Potash Hill

Published twice every year, Potash Hill shares highlights of what Marlboro College community members, in both undergraduate and graduate programs, are doing, creating, and thinking. The publication is named after the hill in Marlboro, Vermont, where the undergraduate campus was founded in 1946. “Potash,” or potassium carbonate, was a locally important industry in the 18th and 19th centuries, obtained by leaching wood ash and evaporating the result in large iron pots. Students and faculty at Marlboro no longer make potash, but they are very industrious in their own way, as this publication amply demonstrates.

Editor: Philip Johansson
Photo Editor: Ella McIntosh
Staff Photographers: David Teter ’19 and Michael Jung ’17
Design: New Ground Creative

Potash Hill welcomes letters to the editor. Mail them to: Editor, Potash Hill, Marlboro College, P.O. Box A, Marlboro, VT 05344, or send email to pjohansson@marlboro.edu. The editor reserves the right to edit for length letters that appear in Potash Hill.

Front Cover: A caver pauses on the brink of a recently discovered Vermont cave, perhaps the winter home of federally threatened long-eared bats or other bat species. Morgan Ingalls has been spelunking her way across New England to get to know these cryptic species better (see her article). Photo by John Dunham 

“I think this college has been a perfect fit for the kind of education I’ve been wanting to pursue,” said freshman Eric Wefeld (pictured, right) at a Town Meeting last November. His comments on gratitude were part of a series of “First Year Voices,” reflections by new students on life at Marlboro. See Eric.

About Marlboro College
Marlboro College provides independent thinkers with exceptional opportunities to broaden their intellectual horizons, benefit from a small and close-knit learning community, establish a strong foundation for personal and career fulfillment, and make a positive difference in the world. At our campus in the town of Marlboro, Vermont, both undergraduate and graduate students engage in deep exploration of their interests—and discover new avenues for using their skills to improve their lives and benefit others—in an atmosphere that emphasizes critical and creative thinking, independence, an egalitarian spirit, and community.  

New Outlook

When I climb to the top of a tree, where I could reach up and touch the highest needles, I leave the stress of schoolwork, social insecurities, worries, and fears far below. For a moment I am free to look at my life, my community, the world from a different perspective.

—Clayton Clemetson ’18

Photo by Clayton Clemetson

Dystopian Language
By Sophie Gorjance ’16

Part of the beauty of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction lies in the fact that after the authors have destroyed whatever world originally existed in their stories, they are able to rebuild that world in whatever shape they like. One aspect of writing an apocalypse that authors frequently overlook is that of language.

Dystopian books that discuss the ways their environment or government has shaped the language, like 1984, The Dispossessed, and The Time Machine, are often praised and become classics. It takes a rare story to actually involve that new language and rise to an equivalent level of success, as was the case with A Clockwork Orange. It seems that Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban’s post-apocalyptic novel published in 1980, got too close to the invisible line at which the effort required is more than most readers are willing to expend. Yet those who do cross that line find a rich, nuanced world embedded within the language.

Riddley Walker’s world is objectively changed from our own: difficult, dangerous, and rife with lore. The language Hoban invented works on many levels to communicate a culture based on oral storytelling, where there are much more pressing daily concerns than spelling homophones, where very few people read or write anyway. Without having to say so directly, Hoban shows readers how Riddley’s society has descended from ours, and how it has retained only broken scraps of words with no concrete meaning. “Sarvering gallack seas” bears only passing resemblance to “sovereign galaxies” yet the people in Riddley’s world chant it as part of their funeral rites.

Despite all the intrigue, mystery, and general awesomeness Hoban packs into Riddley Walker, it never attained the fame or staying power of A Clockwork Orange. The reason for this, I believe, is that Hoban did his work too well. But all it takes is a few pages of effort before the reader slides into “Riddleyspeak” like putting on a glove. The outermost layer of your hand isn’t your skin anymore, and the outermost layer of your mind is running with dogs 2,000-odd years in an imagined future, but it fits just perfectly.

Sophie Gorjance completed a Plan in writing, and this excerpt is adapted from her Plan paper, “Riddleyspeak: Post-Apocalyptic Shifts in Language.” You can find excerpts of other Plans, and watch Sophie reading from her post-apocalyptic novella Under New Stars, in the Virtual Plan Room.

Photo by David Teter

Missing Luis
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the most recent issue of Potash Hill. I especially like the contrast of black and white with color—makes for a nice read. Lovely article on my godfather Luis Batlle. I do miss him so.
—Margie Serkin, friend

Your magazine is beautiful, as usual. But unless I just can’t find it, you have published a drawing of Luis Batlle on page 48 without attribution. The oversight displays a certain contempt for the work of artists, which ill befits the aims of the college and its magazine. In case you don’t actually know, it is clearly a Frank Stout drawing. These things don’t draw themselves.
—David Rohn, friend

You are right, of course, we should know better than to miss attributing the work of Frank Stout, renowned painter and longtime art professor at Marlboro, who did the sketch of Luis (right). —eds.

Prominent Pioneers
It was September 1947 when I embarked upon the new and untested Marlboro experiment. There were rewarding experiences but also many uncertainties in the first few years. Fortunately we survived and ultimately evolved into an outstanding place of learning. Thanks to all who did this. Marlboro is fortunate to have exceptionally good leadership, and I have great expectations. I always consider the college worthy of support, and I try to visit annually. I am very hopeful that there may be some kind of observance/celebration of Marlboro’s first 70 years in our anniversary month of September.
—Charles Staples ’51

We are working on plans for an alumni event of some kind for the fall, so stay tuned. —eds.

The early photo of “pioneers” on the website (right) has some familiar faces. Jon Glasby (’55) is in his jeep, Charlie Staples (’51) and Howie Whittum (’55) are standing. Don’t recognize the person on the other side.

—Bruce Bohrmann ’53 

Our records indicate that this is Emilia Bruce ’58. The file is named “Boys & Emilia Bruce with jeep.” —eds. 

Bird in the Hand
Paul Willis FS71 submitted this photo (right) of Whit Nichols ’69 holding a juvenile northern shrike, Lanius excubitor. Research project? Broomball mascot? Picture window casualty? If you happen to know the story behind Whit and this unusual find, share it with us at pjohansson@marlboro.edu.

 

 

 

 

 

Growing from the Same Soil
By Kevin Quigley

This spring there will be some momentous changes on Potash Hill, and I’m not talking about mud season. Nearly two decades after it was established, the graduate and professional studies (GPS) program will be relocating from downtown Brattleboro to our Marlboro campus. Although the grad school was created with a different operating style, relying on internet-based, distance learning—ideal for mid-career students—there are surprising similarities in mission, values, and pedagogy. Both the graduate and undergraduate programs clearly grow from the same Potash Hill soil.

I am sure that all Marlboro College community members can relate to GPS’s overarching goal of helping students develop a life of passion and purpose. In the words of Kate Jellema, associate dean for graduate and professional studies, the graduate program “advances the college’s progressive values, commitment to engaged citizenship, and inquiry-based pedagogical approach through its focus on teacher training and progressive business education.”

Much like Marlboro’s undergrad students, the college’s grad students have a calling to make positive change in the world. While these aspirations are shared across the programs, GPS students have a clearer sense of their path for making change: as teachers, entrepreneurs, managers, or leaders and innovators in the social sector. At GPS, students gain the practical skills and professional experience they need to channel their passion, intelligence, and curiosity into impactful careers and purpose-driven lives.

Relocating GPS to Potash Hill will allow for far more synergy between our graduate and undergraduate programs. It will provide greater opportunities for students to take advantage of our accelerated master’s track, which enables them to take graduate classes while still an undergraduate and complete a master’s degree within a year or two of graduation. The move will also present new opportunities for our graduate students, enabling them to have access to our remarkable Rice-Aron Library and our outstanding Outdoor Program offerings. We look forward to having graduate students cross-country skiing on Town Trail, kayaking on South Pond, or participating in many other activities that get students outdoors in these beautiful green hills of Vermont.

Perhaps most importantly, moving GPS to Potash Hill will enrich educational offerings for both undergraduate and graduate students—for example, through short workshops taught by graduate students. Also, as the college deepens its career-related programming, greater exposure to working professionals who can be role models and mentors should prove an added benefit for undergraduates.

In February, the grad school offices moved to “On the Way,” a wonderful house in the woods off South Road (see Giving In Action, Winter 2016). The graduate students’ first residential weekend is in March, during the undergraduate program’s spring break. In mid-April, the undergraduate and graduate students will share our lovely campus for the first time. Please join me in welcoming the grad school and its students to Potash Hill, and supporting a successful relocation that strengthens Marlboro College and improves the learning environment for all of our students.

Learn more about the move, including the role of the Integration Committee in facilitating the transition process, at marlboro.edu/gpsmove.

By Morgan Ingalls ’10 
Photographs by John Dunham ’05  

Often called “cryptic species” because they are nocturnal and spend their waking hours on the wing, bats are nevertheless critically important to forest and agricultural ecosystems of the northeastern United States. Morgan Ingalls has spent the last five years studying bat populations in the region to determine if they can withstand the recent scourge of a mysterious disease. 

It’s mid-January in southwestern Vermont and, with the blustery windchill, the high for the day won’t make it out of the single digits. I’m helping the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department conduct a winter hibernacula survey—in other words, I’m going to spend the day in a cave, counting bats. I’m joined by two friends, both experienced cavers, and a technician from the state agency. The cave we’re headed to is about a mile up a steep mountainside, and the ground is covered by ice and a thin layer of powdery snow, but together we claw our way to the cave entrance.

It’s a relief to get out of the wind and into the relative warmth of the 42-degree cave. Caves are the same temperature year round, making them perfect places for bats to hibernate. Vermont bat species that don’t migrate south for the winter spend the early autumn fattening up on insects, then in late October they find a cave and settle down for the winter. By dropping their body temperature to within a few degrees of the ambient temperature, they can hibernate until the insect populations return in the spring and they can have another meal.

To survive the winter by hibernating, bats have to slow down their entire physiology to conserve energy. Their heartbeats decrease from a brisk 400 beats per minute to 25 beats per minute. They also have to slow down their immune systems, which leaves them vulnerable to infection. This has recently become a major problem for bats in the eastern United States as more and more of them succumb to white-nose syndrome (WNS), one of the primary reasons for my visit to this Vermont cave.

WNS is a fungal infection that attacks the face, ears, and wing membranes of bats while they hibernate. The syndrome was first seen in the Albany, New York, area in the winter of 2006, and has since spread to 29 states (including Vermont) and five Canadian provinces. While scientists are still not sure exactly how WNS kills bats, it is believed that the disease causes bats to stir from hibernation more often, which quickly drains their fat reserves. This means that many bats die from starvation and dehydration over the winter. Those bats that do make it through to spring continue to face challenges, as damage to their wing membranes leaves some unable to fly for their first meal in five months.

About 50 feet into the cave we see our first bat. It turns out to be an exciting find: a northern long-eared bat. While northern long-eared bats used to be abundant throughout the northeast, their populations have declined so drastically due to WNS that they were recently listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

As we continue through the cave, we see three other species: little brown bats, big brown bats, and eastern small-footed bats. All three of these species have suffered population declines of varying extent due to WNS. When we climb back out of the cave after six hours underground, we’ve counted 19 bats. Ten years ago, 19 bats would hardly be worth reporting, but now, post-WNS, it’s a pretty good day.

When bats emerge from hibernation in the spring, the females move to maternity colonies where they’ll spend the next few months giving birth and caring for their pups. The maternity colonies can be up to 300 miles from their hibernation site, and females will return to the same colony year after year. Males also migrate away from the hibernation site, to foraging areas where they’ll spend the summer alone or with a few other males in “bachelor colonies.” Once juveniles are old enough to fly, males and females form fall “swarms” at cave and mine entrances, where they’ll mate and bulk up on fat for the hibernation season.

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Now it’s July on the coast of Maine and I’m at Acadia National Park, tracking female eastern small-footed bats in order to find maternity colonies. My team and I have been capturing bats using mist-nets: very fine nets that we place across travel corridors such as roads and trails. We open the nets around sunset and sit nearby battling the mosquitos, reading, playing cards, and checking the net every 10 minutes to see if we’ve captured a bat.

It’s my turn to check the net, and I can see when I get close enough that we’ve caught both one large and one small bat. I pull on nitrile gloves and gently grab the smaller bat. Untangling bats from mist-nets can be pretty tricky and requires a delicate touch, but also speed. Bats can become stressed if left for too long, so we try to minimize the time a bat is stuck in the net. I remove the strands of net one at a time from the bats’ feet and wings.

I bring both bats back to a camp table where we can collect some data. My co-worker, Carl, gets out a data sheet and records data while I get the smaller bat—an eastern small-footed bat—out of the paper bag it has been held in. This bat is a lactating female, which makes her of particular interest to us, since she could lead us back to a maternity colony. We also measure her forearm— the longest bone in the wing—and her ears. Then we put her in a small envelope and weigh her. She weighs about six grams, or very slightly more than a U.S. quarter. Finally, we use a small light to backlight the wings and determine how scarred they are from WNS damage.

This bat appears to be quite healthy, and we decide she’s a good candidate to track using radio-telemetry. To do this we affix a transmitter to the animal, a device that beeps on a specific radio frequency that can be detected using a receiver. The transmitters we’re using are some of the smallest available, slightly smaller than half a peanut, with a thin flexible antenna attached to one end. Altogether, the transmitters weigh about 0.3 grams, or about as much as four grains of rice.

Carl holds the bat with its wings and head down, exposing the bat’s back. Using small nail scissors, I give the bat a tiny haircut between the shoulder blades. I then put a dab of glue on the transmitter and position it onto the bald spot so the antenna runs down the bat’s back and off its tail. We put the bat back in a paper bag for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the glue to set, then release it back into the night. The transmitter battery and the glue will last three to four weeks. During that time we’ll be able to track the bat as it moves across the landscape.

The morning after we’ve trapped our female eastern small-footed bat, Carl and I drive around the park, listening for the beeps on the receiver that will indicate that we’re close to the animal. After two hours of driving, we finally pick up the signal of our bat. Using a directional antenna, we determine that the bat is roosting in a rocky area on the side of a mountain. We hike through the woods, scramble up outcrops, and finally locate our bat roosting deep in a crack on a sunny granite ledge. While we can’t actually see her, the signal from her transmitter assures us she is there.

That evening, to find out if our bat has led us to a maternity colony, we hike back up to the ledge a half hour before sunset. We find a spot where the sky will backlight any emerging bats, and settle in to count. Just before sunset, we see a bat emerge, but we know it isn’t our bat since the signal on the receiver tells us she’s still in the same location. In the next 15 minutes we see six more bats emerge, including ours. We can tell when she’s left because the signal on the receiver slowly fades as she flies away from us, off into the night.

While seven bats does not make for a large maternity colony (some other species form maternity colonies in the hundreds or even thousands), this maternity colony is a good size for this species in this region. Over the next few weeks we’ll continue to track this individual, as well as others, collecting more information about how these bats use the landscape.

In addition to being important for the natural environment, bats provide a number of ecosystem services to humans. Along with reducing the number of biting insects, bats are responsible for an estimated savings of $22.9 billion per year for the agricultural industry in the United States through pest reduction. While WNS has been devastating for bat populations, it has brought much-needed funding to bat research. Unfortunately, it may be too little, too late. Since bats reproduce at a very slow rate (for most species in the northeast, females give birth to one pup per year), building populations back to pre-WNS numbers may take hundreds of years. For some species, such as the federally listed northern long-eared bat, populations may already be too small to recover.

However, bat populations in New York and New England do show some signs of recovery. Population estimates based on winter hibernacula surveys are no longer dropping, but starting to plateau. This makes some researchers hopeful that we’ll soon start to see populations increase. While recovery from WNS will take a long time, the work researchers are doing to better understand bats and how they use the landscape can lead to more effective conservation measures, which might save some species.

After I’ve finished tracking my bats around Acadia National Park, I return to Vermont for the winter. Late fall is a slow time of year for bats and bat biologists. Bats are done with their fall swarm and settled for a long hibernation. Biologists sit in their warm homes and write up reports from the summer field season. However, come January, emails start flying and trips are planned for winter hibernacula counts. Soon, I’ll be squeezing into another cave entrance to go count some bats.

Morgan Ingalls graduated from Marlboro in 2010 with a Plan in biochemistry, including a study of white-nose syndrome and population decline in bats. Morgan has worked for Biodiversity Research Institute doing summer and fall bat habitat surveys for federal agencies, and has regularly helped regional state agencies with winter bat surveys. John Dunham runs the writing center at Antioch University New England. He is also a leader of Outdoor Program caving excursions and current president of the Vermont Cavers Association. 

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Graphic Animal Behavior

“I think spotted hyenas are really beautiful, in their own ghoulish way—I love their odd proportions,” says senior Nellie Booth, who is doing their Plan of Concentration in biology and visual arts. They spent two and a half weeks in Kenya last summer, touring Masai Mara, Samburu, and Lake Nakuru national parks and doing wildlife observations and field sketches, the basis for a narrative graphic novella about spotted hyena behavior. “I call it animal behavior fiction,” Nellie says of their biologically accurate book, titled Queen of the Mara. They are also exploring animal behavior and emotion through research on ravens; an exhibit of sculptures exploring themes of nature, birth, and death; and an educational card game about evolutionary adaptation. “I’m interested in connections between humans and nonhuman animals, including enrichment for captive animals.” 

By Marcus DeSieno ’10

Are we ever alone? Are we always being watched? In a new series of images archived from public online sources, photographer Marcus DeSieno explores how surveillance technology has altered our relationship to landscape and place. With all of my photographic work, I’m interested in how the evolution of photographic technology has changed our understanding of landscape, place, and the natural world. It seemed like a natural progression to look around and see the pervasive nature of our surveillance culture and what that means to us as individuals living in this society. It’s an important conversation in our post-Snowden world. 

My latest series of images, titled “Surveillance Landscapes,” investigates how an increasingly intrusive electronic culture has changed our understanding of landscape and place. I have hacked into surveillance cameras, public webcams, and CCTV feeds in search of the classical, picturesque landscape, dislocating the visual product from its automated origins while seeking a conversation between land, borders, and power.

I use the term hacking very loosely, because I’m not some kind of computer whiz or genius hacker. It’s surprisingly easy to find these images. There are actually whole communities of people online who gather these feeds, and share them. Most of the time they are not password protected, or, when they are, the password is “1234” or “guest” or “password.” Anybody can do this.

So often, people’s concerns about surveillance boil down to privacy, but my interest is much broader than that. The surveillance camera is the signifier of dominance and power over us. It’s a perfect modern example of Michel Foucault’s metaphorical reference to the “panopticon,” the notorious prison design introduced by 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham in which every prisoner can be seen by a single guard—just the threat of being watched controls the inmates’ behavior. When we see a surveillance camera outside a building, it is a sign that somebody is watching. It demands a presence. It creates a visible barrier, a structure. You know there’s some kind of prominence or importance to that place.

As opposed to exploring issues of privacy, such as nanny-cams capturing the intimate and mundane moments of people’s lives, it seemed more interesting to me to look out at landscapes that were devoid of humans. The melancholic images that I’m assembling speak to how this technology shapes our understanding of place, and evoke conversations around power and ownership. That really intrigues me: why, on this road in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, is there a surveillance camera? Some of the locations, such as those in national parks, have a certain prominence or significance. But most of the places I stumble upon have no rhyme or reason. Maybe it’s a traffic camera; maybe it’s a weather camera. This technology is used for a variety of purposes besides the nefarious, but it certainly shapes our psyche when we see these things.

A lot of this work is about being an archivist, having a selection process, trying to find those moments that present a heightened emotional state, or aesthetic moments that interest me. Essentially, I’m a curator of the surveillance internet. I find this really intriguing because I’m not only thinking about the nature of the technology, but of another layer—the ways in which I’m using the internet to construct this work. I deflate this idea of the artist as genius by using what’s available to me, what’s available to anybody.

I don’t alter the images, other than converting the ones in color to black and white. I like the starkness of the monochromatic image, which perhaps heightens the sense of drama. Black and white dislocates the landscape, so the identifiers of place are more limited. Much of the time I specifically seek out imagery that’s in soft focus, that has an impressionistic feel, that might have raindrops on the lens. I’m interested in cameras that might be grimy, and haven’t been serviced for a while—in finding imagery that abstracts the landscape in some way, that can speak to a history of landscape painting as well. It’s just another layer to this work, another vector in the history of how we perceive the landscape.

Through these empty landscapes I want to create a contemplative state of mind. When my viewer looks at the images—when they’re taken into these landscapes— they can reflect on their own relationship to surveillance technology and how it’s affected them, whether they know it or not. The very act of someone surveying a site through these photographic systems implies a dominating relationship between man and place. Ultimately, I hope to undermine these schemes of social control through the obfuscated, melancholic images found while exploiting the technological mechanisms of power in our surveillance society.

Marcus DeSieno received his MFA in studio art from the University of South Florida, and is currently a visiting photography professor at Marlboro. Marcus’s work has been exhibited nationally and featured in a variety of publications, from Smithsonian to Wired. In August, his “Surveillance Landscapes” series was selected for Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 50, a juried competition for emerging photographers, for pushing the boundaries of the medium. This has led to a book deal with Daylight, a nonprofit publisher of fine art and photography books. 

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Corrupted Video Files

“The videos of David Hall were meant to take the viewer out of the conventional televisual experience,” says senior Ian Grant, referring to the artist who introduced “TV Interruptions” on Scottish television in the 1970s. “Much like Hall, my own work will often critique the culture of mainstream media, and creates an aesthetic with this in mind.” Ian is completing his Plan of Concentration in visual arts, with a written portion on British video art in the 70s and 80s and an exhibit of photographs, video art, and video installation. “My work often involves a new art form called ‘glitch art,’ which causes the viewer to question their experience.” An example of this (left) shows a still from corrupted video files Ian took during the anti-Trump protest in New York City the night after the election.

Arts and Culture Beat

Ten years after graduating from Marlboro with a Plan in film and political theory, Michelle Threadgould ’07 is a successful journalist covering the intersection between the arts, culture, and social justice. 

“I have always been a collaborative storyteller,” says Michelle Threadgould, a freelance journalist and content marketing manager living in Oakland, California. “I love that arts-and-culture journalism introduces me to artists who are creating subversive work and finding a way to creatively voice resistance.”

Michelle’s path to writing success has not been a straightforward one—she graduated just before the national recession of 2008, when jobs in any field were scarce and jobs for a punk-rock political writer were nonexistent. Along the way she has been a maitre d’, a costume designer for feature films, a magazine intern, a food editor at Gotham Digest, and an executive assistant. In 2011 she applied her costume-designing skills to jewelry design and opened a “rock n’ roll reclaimed jewelry” business.

“I became part of an arts collective, shared a showroom, and eventually opened up a store with five other designers. I believed in my business, I believed in my designs, and I opened up pop-up shops across the country, sold at craft fairs, and poured my energy into making it work. But I learned that without enough capital to invest in it, my business wasn’t sustainable.”

A couple of years ago Michelle wrote a story and submitted it to a contest judged by Ben Fong-Torres, the legendary editor of Rolling Stone and a personal idol of hers. Fong-Torres selected her to read her work at a “Basement Series” event, and buoyed by his faith in her she started to pitch stories to outlets regularly. She also began freelancing as a copywriter. She applied for a music editor position at a local alt weekly in the Bay Area, and the managing editor assigned Michelle her first big feature in eight years. The rest is history.

Last year, Michelle’s piece in the Observer, called “We’re Not Going Anywhere: Growing up Latino and Punk in America,” went viral. She was contacted by several national publications, and started writing more regularly for national audiences. In September she had a feature in Remezcla about Marlboro ceramics professor Roberto Lugo, “the self-proclaimed ‘ghetto potter’ turning classical ceramics into radical art.” After a couple of years writing about the Bay Area, she has become close to all the local music and art editors. She writes for the San Francisco NPR affiliate, KQED, on a monthly basis.

“For Día de Los Muertos last year, I went to Mexico City and worked on my first piece of international, investigative journalism,” says Michelle. “I also sold several pieces related to the vibrant alternative rock music scene there. It was an incredible experience.” She plans to move to Mexico next spring to cover more Latinx (the gender-neutral alternative to Latino) issues. “I never had the luxury of traveling before last year, but now it’s really important to me to travel across Latin America.”

Reflecting on her college years, Michelle says, “I think that Marlboro helped me become an even more critical thinker. The teachers at Marlboro pushed me to be a better writer and not be complacent. Also, two of my best friends are from Marlboro, Amanda Martin (’08) and Laura Baetscher (’07), and we have all become politically minded and committed to our work. Their support has been incredible.”

To learn more about Michelle, go to clippings.me/mthreadgould. 

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
“It has been 65 years since I graduated from Marlboro, and a lot has happened during those years,” says BOB HICKEY. “It all started with my draft notice for induction into the Army a few days before graduation. I eventually became an officer but never received orders for Korea. Soon after my release from the service I enrolled in the Columbia Graduate School of Business, and I received my master’s degree in 1956. I immediately went to work for GE and held numerous positions in six different plants prior to moving to Oklahoma City in 1962 where I met my future wife, Joyce. We had two children and decided to raise them in Oklahoma. I subsequently held several management positions with GE, Honeywell, and other companies. I was also able to become involved in community affairs, including the Chamber of Commerce, Travelers Aid, the United Way, and other causes. In 1996 we attended the alumni reunion and enjoyed visiting with some of my old classmates. I just wish we were in a position to attend some of the subsequent reunions. This year I celebrated my 25th year of retirement, during which I have continued a pretty active life. I continued for some time teaching in the Graduate School of Business at Oklahoma City University. We have also traveled extensively through the United States and Europe. We feel fortunate to have lived long and fulfilling lives.”

“Joan and I have kept up a busy pace of life over the years,” says CHARLES STAPLES. “My hiking abilities for rugged terrain are not what they used to be, but I still enjoy all l can of nature and the outdoors. Our cultural pursuits in Chicago continue, including classical music concerts and the Chicago Art Institute, my alma mater. I continue to volunteer as a docent at the Chicago Cultural Center, whose building I helped to save when the political powers wanted to tear it down. As former precinct workers for the Independent Voters of Illinois, we are dismayed by the prospect of a Trump presidency, and are deciding how we can advance a more progressive agenda. We have used our travels this year to visit friends and family on both east and west coasts, and to enjoy our beloved White Mountains and the different, but dramatic, Rocky Mountains. While doing this, we have attended music festivals, including Marlboro and the Bach Festivals in Winter Park, Florida, and North Conway, New Hampshire. We were able to meet new Marlboro president, Kevin Quigley, and applaud the expansion of an excellent liberal arts experience to more students outside New England, as well as the integration of the graduate offerings into the rest of the college. Yeah for small liberal arts colleges!”

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A Generation of Regeneration: Richard Liversage ’51

“People at Marlboro were very fine; I made a good choice,” says Richard Liversage, a Marlboro “pioneer” who studied biology and chemistry with John MacArthur, Sr., and roomed with renowned ecologist Robert MacArthur. Although he officially retired in 1991 after 44 years at University of Toronto’s Department of Cell and Systems Biology, Richard is still writing research papers on his life’s work: amphibian limb regeneration.

“The Swiss biologist Oscar Schotte, my professor at Amherst College where I got my master’s, was interested in exploring whether humans could regenerate limbs, like salamanders,” says Richard. “He wanted to be the first.” Richard did his doctorate at Princeton University under Elmer Butler, another pioneer in the field, on the subject of limb regeneration in larval newts. “When it comes to regeneration, it turns out, nothing works quite like amphibians.”

After Princeton, Richard moved to University of Toronto where they promised to support his continued research program. He taught some undergraduate courses in his first years there, but by the time he was a full professor he was primarily doing research and advising graduate students, many of whom were co-authors of his more than 80 published papers.

I’ve been on the go for quite some time,” says Richard, 92, whose research has spanned a period of incredible growth in the biological sciences. His most recent paper deals with the specific role of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor in appendage regeneration. “Only recently have we been able to look inside the regenerating limb, at the nerve structures and endocrine hormones that influence new growth.”

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’65
In January, JAVED CHAUDHRI offered a series of talks in Brattleboro’s River Garden, co-sponsored by Windham World Affairs Council, titled “Islam and Muslims.” Topics included explaining the faith of Islam and what it means to be a Muslim, how a spiritual and social movement morphed into a culture and civilization as it spread across the globe, and the resurgence of Muslim societies in the modern age. A longtime resident of Brattleboro, Javed teaches at Keene State College.

’68
“Spent a few days at PAUL WILLARD’S Farm in Harvard, Massachusetts,” says MARK KLIMO. “Good to see my old roommate and Tim Mayo FS67, who came down from Brattleboro. Always good memories of Marlboro.”

’71
THOMAS TUCKER says, “Visited Fred Gray, saw Veronica Brelsford (professor emeritus), spent time at the college last fall. Felt good to be back in Vermont. Retired from Cathin Gabel School in 2015 after 37 years of teaching woodworking.”

’72
“The last few years have had lots of travel,” says HAROLD ZAKON. “My wife, Lynne, and I spent quality time at the University of Cambridge in the UK and in Munich. Academics is not a bad life. Greetings from ‘Franko.’ Hope life is good for you.”

’73
In September and October, DAVID HOLZAPFEL ’72 and MICHELLE CHASSE HOLZAPFEL had a joint show at Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts, in Brattleboro, titled “Passaggi.” It included works in wood and multimedia, and featured an artists’ talk on October 8.

“Louis Moyse…is one of the most famous musicians you’ve likely never heard,” writes JIM LOWE in a September editorial in the Times Argus, referring to his former teacher and one of the founders of the music program at Marlboro College. “One of a handful of musicians who made Vermont a Mecca for music, this French-born flutist, pianist, conductor and composer last performed here in 1976.” Virtually no commercial recordings of Louis were available until now: a seven-CD set archived and mastered by Jim himself and released by Lyrichord Classical.

BOB DAUGHTRY says, “Artists never die, they just get older, and older...” In July, Bob presented a retrospective of his work in the Whittemore Theater Lobby, including a range of his paintings, drawings, and sculptures created over the years. A student at Marlboro from 1969 to 1971, he has been doing art ever since, and sometimes taking additional classes at Marlboro.

’75
DOUGLAS SMITH reports, “Our children are now all doing well and establishing their lives (or sometimes not). The company we formed (Plymouth Grating Laboratory) is growing and I was able to just step down from the busy job of being president to work on more technical things. We saw ELLEN SCHON last year at a talk at the Fuller Craft Museum and we still keep in contact with our friends in Vermont.”

In October, ALONZO LAMONT, JR. performed his latest play, B-Side Man, at The Tank in New York City. Alonzo is a playwright who’s had his work produced in D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, New York, and Amsterdam. He’s written for network TV, won grants, gotten awards, and been on the big stage, the little stage, and all points in-between. Find out more at zulufits.com.

’76
MELISSA ABRAMS says, “There are several classmates and friends that I would love to hear from, if any of you receive Potash Hill. Please write to 3819 Harbor Walk Lane, Fort Collins, CO 80525 or email missyabrams@aol.com.”

“I had a heart attack this fall and am grateful to be alive,” says JIM NEWELL. “I’m still raising my two sons, Adam (18) and David (going on 14). I’m not ready to leave them. We live in Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. I find myself thinking of Marlboro often.”

’79
“I am very contentedly ensconced in an office in the old Austine School—a lovely old ship of a building—amid the personnel of the UVM Extension,” says REBECCA BARTLETT. “I am part of the administrative apparatus supporting a variety of program staff and faculty in many fields related to farms, food, and community. My office window looks west, uphill toward the pine forest and the sunset. I am learning all kinds of new skills and enjoy being among these dedicated people.”

INEZ MCDERMOTT says, “This is my 17th year teaching art history at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire, a small liberal arts college that isn’t quite as quirky as Marlboro—but enough so to keep me happy and challenged. I’ve also returned to the place I began my professional career and have co-curated an exhibition called ‘Mount Washington: The Crown of New England’ for the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. It’s a look at the intersection of science, art, and tourism on New England’s highest peak. I’ve been living in Concord, New Hampshire, for the past 30 years, happily married for just as long, and the mother of two kids grown and gone—one a beer salesman, the other a stand-up comedian. Go figure.”

’82
“I’m still teaching at SUNY-Plattsburgh— approaching 30 years,” says SAMUEL WOODWORTH NORTHSHIELD. “I see Tom Ragle once or twice a year, and see Joe Mazur’s name a lot—usually plugging a book.”

ABBY JACOBSON says, “I have been hired recently as the program coordinator for Putney Cares in Putney, Vermont, a small yet active organization which helps local seniors age in place. I help coordinate Meals on Wheels for seniors who are unable to shop or cook for themselves, I help coordinate rides to medical appointments and also to help schedule the many activities that happen within the Putney Cares Activity Barn. When I’m not at Putney Cares, I can be found at Hidden Springs Maple, selling local maple syrup and scooping ice cream at their small yet busy retail store. Would love to see any alumni who are passing through Putney.”

’86
ELIZABETH STEARNS SIMS says, “Joel—my husband for 15 years—and I have moved a bit following my jobs back and forth across the country, and finally landed back west where we both want to be. University of Montana continues to experience its challenges, but I continue to love what I do. Moving to Montana has brought us closer to our foster daughter, and I am a ‘grandmother’ of three great little boys and a soon-to-be little girl—and I’m proud to say her name will be Elizabeth. I am thankful (most of the time) for Facebook, as it has allowed me to reconnect, no matter how peripherally, with friends from the past.”

’90
In September, KIMBERLY WOODBURY joined the science department at St. Johnsbury Academy as a chemistry teacher. Most recently she worked as a chemistry teacher at the Winchendon School in Winchendon, Massachusetts. Kim holds an MAR from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University and a PhD in chemical ecology from Cornell University.

'91
CJ CHURCHILL completed his training in psychoanalysis this May at the Contemporary Freudian Society. He also became a Fellow of the International Psychoanalytical Society and a Fellow of the College of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. He has a practice in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in midtown Manhattan, www.christianjchurchill.com (next to the NY Public Library), and continues as professor of sociology at St. Thomas Aquinas College. He recently published his article “ ‘Is That All There Is?’: Time, Guilt, and Melancholia in Sleep No More and Macbeth” in the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies.

’93
“Greetings from Southern California (still) and (sometimes) Marlboro,” says JESSICA O’PRAY. “Matthew and I are delighted that our daughter Emily chose Marlboro College for herself. She’s a member of the Class of 2020 and is absolutely loving Marlboro, her new community, and her classes. We are so happy to have reconnected with many of our own Marlboro friends when we visited campus in October for the simultaneous Parents Visit Day and Alumni Weekend—and look forward to doing it over and over again.”

 “My oath did not include running into a gunfight, but it did include protecting the community,” said Vermont State’s Attorney SCOTT WILLIAMS, who was awarded the Carnegie Medal for civilian heroism in November. Scott was nationally recognized because of the heroic measures he took the day that social worker Lara Sobel was fatally shot in the parking lot of the state office building in Barre, Vermont, in August 2015. Learn more.

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Sharing a Passion for Marlboro: Hongping Tian ’94

When Hongping Tian graduated from Marlboro with a Plan of Concentration in molecular evolutionary genetics, she could scarcely imagine that she would be back more than 20 years later to support the college as a trustee. With a breadth of international experience, including relevant international programs in higher education, Hongping brings valuable perspective to the board.

“I have great appreciation for Marlboro, both what it stands for in the educational landscape and the worldview that the Marlboro community shares,” says Hongping, who is director of international strategy and development for Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. “I am getting to know a group of people who are all dedicated to Marlboro, and I am thrilled to be among people who share my passion for the college.”

Hongping acquired her doctorate at Harvard Medical School and an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health, where she researched community health financing in rural China. She has worked for the CDC’s Global AIDS program in Beijing, and more recently as the director of health programs for the Yale-China Association. She now develops programs at Harvard in support of its global outreach work and cultivates key relationships with the school’s alumni, foundations, and institutions around the world.

“My experience at Marlboro transformed me and helped me to develop into the person I am today,” says Hongping. “I hope that Marlboro continues to nurture generations of students, and it is with this in mind that I feel deeply honored to have the opportunity to serve Marlboro in the capacity of trustee.” 

’95
“Edward and I think often of Marlboro these days as our oldest, Avellana, is in her second year there,” says CAROLYN ROSS.“It has been a wonderful experience for her. Our other two children are 15 and 17 right now. Time flies. We are happy to see any Marlboro friends who happen to come to Salem.”

“I’m excited about my new job,” says ERIK PEARSON. “Starting in November, I will be the senior virtual reality engineer at EMD Serono, the U.S. biotech division of Merck in Darmstadt, Germany. I will lead an innovation team creating VR experiences for the company’s international divisions that specialize in liquid crystal technologies, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and other emerging industries. While the company and role is global, I’ll be based in downtown Austin.”

’97
JENNY KARSTAD says she and JODI CLARK ’95 are “still enjoying life at ‘GreenLeaf Knoll’ and working hard at our life’s passions. Stop by if you are in town.”

AARON TIEGER says, “Still happily relocated to Shelburne Falls, where I have a small private psychotherapy practice (aarontieger.com), in addition to working full-time for a community health center serving the hill towns of Western Massachusetts. I haven’t been writing much poetry for the past few years, though my newest book, Chaos Flowers, is due out by the end of this year from Skysill Press. In my spare time I have been focusing on playing guitar, both solo under the name Errant Tiger (find me on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and/or Facebook), and with my wife, Rachel, as the band Catbasket (find us on Facebook). I’d love to hear from anyone I’m not already in touch with, particularly if you’re local and/or interested in psychotherapy and/or weird acoustic music.”

’02
In September, TIM COLLINS performed The Bystander, his one-man show addressing sexual-assault prevention, at the Root Social Justice Center in Brattleboro to benefit the Women’s Freedom Center. “I went to college at Marlboro and started writing one-man shows in college, and started touring when I was still a student,” he says in a Brattleboro Reformer article on the event. “I graduated in 2002 and I’ve been touring ever since.” Learn more.

’03
“I’m happy to be back in New England after spending six years in Nova Scotia,” says JONATHAN FRANKLIN. “I finished up my PhD at Dalhousie University in 2015, and am now starting my second year as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, researching new methods of monitoring urban greenhouse gas emissions.”

“I’ve been enjoying being at home in Vermont for a little while before heading back out west,” says JANET ANDERSON. “I’ve been in Washington and Alaska for the last few years, working for the US Forest Service, and have come to think that almost any problem can be solved by spending more time outside. I’ll be back in Washington in January, close enough to civilization that I might actually get to hang out with the Marlboroites out there. Take care of yourselves and each other, read good books, and play in the snow.”

’04
“Excited to hopefully visit the Hill this spring and see freshman Isy Zuniga, who grew up in the church I currently serve,” says QUINCY WORTHINGTON. “It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 12 years since I was at Marlboro. So much has changed for me, I can’t imagine what Marlboro is like now. I think about how much Marlboro has influenced who I am today as a pastor, a father of four amazing and creative kids, and as a person. I miss smoking cigarettes and swearing with John Sheehy.”

“I identify as an artist first, which is great in this line of work,” says CULLEN SCHNEIDER in an article in the Weekly Packet of Blue Hill, Maine. Cullen is owner of the Fairwinds Florist in Blue Hill, named the best florist shop in Maine by Down East Magazine last year. Cullen was also inducted into the American Institute of Floral Designers in July, a ceremony she calls “pretty cool.”

’05
“Last September, I was ordained as a minister in the American Baptist church,” says JONATHAN ELSENSOHN. “One of my closest friends, CHIP HURD ’03, was there to introduce me to the assembly as well as to deliver the Charge to the Congregation (both of which he did with his characteristic wit). ELIOT GOODWIN ’04 and CHARLIE ISRAEL ’05 both came down to help me celebrate. I also took a position as the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Freehold, New Jersey.”

’10
MORGAN INGALLS reports, “JOHN DUNHAM ’05 and I got married in September!”

’11
“As of this year, my amazing partner and I have reached one of our longtime goals and opened a pastry shop in Salem, Oregon,” says JONATHAN JONES. “It’s a big ol’ forest green truck, and I wouldn’t have life any other way. We get to enjoy the nature that we moved to Oregon to experience, make our own hours, and generally enjoy this short life. We have plans for a brick-and-mortar expansion in the next few years, so if any of you other fine people want to financially support a fellow alum I certainly wouldn’t say no.”

’12
“I’m working as a paralegal and doing freelance writing and editing in New York City,” says JACK ROSSITER-MUNLEY. “I also produce a couple poetry podcasts and am the host of a foreign policy podcast, putting my cultural history and international relations study at Marlboro to good use.”

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Expanding Representation in Theater: Mercedes Lake ’12

“Plays should be a conversation—not a lecture,” says Mercedes Lake, whose play Taught premiered at the John Cullum Theater in New York in October (see Giving in Action, Winter 2016). “My education at Marlboro taught me that it is more valuable to ask questions than to prescribe answers. This undoubtedly made me a better playwright.”

Mercedes graduated from Northwestern University’s Writing for the Screen and Stage MFA program in June 2016, and her plays have received readings at the Chicago Dramatists and been finalists in the Brooklyn-based Scrap Mettle reading series. Her New York production of Taught was made possible by a competitive grant from the Araca Project, an initiative by the Araca Group to foster young arts entrepreneurs.

“I pitched Taught against a dozen other possible plays,” says Mercedes. “I emphasized that popular culture is a lens through which we can dramatize American ideology, a lesson I learned from Kate Ratcliff and Brenda Foley. The judges loved it.”

Mercedes is interested in connecting historical moments to present phenomena in her plays, and in expanding representation in theater and television. With Taught, a play about weight loss, reality television, capitalism, and the dangers of defining “health,” she wanted to make fatness visible without being confrontational.

“Even in the progressive art spheres, fat people—mainly fat women—are a punchline, if they’re represented at all. By writing a play where fatness and shame are at the forefront of the conversation, I wanted to make it impossible for people to disengage.”

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’13

“In spring 2017 I will be starting a master’s in public policy management at USM’s Muskie School,” says MADELYN HOLM. “I am also leaving my current position at the food bank to pursue a sexual health educator job.”

In August, JESSE NESSER’S film Walk With Me: The Trials of Damon J. Keith was featured opening night of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. The film tells the remarkable story of 94-year-old, still-serving federal judge Damon Keith, who presided over some of the most important civil rights cases of the last century. Judge Keith travelled to Middlebury and appeared on stage afterwards for discussion.

JOSHUA PETERSEN has been continuing his career as a production designer and director in film and television in New York, where he still lives, as well as in LA, Berlin, and Tokyo. “One film that I’ve art directed, Crown Heights, was accepted into the 2017 dramatic competition lineup at Sundance in January (my second in two years!), as well as a film that I was both producer and production designer for, Boogeyman Pop,” he says. “I’m looking to submit Apprehending Edmund Montrell, a short film that I helmed as director, to the Slamdance Short Film Festival that commences in Park City the same time as Sundance in Park City—really trying to go 3/3 in Utah this year.” Learn more at jpetersenfilm.com.

’14
“I moved into Boston this winter to start my graduate program at University of Massachusetts Boston, studying for a master’s in English,” says MOLLY BOOTH. “I’m currently finishing up my second YA Shakespeare book, Nothing Happened, with Disney Hyperion publishing, and I have a few other secret book projects in the works. I’ve also been volunteer directing for All the World’s a Stage Players, a homeschool Shakespeare theater group in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and our production of Twelfth Night will go up at the end of March. Lately I’ve really recommitted to my love of Shakespeare, and I’m in such dorky love with the work.” See a November article about Molly in The Boston Globe.

’16
In December, FELIX JARRAR premiered a new piece created on commission for violinist Brendan Speltz and cellist Andrew Janss, the musicians who performed in his opera The Fall of the House of Usher. Titled Mosaic of Myself: A Walt Whitman Experience, the new work was inspired by the tragic shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and was performed in the crypt of New York’s Church of the Intercession. All proceeds for the event, which included other musical activities and a DJ set, went toward GLAAD to support the LGBTQA+ community.

Graduate and Professional Studies

Management

’06
“Well, still at the same perch, IT Help Desk at Dartmouth,” says GREG PHILLIPS MSM. “There is never a dull day, and very intriguing people to work with each day. And, I found the woman of my dreams. Susie and I have been together now almost three years, living and loving in Concord, New Hampshire, and traveling all over. Off to Thailand in October and back over the pond for winter break. Enjoying life to the full.”

’10
“Carolyn and I have a son, Julian, who is four and loves to swim, cook, garden, and fly to Ganymede,” says JONATHAN CROWLEY MBA. I’ve been working as a major gifts officer for the last four years at Northfield Mount Hermon School, an independent boarding school with a long history of diversity and social justice; a working farm with strong sustainability programming; and a budding mindfulness program. We are moving from Charlemont to Shelburne to be nearer to the Vipassana Meditation Center where we continue to teach courses.”

DAVID YOUNG MSM says, “I’ve been working as the project development manager for Power Guru, Southern Vermont’s premier solar electric system design and integration company, for almost two years. I’ve still got my hands in residential design projects as they come along, specializing in a whole-systems design approach for net-zero energy efficiency, passive house standards, and a permaculture philosophy for natural habitat restoration and building site integration.”

’11
“I recently passed my two-year anniversary as Cheshire County Grants Manager,” says SUZANNE BANSLEY MBA. “My success in this position is highlighted by a $4 million grant that was awarded last week by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to align children’s mental health services. It’s surprising how I use my MBA every day in the work that I do to convene stakeholders, discuss critical community projects, strategize solutions, and seek funding to implement solutions. Most importantly, I’m really happy doing what I’ve always wanted to be doing: improving my community.”

’14
“I continue to participate actively in the Women’s Leadership Circles follow-up group, which has now been meeting for five months,” says JANE NESBITT MDO. “It’s provided a trusting, engaging, and enjoyable setting for ongoing learning and support both on a professional and a personal level, and I relish the relationships that are developed and nurtured.”

’15
“I started in July as the new associate dean and director of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, Social Justice (IDEAS) Center at Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania,” says JUSTIN ADKINS MDO. “This job has taken me away from my beloved Western Mass, but it is a good move and I am thriving here. I am currently living in a first-year student resident hall with my dear cats Kropotkin and Indigo, as we wait to move into our new little craftsman-style home half a mile from campus and have the fabulous black lab Subcomandante Marcos join us.”

Teaching

’11
ANNE KOPLINKA-LOEHR MATS and her partner, Max Bregan, purchased a house this summer in Brattleboro, and are now engaged. Anne is still teaching seventh/ eighth-grade social studies at Brattleboro Area Middle School, and Max is an aircraft mechanic for Gulfstream.

“In August I started my EdD in learning analytics in higher education, with a focus on quantitative design and measurement, at Northcentral University,” says LISA WHALEN, MSIT/MAT. “I’m currently working at Waters Corporation in Milford, Massachusetts, as a senior instructional designer. No new marriages or births, but I did have a rather exciting trip to the Learning Solutions Conference back in March for the eLearning Guild, where I was a speaker for multiple events, including my session ‘Bite-Sized Learning is the New Black.’”

’12
ADAM PROVOST MAT has been promoted to director of the Burlington, Vermont, Technical Center.

’14 BECCA POLK, LAUREN PERLSTEIN, NINA KUNIMOTO ’11, MARESA NIELSON ’13, ANNEKE DUNNINGTON ’15, and COREY SORENSEN ’15, all graduates from the MA in Teaching for Social Justice program, were joined by faculty member Mikaela Simms in creating Indigo Radio, a weekly radio show on Brattleboro’s community radio station. The show seeks to deepen understanding and make connections through engaging others in the local community and throughout the world. Topics tackled so far include the Oaxaca teachers’ resistance, privatization and charter schools, standardized testing, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Standing Rock water protectors action. Tune in Sunday at noon at WVEW 107.7, or learn more at facebook.com/indigoradiowvew.

’15
LARA NEELEY MATESOL was recently selected to be an English Language Fellow through the U.S. Department of State, a prestigious opportunity limited to highly qualified U.S. educators in the field of TESOL. “Becoming a fellow was a dream of mine ever since becoming an English as a Foreign Language teacher over eight years ago, and even more so after enrolling in the MATESOL program at Marlboro,” says Lara. “I feel that is truly where the process for becoming a fellow began.” Lara’s 10-month fellowship is located in Hyderabad, India, at the Siasat Daily, an Urdu newspaper that aims to promote local literacy, including offering free English language classes for disadvantaged communities.

CORY SORENSEN MATS is now teaching fourth grade at Guilford Central School.

Technology

’06
“I’ve just started my new position as the principal of The Dover School,” says MATT MARTYN MSIT. “I’m looking forward to working with staff, students, and families to spread the wealth of technology wonders I gathered while attending the Marlboro Grad School.”

’07
“I will be teaching a website development course at Community College of Vermont in Rutland this fall semester,” says RONALD PULCER MSIE. “I’m also helping my church, Grace Congregational Church, toward replacing their legacy website with a WordPress site, and improving their workflows and communication by using WP as a content management system. This summer I participated in the Rutland Mini Maker Faire, where I presented a Python Turtle drawing app, in which multiple turtles can be “remotely” controlled from the smartphones of visitors of Maker Faire. It reminded me of doing my MSIE Capstone.”

Former Faculty and Staff

In October and November, retired sociology professor JERRY LEVY presented a series of lectures at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, in Dummerston, Vermont. Titled “Humanism and Progress,” Jerry’s lectures consider the impact of “humanistic communities” on the enduring problems of poverty, war, and ecological degradation.

KEN SCHNECK, former dean of students, was the recipient of an Excellence in Journalism Award from NLGJA, the national association of LGBTQ journalists. An associate professor at Baldwin Wallace University and director of the Leadership in Higher Education graduate program, Ken won first place for excellence in podcasts for producing and hosting This Show is So Gay, a nationally syndicated podcast creating unique dialogue around LGBTQ topics. Learn more. 

 

John MacArthur, boondocks professor of physics emeritus
By Bob Engel, professor of biology emeritus

“Robert’s brother, John, teaches at Marlboro,” said Joe Connell, my colleague and one of the most important ecologists of the last century. I knew of Robert MacArthur—he and Joe had written an introductory population biology text together—and was pleased to learn about brother John. I was talking to Joe because there was a biology position open at a place called Marlboro College, and he was “happy” to write me a letter of support.

Two months later, I was ushered into Dean Corky Kramer’s office to meet with him and John MacArthur. I was sweating, but dared to make eye contact with John, and, as I’ve said many times, felt like I was being measured for a new suit. His eyes were cool, but not unfriendly.

That night, at a party at the MacArthur farmhouse home, John was feeding the woodstove, and now those eyes were twinkling (they did that a lot). His arms were full of wood, and he said, “You’re a biologist; what species are these?” Yikes. It was a joke, but it was also aimed to make me jump a little. I did exactly that; I hadn’t a clue.

As explained to me by chemistry professor John Hayes, John MacArthur was the “dean” of the science faculty at the college. Everyone understood that. He did nothing showy to command our respect, but we all felt the quiet gravity of his mind, his infrequent but powerful suggestions, and the almost limitless curiosity he possessed. Perhaps more compelling, though, was the fact that he had chosen to work at Marlboro College.

Sure, he had a few sabbaticals at “big” institutions, but John always quickly found his way back to a farmhouse on the dirt road that bore his name. His brother had chosen the Ivy League, but John was content in the boondocks of Vermont. Where else could a “mere physicist” tinker on an electric car, put up a makeshift windmill, brew a good lager, and study the birds? His reliance on “found” objects, rather than anything new or high-tech, was always on display— he got his hands on a telephone pole for that windmill.

And where else but in a place like Marlboro could he watch his eclectic family prosper at the edges of the farm, or make instruments for his much-better-knownthan- he folksinger wife? He had happily and confidently chosen a quiet, contemplative way of life over the often narcissistic, self-promoting luminaries roaming the halls of the academy.

Clearly, it was John’s family that came first. The climate and the cosmos could wait. He took enormous pride in his brother’s scientific contributions, his “Living Treasure” wife’s concerts, and the clocks, guitars, houses, and solar arrays built by his sons. His daughter’s unforgettable singing voice always caused his eyes to glisten.

For the rest of us he was a neighbor, friend, teacher, and mentor. One day I went to him trying to figure out how far the pollen of a wind-pollenated plant might be expected to move. “Oh, that’s just a circumference.” Sure enough, but I would never have thought of it that way.

See a full obituary of John MacArthur. 

Robert Hamner ’52
A resident of North Tonawanda, New York, Robert Hamner died in July at the age of 86. Robert worked as a chemist for Elkem Metals for over 40 years. He was an avid golfer and former Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader. He was the husband of the late Elizabeth Jane “Betty” Hamner, father of four, grandfather of nine, and great-grandfather of seven. “He was my roommate for three of four years at Marlboro, and we had many good times together while there,” says Chris Brown ’52. “We had not seen each other very often, but kept in touch. He will be missed.”

Kristin Hodson Maloney ’73
Longtime resident of Chilmark, Massachusetts, Kristin Maloney died at her home in October, after a brave stand against cancer. She was 66. Kristin was born in Paris, where her father was working with UNESCO, and grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Kristin received her master’s in education from Lesley College, and in 1978 she married John Maloney in Vineyard Haven and moved to Chilmark, on Martha’s Vineyard. From 1991 until her retirement in 2016, Kristin worked at the Chilmark Public Library, where she was the assistant library director and children’s librarian— she loved teaching and nurturing young readers.

Paul Potter ’76
Consummate actor and designer Paul Potter died in his home, of natural causes, in February. Born in New York City to diplomat parents, Paul spent many of his early years abroad in Saigon, Hong Kong, Dar es Salaam, and Nairobi. At Marlboro he applied his extraordinary artistic gifts to acting and set and costume design. Paul was very involved in the burgeoning theater scene in Washington in the 1970s, and acted in the Merchant Ivory film Slaves of New York in addition to being a part of the set design team. Besides being an accomplished window display artist in New York City, Paul was an unforgettable conversationalist and poet.

Amy Koch ’91
A dedicated educator, Amy Koch died in her parents’ Wisconsin home in December at the age of 47. Amy graduated from Marlboro with highest honors and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, and subsequently earned a master’s in curriculum and instruction. She traveled to Chile, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Thailand, England, and Canada. Amy spoke fluent Spanish and functional Japanese, and served as a bilingual teacher in Los Angeles, Japan, and Milwaukee. Most recently, she was an instructional coach specializing in reading instruction in Milwaukee. She is survived by her parents, sister, three brothers, and many other family, friends, and co-workers.

Scott Lawrence MSM ’04
A resident of Jericho, Vermont, and graduate of Marlboro’s MSM program, Scott Lawrence died in October. He was 45. Scott was born in Rockingham, Vermont, raised in Westminster, and graduated from Bellows Falls Union High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in small business from University of Vermont before attending Marlboro. He married Daniella Noyes in 1998. Scott was employed as a project manager with IBM for 20 years, and was also a faculty member and chair of the BSMIS and MSIT programs at Marlboro for almost 10 years. Scott had a curious mind, a quick smile, a wicked sense of humor, and an unbridled love of life.

Carl Christensen, former staff
A valued member of the maintenance crew from 1989 to 2001, Carl Christensen passed away in January after a sudden and brief illness. He was 57. The loving husband of former development director Lisa Christensen for 34 years, Carl found great joy in his family, writing and performing his own music, and “messing about in boats.” He worked as a landscaper, in construction, and as a caretaker for the family’s Vermont property. He had many fond memories of Marlboro, and particularly of the alumni who had worked on his maintenance crews over the years.

Flushed with Pride

When the Marlboro Gardens dorm (pictured right) was scheduled for renovation to house student interest groups, alumni parents Jim and Joyce Lande had one very basic question: “What about plumbing?” The parents of Josh Lande ’08, Jim and Joyce were pleased to learn that the renovation would indeed include bathrooms, and supported the effort with a generous contribution. Remarkably, it is the third bathroom upgrade on campus they have cheerfully sponsored over the years.

“When we went up for Josh’s graduation, he lamented that the school was spending money on stuff that looked good, instead of plumbing,” says Jim, referring to a fancy new door in the campus center. “He described plumbing as a continuing problem.” When the college renovated Howland in 2011, Jim and Joyce eagerly offered to help fund bathroom improvements (Marlboro Record, Fall 2011).

“The school was very nice to put up a plaque in the renovated bathroom in honor of my son,” says Jim, a retired economist who now likes to “fool with anything that makes noise or a mess.” Last year he and Joyce helped support renovations to the bathroom in the campus center, commemorated with another plaque. “One good thing leads to another, and we have now been able to support three projects that include an element of bathroom renovation.”

Josh Lande studied physics and computer science at Marlboro, with a Plan of Concentration that included the creation of software to analyze X-ray diffraction data. According to his parents, Josh applied to Marlboro because he wanted to be responsible for his own education. He went on to get his doctorate in astrophysics from Stanford, and now works as a data scientist at Twitter.

Incidentally, Josh’s grandfather was Ellsworth Mason, who taught English literature at Marlboro in the early 1950s. These were very lean years for the college, and Ellsworth once wrote a letter describing some of the hardships (Potash Hill, Summer 2001). But he added, “The students I had at Marlboro were better than those I had taught for two years at Williams. Just as bright and more motivated.” He did not mention the plumbing, but his family is confident that Ellsworth, who died in 2013, would approve of the renovations. 

I’ve had several successful careers, all influenced by my Marlboro years in one way or another. I support the college so others might have the same experience I did.
–Gail Henry

Gail (pictured fourth from right, in a 1970 theater group) is one of the many Marlboro supporters who have chosen to include the college in their planned giving. “I felt I should include places with which I feel a connection, places that would put the funding to good use,” she says. “Marlboro certainly fits those criteria.” Learn more about how you can make a planned gift to Marlboro, and other giving options, at marlboro.edu/giving/how.