Alumni News
Much Ado About Shakespeare
When Molly Booth ’14 first wrote a time-traveling, young adult story as part of her Plan of Concentration, she had no idea it would blossom into a full-length novel. Now, with a two-book deal under her belt, she can fall back on the skills learned in Plan to write as if “all the world’s a stage.”
It would be hard for Molly Booth to match the thrill of finishing the first draft of her book Saving Hamlet as a junior at Marlboro. “I had electricity shooting all through my limbs,” she says. “I couldn’t stop grinning. I gave myself the rest of the night off from schoolwork, which was an extremely indulgent act, at Marlboro particularly, but I was celebrating.”
If anything could equal that rush of excitement for Molly, it was signing a two-book deal with Disney-Hyperion publishing company last March, just months after her graduation. Saving Hamlet, the story of a 15-year-old girl who travels through space and time to help Shakespeare on the original debut of Hamlet at London’s Globe playhouse, is due to come out in November 2016. Molly’s second book, Nothing Happened, a teen adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, is scheduled for fall 2017.
The inspiration for Molly to write a full-length novel as part of her Plan started with a fiction workshop with T. Wilson, who encouraged her to keep writing. She then took a tutorial with T., while at the same time studying lesser-known Shakespeare plays with theater professor Paul Nelsen. The latter included Shakespeare history, and, a stage manager herself, Molly became enthralled with The Globe and its backstage.
“Those two tutorials just kind of melded together nicely in my brain,” says Molly, who, loving young adult fiction herself and having worked with teens at a summer camp, liked the idea of writing for that age group. When Brian Mooney ’90 took over for T.’s sabbatical during her junior year, Molly learned to “write write write,” and soon she had a novel. “That’s the beautiful thing about Marlboro. All of your interests and passions start weaving together. I really feel it all led to where I am now.”
Since graduating, Molly has been living the writer’s life in Portland, Maine, which she finds to be a great city with cheap rent, beautiful walks, and lots of activism in the community. “It feels good to be writing a book again. Throwing myself into something with everything I’ve got. Catching pieces of thoughts and transcribing them into phrases and sentences that I hope will help and connect people. There’s nothing I love more.”
She tries to make herself write for a few hours a day, and when she gets in the “zone,” she plants herself down and writes like there is no tomorrow. “Never interrupt the flow when you’ve got it going—Plan taught me that.” When she’s not working on her book, she does some substitute teaching and contributes to feminist entertainment websites like HelloGiggles and The Mary Sue. “I like having a lot of projects to work on at once. That way, if I’m stuck, I can switch to another one and shake it up. Plan taught me that too.”
Molly is most looking forward to teens actually reading her book and sharing their thoughts. “Writing a book is a solitary process; you’ve just heaved your soul onto the pages, and you want to know what that really created. I can’t wait.”
Check out what Molly and two other recent alumni had to say about transitioning to the world beyond Potash Hill, during last October’s Open House and Family Day events. Also, see what’s come from alumni writers in the past year in Book Shelf.
Class notes are listed by year and include both graduates and nongraduates; the latter are listed under the class with which they are associated.
’51
“Our year was richly enhanced with two different and memorable trips abroad—both European river cruises,” writes CHARLES STAPLES. “The first was a Danube cruise from Passau to Budapest, preceded by a two-day visit to Prague, and the second was in France, a ten-day trip on the Seine River. We continue to be very involved in our Chicago community of Hyde Park and the First Unitarian Church. Joan is still singing, and I still volunteer at the Chicago Cultural Center. We are ‘museum junkies,’ admiring many genres.”
’52
ELMER and GERTRUDE PINION GREEY write, “This year we celebrated 63 years of marriage, and our 87th birthdays. We’re both still active in church. Elmer volunteers at U.S. National Arboretum, and with master gardeners. Gertrude occasionally helps church music—an organist for 25 years. We have five living children, 23 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.”
’55
The first Marlboro student to graduate with a concentration in painting, artist LINN BRUCE was featured in an exhibit at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in November and December. The show, Stories in Color: Linn Bruce, offered a sampling of work spanning six decades. According to Nora Williams, curator, Bruce’s paintings “exploit the ability of color to evoke emotional and symbolic associations, as well as to describe the world.”
’63
“Still teaching at University College at Rockland (U-Rock),” writes Jonathan Potter. “Currently my course is a history of theatre. Next semester will be an acting class. Just had some poetry published in the Goose River Anthology.”
’66
WESLEY WARD writes, “The new president has made a great start, and the Northern Borders premium is much appreciated. Keep on trucking, Marlboro.”
’67
“Early winter with snow—so nice to see after a horrendous fire season,” writes JENNIE TUCKER. “All is well here in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon.”
SPOTT RANDOLPH reports that he is now a consultant working with car collectors. He writes, “Moved to Florida in 2008, where I ran the office for a propellor shop.”
’68
“Best wishes to all on the hill,” writes WILLIAM “GUY” CAIN. “I hope to get back to campus sometime in 2016, and would love to meet Kevin.”
“I am still actively engaged in theater and therapy,” writes DINAH LANE. “Working with a small, town-funded family therapy team in Burlington, Massachusetts, and recently appointed artistic director of the Latham Players, a performance group of adults on Cape Cod with Prader-Willi syndrome. Enjoying it all.”
’69
JOHN DEVANEY exhibited his artwork at Robert Foster Fine Art, on Nantucket, in August. He talks about discovering theater in college in a profile in Yesterday’s Island/Today’s Nantucket, reprinted from a 2003 article. “A up touring for about eight years, and also had its own theater in Brattleboro. That was a social focus for me, too, because my friends in college were the ones I ended up working with, virtually 24 hours a day.” See the profile. John will have a solo show in Midtown Manhattan, at Gallery 35NYC, in April, with a reception on April 9 from 6 to 8 pm. See some of his work at johndevaney.com.
WENDY NUTE ISHII writes, “It was such a wonderful treat to meet President Kevin Quigley, Alumni Director Kathy Waters, and several new faculty members, and to see old friends from my Marlboro years on my recent visit in October—all capped by a delightful stay at the Whetstone Inn cradled in Jean Boardman’s warmth and hospitality and a sinfully delectable breakfast.”
’71
CHRISTINE HUDSON ABRAMS writes, “Still live on Martha’s Vineyard; see SOO WHITING ’67 at the post office, JENNIE GREEN ’68 around town, and other Marlboro folk.”
’72
“We were surprised to hear the special on Marlboro College on NPR,” writes HAROLD ZAKON. “Keep up the good work, and good luck with your new plan for admissions. I would be happy to visit with any potential applicants from Austin.”
’76
KATHLEEN SMITH reports that she is “fulltime faculty at Rhode Island College, School of Nursing, in Providence.”
’78
SARAH EDWARDS is now living in Ohio and is the executive director for Simply Living (simplyliving.org), an organization that works to create a compassionate and sustainable world through personal, community, and cultural transformation. She writes, “I will always be grateful for my education from Marlboro. It was the only college I applied to. I was rejected, because I could hardly compose a sentence. Confused, I telephoned and said, ‘But I thought you were in the business of teaching people how to write. I need and want to learn how to write.’ The rejection turned into an acceptance, and writing is a big part of what I do in the world.”
NATHANIEL SIMKINS writes, “Began showing new paintings at gallery in New Bedford this year and plan on becoming a member in 2016. New work is based on life painting around Wareham and Onset.”
’80
ROSE CROWLEY CHRISTIAN writes, “Love the Renaissance Scholars concept. Good luck, Quigley.”
CARY BARNEY is currently director of the fine and performing arts department at Saint Louis University’s campus in Madrid. “I teach dramatic literature, acting, creative writing, and sometimes playwriting. I also direct a play each semester, most recently one of my own, Lance & Lana, a modern take on Georg Büchner’s Leonce and Lena. Doing theater on a shoestring at Marlboro was good training for this. My son Sam is in his first year studying history at the Universit. de Toulouse. In the past couple of years I’ve enjoyed visits from INEZ McDERMOTT ’79 and DIANE GAGER ’82. I’d love to hear from anyone passing through Madrid.”
’81
“I’m a psychotherapist in private practice in the Midwest,” writes JOANNA HOCHFELDER. “Attended Tulane University after Marlboro College. Marlboro is a unique place of learning that will always be close to my heart.”
’82
REBECCA JERVIS LEEMAN writes, “Besides leading a team of seven midwives, including doing clinical practice of midwifery and women’s health, I started singing in a group in Albuquerque, a global choir— secular folk. True to the Vermonter in me, I introduced some shape-note tunes into our repertoire. Singing in Arabic, Bulgarian, and other throat-opening dialects keeps life interesting. Shout-out to Marlboro friends.”
’83
XENIA WILLIAMS writes, “The most recent big Renaissance project in Vermont was a scheme by the big Burlington medical complex—then called Fletcher Allen Health Care—for new buildings and a parking garage with illegal aspects in its funding. Big scandal—the FAHC president went to jail.”
’86
“ANDERS NEWCOMER received his MAT in January 2015, from UMass Dartmouth,” writes his mom, Grace. “He teaches English at Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School.”
Conserving Wetland Values: Rebecca Chalmers ’98
“Approximately 20 years ago I found and recorded vernal pools around Marlboro,” says Rebecca Chalmers, who graduated in 1998 with a Plan of Concentration on amphibian ecology and conservation. “Now I am tasked with protecting those very pools.”
As a district wetland ecologist for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Rebecca helps identify and protect approximately 100,000 acres of wetlands and buffer zones in southern Vermont. Along with delineating wetland boundaries and identifying hydrophytic (water-loving) plants, hydric soils, and hydrology, Rebecca assesses the important wetland “functions and values” identified by the state—things like wildlife habitat, erosion control, and surface and ground water protection.
“I love the quiet in a wetland infrequently traversed by people. The plants seem so vibrant, in song somehow, when I’m in a diverse, healthy community,” says Rebecca. “This year I discovered new populations of a federally endangered plant and a rare salamander, both in the same wetland. I get to be outside in beautiful places, and I learn from everyone I meet.”
Rebecca is often required to negotiate with permit applicants to come up with alternate plans that have less environmental impact to wetlands. Permits may be for something as simple as a deck, as large as a cross-state power supply line, or as complex as a mountainside resort that affects dozens of wetlands in multiple ways.
When she is not traipsing through tamarack–red maple swamps, Rebecca enjoys camping, canoeing, bicycling, and exploring outside with her family. “Advocacy for the hearing disabled is a newfound passion,” says Rebecca. “I plan to use my regulatory experience to help others.”
’90
“We like to call ourselves an incubator,” says SARA COFFEY, founder and director of Vermont Performance Lab, in an interview on Vermont Public Radio. “We are an incubator for new work in contemporary dance, theater, and music.” Learn more.
“My first novel was published by Green Writers Press of Brattleboro this fall,” writes BRETT ANN STANCIU (see Book Shelf). “I was at my niece’s graduation in May 2014, and it was such a pleasure to see Marlboro looking so fine. Furthermore, Andrew Delbanco’s speech reminded me all over again just why I am so fortunate to have attended this great college.”
’91
“Life is beautiful,” writes JUNO LAMB. “Potash Hill is a lovely, well-designed magazine, a pleasure to read. So sweet to see old Marlboro friends at the JALF evening—a joy.”
“I have done a good bit of work treating Tibetan refugees for hepatitis B, which is a fairly serious epidemic in Tibet,” writes ANNA ABELE, a naturopathic doctor practicing in West Brattleboro. She has quite a few friends in the Tibetan community in Western Massachusetts, where she lives, and she was sought out by a monk from the Chungpo region because she had treated a nun from his monastery. “My long-term goal would be to go over there and/or have some monks or nuns come here to apprentice with the herb farm where many of these herbs are grown.”
’92
“I recently published a book with Cambridge University Press, entitled Foreign Opera at the London Playhouses, from Mozart to Bellini,” writes CHRISTINA FUHRMANN (see Book Shelf). “This is the culmination of my love for research, which all began with my Plan at Marlboro.” Learn more.
JENNIFER CHANDLER-WARD is founder and director of the Multicultural Teaching Institute, a conference that looks at the intersection of teaching and identity. Jenna leads workshops on issues of race, privilege, and unconscious bias in schools and institutions around New England. Learn more.
’94
BECKY WATSON MOKOS writes, “What a great reunion. So nice to see everyone, and thanks to all who made it happen.”
’95
“It feels good to be in touch,” writes MARYA PLOTKIN. “I do keep in touch with some alumni, like RACHEL PORTESI AHO ’98, AMY HEARD ’96, CORIN CUMMINGS. I have moved back to the US as of about one year ago, after living in Tanzania for the last six years. I work in public health research. I had actually just written requesting a transcript, because I am applying to a doctoral program here in North Carolina.”
KRISTIN ANDERSON’s organization MANOS continues to help bring nursing expertise to women and children in Nicaragua, most recently teaching a course in “essential care for every baby” at the Mesoamerican Pediatric Congress in Managua. See their new website, designed by Kristin.
’96
JANAN COMPITELLO GUILLAUME writes, “Mendel and I had our first child—Mendel Isaac—on October 20, 2014.”
’97
“I’m still loving my job at The Commons newspaper in Brattleboro,” writes WENDY LEVY. “Who knew it was the perfect job for me? I’ve had the opportunity to interview all sorts of interesting people, including Jerry Levy, when he debuted his play, The Third Coming: Marx Returns. It was a treat to go back to Jerry’s house after so many years and chat with him. The ethos of Marlboro helped me feel comfortable talking to pretty much anyone, from a neighborhood shopkeeper to a member of congress.”
JENN KARSTAD writes, “For over the past year I have been working hard at the Anna Marsh Behavioral Care Clinic, the outpatient mental health program of the Brattleboro Retreat, as a program therapist. Psychotherapy is an amazingly rewarding field, and I work with some of the most dedicated professionals I have ever known. JODI CLARK ’95 and I bought the house of DARRELL WILLIAMS ’92 in the summer of 2014, and it is just about the most perfect place for us. Stop by anytime.”
’98
In November, NORA DANIEL exhibited her work at Art@ 43023, a cooperative gallery in Granville, Ohio. “Her work, which has won awards from the Ohio Arts Council and was exhibited in the Governor’s mansion, has a unique compositional and coloristic style,” said publicity for the show.
’02
“I’m thrilled to report that Seth and I welcomed our second daughter, Prudence Kathleen, in May 2015,” writes SHANA DUNCAN. “Prudence is quite possibly the world’s most delightful baby, and Edie has excitedly embraced her role as big sister. In addition to becoming a big sister, Edie is now a kindergartener at the Chinese American International School, here in San Francisco. We’re feeling very proud—and wondering where all the time has gone.”
MELANIE GOTTLIEB writes, “I just left my institutional role to accept the deputy director position at AACRAO (American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officials) in August. I direct marketing and communications for the association, and lead the international education and services division.”
’03
“We were inspired to give to Marlboro again after reading about the Renaissance Scholars program,” write LARA KNUDSEN and CHRISTOPHER JONES ’05. “It seems to redirect focus to the relationship between students and faculty, which was the aspect of Marlboro we both loved best (a teacher, a book, and a log…).”
“I am still living in Providence, Rhode Island, and in my fifth year of teaching movement in the Brown/Trinity MFA programs for acting and directing,” writes SHURA BARYSHNIKOV. “I’ve had a busy performance year, appearing this past fall in Oscar Wilde’s Salomé in Boston with Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston and co-founding Doppelganger Dance Collective, a duets dance project focused on the creation and performance of new choreographic works. I am incredibly busy, working both the creative and administrative side of things, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My daughters are also thriving and will soon both be towering over me. Learn more at shurabaryshnikov.com and doppelgangerdancecollective.com.
’04
ABBY CASE FITZGERALD is the founder and principal of Yellow Arrows, LLC, an innovative consulting services company dedicated to working with higher education administrators in the areas of admissions and marketing, data and operations, and strategy and innovation. Prior to starting Yellow Arrows, Abby spent almost a decade working in admissions at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts.
’05
“I see this as an award for Calcutta Kids and the outstanding work that our team does day in and day out in the slum community in which we work,” said NOAH LEVINSON, who was one of the recipients of the Caring Award in October. Noah founded Calcutta Kids in 2002, as part of his internship for the World Studies Program, and since then has been providing health and nutrition services to pregnant women, mothers, and their children in underserved slums in and around Kolkata, India. Read more.
“I have found my calling, after starting as a Marlboro student interested in philosophy, religion, and psychology,” writes CHRISTOPHER GRENIER. “Now I am a chaplain at a state psychiatric hospital. Some ministers say that they see Jesus in the faces of their parishioners, but I meet Jesus every day in the persons of my patients, especially those who say, ‘Hello, I am Jesus!’”
’06
“Rob and I had our first child, Arthur, almost a year ago now,” writes SARAH WAGGONER ZIMMERMAN. “I am also excited to announce that—in addition to my respectable day job of nurse practitioner— I have started moonlighting as the poetry editor for Friends Journal, a monthly magazine of Quaker life and thought. Only Marlboro could turn out a biology major prepared to take on poetry and theology. I’m so grateful.”
“As of this past August, I’m finally back in school,” writes JOCELYN DELMAN MOSSER. “I’m enrolled at Appalachian State University, and very excited to be pursuing licensure in the state of North Carolina to practice counseling. Meanwhile, I’m still making art with my sister, teaching yoga, and working as a marketing consultant and graphic designer on the side. Greg and I bought a sweet little farm outside Asheville, North Carolina, where we continue to adore one another.” Learn more at JosieMosserYoga.com, AbacusCorvus.com, and CrowboatCreative.com.
’08
“Some days we’re setting up and we hear eagles calling to each other, and we run out and look up,” says KIT HARRINGTON in a recent New York Times article. “Kids are the best at sharing in joy and wonder.” The article features the “preschool without walls” she founded in Seattle, called Fiddleheads Forest School, now in its third year. Find out more.
CARA DOWNEY has been an employee at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center since 2009, working in a Phase I Clinical Trials Chemotherapy Unit. She writes, “I am enrolled in a mental health counseling program at Pace University and currently completing my clinical internship at New York Presbyterian Payne Whitney Clinic. I also developed and facilitated an intergenerational group at the White Plains LGBT Center. The group focused on bringing together people of different ages with the goal of community building.”
Sharing the Human Experience of War: Brandon Willitts ’12
The year after he graduated from Marlboro with a Plan in literature and writing, Brandon Willits founded Words After War, a literary organization with a mission to bring veterans and civilians together to examine war and conflict. He had come to Marlboro after four years in the military, and believed that a deeper empathy between civilians and veterans was necessary and possible through literature.
“From its inception, Words After War has aimed to build an inclusive community that uses literature as a way for civilians and veterans to better discuss war,” says Brandon, who founded the organization with fellow writers Mike McGrath and Matt Gallagher. “I chose writing and books because I knew how instrumental each had been in guiding me toward a fuller understanding of my own experiences with war.”
In two short years, Words After War has hosted more than 40 events with well-known and emerging writers, five semester-long writing workshops, literary mentorships, and monthly book clubs. It’s also held two weeklong, summer writing intensives at Marlboro College, where veterans and civilians participated in workshops and readings with published authors and Marlboro writing professor John Sheehy.
“The opportunity to bring Words After War to Marlboro has felt like my gift back to college for all that it provided me,” says Brandon, who is also vice president and head of internal communications at First Data, a leading payment processor. “Marlboro changed my life, and I want to show others just how special it is.” Learn more at wordsafterwar.org.
’10
“I am currently in my final year at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, working toward my master’s in art education, writes ARIELLA MILLER. “I am also a curatorial fellow at SAIC, and will be one of 12 other graduate students curating the 2016 MFA show. In fact, I’m on a team with IAN (GABE) WILSON ’11. It’s a big small world out there. In personal news, I’m recently engaged to my partner of five years, and we’ve set a date. We live together in Chicago with our cat, Ludi.”
“MICHAEL THOMPSON is alive and well, playing guitar in the rock band Silverface in Denver, Colorado,” write his parents, Stephen and Ingrid.
WILLSON GAUL is working as a research assistant in an environmental science graduate program in Wisconsin. He writes, “I am developing plant- and animal-based ecological indicators to evaluate and monitor the health of ecosystems in the Great Lakes. Catching the eye of environmental science graduate professors was difficult, given my writing undergraduate degree. But once I got into the program, I’ve been able to quickly take on exciting parts of large projects because I am able to solve problems and teach myself as needed.”
’11
KARIM LAHLOU is working at Huffington Post, as editor of Men’s Lifestyle. “I work on the branded content team, helping to monetize an international subscription-free news website, which includes in-depth reporting, writing longform articles, and pitching creative story ideas to clients. I’ve often been asked if I would choose a different college if I could go back in time, and the answer has always been a resounding no. I enjoyed every year I spent there, and I owe a great deal of my professional success to the time I spent at Marlboro.”
’12
DREW TANABE is in his first year studying environmental policy at Cambridge University. “It’s the first time I’ve ever attended lectures, which are exciting, boring, and confusing. It is also the first time I’ve had 100 percent of a course grade depend on a single paper at the end, which is incredibly stressful. England is a great place to be, even if it’s a bit dreary and the sun sets early. There’s plenty going on around the university, and it feels criminal to spend an hour doing nothing. If anyone’s in the ‘Old Blighty’ in the spring or summer please let me know.”
BRANDON WILLITTS spoke about returning from war and reentering society at a symposium last October at Wesleyan University, cosponsored by his literary organization Words After War. The daylong symposium, the first of its kind, featured veterans who had served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Yugoslavia, and Kosovo, alongside teachers and others from the writing industry who have focused their careers on writing about war and conflict. These discussions are important, he said, because “war is the human experience, the human story.”
CASEY FRIEDMAN is living his dream of working on a randomized trial of development projects through Innovations for Poverty Action. “Our trial is in rural Western Kenya, a few miles from the Obama family homestead (really), and we have 960 local farm households in the study,” writes Casey. “The researchers are trying to determine what keeps smallholder farmers from figuring out which products are most profitable to use on their farms. Managing and monitoring everything that has to happen on a mercurial but unforgiving agricultural calendar is pretty challenging, but I have an enormously talented local field manager who has been on the trial circuit for five years to take care of most of the details.”
’13
In August, MADDIE HOLM joined Child Hunger Corps, Feeding America’s nationwide service program designed to alleviate child hunger. Maddie is a fulltime corps member at Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine for a two-year assignment, during which she will assess and develop the organization’s capacity and learn about food banks’ vital role in fighting child hunger.
’14
“I’m currently a master’s candidate serving as a volunteer with the first Peace Corps cohort in Comoros in 20 years,” writes NICK DAOU. “I’m working on my PACT degree from SIT, writing a capstone on the inter-island reconciliation process in the Comorian archipelago.”
“I have a level of faith in human reason and the power of communication that often verges on naIve. It is a stubborn faith, but not immune to being shaken. And, lately, it has been severely shaken,” writes AMEE LATOUR, in a January article in CounterPunch titled “When Facts Fail: Can We Change Hearts and Minds?” Amée currently works as a freelance writer and plans to attend graduate school for further work in philosophy. Read more.
’15
Since graduating, NINA RODWIN has been working at the Paul Revere House, in Boston, where she also had an internship the summer before her senior year. “I ended up writing a paper about the history of the subway in Boston that not only became the independent section of my Plan, but also was published in the Paul Revere newsletter. I work with a fun team, and there is always time on the job to learn more about history.”
AMELIA BROWN has started the MBA program at Clarkson University. She writes, “The summer was very busy, but equally rewarding, as I completed my prerequired courses and began to work in the MBA office. It has been really exciting work so far, and I will continue to be their student worker throughout the year…. In all, it’s shaping up to be a fantastic year.”
Graduate and Professional Studies
MAT
JEFF KAGAN MAT-E ’07 “discovered his love of the outdoors and music through a series of odd jobs including a summer counselor at a children’s environmental camp and a youth hostel desk worker,” says an article in 5280, The Denver Magazine. The article describes how Jeff met PAIGE DOUGHTY MAT-E ’07 in the graduate program of Expedition Education Institute, where they were both studying environmental education, and how together they perform music for kids with an environmental angle. See more.
JOSHUA FARBER ’97, MAT-T ’98 says, “I’m currently teaching media literacy, culture and communications, and English in an inner-city STEM school, and a virtual course in Shakespeare. I’m also directing teen musicals in the summers, and serving as a ‘regional challenge master’ for the Global STEM challenge-based competition Destination Imagination. Oh, and thanks to the Clear Writing requirement, I run and write Cover Lay Down, a blog exploring the intersection of culture and communications through cover songs—the second most popular covers blog in the world. Thanks indeed, Marlboro.”
SHANNON MILLER MAT-T ’09 writes, “I recently moved into the position of program manager of Vermont’s Peer Review Program. It’s one of the state’s alternative routes to licensure for candidates with strong content knowledge. The MAT proves useful in this work, as I’ve managed a move to digital portfolio creation and storage. In addition to that, I’ve long valued my coursework in change management and find that it helps me in making shifts to this longstanding program.”
MEL MOTEL MAT-SJ ’11 and ALEX FISCHER MBA ’14 co-founded The Root Social Justice Center in Brattleboro in 2013. The Root is a collectively run office space for social justice–oriented businesses and organizations and a community space for social justice events. Mel and Alex operate their businesses out of The Root: the Just Schools Project (Mel) offers restorative practices training and advising for schools, while Open Bookkeeping (Alex) offers professional bookkeeping and financial services to justice-based businesses and organizations. Learn more about The Root.
COURTNEY RENKEN MAT-SJ ’11 writes, “I am an employee of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, working as the operations lead for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Liberia-U.S. partnership for clinical research on Ebola. This includes three studies: an Ebola vaccine trial, a treatment trial, and a natural history study on Ebola survivors. I oversee these studies and serve as the point of contact for the operations and fieldwork.”
LEO SLOSS MAT-TESOL ’14 moved to Santiago, where he was offered a position at Universidad Andres Bello. “It is a beautiful university with great students and teachers. I couldn’t be happier. It is exactly the kind of opportunity that I hoped the degree from Marlboro would allow for. Life in Chile has been great—I’m really enjoying it. If anyone is looking to teach or travel in Santiago, please let me know.”
BILL BLY ’14, MAT-T ’15 writes, “In addition to working at the United Nations, I have been an adjunct professor at Long Island University, teaching web design and development and Adobe Creative Products, and have taught HCI online at Marlboro College Graduate and Professional Studies. I also have developed and maintain several websites for unions here in New York City.” See one featured.
MBA
A letter in the Brattleboro Reformer read, “Turning Point is profoundly grateful to permaculture specialist CIMBRIA BADENHAUSEN (MBA ’09) for lending her generous and enthusiastic skills in permaculture—environmentally sensitive gardening—as we continue work on our new permanent facility.”
LAURA ZEPPIERI MBA ’11 writes, “Life has been crazy since graduation: lots of travel and getting married. Most recently, I left my job at Vermont Energy Investment Corporation in Burlington and moved to Austin, Texas, with my husband to begin a new job at CLEAResult. This is a fast-growing, energy-efficiency consulting firm, and my new role is as a program specialist, working with the small business program. Austin is an amazing city, and we’re loving it (the warm weather definitely helps).”
MSIE
DON ULINSKI MSIE ’02 writes that he received a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences from Walden University in 2013.
Former Faculty and Staff
DAVID STAM, former librarian, suggests that anyone interested in an account of his meanderings should read What Happened to Me, by David Stam (Authorhouse 2014).
“If I could really tell you how I felt about Vermont, I wouldn’t have to write books. I write books to figure it out,” says retired writing professor LAURA STEVENSON in a recent VPR interview, highlighting her new book, Liar from Vermont. Laura also shared a reading from Liar at the Rice-Aron Library in October. Hear her interview.
In Memoriam
As we were in production, we learned that JOHN ROBINSON, who taught philosophy at Marlboro from 1958 to 1969, died in November 2015. According to Tom Tucker ’71, “John’s style was Socratic: lots of questions, class discussion, and a paper or two every term. He was a taskmaster with a steely glint of humor and a Cheshire Cat–like grin. I was hopeless but enthralled.” Tom stayed in touch with John over the years, and enjoyed a visit from him in Oregon a few years ago. “John’s interest in the natural world was unabated, and his appreciation for Powell’s Books, here in Portland, took on weighty proportions. I count myself lucky to have come under his careful and reasoned approach to thinking, thinking about thinking, writing about thinking, and using a pragmatic point of view to lubricate the gears of seemingly opposed mental engines. John was a solid bulwark in my Marlboro College education and my life as a teacher.”
Book Shelf
“The reality of sustaining large, open spaces is that they are much more than the sum of their parts. The term open spaces, as I use it here, is intended to invoke not only the challenge of physical size but also of time, ecology, culture, and all elements therein. This is a fundamentally different approach to science that reconceptualizes both problems and solutions to generate more timely and effective means of addressing the vast conservation challenges we face today.”
– Charles Curtin, The Science of Open Spaces
The Science of Open Spaces: Theory and Practice for Conserving Large, Complex Systems (Island Press, ISBN 978-1597269933) turns conventional conservation paradigms on their heads. Based on his decades of experience ranging from the arid Southwest to the north Pacific, Charles Curtin ’86 proposes a new way of thinking about complex natural systems that builds on the fundamental physical laws of the universe and creates innovative conservation from the ground up.
Learning BeagleBone Python Programming (Packt Publishing, ISBN 978-1784399702), by Alexander Hiam ’13, is a user’s guide for the innovative, bare-bones computer curiously named BeagleBone. Alex walks readers through the basics of installing and programming the unit, then dives deeper into BeagleBone’s subsystems and more complex built-in peripherals, demonstrating different ways to receive input, including buttons, sensors, potentiometers, and rotary encoders—a practical guide for any self-respecting geek.
Foreign Opera at the London Playhouses, from Mozart to Bellini (Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1107022218) is the culmination of years of research by author Christina Fuhrmann ’92, a professor of music at Ashland University. She explores how 19th-century operas by foreign composers were adapted for London playhouses, often appearing in drastically altered forms that were integral to the transformation of London’s theatrical and musical life.
Oracle (W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393077988) is the latest collection of poems from Cate Marvin ’93. Publisher’s Weekly calls Cate’s poems “spectral, charged…a wild, ferocious bunch capable of emotional darkness, bound by a strong poetic ‘I’… a successful call to arms.” The speakers of Oracle occupy the outer-borough cityscape of New York’s Staten Island, where they move through worlds glittering with refuse and peopled by ghosts.
Missing History: The Covert Education of a Child of the Great Books (Threshold Way Publishing, ISBN 978-0996139106) is an intellectual autobiography in the tradition of St. Augustine’s Confessions. Middlebury professor Kathryn Kramer ’75 revisits her school years to figure out how she was indoctrinated into this classic journey. A recurring presence is Katie’s father and former Marlboro professor Corky Kramer. (See an excerpt in Potash Hill, Summer 2011.)
Hidden View (Green Writers Press, ISBN 978-0996135702), by Brett Ann Stanciu ’90, is a novel of stark and raw beauty set in the Vermont agrarian landscape. Deeply rooted in the day-to-day realities of life and work on a hardscrabble farm, of ill-fated love and obsession, Brett’s book offers a decidedly realistic view of the inner lives of a young farming family and their financial and emotional struggles.
The Lean CEO: Leading the Way to World-Class Excellence (McGraw-Hill Education, ISBN 978-0071833066), by Jacob Stoller ’73, is an instructive primer based on interviews with an all-star cast of business leaders. Although the methodology is decades old, The Lean CEO reveals the true power of “Lean” through in-depth interviews with CEOs who have gone beyond tool adoption and established the methodology as a corporate-wide management system.