President Alfred H. Bloom called Pierson "one of the College's finest teachers and scholars [who] exemplified in his person and his work that convergence of intellectual excellence and humane wisdom that are at the heart of the Swarthmore tradition."
The success of Weinstein's pilot project at Zonnebloem School caught the attention of South Africa's education minister, Sibusiso Bengu, who visited the school in June and declared his support for expanding Weinstein's program nationwide.
"I wanted to be a part of the amazing transformation taking place in South Africa," says Weinstein, a political science major. "South Africa will probably be the only country in my lifetime to have the opportunity to develop a whole new democratic government from scratch. This education program, I hope, will be an example of how young people can be empowered to become major instruments for this positive change."
As part of the democracy training course, which Weinstein conceived in his coursework at the College, the South African students volunteer their services to nonprofit community service organizations. Students in the program, which began in March 1995, have worked for such organizations as an adoption center, a law center dedicated to the legal rights of women, a career skills training center, and a child welfare society.
To prepare himself for his work at Zonnebloem, Weinstein spent two months living in the nearby township of Guguletu. Weinstein says he immersed himself in black South African culture to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing the country's democracy builders and to erase any "Eurocentric" biases in his curriculum and teaching.
"The best compliment the program has received," Weinstein says, "was from Harry Brigish, a school board member and prominent Johannesburg lawyer. After visiting Zonnebloem and watching an assembly we put on, he commented that it truly felt like `African democracy.'"
He's from Los Angeles; she's from Philadelphia. He's protestant; she's Roman Catholic. His office is spotless; hers, well, isn't. Even their first encounter with each other was an argument. But Mark Wallace and Ellen Ross not only have been happily married for 12 years, they also function as a single faculty member.
The associate professors of religion are the first couple in the College's history to job-share a faculty position. It's an arrangement that suits their current lifestyle as well as bringing the strengths of two scholars to the department.
Wallace, whose field is contemporary Western religious thought, was originally hired in 1989 to fill a professorship vacated by a retirement. Ross, an expert in early Western religion, was teaching at Boston College at the time.
"We ended up commuting for nearly four years," Wallace says, "with one of us traveling every weekend. That became tiring, and we began to explore other options."
With the encouragement of then-department chair Donald Swearer, Wallace contacted other job-sharing faculty members around the country, collecting contracts to look at how other schools dealt with the practical issues of such an arrangement.
Although they both agree "it's a good way to live," a major impetus for choosing this option was the arrival of their daughter, Katie, now 2. Says Wallace: "What confronts us are goals that are equally strong professionally and personally. We want to be successful as scholars and as teachers, and we want to be good parents. But how do you combine that when both people are working? Something's got to give."
What gave was the extra salary. "It is one salary," Ross admits, "and this has meant particular choices for us. We haven't been able to buy a house, for instance. But those trade-offs have been worth it to us. We have a balance in our lives that's hard to come by these days."
"And it feels good to be part of a community where we learn from the way other people live," she says. "I hope that what we're doing is just one more model for people to think about."
Dingfield is manager of corporate giving and community programs for Microsoft Inc. in Seattle. She holds a master's degree in economics from Columbia.
Polk has been a management consultant with Booz, Allen and Hamilton in New York City since receiving a master of business administration degree from Harvard in 1993.
Stott, who holds a master of education degree from Harvard, is a partner in Marshfield Associates Investment Counsel in Northborough, Mass. From 1993 to 1995 he was chair of the Annual Fund.
Returning to the Board after a mandated one-year leave are Samuel Hayes '57 and Barbara Weber Mather '65.
Looking like preschool toys, these Lego® "cars" are in reality primitive robots. Lisa Meeden, assistant professor of computer science, uses the "go-bots" in a class that not only teaches students to work in teams to design machines for certain tasks but also shows them how difficult it is to develop artificial intelligence. "We start by preprogramming these robots to follow light and avoid hitting obstacles. Then we program them with the ability to learn-by trial and error-how to perform these tasks on their own." Most artificial intelligence work has been done, she says, with "simulated robots or simulated agents and not on real physical objects. A lot of what we're doing is teaching students how hard the concept of building an artificially intelligent agent is and how far away from human-level intelligence we really are."
Ernie Prudente, who for the past 26 years led the College's intercollegiate baseball program, retired at the end of last semester. Prudente came to Swarthmore in 1969 as associate professor of physical education, after serving for 17 years at Haverford College in various positions including head coach in basketball and baseball and line coach in football. Promoted to full professor in 1992, he taught tennis, volleyball, badminton, archery, squash, basketball, and touch football as well as running the intramural program since 1981. Prudente was inducted into the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1987, the Delaware County Hall of Fame in 1990, and was named Coach of the Year for the Middle Atlantic Conference in 1985 when his baseball team was 26-3.
The 1995 fall sports season was led by exciting individual and team efforts. Swarthmore earned another Centennial Conference Championship title, and several students earned national recognition for their achievements on the field and in the classroom.
With an undefeated record of 9-0 in the Centennial Conference, the women's field hockey team brought home its first title. The Garnet ended the season with an overall record of 16-3. The team also captured the championship at the Seven Sisters Tournament. Sophomore forward Danielle Duffy had a spectacular season as a Division III All-American. She earned Third Team Division III and First Team All-Region honors. Duffy led the squad and the conference with 17 goals and 39 assists for a career high of 73 points on the season. She was awarded the Centennial Conference Player of Year and earned a slot on the Centennial Academic Honor Roll. In addition junior defender Erin Flather was named to the South Atlantic All-Region Second Team for her stellar defensive play.
The football team ended the year 5-5, its best record since the 1992 season. The Garnet Tide notched its biggest victory of the season when it knocked off perennial conference power Dickinson, 19-18. The triumph was the Garnet's first over the Red Devils since 1986. Offensively, running back Nick Milligan '96 rushed for a career-high 576 yards and five touchdowns while junior quarterback Pat Straub threw for 1,053 yards and nine touchdowns.
Linebacker Jim Hunt '96 anchored the defense, recording 118 tackles. The Garnet placed three members on the Centennial Conference First Team: wide receiver Sam Paschel '96, offensive lineman Chuck Hudson '96, and defensive lineman Kurk Selverian '97. Senior defensive back Matt Wiggins was named to the GTE Academic All-American Team.
Both the men's and women's cross country teams finished in fourth place in the Centennial Conference. On the men's side, junior Kerry Boeye and senior Scott Reents finished ninth and eleventh respectively in the championship. Both runners were placed on the second team of the Centennial Conference for the second year. For the women, sophomore Shoshannah Pearlman placed fourth overall at the conference championships and earned first-team honors. Along with Pearlman, senior Solai Buchanan and sophomore Danielle Wall were named to the Centennial Conference's Academic Honor Roll.
The men's tennis team posted a successful fall season led by the doubles team of Nick Slimack '99 and Ed Ernst '98. They finished first in the Mid-Atlantic Small College Rolex Tournament, defeating the first-seeded team from Trenton State in a three-set match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. The women's tennis team also participated in a handful of tournaments including the Rolex Tournament, gearing up for their spring season. Five first-year players join the reigning Centennial Conference Champions this season.
The men's soccer team finished its season with a winning record of 10-9. They were 2-7 in conference play. David Lane '97 led the Garnet with 10 goals and 3 assists totaling 23 points on the season. He was named to the All-Centennial Conference second team. Defender Jesse Murphy '96 earned a Conference Player of the Year nomination for his outstanding defensive play. The women's soccer team had a frustrating season, finishing with an overall record of 1-15-2 and 0-7-1 in the Centennial Conference. The year was plagued with many close losses as the Garnet lost six games by one goal. Forward Sarah Jaquette '98 received conference Honorable Mention recognition as the Garnet's leading scorer, collecting six goals. Laura Starita '96 and Mara Williard '96 were named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.
The women's volleyball team notched its first winning season since joining the Centennial Conference. The Garnet posted a 6-4 record and a fifth-place finish. They went on a five-match winning streak to close the year with an overall record of 11-13. Senior Nancy Rosenbaum was named to the conference's Academic Honor Roll.
In Hood Trophy play, the Garnet notched victories over Haverford in field hockey and volleyball and was defeated in both men's and women's cross country and men's and women's soccer.
More than 300 people filled the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema on April 13 to hear a debate between Michael Meeropol '64 and Joyce Milton '67 on the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage. Meeropol, a son of the Rosenbergs and co-author of the autobiographical We Are Your Sons and editor of The Rosenberg Letters: A Complete Edition of the Prison Correspondence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, maintains his parents' innocence against the charge, saying that his parents were part of a "politically motivated frame-up" in the climate of the Cold War and Mc-Carthyism. Milton, co-author of The Rosenberg File: A Search for the Truth, believes the Rosenbergs received a fair trial and that the guilty verdict was justified. The debate also included Victor Navasky '54, publisher and editorial director of The Nation, who served as commentator, and Meta Mendel-Reyes, assistant professor of political science, who moderated. "The government used my mother as a lever against my father when she and my father refused to cooperate," Meeropol said. "They held her as a hos-tage in a life-and-death game of chicken, and when the end came they killed her knowing she was not guilty." "I don't think the Rosenbergs were heroes because they didn't name names," Milton asserted. "Quite the contrary.... This whole idea that it's somehow heroic to remain silent I find repugnant."
By Jacob Weiner, Professor of Biology
I arrived at Swarthmore in August 1978, literally the day after I handed in the final version of my doctoral thesis at the University of Oregon. This summer, almost 18 years later, I will leave my tenured professorship here to take a position in agroecology and sustainable agriculture at the Royal Agricultural University in Copenhagen. I have to credit my students for encouraging me to try something that I have always wanted to do.
In December 1993 I met with seven students to discuss possible topics for the first-ever Capstone Seminar in Environmental Studies. This was to be an advanced interdisciplinary seminar within a major area of environmental studies, involving work in at least two, and preferably within all three, of the College's academic divisions. I saw the seminar as an opportunity for me to explore areas outside of biology, to learn more than to teach. I had no idea how it would contribute to changing my life.
Several topics were discussed during that meeting, but only one emerged with both enthusiastic and unanimous support: sustainable agriculture. At first it might seem surprising that seniors at a small liberal arts college would be so interested in agriculture, but upon reflection it's not surprising at all. Agriculture is the basis of modern civilization, the ultimate example of conscious human alteration of the natural world. It is the most fundamental technology. Furthermore the environmental degradation and resultant non-sustainability of farming are among the most important environmental problems facing the world.
The decision to focus on sustainable agriculture could not have suited me more. My interest in agriculture, specifically agricultural ecology, goes back more than 20 years. I had considered going into agricultural botany when I entered graduate school in the 1970s, but the worlds of "pure" biology (represented by the research universities) and applied biology (at land grant universities) are historically very separate. I chose to enter the world of academic science because it offered a more rigorous and broader training. After coming to Swarthmore-which is about as different from an agricultural university as an institution can be-my involvement in agriculture was limited to discussing it in my courses and seminars and writing a chapter on plant population biology and agriculture for a book on agroecology a few years ago. Now I would at least have the opportunity to study agriculture in a serious way with my seminar students. And though I knew quite a bit about agricultural biology, the Capstone Seminar would also concern itself with the social, political, and economic context in which agriculture occurs. I would have much to learn.
The seminar was very successful in analyzing agriculture from many different perspectives. By the end of the semester, it became apparent to me that agricultural ecology is the field I most want to study. It is not only interesting, but important, and I think I may have something special to contribute. My interest was apparent to the students, and they asked me: Why don't you do agricultural research if you are so interested in it? It simply didn't seem possible. While my research on plant population biology was conceptually and methodologically very close to crop research, I could not pursue serious agricultural research at a liberal arts college without an experimental farm. I had been at Swarthmore for 18 years. In another 18 I would become professor emeritus with a comfortable pension. So why should I become distracted by a fantasy to change fields? Swarthmore is an outstanding institution and has been good to me, but after many years of teaching, research, and administration, it became clear to me that undergraduate liberal arts education had not become my calling. I have great respect for this type of career and can find little to criticize at Swarthmore. I have done the best job I could, but it is not what I most want to do for the rest of my life. Botanical research, pure and applied, is.
Several months after the Capstone Seminar, I saw an advertisement in Nature for a position at the Danish Royal Agricultural University. The job description was straightforward: basic and strategic research in agricultural ecology with the goal of contributing to the development of more sustainable agricultural systems. Although my research is internationally known within plant ecology, I didn't think I would have a chance to get this position because I have little direct experience in agricultural research. I spent an entire day writing my application letter, describing my interests and the type of research I would like to do. I discussed my book chapter on agroecology and some ideas from the Capstone Seminar. Seven months later I was quite surprised to be offered the position.
My decision to enter this new and quite unknown world was difficult-not difficult to make but to accept. The change will be enormous: leaving friends and family behind to go off to a new country with a strange language, into a new field, working at a totally different type of institution with a very different job description. While it could be a huge mistake, it was clear that if I didn't go, I would always regret not having taken the chance. I realized that combining my scientific interests with my environmental and social values to help make agriculture less destructive of the environment is probably the only real ambition I have ever had. This summer I leave for Copenhagen to try it.
Peter Gram Swing, professor emeritus of music, died Feb. 15 at his home of chronic myeloid leukemia. He was 73.
He joined the Swarthmore faculty in 1955 as the first full-time music professor and director of the chorus. He headed the department from 1958 to 1974, remaining choral director throughout his 34-year career. Prof. Swing was the first recipient of the Daniel Underhill Chair of Music.
The conductor and organizer of innumerable music events, Prof. Swing annually directed the community Christmas presentation of Handel's Messiah. He also conducted the Swarthmore College Chorus in works by P.D.Q. Bach, the alter ego of Swing's former student Peter Schickele '57, and led the College Chorus in performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the College's Friends of Music and Dance.
Former Board of Managers member Barbara Brooks Smoyer '37 died March 19 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Active in many civic organizations in Princeton and statewide New Jersey government, she also served as president, secretary, class agent, reunion committee members, and class notes secretary for her class. In addition she chaired the Annual Funds Committee and served as an admissions interviewer. Mrs. Smoyer was a nationally ranked senior woman amateur tennis player, and she, along with her husband, Stanley, received the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award, the United Way Lambert Award, and the Humanitarian Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
And the winner is ... Nobody. The votes are in on the final voting on adopting a mascot for the College: There will be none. Out of a total of 1,492 ballots cast among alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff, 858 (58 percent) voted for "no mascot." Of the remainder 361 voted for the Garnet Fox (24 percent) and 273 for the Little Quaker (18 percent). It's interesting to note that 77 percent of the current student body voted "no." Jen Philpott '97, sports editor of the Phoenix and one of the students who originated the idea, said wistfully: "All in all, although we have no mascot to show for our effort, the process was entertaining, and we can conclusively say one thing that we could not before: Swarthmore does not have a mascot because it simply does not want one."
Applications blizzard ...
The College has received 4,001 applications from prospective members of the Class of 2000, a new record for Swarthmore and an 18 percent increase over last year's figure. Of the total, 1,206 were offered admission, and as of early May more than 400 had accepted Swarthmore-another record.
Phasing out ...
The concentration in International Relations, part of the curriculum since the 1950s, will no longer be offered. James Kurth, professor of political science and coordinator of the concentration, said it has simply become obsolete. "Concentrations," he said, "should represent visions that haven't yet been fully integrated into academic disciplines. Now, however, many of our academic fields have an international approach imbedded within them. It seems important that we add new and necessary concentrations and delete the ones that have become redundant." Students currently enrolled-through the Class of 1999-will be able to continue in the concentration.
The women's swim team sent seven swimmers to the National Championships in Atlanta, and all returned All-Americans. Skye Fulkerson '96 earned honors with a sixth- place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Jill Belding '99 also earned individual All-American status with a sixth- place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, while Jenny Harvey '99 earned Honorable Mention All-American status with a 15th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke. The 200-yard medley relay team of Alanna Roazzi '99, Fulkerson, Cathy Polinsky '99, and Janine Gent '99 earned an All-American bid with a seventh place finish. The 400-yard medley relay team of Kristen Robertson '98, Fulkerson, Polinsky, and Harvey earned Honorable Mention status with a 12th-place finish in a school record time of 4:03.86; and the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Fulkerson, Polinsky, Gent, and Harvey finished in 16th place in a school record time of 1:43.47 to earn Honorable Mention status. The team finished with a 13-2 overall record, 6-1 in the Centennial Conference.
The men's swim team finished the season with an overall record of 9-4 and went 5-1 in conference for a second- place finish. Andy Robbins '98 and Kendrew Witt '96 represented Swarthmore at the National Championships.Robbins brought home Honorable Men tion All-American status finishing in 11th place in the 200-yard backstroke in a school record time of 1:54.44. Justin Herring '97 earned a spot on the GTE Academic All-American All-District II at-large team. Herring also earned All-Conference honors along with Robbins, Witt, and Carl Sanders '97 as a member of the Centennial Champion 200 and 400 medley relay teams. Witt also was a double Centennial champ in the 100 and 200 breaststroke as was Robbins in the 100 and 200 backstroke. Mark Friedberg '98, Alex Huk '96, Fulkerson, Witt, and Herring were named to the Conference Academic Honor Roll.
The men's basketball>/B> team closed a frustrating season on a winning note. The Garnet edged division champion Haverford 56-55 on the strength of a Craig Rodner '96 free throw in the game's final seconds. Swarthmore finished the season with a 9-15 overall record and a 5-8 conference mark. Ben Schall '97 led the squad in scoring, steals, and rebounding, posting 14.1 points, 38 steals, and eight rebounds per game. Colin Convey '97 set a school mark with 56 three-point baskets and the team set a conference mark with 94 three-pointers. Mark Pletcher '96, A.J. Shanley '97, Rodner, and Schall made the Academic Honor Roll.
The women's basketball team also struggled this season, compiling a 7-17 overall record and a 4-11 conference mark. However, the squad came on strong winning five of their final eight contests including a sweep of Haverford. On senior day it was fitting that Nancy Rosenbaum '96 was the star. Playing in her last game, she recorded her 1,000th rebound and hit the game-winning basket with four seconds remaining. Rosenbaum ends her career leading the Garnet with 1,003 rebounds and 281 steals. She also was named to the Centennial Academic Honor Roll. Freshmen Holly Barton and Erin Greeson made their mark on the College record books. Barton connected on 27 three pointers to shatter the single-season mark and tie the career mark while Greeson set the season mark with 39 blocked shots.
The wrestling team battled to a 3-11-1 mark as injuries depleted the squad. The Garnet jumped out to a promising start, posting a 2-1 record, but lost six consecutive matches before a 24-24 tie with Johns Hopkins. At the Centennial Conference Champion-ships, Pete Balvanz '98 came in second place at 142 pounds. Alec Stall '98 finished in third at 150 pounds, and Tirian Mink '98 posted a fourth-place finish at 134 pounds. The Garnet finished in fifth place, collecting 27 points. Chaz Teplin '96 earned a spot on the Centennial Academic Honor Roll. The badminton team posted a 5-3 record, winning its first four contests. Thanh Hoang '97 earned a second- place finish at the Northeastern Regional Collegiate Championships and the doubles team of Vanya Tepavcevic '97 and Hoang finished in third place. The doubles team of Erika Johansen '99 and Jennifer Chen '99 earned the first-place prize at the PAIAW Championships. The men's and women's indoor track and field teams posted successful seasons. The women, with a 10-1 record, ranked 24th in the final U.S. Track Coaches Association Poll. The men, with a perfect 11-0 record, were ranked as high as 16th during the season but did not make the final poll. Both teams finished in third place at the Centennial Conference Championships. Mike Turner '96 set school and conference records in the 200- and 400-meter dashes and was part of the 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams that broke school records. Senior Scott Reents established the school mark of 3:59.1 in the 1,500 meter. On the women's side, Danielle Duffy '98 set the school and conference mark in the 200-meter, and Jill Willdonger '97 eclipsed the school and Centennial mark in the 400 meter. Also, Catherine Laine '98 set the school mark in the 55-meter dash of 7.4 seconds, and Shoshannah Pearlman '98 broke the school's 5,000 meter mark in a time of 18:21.58.
Hood Trophy Update: The Hood Trophy battle is tied at 4.5 each. Swat earned a full point with the women's basketball sweep and a point from the wrestling victory while splitting a point in men's basketball.
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