Fall 2016
Editor’s Note
“Ultimately, Marlboro’s small size is a strength,” says alumnus Aaron Kisicki, an attorney for the state of Vermont profiled in this issue of Potash Hill (page 46). “If you want to experience a community that is like-minded, in terms of significant intellectual engagement with ideas of personal interest, you’re always going to end up with smaller numbers.” Not only is small beautiful, it is a function of Marlboro’s core mission to teach students to think independently and be part of a learning community.
Marlboro’s small wonder is highlighted in the first of many editorials from President Kevin, titled “Tiny Colleges Matter,” and in the instructive slice of fundraising history from former Marlboro development chief Will Wootton’s upcoming memoir. It shines through in the U.S. News & World Report #1 ranking of lowest student-faculty ratio, and in Jean O’Hara and Jodi Clark’s pioneering course in community. This issue of Potash Hill is jam-packed with smallness.
We start off with a vivid example of Marlboro’s strength in smallness, of students “engaging in what they are doing in a significant way.” Sasha Iammarino’s photo essay on migrants from Brazil illustrates that no place is an island, not even an island like Martha’s Vineyard. There has been a lot of talk about immigration in the past year, but Sasha’s nuanced research brings the individual stories behind transnationalism into focus in a way that no political campaign can.
Speaking of small, did I mention that your very own alumni magazine has once again won an excellence award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)? Potash Hill won bronze in the CASE District 1 overall category for magazines with a circulation of 50,000 and under. With a circulation of only 5,000, this is yet another surprising example of Marlboro’s Mighty-Mouse-like powers. Learn more.
What do you think are Marlboro’s greatest strengths? What is your fondest memory of life in an intentionally small learning community? Share your thoughts, big and small, with us at pjohansson@marlboro.edu.
—Philip Johansson