A dance performance created by Marlboro senior Hannah Ruth Brothers ’14 was selected for the gala concert concluding the New England American College Dance Association Conference, held at Boston University from February 13 to 16. The conference was attended by more than 500 students and faculty from 27 New England colleges. Hannah Ruth’s piece, a quintet titled “Landing,” was among the 11 chosen for performance at the gala concert. Hannah Ruth performed the dance with fellow Marlboro students Sophia Romeri ’14, Lily Kane ’13, Erika Klemperer ’13, and Martha Henzy ’13, and music was provided by student Aidan Keeva ’14.
Daniel Kalla ’14 was this year’s recipient of the Engaged Student Award from the Vermont Campus Compact. In addition to serving as head selectperson, member of community court, and resident assistant, Daniel co-facilitated student trips for blood donation and hosted campus conversations on positive relationship communication. He also volunteered as a reparative probation panelist with the Brattleboro Community Justice Center (BCJC) and served on a Circle of Support and Accountability for a former prisoner on probation. “He has been a fantastic supporter of prisoner reentry in our community,” says Larry Hames, executive director of BCJC.
“I deeply admire Marlboro’s tradition of allowing students to take ownership over their futures and supporting them in their journey to become leaders, activists, and informed, thoughtful citizens of the world,” says Beth Ruane, Marlboro’s new library director. Beth joined Marlboro in July, after spending the last four years as a librarian at Skidmore College. Before that, she was librarian at DePaul University for five years. Beth received her B.S. in English from Valparaiso University, an M.A. in English from North Carolina State University, and an M.S. in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In March, Marlboro was pleased to welcome Rachel Gravel as the new technical services librarian. “The students here are incredible,” says Rachel, who has a notable passion for cataloging and classification. “They are intelligent, selfaware, and thoughtful, and I love learning about their studies.” Rachel came to Marlboro from Boston, where she is currently finishing her master’s degree in library and information science at Simmons College. She also has a master’s degree in German from Tufts and a B.A. in political science and German from Trinity College.
Lindsay Guido-Williams started as the new career development director at Marlboro in April. She is passionate about helping students pave their way to a career that brings them both happiness and satisfaction. With more than eight years of experience working with individuals on their academic and career development, Lindsay offers strong coaching skills and the ability to support students through self-assessment, career exploration, and job attainment. She has a B.S. in business administration and a master’s in psychology and counseling, and understands how lacking direction in terms of one’s career can affect an individual’s quality of life.
A recent graduate of the Managing Mission-Driven Organizations program, Hillary Boone joined the Marlboro staff as program manager for Benchmarks for a Better Vermont (BBVT) and nonprofit programs communication coordinator. Hillary comes with a firm understanding of Results-Based Accountability (RBA) through coursework and an apprenticeship with lead trainer Anne Lezak. “I’m committed to RBA because it can quickly re-inspire people about their work and the change they can make,” says Hillary. “I’ve been honored to work with nonprofits all over Vermont that are doing really incredible work.”
“My time abroad definitely helped narrow my focus and give me the inspiration that I was looking for,” says Alex Bobella ’15, who spent last spring semester at Kings College London studying religion through a program hosted by Arcadia University. He was energized by the foreign urban landscape, far from the winding woodland paths of Marlboro. “The churches and mosques and temples that I passed in London gave a certain accessibility to the divine, and the historicity of religious worship, that allowed me to focus my studies in religion at Marlboro and understand what exactly it was I wanted to study.”
Jodi Clark ’95, director of housing and also a student in the MDO program, was selected to present a 20-slide “pecha kucha” (look it up) presentation at the Gross National Happiness (GNH) conference in Burlington last May. In her presentation titled “We say I love you all the time in the office. Is that normal?” Jodi explored reinvigorating the workplace by creating a culture of appreciation, trust, accountability, and love. Marlboro graduate faculty member Anne Lezak and Benchmarks for a Better Vermont program manager Hillary Boone were also on the program.
After studying abroad in Morocco for a whole semester, through a School for International Training program titled Journalism and New Media, Julian Harris ’15 decided that it was not enough. He returned to Morocco this summer with renewed focus, so to speak. “I realized that I wanted the photography portion of my Plan to be centered around the concept of the people of Morocco living their daily lives,” says Julian, who is working on a Plan in photography and journalism. Part of his travels included a visit with last year’s Fulbright Arabic Fellow, Abdelhadi Izem.
MDO student Kristy Smith was one of 50 participants at a two-week international peacebuilding conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, hosted by the School for International Training’s CONTACT program. Participants from 13 countries, mostly from southern Asia, worked in teams to examine and understand conflicts afflicting the region, from boundary disputes to conflicts over natural resources. “The primary goal of this conference was to connect a group of people with each other, and to carry these connections back to the work we are doing at home,” says Kristy.
