduate school and the professional world. It is through Independent Learning Experiences (ILE) of research, internships and study abroad, student teaching and other projects of their own design that students are able to achieve more than they imagined possible and to learn about their individual strengths and life goals. Discover how this requirement for every student is designed to help foster responsibility and initiative.

A Perfect Match 22Nikolas Stasulli 2009 donated peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) for a child battling leukemia. At Ursinus, he earned his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with minors in Biostatistics and Dance. As a student, he walked in to the Floy Lewis Bakes Field House, heard about the Be the Match registry drive, and signed up. Chosen as a donor, he is now hoping to save the life of a stranger.

Through the Looking Glass 24Read about an innovative program designed to improve communications between teachers and students. The Student Consultant Program Andrew W. Mellon Teaching and Learning Initiative (TLI) is a great learning tool for teachers, says Meredith Goldsmith, English professor and Director of the Mellon Program. She started the program in the fall of 2010 through a four-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Family Man 26Sam Totaro 1969 is one of the country’s most respected and well-known experts in the fields of adoption and family law. He has worked on over 4,000 adoption cases in the past 35 years, has appeared on news shows such as the Today Show, and Good Morning America, and once had a television movie made about one of his cases. But never mind the accolades; Totaro’s focus is helping people through some of the most challenging times in their lives.

Campus News 3A $300,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation supports a partnership between Ursinus College and Columbia University. This unique collaboration between the institutions includes a plan to exchange ideas on core curricula with the goal of strengthening their programs and learning from one another. Although they are two very different schools, Ursinus and Columbia share a deep commitment to liberal arts education.

Class Notes 28 Dr. Joseph Valloti, M.D., 1945 has served the community for the past 62 years. “My father was an immigrant bricklayer and he built this office for me in 1950,” says Valloti. “How can I ever expect to leave a place that is so precious to me?” Read more about this dedicated doctor who still makes house calls.

EditorKathryn Campbell

kcampbell@ursinus.edu

Director of CommunicationsWendy Greenberg

wgreenberg@ursinus.edu

Senior WriterEllen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995

elabrecque@ursinus.edu

Class Notes EditorJennifer Meininger Wolfe

jwolfe1@ursinus.edu

Contributing to this IssueJoan Fairman Kanes, Steve Falk, Brian Garfinkel,

Jim Roese, Erik Andersen, J.F. Pirro 1987, Erin Hovey 1996, Monica Reuman 2015, William Thomas Cain, Jessica Driscoll,

and Ursinus College Archives

DesignJeffrey Morgan

JDM Creative Advertising, LLCwww.jdmcreative.com

Chair, Board of TrusteesAlan P. Novak 1971

PresidentDr. Bobby Fong

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College

Dr. Lucien (Terry) Winegar

Senior Vice President for AdvancementJill A. Leauber Marsteller 1978

Vice President for EnrollmentRichard DiFeliciantonio

Vice President for Finance and AdministrationWinfield Guilmette

Vice President for Student AffairsDeborah Nolan

The mission of Ursinus College is to enable students to become independent, responsible, and thoughtful individuals through

a program of liberal education. That education prepares them to live creatively and usefully, and to provide leadership for their

society in an interdependent world.

Ursinus MagazineVolume CXII, No. 1 Winter 2013

Third class postage paid at Lansdale, Pa. Ursinus Magazine is published seasonally three times a year.

Copyright 2013 by Ursinus College. Editorial correspondence and submissions:

Ursinus Magazine, P.O. Box 1000, Collegeville, PA 19426-1000. (610) 409-3300

or e-mail: ucmag@ursinus.edu

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Dear Friends,I enjoyed Homecoming 2012, where I caught up with alumni and also met many of you for the first time. The Hall of Fame for Athletes honored retired “Coach T.” Brian Thomas, Erin Fitzgerald Stroble 2002, Bradley Brewster 1974, Susan Sobolewski Dybus 2002, Bradley J. Getz 1997, Jumaah Ingram Johnson 2002 and Wilbert D. Abele 1961, who was awarded the Blanche B. Schultz ’41 award.

The new Grizzly Gala at Homecoming was a festive way for alumni and cur-rent students to come together with a common purpose, to celebrate Ursinus. A preview of the glorious 75th Anniversary Messiah concert was offered in the Homecoming informal Messiah group sing. Campus organizations such as Sankofa Umoja, men’s basketball, track and field and several Greek organiza-tions enjoyed reunions. You can share Homecoming memories through the photo spread in this issue.

It is through our alumni that we connect as a community and pass the torch to our current students. Much of that is done through these magazine pages.

Our alumni have benefitted from their liberal arts education to become lead-ers in their fields, people who make things happen. One example you will read about is attorney Samuel Totaro 1969, a national expert on adoption litigation and family law. This issue also profiles 2009 graduate Nikolas Stasulli, who is one of several students to have been successfully matched in the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) through our football team’s community service project. Bruce Clark 1975, whose two children also chose Ursinus, put his interest in history to work as a business entrepreneur, and 1945 graduate Dr. Joseph Valloti has practiced medicine for more than 60 years.

You will read in these pages about the Independent Learning Experience, which offers our students a bridge to the next chapters of their lives as alumni. It is a hallmark of the Ursinus liberal arts education that learning goes beyond the classroom, and that experiential learning can form the basis for leading lives of value and purpose. Many of you have been instrumental providing internships, mentoring, and offering other support for current students.

I also want to call your attention to a regular feature called Field Notes, show-casing our faculty expertise. In this issue, Associate Professor of Art History Matthew Shoaf explains why the working title of his upcoming book is called Hearing Early Italian Art.

I hope to see you at the many alumni events planned for spring, which are listed in this winter issue.

Go, Bears!

Bobby Fong, President

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GatewayThe

ursinus campus newsGatewayThe

ursinus campus news

A $300,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation supports a partner-ship between Ursinus College and Columbia University. This unique collaboration between the institu-tions includes a plan to exchange ideas on core curricula with the goal of strengthening their programs and learning from one another. Although they are two very different schools, Ursinus and Columbiashare a deep commitment to liberal arts education.

This exploration of both the Ursinus Common Intellectual Experience (CIE) and Columbia’s Core Cur-riculum will allow Ursinus faculty who have experience teaching the CIE to offer expertise to Columbia post-doctoral students. In addition, it will establish post-doctoral fellows at Ursinus, and will support visits from Columbia scholars whose ex-pertise pertains to works in the CIE syllabus. The Mellon-CIE Junior Fellows, along with select first-year students, will accompany Ursinus faculty to Columbia’s campus to take advantage of Columbia’s and New York City’s resources, and a member of Ursinus’s faculty will teach in Columbia’s Core Curriculum.

At Columbia, Associate Dean and Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum Roosevelt Montás said he was looking forward to the collaboration. “We are excited

the new Ursinus Center for Science and the Common Good. “We at Ursinus believe that an educa-tion in any expertise, science or otherwise, is of greater value when students understand it within the larger context of liberal learning,” says Dr. Fong.

Ursinus faculty established the year-long freshman course called the CIE in 2002 and it has continued to garner praise among higher education experts ever since. The course challenges first-year students to examine basic questions of human existence in

small, discussion-based classes, taught by faculty from every discipline. Students examine their own individual choices in light of more universal concerns, and they develop the capacity to deliber-ate more thoughtfully about the choices they will face.

“In CIE, students develop the qualities of intellect and character that are conducive to making wise decisions about questions everyone will face: Which career might be most humanly rewarding? What are my obligations to friends, family, and community? What should be the bearing of God in my life?” says Professor of Politics Paul Stern, one of the creators of CIE. “None of these can be wholly resolved through some technical approach. Rather, they require careful attention to particulars, the

to strengthen the links between Ursinus’s Common Intellectual Experience and Columbia’s Core Curriculum,” he says. “This partnership between two different kinds of institutions that never-theless share a deep commitment to liberal education represents a unique opportunity for mutual learning and for the strengthening of both programs.”

Ursinus President Bobby Fong believes that the Mellon-funded Ursinus-Columbia initiative “will enable Ursinus to continue to demonstrate that what higher education should impart is not only expertise in a particular field, but individual growth in character and the ability to make sound judgments. This is the kind of education at which liberal arts colleges like Ursinus excel.”The partnership compliments

A UniqUe PArtnersHiP Between UrsinUs And ColUMBiA University

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ongoing weighing of evidence, and a willingness to revise views on the basis of more compelling alterna-tives. They require judgment, the capacity to thoughtfully apply gen-eral principles to complex, changing circumstances. The structure of the Common Intellectual Experience provides the conditions in which students can develop this capacity.”The Columbia Core Curriculum is the set of common courses required of all undergraduates and consid-ered the necessary general education for students, irrespective of their majors. Like the Ursinus CIE, the communal learning — with all stu-dents encountering the same texts and issues at the same time — and the critical dialogue experienced in small seminars are the distinctive features of the Core. Columbia’s Core Curriculum has been called not only academically rigorous but also personally transformative for students.

City yearMadeline McEvily 2013 organized a group of Ursinus students to vol-unteer for the “City Year Serves” day this past November. This was the second year Ursinus has participated in the service day, says McEvily, a Bonner Leader. Twenty-two students rose early to help improve Philadel-phia schools with mural paintings, light construction and gardening. The Ursinus volunteers focused their efforts on the Grover Washington Jr. Middle School in North Philadel-phia. Volunteers joined community

members, school partners, corporate sponsors and City Year alumni in the Philadelphia area to transform this school into a safer and friendlier place for students to learn and play. Ursinus alumni Anne Lapera 2012, currently in City Year Philadelphia, and Amanda Finch 2011 also volunteered at the event.

"City Year day of service made getting up early worth it," says Anahi McTntyre 2014. "Not only was the staff kind and organized, but we also got to work with some of the students who go to the school. I love to paint murals, but it made doing the tasks that much better knowing who was going to appreci-ate this artwork every day. Having students there helped highlight the reasons why City Year does what it does."

Founded in Boston in 1988, City Year is an education-focused, nonprofit organization that partners with public schools and teachers to help keep students in school and on track to succeed. This public-private partnership brings together teams of young AmeriCorps members who commit to a year of full- time service in schools in 24 communities across the United States and through two internation-al affiliates. Corps members provide individual support to students who need extra care and attention, focusing on attendance, behavior, and course performance through in-class tutoring, mentoring, and after-school programs.

new director for the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of ArtCharles Stainback arrives this April as the new Director of the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art. Stainback currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Norton Mu-seum of Art, the largest art museum in Florida and one of the state’s major cultural institutions. Prior to that position he served as the Wil-liam and Sarah Ross Soter Curator of Photography for the Norton.

“I am delighted to be joining the Ursinus community and returning to the world of college museums,” says Stainback. “The Berman is regarded as one of the nation’s finest small col-lege art museums, and I look forward to helping it grow and evolve.”

Stainback previously served as Distinguished Visiting Gradu-ate Professor in the Department of Photography/Film at Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as Director of Exhibitions for the International Center of Photogra-phy in New York and Director of the International Center of Photography Midtown in New York. He holds a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from the Visual Studies Workshop of the State University of New York at Buffalo. His areas of expertise are photography and contemporary art.

“We are fortunate to have someone of Mr. Stainback’s extensive experi-ence,” says President Fong.

Stainback was the founding Director of Skidmore College’s Tang Teach-ing Museum and Art Gallery. As Dayton Director of the Tang, his exhibitions responded to cultural and educational needs of the college and surrounding community. At the Tang he helped secure a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. He was also a Professor of Liberal Studies at Skidmore.

“Charlie will bring fresh ideas and an innovative approach to exhibitions while also reaching out as a partner to the faculty and students on campus,” says Senior Vice President for Advancement Jill Marsteller, who chaired the search committee for the new Berman director. “Ursinus will benefit from Charlie’s insights, talent and experi-ence, and he will be embraced by the Museum’s wide circle of friends both on and off campus.”

exploring Consumer Health literacyA panel of experts discussed the sig-nificant changes occurring in health care delivery, costs and payment systems. The Business and Econom-ics Department presented the event, “Our Options Have Changed: Con-sumer Health Literacy in a Changing Environment” this past October in an effort to better educate consumers about the changing landscape.

The program addressed challenges arising from the effects of innova-tion on quality and cost in a chang-ing health care environment, with

President Bobby Fong talks with Museum Director Charles Stainback this fall.

Aubrey Paris 2015, a Center for Science and the Common Good Fellow, listens to Dr. Richard Heinzl. (see story on p. 5)

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Ali Hrasok 2013 brought her dog, Molly, to Pause for Paws and Jamie Faselt 2015 shared a dog hug on October 9.

Photo | Monica Reum

an 2015

An event bringing students and dogs together on Olin Plaza was a perfect chance to keep them from missing their beloved pets back home this fall. In an effort to offer an opportunity for stress-reducing time with animals, Brenda Lederach, Lecturer in the Psychology Department, coordinated the first Ursinus Pause for Paws gathering. The idea was brought to her by Dean Terry Winegar. More than 20 dogs belonging to staff and faculty happily arrived for free biscuits and lots of pats on the head.

“I was very pleased with how the Bow Wow Pow Wow went,” says Lederach, a Wellness House faculty mentor. “We had more than 20 dogs attend the party. We had another party down in the Straussburger Commons with Domenick Scudera, Professor of Theater, and his dogs. All the dogs were well behaved and if the students had tails I believe they would have been wagging them.”

Professor Joel Bish brought his rescue dog, Frankie, a mini dasc-hund. “We both loved it,” says Dr. Bish, Chair of the Neurosci-ence program. “Nice to see how many animal lovers there are in the student body. I heard many students state how this made their day.” Students who flocked to the dog party talked about their own pets at home in New Jersey, Florida and Connecticut. This shared bond and common affection for dogs was a great opportunity for the Ursinus community to connect.

Assistant Professor of English Elizabeth Ho brought her bas-set hound, Momar. “I heard multiple times from the students that this was the ‘best day ever’ – which seems to suggest that we should have this event again and often,” says Dr. Ho, who is pretty confident that Momar had a great time playing with Ursi-nus dogs and students. But with basset hounds, how do you tell?

- Kathryn Campbell

Ursinus ‘Pause for Paws’ a Big, Barking success

the goal of enabling consumers to make informed choices as the health care market becomes increas-ingly market-driven. Health care leaders from the Philadelphia area discussed these issues, including Larry R. Kaiser, M.D., FACS, CEO of Temple University Health System and Dean of the Temple University School of Medicine, who offered the keynote address.

Other panelists included Steven Altschuler, M.D., CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Kevin Flynn, Founder and President of HealthCare Advocates; Ursinus trustee Robert Sing, D.O., a critical care surgeon specializing in sports medicine, acute care, and emergen-cy medicine; and Karl Stark, Health and Science Editor for The Phila-delphia Inquirer. President Fong introduced the event, and Rebecca Jaroff, associate professor of English, moderated the panel discussion. Carol Cirka, associate professor and chair of the Business and Economics department, organized the event.

Heinzl First speaker for Center for science and the Common GoodUrsinus hosted founder of the first North American chapter of Doctors Without Borders, Richard Heinzl. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning or-ganization has inspired a movement among medical professionals to help the world’s most vulnerable popula-tions. Heinzl founded the chapter in 1988, just out of medical school, and shortly thereafter he became its first field volunteer, spending an extraordinary year in remote Cam-bodia. His experiences are captured in his memoir, Cambodia Calling. Hundreds of volunteers have since followed in his footsteps.

Heinzl’s talk was sponsored by The Ursinus College Center for Science and the Common Good which is funded by an $800,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medi-cal Institute. The goal is to provide opportunities for all Ursinus science

majors to consider the impact of science on society by presenting a seminar series, hosting a Science Writer in Residence, and developing new courses.

Scientists need to understand the ethical, political, and religious con-text in which science operates in or-der to judge how scientific endeav-ors can best advance the common good, says Biology Professor Robert Dawley. “The Center for Science and the Common Good will ensure that Ursinus science majors acquire this judgment by encouraging them to make the most of the liberal educa-tion that Ursinus offers,” says Daw-ley. “By creating new courses and fellowship programs, and by bring-ing to campus prominent speakers and science writers, the Center will engage science majors more closely than ever with the humanities and social sciences on campus. For the judgment that our future scientists so urgently need can come only from a truly interdisciplinary and liberal education.”

Thirteen student Fellows of the Center have been selected from a diverse group of applicants. They range from a student who worked in clinics in India, to a football quarterback who tutors youths and is interested in medicine, to a Viet-namese student who wants to return to Vietnam to work in health care, to the organic farm director who works with bees.

Pulitzer Prize- winning Journalist Michael vitezA winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his series of medical narratives, Life Choices, Mike Vitez spoke to Ursinus students in December. A staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer since 1985, Vitez presented ‘Storytelling is our Salvation! My life as a journalist and how I came to love medical narratives.’ In a world overrun with facts, websites, cable channels, press releases and noise, Vitez believes the best way to reach people is through stories. The Center for Science and the

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munity, particularly, the CIA, NSA, and State Department’s Office of Intelligence and Research.

“I was very gratified by the interest shown in my career considering strategic intelligence analysis isn't a traditional job objective for a lot of college students,” says McClellan, who is from Spring City, Pa. “Looking back, I sincerely believe Ursi-nus provided me the founda-tion and confidence to have a very successful, fulfilling, exciting, and gratifying career. I look forward to future op-portunities to interact with an amazing group of talented, bright, enthusiastic, positive young people eager to move on to take their place in this ever-increasingly complex and challenging world. I'm very proud Ursinus is there to help get them on their way.”

Book on educator Marcus Foster sets Context of school reform debatesMarcus Foster, superintendent of the Oakland, Calif., schools in the early 1970s, and a product of Philadelphia schools as a student, teacher, principal, and administra-tor, was assassinated Nov. 6, 1973 by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Now a book, In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform (University of Pennsylvania Press 2012) by John P. Spencer, Associate Professor of Education, brings to light Foster’s achievements and relates them to current issues in school reform.Debates today on achievement gaps among students of varying socio-economic status and racial backgrounds — and on whether education alone can eliminate those gaps — were anticipated in Foster’s conviction that while schools can make a difference, schools and communities must work together on common ground. Yet, contends Spencer, “Foster’s balanced outlook

is too often neglected in school reform today, which tends to hold schools accountable while letting the rest of society off the hook.”

In the Crossfire explores the history of urban education reform against the backdrop of Foster’s life and work. Spencer says in his introduc-tion that the book draws on history to make an argument about current school reform debates, reconstruct-ing a vision of shared accountability. “This effort to mobilize multiple constituencies was essential to the urban educational success stories that dotted his career, and a lesson for current policymakers who would take aim at the achievement gap without addressing the full range of school and non-school factors that have created it,” says Spencer.

Foster was a teacher and ultimately principal of Philadelphia’s Simon Gratz High School (where the athletic fields are named for him) and associate superintendent of the Philadelphia schools. In 1970 he was tapped to be the first African American Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, Calif. A native of Athens, Ga., he grew up in Philadelphia, graduated from Cheyney State Col-lege (where the student union build-ing is named for him) and earned a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. After his violent

Common Good at Ursinus College provides opportunities for all Ursi-nus students to consider the impact of science on the common good and to learn to better communicate scientific research to the public.

Alumni Gary r. McClellan lectures on Career as defense intelligence Agency AnalystGary R. McClellan 1966, retired Defense Intelligence Agency Ana-lyst, spoke on campus this fall as part of the Ambassador’s Speakers Series. “My wife, Charity (Finkbin-er) 1968, and I have maintained our close association with Ursinus since our graduations,” says McClellan. “I've had the pleasure of participat-ing in Ambassador Joe Melrose's classes prior to this visit and I've always enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the Ursinus students.”

McClellan earned his master's degree in Latin American Studies from Vanderbilt University and was recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) while at Vanderbilt. He joined the Agency in 1968 im-mediately following his graduate studies. During his career, McClel-lan held a variety of analytic and production management positions, the vast majority dealing with the Latin America region. His ana-lytic experience covered the three primary intelligence categories:

current, basic, and estimative.Following 31 years of analytic and production management posi-tions and experience, McClellan was selected to the General Colin L. Powell Chair for Analysis and Production at the then Joint Mili-tary Intelligence College (JMIC). McClellan assumed the Chair in the summer of 1998 and taught analytic and intelligence production courses in the School of Intelligence Studies. He retired from DIA in January 2002, although he continued as an Adjunct Professor at the JMIC until September of that year.

His visit to Ursinus was made more special because McClellan was able to speak in classes as well as give an evening lecture in Olin. “I'm truly impressed with the quality of the students, not only from their aca-demic qualifications, but also from their breadth and depth of interests, their personal and educational experiences, their inquisitiveness and quest for knowledge and infor-mation even beyond their current academic pursuits, their plans and hopes for their futures, and their very genuine ability and capacity to warmly welcome and make feel comfortable new acquaintances.” Throughout his career, McClellan’s diverse analytic background afford-ed him the opportunity to produce a wide variety of analysis. His work allowed him to coordinate, collabo-rate, and produce within the greater Military Intelligence Community as well as the larger Intelligence Com-

Gary McClellan speaks to students in an International Relations class this fall.

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death, the SLA claimed Foster had supported oppressive security measures in the Oakland schools, but the SLA misconstrued Foster’s position, says Spencer. (It is said that the SLA tried to enhance its image with the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, after the debacle of Foster’s death.) Today the School District of Philadelphia awards the Marcus A. Foster Award, and in Oakland, The Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute awards scholarships to high school students and to Oakland public schools teachers who develop innovative educational projects.

In the book, Spencer shows that years before No Child Left Behind, and the charter school debate, “urban educators such as Foster had helped establish the idea that, with proactive leadership and high aca-demic expectations, urban schools could be ‘effective schools’ — and a key to social mobility — regardless of the social and economic background of their students.

“Though Foster’s assassination was a devastating setback for these hopes and expectations in Oakland, the belief that urban schools should be an answer to inequality, as opposed to a reflection or even a cause of it, did not die with him. . . . Today’s policy debates are dominated by the same basic idea that animated Foster: race and social class should not determine a student’s success in school and in life, and schools should be held accountable for fulfilling that promise — specifically by eliminating achievement gaps.”

But schools can’t do it alone, and Foster put his focus not only on schools but on the social and economic forces that shaped them. Foster’s life, according to Spencer, shows us that the “roots of this current focus on accountability run much deeper than is often appreci-ated. . .” and that school account-ability is only half the battle. In the last 10 to 15 years, says Spencer, at times the nation has embraced narrow and simplistic versions of the accountability ethos that came out of Foster’s era. “We don’t hear

STILT program has mentored more than 1,000 students on the values of communication, teamwork and dedication, and Rosa has increased mentor participation from nine to more than 40. On the field, the senior wide receiver was named the 2011 Ursinus Outstanding Offensive Spring Performer and was given the 2012 Offensive Iron Bear Award.

“Tony’s commitment to helping grade school kids in the greater Philadelphia area through the STILT program is very admirable,” says Ursinus head football coach Peter Gallagher. “He is an intelligent young man with a bright future.”

The program received 117 nomina-tions from colleges and universities hailing from 35 states. From the nominations, a prestigious voting panel comprised of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® members and college football media selected two 11-member teams — one featuring players competing in the NCAA® Football Bowl Subdivision and the other a combined team representing the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA.

“As fans of college football, Allstate takes great pride in partnering with the AFCA to recognize these dedicated student-athletes for their accomplishments off the field,” says Kathy Mabe, president of Allstate’s West regions and a member of the 2012 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team voting panel. “These players have demonstrated the unique ability to balance academics with athletics

enough about the complexities of school and classroom life that make or break lasting reform.”

Spencer hopes that Foster’s legacy will inspire leaders to do what Fos-ter did: combine a sense of urgency with a sense of scope, and concede that school revitalization efforts need to mobilize diverse constituen-cies. Foster’s life “offers a cautionary lesson for school reform” in that larger forces need to be addressed as well as the schools themselves.Spencer’s Ph.D. from New York Uni-versity is in U.S. history. He received a B.A. in history and a teaching cre-dential in social studies from Brown University. The Ph.D. dissertation on which his book manuscript is based received the Claude Eggertsen Prize from the History of Education Society. Spencer’s work as an histori-an and teacher are informed by five years of experience as a high school and middle school history teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area and by consulting and professional devel-opment work for the City University of New York (American Social History Project) and the University of Pittsburgh.

- Wendy Greenberg

senior Athlete tony rosa in the spotlight for MentoringUrsinus College senior football play-er wide receiver Tony Rosa was one of 22 players across the country, and across all divisions to be named to the 2012 Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team. One of the sport’s premier service honors, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® shines a spotlight on the positive, off-the-field impact that a select group of student-athletes has on their communities. Rosa was one of two players in the Centennial Confer-ence to receive the honor, joining junior offensive lineman Chad Tothero of Franklin and Marshall College. Rosa founded the Students Today Into Leaders Tomorrow (STILT) on campus, which focuses on helping middle school students grow into successful leaders. The

while donating their limited free time and energy to serve others, and we at Allstate commend them for their commitment to volunteerism.”

Upcoming lecturesAward-winning writer, Richard Conniff, whose work in human and animal behavior has been featured on television and in Smithsonian, The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic will lecture on how the discovery of new species in the 18th and 19th centuries changed the world. Feb. 26, 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Lenfest Theater Kaleido-scope Performing Arts Center

Roger King, author of A Girl From Zanzibar (2002), has worked in more than 20 African and Asian countries, mostly for United Nations agencies. His lecture is supported by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. March 18, 7 p.m. Lenfest Theater Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center

Matt Strassler, a theoretical physicist and professor at Rutgers University. He believes “that science is one of the world’s great spectator sports, and should be a source of joy and excitement for the public - espe-cially for kids and for kids at heart.” His lecture is supported by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. April 8, 7 p.m. Lenfest Theater Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center

For more listings of upcoming events and lectures visit the college web site www.ursinus.edu

Tony Rosa 2013 was recognized for starting a mentoring program for

middle school students.

Photo | Monica Reum

an 2015

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E x h I b I t I o N s o N V I E W

thE

MusEuM oF ArtPhilip and Muriel Berman

GRASS ROOTS – AFRICAN ORIGINS OF AN AMERICAN ARTJanuary 28 – March 16, 2013Main Gallery Opening reception, Thursday, February 7, 5 to 6:30 p.m.Special lecture at 7 p.m. by Dr. Patrick Hurley, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Ursinus College

Grass Roots traces the histories of coiled basketry in Africa and America. Featuring baskets from the low country of South Carolina and Georgia as well as from diverse regions of Africa, the exhibition documents the production of coiled baskets from the domestica-tion of rice in Africa, through the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Carolina rice plantation, and into the present day. This exhibition provides visitors with the opportunity to engage with diverse artifacts including baskets, basket-making tools and

historic rice cultivation artifacts. It highlights the remarkable beauty of coiled basketry and shows how the market basket can be viewed simultaneously as a work of art, object of use, and contain-er of memory. In this context, the humble but beautifully crafted coiled basket, made in Africa and the southern United States, be-comes a vehicle for learning about creativity and artistry character-istic of Africans in America from the 17th century to the present. The exhibition has been made possible by NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art was organized by the Museum for African Art in New York City in collaboration with the Avery Research Center for African American History and Cul-ture in Charleston, SC. It was co-curated by Chief Curator Enid Schildkrout, Museum for African Art, and curator and historian Dale Rosengarten, College of Charleston. The exhibition is toured by Mid-America Arts Alliance through NEH on the Road.

Tyria Dingle, Miniature basket, 2007, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, pine needles, palmetto, 2 x 2 ⅜ x 1 ⅝ inches; courtesy of the artist. Photo: E.G. Schempf.

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JENNIFER KARADYIN COUNTRY: SOLDIERS’ STORIESFROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTANJanuary 28 – April 7, 2013Upper GalleryOpening reception for the artist: Wednesday, February 13, 5 to 6:30 p.m.Artist talk: February 13, 4 to 5 p.m. For the past six years, Jennifer Karady has worked with American veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to create staged narrative photographs that depict their individual stories and address their difficulties in adjusting to civilian life. After extensive interview processes with the veterans and their families, Karady collaborates with each of her subjects to restage a chosen moment from war within the safe space of his or her everyday environment, often surrounded by family and friends.

The collision between or collapse of the soldier’s world and the civilian world evokes the psychology of life after war, and the challenges that adjustment to the home front entails. The process of making the photograph is intended to be helpful for the veteran subject, and is conceptually related to cognitive behavioral therapy.

Each photograph takes approxi-mately a month to produce and involves several extensive interviews (recorded), collabora-tive conceptualization, location scouting, producing a sketch, discussion/approval from the vet-eran, propping, makeup, costum-ing, rehearsal of physical action, training local assistants, set con-struction, casting extras, artifi-cial lighting and the photo shoot. The process of making the pho-tograph culminates in a highly choreographed installation/event. There is no digital manipulation whatsoever in order to ensure the truthfulness of the staged moment and the authenticity of the veteran subject's participation.

Each large-scale color photograph is accompanied by a recount-ing of the veteran’s story in his or her own words that has been transcribed and edited from the interviews. So far, Karady has produced fifteen photographs in the series with veterans in Nebraska, New Hampshire, upstate New York, New York City, California,

Florida and Virginia and she hopes in the end to complete a series of twenty-five photographs.

Describing herself as working more like a painter than as a photog-rapher, Karady differs in her practice from other staged narrative photographers in that she collaborates with real people to drama-tize their stories through both literal depiction and metaphorical and allegorical means.

Support for the artist’s work on “Soldiers’ Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan” has been provided by SF Camerawork, CEPA Gallery, The Puffin Foundation, The Corporation of Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, The Blue Mountain Center, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. and individual donors. It is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts, through their Fiscal Sponsorship Program.

Former Satellite Communications Specialist Aaron Grehan, 11th Signal Brigade, U.S. Army, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, with girlfriend, Neta, and mother,

Judy; Peterborough, NH, May 2007. Chromogenic color print, 49 x 50 in. Courtesy of the artist.

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More than 600 Ursinus family mem-bers returned to campus to celebrate Homecoming Weekend 2012 on Oc-tober 26 and 27. Students, alumni, parents and friends kicked off the weekend on Friday with the Hall of Fame for Athletes and the new Griz-zly Gala. Attendees continued to en-joy Saturday’s festivities, including the official Ursinus tailgate; the re-turn of Organization Reunions; five athletic games; the hailed Red, Old Gold and Black T-shirt Swap; our ev-er-popular Family Art & Sports Pa-vilion and the Young Alumni Coun-cil’s After-Party at the Trappe. Don’t miss this great event next fall!

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(All left to right) 1) Proud Bear parents wear the red black and old gold before the football game. 2) B’Naturals alumni and current members Ryann Burke, 2012; Natausha Davis, 2013; Jessica Mei-krantz, 2013; Aleia Mangano, 2015; Victoria Glover, 2015; Chelsea Miller, 2015; Liz Palovick, 2012; Josie Maresa, 2012; Michelle Swenson, 2014; Celia Morrison, 2015; Sasha Carvalho, 2015 encouraged alumnae to sing the national anthem with them. 3) Jef Corson (Trustee), Michael Marcon 1986 (Trustee), Joseph DeSimone 1986, (Trustee), Frank Correll 1983 (Trustee) 4) Dean Mioli is second from left celebrating with fellow Beta Sig members. 5) Courtney Schultz 2006, Mary Ann (Murrow) Group 2005, Tom Group 2006, and Kevin Zufelt 2011. 6) All smiles on game day! 7) Jenepher and R. Paul “Paul” Shillingford both Class of 1954 8) Cheering on the Bears Alex Doll is third from left and Jacquelyn Heikel is fourth from right. 9) Meeting the Bear are the McElwee triplet boys and Bryce Moyer. 10) Homecoming King and Queen Lauren DiCairano and Liam Marston beam under cloudy skies. 11) Jumaah Ingram Johnson 2002 spoke as a Hall of Fame Inductee, 2012, for Gymnastics. 12) Walter Larkin 1957 and Nancy Larkin.

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ProjectsBigHow the Liberal Arts Experience at Ursinus Turns Students Into Scholars Ready to Make Their Way in the World

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ProjectsBig SmallCollege

A critical mission at Ursinus is to help shape eager, talented students into confident, independent adults ready to meet the rigors of graduate school and the professional world. It is through Independent Learning Experiences (ILE) of research, internships and study abroad, student teaching and other projects of their own design, that they are able to achieve more than they imagined possible and to learn about their individual strengths and life goals. The ILE, a requirement for every Ursinus undergraduate, is designed to help students take responsibility for their education, foster initiative and independence and build confidence in their abilities.

By Jessica Driscoll

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restling with complex problems, and being unsure of the next step, is ok. These intellectual tremors are a part of the education process. It is one lesson that Matt Stehman 2010 took from his Independent Learning Experience. It changed the way he approached research and inspired him to pursue a gradu-ate degree.

“It taught me that it was okay to struggle,” says Stehman, who majored in mathematics and minored in physics and computer science. And that it was all right if I couldn’t immediately find the solution to a problem.”

The research he conducted through the ILE was an important fac-tor in his decision to pursue a doctoral degree in civil engineer-ing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His current focus there is experimental earthquake engineering. Stehman chose to conduct research alongside Dr. Mohammed Yahdi, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, develop-ing analytical solutions to a nonlinear differential equation that modeled oscillations of a suspension bridge deck. Conducting re-search from the summer after his junior year through his senior spring semester, Stehman was able to write an honors thesis on the topic of nonlinear models of suspension bridge oscillations.

“I first learned about modeling the dynamics of suspension bridg-es in Dr. Yahdi’s Differential Equations class,” says Stehman. “I had always admired architecture and structures, but I was truly amazed when I learned that differential equations could be used to model their dynamic responses. Luckily enough, Dr. Yahdi of-fered me an opportunity to work with him on the subject during the Summer Fellows program.”

It was Yahdi’s enthusiasm for research that motivated him to stay focused and excited about his own work and research, says Stehman. “Often I would go to Dr. Yahdi with no clear idea of my next step,” he says. “In these instances, he reminded me of the overall goal of the project and then helped me to analyze the problem. His ability to guide me was majorly beneficial for the success of my research and projects.”

COLLABORATION, A PATH TO SUCCESSYahdi has worked with more than a dozen students through ILE over the last few years. It’s important to match a student’s interest, he says, with the research he or she will be conducting. It ensures continued motivation, he says. Some students work on their own individual research. In the case of students like Stehman, who came to Yahdi with an idea that aligns with his own expertise, the research often becomes collaborative.

“I serve as both an advisor and a research mentor,” says Yahdi. “I schedule regular meetings with my research students and almost on a daily basis during the summer. I train the students how to work independently, develop and approach difficult questions, and evaluate their progress on a regular basis.”

The goal is through the close interaction on a research project, the students experience the excitement of discovery, Yahdi says. “They improve their ability to utilize and analyze complex con-cepts, nurture interests and skills in research, and acquire the so-phistication required for successful research careers.”

Students submit publications or write honors papers on their subject matter, and regularly give presentations before the de-partment or at conferences. The conferences allow students to network, interact and develop professional relationships with professionals in the discipline and expose them to career options.

ILE allows students to take on studies of disciplines that are not covered in the regular curriculum. “It gives them the opportunity to conduct research, to lead a project, to acquire skills not learned in the classroom and to analyze complex thoughts and issues,” he says. “It is won-derful for the students to have access to these collaborative research opportuni-ties and other ILE programs. It builds their confidence and fosters their achieve-ments.”

One key to the ILE program’s continued success is connection with alumni. Those who have successfully completed the ILE experience and gone on to graduate schools, or into promising careers, visit current

Matt Stehman 2010 chose to conduct research alongside Dr. Mohammed Yahdi, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, develop ing analytical solutions to a nonlinear differential equation that modeled oscillations of a suspension bridge deck.

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ILE allows students to take on studies of disciplines that are not covered in the regular curriculum.

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undergraduates and talk about how the ILE was a transformative experience, says Yahdi. “Matt (Stehman) came to campus last summer, and the way he presented everything definitely got the students excited about the program. It’s a contagious effect, and now more students are interested in pursuing serious research.”

Brett Emery 2012 majored in mathematics and minored in eco-nomics, statistics and chemistry. He knew that for his ILE, he wanted to take on an internship. “I felt that it would allow me to apply my classroom knowledge while gaining practical expe-rience for the business world,” says Emery, who works as a per-formance analyst at City of London Investment Management in Coatesville. Emery’s 12-week internship was completed within the summer between his junior and senior years at Catalyst360, a contact center located in Horsham.

“I found the opportunity through the Ursinus College Career Services Job, Internship & Network-ing Fair,” says Emery. “I was also directed to this particular internship by my advisor, Dr. Yahdi, and my Mana-gerial Economics professor, Dr. (Heather) O’Neill. Fortunately, the manager of my department was also an Ursinus alumna.”

As an Enterprise Decision Support Analyst intern, Em-ery worked in business in-telligence and data analysis. “My department focused on using data-based decision-making to provide better busi-ness outcomes,” he says. “I was actively involved with the prepa-ration, analysis, and presentation of data using multiple technologi-cal tools, including Microsoft Excel and SAS statistical analysis software. I was also exposed to industry-specific software applications that allowed me to carry out daily tasks, such as assisting team members with requests and reporting data.”

While on the job hunt, Emery says, he was able to talk positively about his internship experience. It was essential to landing a posi-tion that he wanted. He also gained increased confidence in the classroom and enhanced interactions with professors. In addition to his professional work, Emery intends to eventually pursue a master’s degree in statistics or an MBA. “The ILE program gave me practical experience in the professional world,” he says. “I was able to benefit personally, academically and professionally in a multi-tude of ways. Not only does the program allow for tremendous per-sonal growth, but it helped me decide on post-graduation plans.”

Parents and students are increasingly questioning the value of

college and a liberal arts education in particular, says Richard G. DiFeliciantonio, Vice President for Enrollment. “It is critical that I am able to sit with a family and describe for them a well-con-sidered four-year program with a beginning, middle and end — a user's guide, if you will,” he says. “A new student begins with our excellent first-year experience, next chooses work in the major, and finally, in preparation for life beyond Ursinus, pulls it all to-gether with the ILE. Families need to hear that the Ursinus plan is compelling and that it works."

The mission of the ILE is to transform students in meaningful ways through experiences outside of the classroom. By partici-pating in an internship, they gain real industry knowledge and interact with people working in a particular profession, says Carla Mollins Rinde, Director of Career Services at Ursinus.

“It’s invaluable,” says Rinde, “Fitting into an organi-zation’s culture and seeing how people really

work together gives our students a distinct career advantage. Most employers are

looking for someone who can add value right away, and internships

give them the opportunity to use the skills they have and develop new skills in order to convince a prospective employer that they have the right back-ground.”

In addition to giving them an edge in their career search,

Rinde says internships also build students’ confidence.

“They develop a new set of skills and abilities, and following

graduation feel that they’re ready to work seriously,” she says. The ILE pro-

gram is already a unique and beneficial program, but coordinators are always looking

for ways to make it more successful.

“Our goal is to build on the program’s transformative nature, so we’re regularly discussing how we can improve the experience,” Rinde says. “For example, we are seeing more international in-ternships, so our record-keeping needs to keep up with that. And, in the case of the study abroad programs, students must complete a pre-departure course, but we don’t have anything equivalent to that for internships. The advisory group has been discussing whether we should have some kind of online course to be taken pre-internship to help students navigate the workplace. Issues like not writing e-mails in familiar language and how to dress pro-fessionally could be addressed. In this way, we can address the social and cultural issues of a workplace while we also work more intensely with students to create thoughtful learning experiences with measureable outcomes.”

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Adrienne Murphy-Stout 2013 knew that she wanted a study abroad experience since she was a freshman. With a keen interest in medicine and research, she was hoping for hands-on experience in a laboratory setting. She participated in a research internship at London’s King’s College Hospital in their Depart-ment of Clinical Neuropathology.

As part of ongoing research performed by the de-partment, she worked on a research project for four months. “The data gathered required assessment by a biostatistician and was continued after my time in London,” she says. “Personal outcomes of this re-search and the internship overall was a better under-standing of the collaboration between specialists in patient treatment. From oncologists and neurosurgeons to biologists, researchers, and pathologists preparing and assessing tissue samples, collaboration of knowledge both intra and interdepartmentally is required to treat cases and provide the best possible care. This internship enabled me to gain a holistic picture of patient treatment as well as knowledge of the operations conducted within a clinical laboratory.”

Rebecca E. Kohn, Professor of Biology, worked closely with Murphy-Stout and was the on-campus advisor for her internship in London. “Adrienne is an exceptional student who pursues a variety of interests,” says Kohn. “She is completing a double major in Biology and Neuroscience and pursuing independent research in my laboratory. She is a dedicated researcher who is instrumental in designing her research project and thorough in her experimentation.”

The advantages that the Independent Learning Experience provided Murphy-Stout included “the invaluable first-hand expe-rience of working within a clinical laboratory and learning more about public health care,” she says. “Not only was I able to live in London, become immersed in a foreign culture, and travel throughout Europe, but I was also able to learn of England’s publicly funded health care system, the National Health Service. This enabled me to draw better comparisons between the British and American health care systems.”

Though her internship was not a service project, the laboratory research does seek to serve a greater good in helping ailing community members. “The ideas and content of medicine and research that I have understood in Ursinus classrooms were applied to meeting community needs,” she says. “I do believe that more of a service-based emphasis could be placed upon the program. The idea behind the Independent Learning Experience is to take the knowledge gained within a classroom and ap-ply it to a context outside the chalkboard-lined walls, acquire confidence while learning to flourish independently, and explore possible career paths. Much of what we are taught at Ursinus focuses on attaining knowledge to serve a greater good, whether it is through research, medicine or another discipline. Taking these concepts and applying them to serve the community dur-ing the ILE offers students the opportunity to truly practice what they are learning.”

- Kathryn Campbell

“The research based internship at King’s College Hospital afforded me not only the opportunity to experience working within a hospital research laboratory and tying

findings into the clinical cases, but I was also granted academic credit for my internship,” says Murphy-Stout, who is from Cologne, New Jersey. This research within the field of neuropathology was counted as credit toward her Neuroscience and Biology majors.

“It offered me first-hand experience with much of the neuroanatomical and neurological diseases discussed within my classes at Ursinus.”

At Home in the (Work) World

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Opportunities to Grow; Discover Your World and Your PassionsUrsinus students say they experience the transformative effects of these internships. Kari Raffensberger, a junior who is a double major in neuroscience and Spanish, interned at The Lutheran Home at Topton this summer.

“I spent two to five days a week with the residents, and my time was split between early and late-stage Alzheimer's residents,” says Raffensberger. “I led small group discussions and games, did one-on-one visits and assisted with large group activities. An example of a small group discussion would be ‘reminiscing’ where I would gather residents who had had similar life experiences (i.e., living on a farm) so that they could share their memories with me and each other.”

Though she loved her experience at Topton, it was challenging, says Raffensberger. “I had learned about Alzheimer's in class, but it is one thing to know about a disease, and another to see it. The hardest part was seeing these individuals who I had come to know struggle with things that most of us take for granted, like being able to feed themselves or take themselves to the restroom. It was hardest when they expressed that all they really wanted was to go home. But by this same token, that is why I was glad to be there. I was there helping people to feel better and giving them someone to talk to.”

At first overwhelmed, Raffensberger soon learned how to ap-proach different residents and situations and the importance of patience. The experience ignited an interest in working with the older adult population.

“This semester I decided to take a course on adulthood and ag-ing to further understand this growing population and its needs,” she says. “I would recommend that students pursuing internships should be encouraged to spend time making a list of personal goals before they begin, separate from those that they come up

with for their advisor. An ILE is not supposed to be a purely aca-demic exercise or just another thing that needs to get checked off of the list for graduation. It is an opportunity to grow as an indi-vidual and discover more about your world and your passions.”

High quality internships can be excellent career stepping stones, says the Hon. Joseph Melrose, Ambassador-in-Residence and Professor of International Relations. Carolyn Smith completed two Summer Fellows and a Distinguished Honors project and was offered an internship with the United Nations University. That internship was followed by an internship at the United States Mis-sion to the United Nations.

“Carolyn’s performance at the U.S. Mission was so successful that she was invited to return for the General Assembly where she met several foreign leaders and the President of the United States,” says Melrose.

The ILE opportunities give students the opportunity to develop individually, he says. “They accomplish this whether it’s through the individualized research opportunities afforded by Summer Fellows, internships associated with study abroad experiences which allow them to acquire a deeper understanding of the dif-ferent culture they are experiencing and to hone their foreign language skills, or through the internships they undertake with businesses, governmental organizations or civil society.”

Even if the internship is not what the student thought it would be, he says, it can be worthwhile. “In many cases, the internships confirm the student’s long term interests and career pursuits. Occasionally, an internship will result in a student learning what they thought they wanted to do as career is not in reality a good fit for them. This is just as valuable a learning experience as finding what they thought they wanted to pursue, really is a good fit, and inspires them to go higher and further.”

A few students combine two or more of the ILE experiences. Ka-tie Ringler’s internship with the International Corps in Africa led

Madeline Zurn 2014 explains her independent research project to Ursinus Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Brian Pfennig at one of the public campus exhibitions of student research. Her research, with Dr. Ellen Dawley, used salamanders to examine the role of microglial cells on spinal cord neurogenesis.

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to her Honors research in the field. “The development of several centers at Ursinus hopefully will produce more and better ILE opportunities for both research and internships,” says Melrose.

There is always room to improve on the ILE to help make the program more effective, says President Bobby Fong. “I envision more variation, and combinations of the ILE requirements,” says President Fong. “With Study Abroad, for example, one typically thinks in terms of a semester or year. Are there shorter intervals that can be just as effective? One new opportunity is an exchange program with Lingnan University in Hong Kong, where students study abroad and at the same time do student teaching. We tend to think of research in terms of Summer Fellows but there are both internship and research opportunities at pharmaceutical companies, for example, that we can explore. The Strategic Plan addresses these and more opportunities for students.”

In addition, there is a significant role for alumni engagement, says Fong. “We have begun to look at creating an alumni database that can be sorted by expertise, by ability and by geography. A national alumni network that is tied into the educational program of the college can be effective here.”

Fostering Confidence, Igniting Interest and Some Insights about the Giant Elephant Shrew Rance Zawada, a senior biology major, spent his summer study-ing animal behavior at the Philadelphia Zoo. “We proposed, de-signed and carried out our own ethology — the branch of biol-ogy dealing with animal behavior — project on an animal of our choice,” says Zawada. “The project was then turned into a full re-port for the Philadelphia Zoo and presented to the public, albeit in a more playful and less scientific manner, because you were getting kids and people excited about learning. We would also do ethograms on a number of other animals for the zoo itself. The rest of our time was spent doing educational presentations as well as interpretations.”

The experience reaffirmed his commitment to conservation and strengthened his interest in science, says Zawada. “It also really showed me that things that are complex must be transformed in methods that children can understand. They were like fantas-tic little sponges mopping up more information than you could imagine. As a biology student, it made me very proud.” Zawada says he felt well prepared for the internship.

“The ethology course at Ursinus absolutely gave me a leg up when it came to designing my own ethology project and ethogram for sengis (also known as giant elephant shrews),” he says. “However, I also love evolutionary biology. So my research paper for Ursi-nus was on the evolutionary biology of Afrotheria — a group of animals that includes manatees and dugongs, elephants, hyraxes, sengis and aardvarks. It was awesome to be able to observe a num-

“Surveys done by the Association of American Colleges and Universities show that employers want essential learning outcomes which are coincident with a liberal education,” says Dr. Fong.

“Experiential learning enables our students to apply classroom lessons to situations that anticipate what they’ll be facing after graduation,” he says. “Part of our responsibility entails helping students orient themselves to life after graduation by guiding their next steps into the world beyond the College. What experiences can they have at Ursinus that extend beyond the campus, including internships, study abroad, research, service learning and philanthropy? The Ursinus Independent Learning Experience is designed to link studies with the world beyondthe classroom.”

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ber of these animals firsthand while questions stewed in my brain that I ultimately explored in my research paper.”

Though he’s now studying in France, Zawada says a friend who works in an ethology lab for a large university said there was a very good chance he could be working there in the future due to his work at the zoo.

“The experience fostered an even stronger sense of confidence in myself and my education,” he says.

Melissa Hardin, Assistant Dean for International Studies, says the ILE, in all its forms, offers students the opportunity to immerse themselves in an environment in which they can apply what they learn in the classroom to a real world experience. The majority of graduates do more than one ILE.

“The hope is that theory put to practice will lead to reflection and action in keeping with our mission statement,” says Hardin. “It must be an approved experience that includes a ‘real world’ im-mersion or otherwise applied component that requires a student both to take on responsibilities for directing his or her own learn-ing, while benefiting from the supervision, guidance or mentor-ing of a faculty member or other role model or expert.”

For example, Hardin says, student teachers are responsible for preparing daily lessons and teaching classes, but they must also learn to partner with their professional co-ops and work as part of a larger instructional team. “Students who participate in study abroad programs take what might be deemed ‘traditional’ classes, but they do so in the larger context of a foreign educational and cultural environment in which they have to redefine their roles as members of their new community,” she says.

All these experiences allow students to test the limits of their skills and knowledge in a challenging and demanding, yet safe and sup-portive, environment, Hardin says. “They also provide students with opportunities for personal growth and reflection,” she says. “When asked what they get out of these experiences, students most frequently comment on an increase in self-confidence and sense of personal achievement.”

The ILE program helps emphasize these unique experiences not as ‘parentheses’ in the students’ college careers but as integral com-ponents of their education, she says. “This reinforces our commit-ment to preparing students to wrestle with the problems they will face in the world beyond college,” she says. “Faculty and adminis-trators who engage in the administration of these programs found ourselves working together for the first time, and this collabora-tion helped us to expand our view on the individual programs and recognize the goals and challenges we shared. This group joined together with faculty representatives from the standing committee on Academic Standards and Discipline with a view to establish-ing standards, guidelines and best practices to be shared with the campus community at large. That work is ongoing but promises to make of the various ILE opportunities available to students a more coherent holistic endeavor that can better serve as the practical cul-mination of their undergraduate learning.”

Opportunities and RigorWhen he was an Ursinus student, Jonathan Yoder’s participated in several of the ILE initiatives. He graduated with a BA in Span-ish and a minor in Latin in 2005. While a student, he completed all requirements to become certified K-12 in Latin and Spanish and now teaches both subjects at Owen J. Roberts High School in Pottstown, Pa.

“I had the great opportunity to student teach both Spanish and Latin at both the Middle School and High School level,” says Yoder. “I was then asked by the school to stay on as a Long Term Sub and midway through that assignment I was offered a full-time position. I have been here ever since and could not be happier. Without the opportunities and rigor of Ursinus I would not be where I am today. My transition from college life to real life was just so seamless and I owe a lot of that to my professors at Ursinus.”

Yoder began with a study abroad experience in Madrid during his sophomore year. “It was just phenomenal,” he says. “I was able to receive an “Ursinus” education, since my professors traveled with us, but it just was magnified by the fact that we were embedded in the culture we were studying.”

Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs

Gregory Weight said the ILE program

“represents the college's commitment to

providing what the President has called

‘liberal arts plus’ — experiences that pro vide

students with the opportunity to apply their

learning in a variety of contexts.”

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He later went on to volunteer and work for a community center in Kensington and developed a Spanish GED curriculum that is used by many institutions in Philadelphia. “This was an experience I would have been too timid too approach without my experience abroad,” he says. While studying abroad, the students completed internships in addition to their classes. Yoder’s internship was at a private school on the outskirts of the city. “I learned invalu-able lessons about the administrative and daily operations of a classroom in Spain,” he says. “I also got to work with the children teaching them everything from the rules of baseball in Physical Education and helping them with basic arithmetic during Math.”

Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs Gregory Weight said the ILE program “represents the college's commitment to providing what the President has called ‘liberal arts plus’ — experiences that pro-vide students with the opportunity to apply their learning in a variety of contexts.”

The ILE program creates opportunities for students to stretch themselves by placing them in new living or working environ-ments that give them a different perspective and help them to hone their own identities, values and strengths.

“From our own data on the Summer Fellows program, students are more open to experiences than they otherwise would be,” says Weight. “Students report being more interested in graduate school, more interested in continuing with research and more in-vested in their academic pursuits. On an individual level, I have seen students grow personally and professionally. They are more confident, more open to taking risks, and more invested in their own futures, rather than expecting others to provide the path for them.”

Kristin Cichowski, a senior theatre major with an elementary ed-ucation and film studies minor, participated in the Summer Fel-lows program last summer. She says it was one of the most chal-lenging experiences she’s had at Ursinus.

“It was the first time that I was asked to produce a large body of work that was both self-motivated and for which I was not getting a numerical grade,” says Cichowski. Explaining that the program,

for her, was a healthy balance of fun and research, Cichowski says her research responsibilities were to “read Absurdist plays, take copious notes on them and eventually write a 20-25 page paper at the end. It was transformative for me in that it was the first opportunity I was afforded here at Ursinus to truly be the pilot of my own plane, in terms of academics,” she says. “Other than a weekly meeting with my advisor, I did not have many deadlines, so I refined — more than anything — my time management and organizational skills.”

Cichowski said the ILE experience instilled “an eager desire to be a forever and proactive learner; constantly discovering the world around me through books and then utilizing what I have learned to go out into the world and affect others.”

Edwin Kosik, a senior English major with a minor in film stud-ies, says he fell in love not just with his research topic, but with the possibility of independent research in his future. His research paper was titled “Southern Honor: The Construction and Perfor-mance of Masculinity in William Faulkner's ‘The Unvanquished.’ “I don't know if being better prepared would have been a good thing,” says Kosik. “Similar to my experience going abroad, I found myself in a new situation, having to make sense of what I was doing and how I was going to succeed. The initial stumble — the ‘what do I do now?’ — was part of the learning experience.”

The ILE program, “placed me in a state of mind where I could charge at my senior year with enthusiasm and excitement,” says Kosik. “I told myself I was ready for it, and now here I am, and I am ready.”

Jessica Driscoll is a freelance writer with experience in journalism focused on municipal issues and higher education. She is a jour-nalism and media studies graduate of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.

On average, one in 540 registry members who sign up eventually are chosen to donate to a patient, according to the National Marrow Donor Program. To be on the registry, potential donors must meet age and health guide-lines. Thousands of people with life-threatening diseases like leukemia, lymphoma or sickle cell anemia need a marrow transplant, but don’t have a match in their family. Interestingly, Nik Stasulli is one of three Ursinus students to complete a match in the past three years. Teddy Conrad 2013 was matched successfully and went through the procedure last year. The Ursinus football team running back was featured in the magazine in the fall of 2011. And John Carty 2014 also went through the procedure last year, says Coach Pete Gallagher.

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APerfectMatchAPerfectMatch

Nikolas Stasulli in front of the hospital where he donated peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) for a child battling leukemia.

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Nikolas Stasulli graduated in 2009 with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with minors in Biostatistics and Dance. When he walked into the Floy-Lewis-Bakes Center as a student and heard about the Be the Match registry drive, he had no in-kling he would ever be chosen.

“But after learning about the process I thought ‘why not?’ ” says Stasulli. If he was selected to donate it would be an uncomfortable process. “But if I could help someone survive a bout with cancer in the process,” he says, “it would be worth it.”

Stasulli’s grandfather had received a bone marrow biopsy a month or two before he heard about the Be the Match drive sponsored by the Ursinus football team on campus. “It was clearly uncom-fortable for my grandfather, but I figured I would be willing to go through that to help someone even if I didn't know them.”

In truth, Stasulli never really expected to be selected. “I just gave my cheek swab,” he says, “but pretty much forgot about it.”

Then in May Be the Match representatives contacted Stasulli, who is a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in a graduate program for a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology. They wanted him to give a blood donation as a possible match.

"I am so proud of our student - athletes for leading the Be the Match program here at Ursinus,” says Peter Gallagher, Head Foot-ball Coach Ursinus College, who sponsors the drive on campus. “Together we are saving lives and that is a pretty big deal.”

While going through the process, Stasulli’s parents told him that they had been put on the registry when they were younger. Many of the nurses that he interacted with during the process said they've been on the registry for years and never been called for a blood test.

“It feels kind of strange having people tell me what a great thing I'm doing and how proud they are,” says Stasulli. “I realize what an impact it may have on this family, but I never really thought too much about how it would appear to other people. I just think if a week or two of being achy, sore, and uncomfortable could save someone's life then why wouldn't I do it?”

During Stasulli’s donation, he did not undergo direct bone marrow extraction, but instead donated peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs). For five days before the donation, he received an injection each day that caused his bone marrow to overproduce these PBSCs.

“It basically made my body feel really achy and tired, similar to symptoms of the flu, and I lost some joint flexibility,” he says. “On the day of donation it was similar to donating platelets, they put an needle into each arm, took blood from the one arm, ran it through a machine to separate out the PBSCs, and then returned everything else to me through the other arm.”

Since the patient who Stasulli donated to was so young, it took nearly three hours for them to isolate enough cells. The symptoms of the injections gradually went away over the next week and he soon felt well again.

“Anytime I felt really achy and sore, I just thought about how much worse it must be for this child, and especially the parents who have to go through this.

In early November Stasulli heard from Be the Match that the pa-tient had not engrafted with his stem cells yet, so he was asked to give a second donation of T-cell lymphocytes.

The Be the Match registry has a confidentiality policy for a year after donation. “For that first year after you donate, it's possible that you can be called upon again to donate a second time or donate other things such as blood, plasma, platelets, or T-cells and they don't want you meeting them to influence your decision to donate again.”

“It feels kind of strange having people tell me what a great thing

I'm doing and how proud they are,” says Stasulli.

“I realize what an impact it may have on this family, but I never really thought too much about how it would appear to other

people. I just think if a week or two of being achy, sore,

and uncomfortable could save someone's life then why

wouldn't I do it?”

The experience has not changed him, he says, but it has made him feel good that he was able to help. “I would definitely do it over again, and if I get chosen again somehow I would have no qualms about going through it again. If I can help someone out through donating something that my body already creates and replaces on a regular basis then I am more than happy. It's such a small part of us that we can give to try and help someone through a really difficult time in their life.”

By Kathryn Campbell

Page 24 ursinus magazine

Through

Looking

GLAssClassroom Collaboration Aims to Improve Teaching Methods

the

By Ellen Labrecque 1995

WinTer 2013 Page 25

Improving communications between teachers and students is the goal of The Student Consultant Program Andrew W. Mellon Teaching and Learning Initiative (TLI). Meredith Goldsmith, English professor and Director of the Mellon Program, started the program in the fall of 2010 through a four-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Invited to attend a Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College pedagogy seminar, Goldsmith heard about their TLI and was intrigued. One of the conditions of attending the seminar was that a student would observe Gold-smith teaching and offer her feedback on her instruction.

“My time with this student ended up to be such an incredibly intense but productive experience,” says Goldsmith. “I was at a moment in my career when I had just gotten tenure and I wanted to rethink things. She really helped me see how I wanted my stu-dents to be educated.”

The Initiative is based on a one-on-one relationship between a fac-ulty member and a trained student consultant. The student consul-tant does not take the class for a grade, but is strictly a paid third-party observer. He or she takes copious notes on the professor’s teaching techniques and student responses. Those reflections and observations are reported in weekly meetings with the professor.

“TLI creates a common goal for both students and faculty, which is the improvement of teaching and learning on campus,” says se-nior Rosie Clark, an English major who has participated in the program five times. “When consultants and professors come to-gether to work on this goal, the differences in degrees and titles disappear and we really do become partners in the improvement of education.”

Student consultants meet with Goldsmith in a bi-weekly seminar to help troubleshoot from their perspective and get advice on how to effectively communicate their thoughts to their faculty.

“When I am observing a class, I pay attention to who is verbally engaged, who looks like they’re paying attention even though they aren’t speaking, and who has completely disengaged from class,” says Clark. “I’ve worked with professors on increasing par-ticipation and getting students excited about the material, often through projects that involve contemporary media relevant to the course. I’ve also worked with professors on holding students accountable. I try to advocate for students so as to help faculty

engage them better, but also try to help faculty see that their stu-dents meet them halfway.”

All the professors in the program participate on a volunteer ba-sis and the student observations are separate from the tenure and promotion process. Since the program began, 30 partnerships have been created. Faculty are confident enough as professionals to accept what, at times, can feel like a vulnerable position be-cause they want to learn how to become more effective in their classrooms.

“Participating in this program was like looking into the mirror; it was really enlightening,” says Carol Cirka, Chair and Professor of the Business and Economics Department.

One of Cirka’s goals was to become more aware of how she man-ages her classroom time. Through the program, and with recom-mendations from her student consultant, Cirka started to return papers and banter with students five minutes before the class was officially supposed to start, instead of doing this right on time. Additionally, Cirka discovered she tended to focus class conversa-tions with just a few students, leaving others out in the cold. “I soon became more conscious to engage everybody in the room and not just the students raising their hand.”

Codrina Popescu, a chemistry professor at Ursinus, was equally happy with her time in the program. “I began to keep a journal about my teaching just as my consultant was doing,” says Popescu. “We would get together and report what I saw through my eyes and what she saw through her eyes. I soon saw things more clearly overall. My students became more committed and it was one of the smoothest classes I’ve ever taught.”

The Mellon Grant funding ends in the fall of 2013, but Goldsmith is hopeful that because of the program’s success, the college will continue to support the program. The invisible barrier that can sometimes exist between faculty and students on college campus-es has begun to come down at Ursinus.

“The program makes students more capable of talking about their classroom experience, and it makes the faculty better at explain-ing what they are trying to do with the whole class,” says Gold-smith. “A lot of conflicts in the classroom are based on misunder-standing. Through this Initiative, truths can be revealed.”

Through

Looking

GLAssClassroom Collaboration Aims to Improve Teaching Methods

Participating in this program was like looking into the mirror; it was really enlightening,” says Carol Cirka,

Chair and Professor of the Business and Economics Department.

Page 26 ursinus magazine

am Totaro is naturally compassionate and warm-heart-ed. Yet to do his job well, he has to distance himself emotionally from his clients. And this doesn’t come easy considering he and his wife, Andrea adopted two children of their own, Juliana and Christopher. They know too well the emotional terrain of adop-tion that families must weather.

“When friends and clients find out I have adopted children, ev-erybody asks is this why I went into this field,” says Totaro. “I han-dled a couple hundred adoptions before my wife and I adopted. But my own life does affirm my decision to work in this field and makes me happy to know how much I am helping people.”

Totaro didn’t plan to become a lawyer after graduating from Ur-sinus with a degree in science. His career began in the chemis-try lab, but the outgoing future litigator soon realized he wanted more day-to-day interaction with people. He went to law school at the University of Memphis and graduated in 1974. His first job landed him back in Philadelphia as a law clerk in an Orphan’s Court, which handled adoptions. After he finished his clerkship, the firm Sutton and Lewis hired him to continue his adoption work.

Totaro’s father, who was a minister in The Assemblies of God

Church, instilled in his son the importance of helping people. Local church leaders soon realized they could trust and rely on Totaro when young women in their congregations, who were un-expectedly pregnant, sought advice on adoption.

“Most of these women were going through a difficult time and it was great that I could ease the burden of their journey for them,” Totaro says, now an Elder in his Presbyterian Church.

Totaro works for Curtin and Heefner in Doylestown and also does extensive work for non-profit organizations, such as the Sil-ver Springs Martin Luther School, a private residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed and challenged children, where he is chairperson of the Board of Directors.

“Sam has such a level-headed mind and he listens and cares about each and every person he works with,” says Bob Madonna, a Silver Springs board member who turned to Totaro for the adoptions of his own two children.

In the late nineties, Sam and Andrea co-founded the adoption agency, ANA Adoptions, where Andrea is the Director and Sam serves as legal counsel. Around the time ANA Adoptions opened,

FamilyManBy Ellen Labrecque 1995

Sam Totaro is one of the country’s most respected and well-known experts in the fields of adoption and family law. He has worked on over 4,000 adoption cases in the past 35 years, appeared on news shows such as the Today Show and Good Morning America, and once had a television movie made about one of his cases. But Totaro doesn’t focus on the high-profile aspects of his job. He simply wants to help people through the most challenging times in their lives.

WinTer 2013 Page 27

Man

Attorney Samuel Totaro 1969 has worked on over 4,000 adoption cases and is the one of the most sought-after adoption lawyers in the world.

Totaro took on a case that became nationally known and eventu-ally the subject of the 1998 Lifetime movie, A Change of Heart. Totaro was helping Keith and Kimberly Lussier adopt a little girl, Brittany, from Korea in 1994. Kimberly was being treated for uterine cancer at the time of the adoption but was in remission. The couple welcomed Brittany in February, and the adoption was scheduled to be finalized in August. But in July, Kimberly died suddenly from the cancer. Keith called the adoption agency after his wife died and told them he still wanted to go forward with the adoption. The agency did not do single-parent adoptions and, as a result, took Brittany away and placed her with another family.

Totaro took Lussier’s case to court to help him fight for his daughter.

“Keith was from Buffalo and the court case took place in Bucks County so the poor guy, who just lost his wife and had his daugh-ter taken away from him, was sleeping in a hotel room,” says To-taro. “My wife and I decided to have him move in with us during the trial. As a result, we became like brothers.”

“There is no façade with Sam,” says Andrea. “He is down-to earth, compassionate and is guided by his faith. says Andrea. When somebody needs him, he’ll be there for them. That is the principle in which he runs his career and his entire life.”

The court ruled in Lussier’s favor and the judge stated that Britta-ny had to be returned within 72 hours to Keith. But the adoption agency appealed the ruling, which put a stay on the entire case.

“Keith said to me, if this was going to go on for a year or so, he couldn’t rip Brittany from her new home,” says Totaro.

A local newscaster, who had been following the case, tracked

down the couple who had been given Brittany and told them her story. When they learned about who the baby was, they volun-teered to give her back to Keith. The agency withdrew their appeal after a lot of public pressure and Lussier got his daughter back. “It was the most amazing day to reunite this father with his daugh-ter,” says Totaro. “It made everything I do worth it. Today I’m still good friends with Keith and Brittany is a thriving young lady.” Although many of Totaro’s cases aren’t as high profile, he still makes a difference in each and every one of his client’s lives. He works on many “standard” adoptions, but he also specializes in adoptions gone wrong.

Totaro was lead counsel on the Gibbs vs. Ernst case, in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court established the right of adoptive parents to be compensated for failure of adoption agencies to fully disclose all relevant information to the adoptive parents be-fore adoption. The case was cited by over 20 Supreme Courts in other states.

“Sam is extremely well-regarded and is the perfect blend of com-petence and compassion,” says Karen Burrill, a 1969 Ursinus graduate and Director of the Child and Home Study Associates Adoption Agency, who has worked with Totaro on countless adoptions. “He is the one of the most sought-after lawyers in the adoption world.”

Totaro is working on another high-profile adoption case that has led him back to the talk shows. But whether in or out of the spot-light, he simply wants to do the work he feels called to do.

“Helping these people is our life,” he says about he and Andrea. “And, I wouldn’t want to be living any other way.”

Page 36 ursinus magazine

Young Alumni Happy Hour – These Bears Don’t Hibernate! Friday, January 25 | 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.Public House 2 Logan Square, Center City Philadelphia Enjoy complimentary appetizers, drink specials and networking with fellow graduates of the last decade (Classes of 2003-2012). Sponsored by the Young Alumni CouncilVisit www.ursinus.edu/alumni for more details and registration.

National Council East Coast Florida Alumni & Parent Event Saturday, February 23, 2012 | 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The Norton Museum; West Palm Beach, FLAlumni and Parents will have the opportunity to tour the Norton Museum with Charlie Stainback, the new Director of the Berman Museum of Art. National Council West Coast Florida Alumni & Parent Event Sunday, February 24, 2012 | 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club; Bradenton, FL This event is hosted by Trustee Emeritus Robert Keehn, III ’70. Join alumni and parents living on the West Coast of Florida to meet new campus faces and discuss future initiatives in place at Ursinus College.

Philadelphia National Council Event SeriesAlumni and parents are invited to attend a series of events hosted in the Philadelphia vicinity. We will engage in conversation about how alumni and parent volunteers in the region can engage more frequently with each other and with Ursinus. For more information, please visit: www.ursinus.edu/NationalCouncil.

Alumni Weekend – Are You Coming Back? May 31 – June 2Ursinus College CampusDon’t miss these traditions:• Reunion Celebrations for Classes ending in 3's and 8's• Annual Lobster Bake with Faculty and Staff • Young Alumni Cocktail Party sponsored by the Young Alumni Council• Alumni Academy Classes• Red, Old Gold & Black Society Luncheon• Plus, new programming additions!Visit www.ursinus.edu/AlumniWeekend for more details.

Baccalaureate CeremonyThursday, May 9 | 6 p.m.Bomberger Memorial Hall

CommencementMay 10 | 10 a.m.Front Lawn, in front of the Berman Museum

Homecoming WeekendOctober 18 – 19RiverCrest Golf Club in Phoenixville & Ursinus College CampusSave the date for a weekend full of Homecoming festivities! Mark your calendar for the second annual Grizzly Gala on Friday evening, featuring the Slippery Band at RiverCrest.

Coming Events: 2013

WinTer 2013 Page 37

Weddings

Stacy Dennery 2000 and Jeremiah Schatt were married on May 12, 2012.

Katie Clark 2009 and Daniel Horn were married on May 26, 2012.

Emily DiIoia 2005 and Erik Iodice were married on Sept. 8, 2012.

Corey Jayne Bolander 2006 and Andrew Shindel 2006 were married on June 16, 2012.

Matthew McCloskey 2000 and Erin Royston were married on Sept. 15, 2012.

Page 38 ursinus magazine

Andrew Grali 2004 and Megan Iannozzi were married on September 15, 2012.

Erica Hartzell 2001 and Michael Wasilkowski were married on Sept. 17, 2010.

Erin Hoban 2006 and Kiernan Cavanagh 2006 were married on July 21, 2012.

Michelle Hofmann 2006 and Stephen Ciabattoni 2008were married on Sept. 29, 2012.

James Francart 2000 and Christy Heller were married on July 9, 2011.

Johanna Nash 2004 and Tyler Pittenger 2005were married on March 31, 2012.

Jennifer Romer 2007 and Timothy Seibert 2007were married on July 28, 2012.

Stephanie Levitsky 2008 and Chris Carey 2008 were married on October 13, 2012.

WinTer 2013 Page 39

Ursinus wedding photos We heard you!

Ursinus Magazine will continue to publish wedding photos in the magazine as well as online. Please continue to send your beautiful wedding memories. Thank you for sharing your joy.

Send photos to Ursinus Magazine, P.O. Box 1000, Collegeville, PA 19426. Digital photos can be e-mailed to ucmag@ursinus.edu.Ursinus College reserves the right to reject publication of photos which are not of publishable quality. We regret that we are not able to return print

photographs. The wedding date must be given and the group photograph should include only Ursinus alumni.

Please sign onto the Ursinus online community: www.ursinus.edu/alumni for full captions including names of the Ursinus alumni pictured in the photo. Questions can be addressed to the Office of Alumni Relations, 610.409.3585, or by e-mailing ucmag@ursinus.edu.

Join us on Facebook where 3,341 friends like the Ursinus page.

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Our Official Ursinus Social Media Directory can be found on news.ursinus.edu or directly here news.ursinus.edu/college-communications/social-directory

Tori Wynne 2007 and Clay Hazelett 2006were married on June 9, 2012.

Jenna Lesky 2008 and Cole Racich 2008were married on July 14, 2012.

Lauren Carrescia 2005 and Evan Nisenson were married on Sept. 1, 2012.

Christine Snyder 2006 and Owen Weaver 2006were married on Oct. 13, 2012.

Page 40 ursinus magazine

FIELd NotEs

Shoaf at work in his office overlooking Patterson Field. Photo by Sarah K. Kaufman Visiting Assistant Professor of Art,

Photography Department of Art and Art History.

Quiet...Quiet...Did You Hear That?Did You Hear That?Matthew shoaf, Ph.d. Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the department of Art and Art History, explores how the senses are manifested in fourteenth-century italian art.

WinTer 2013 Page 41

Peek in to Matthew Shoaf ’s small office and the first thing you will notice are piles and piles of art history books. They surround him in the tall shelves, are packed precariously on chairs and spread across his desk, too. But like any focused professor, he knows ex-actly where to find the one he needs when he needs it.

The art, much of it relief sculptures and paintings, that Shoaf studies represented the moral virtues and vices of the people in 14th century Italy. A gaping mouth here, covered eyes there and a heap of emotional expressions glowered from the walls of public places to send a stern message to a rising middle class, Shoaf says. “The art was addressed to people in the cities telling them how to live.” A common theme was the Seven Deadly Sins and among those the most deadly was pride. In this period, Shoaf says, echo-ing Renaissance art historian Michael Baxandall, painting and sculpture were too important to be left to the artist. “Patrons had a say in what the artists could make. The message was to live by a certain code and that code was changing.”

In addition to teaching, Shoaf is hard at work on a book called Hearing Early Italian Art about how the art of painting and sculp-ture have been historically connected to the sense of hearing. “My focus is fourteenth-century Italy, an art historical ‘grey area’ between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,” says Shoaf. “It’s also a period marked by institutional efforts to control speech. I examine how artists of that time, working for governments and religious institutions, explored auditory experience in pictures and attempted to make vocal sounds meaningful for audiences (morally and spiritually as well as politically). I am interested in how people were helped to hear through images.”

A year after Shoaf graduated from Occidental College, he vol-unteered on an archaeological excavation in Belgium. “It was a pivotal experience for me in terms of my academic interests and in my thinking about career options,” he says. The experience il-luminated his interest in the political role art played in history.

“Part of what drives me is the use of images in public life and how art connects with people. I wanted to step further back and spe-cialize in a period where I would have a broader view of history. In the late Middle Ages, cities were coming back to life. Presently I am interested in how pictures taught people in cities to listen to themselves and to other people.”

Shoaf earned his MA and his Ph.D. in art history from the Uni-versity of Chicago. He spent several weeks researching in Italy in 2008 to put his current book project into motion.

By Kathryn Campbell

Photos by Matthew Shoaf

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We came back!

SAVE THE DATEALUMNI WEEKEND 2013

www.ursinus.edu/AlumniWeekend | 610-409-3585

MAY 31-JUNE 2

Share the fun:• Annual Lobster Bake• Young Alumni Cocktail Party• Alumni Academy Classes• Red, Old Gold & Black Society Luncheon• Class Reunion Celebrations

Are you coming back?