When
senior biology majors Joseph Tucker and Guido Grasso-Knight decided
to conduct an on-site study of infectious diseases, they had no idea
that they would end up in their own country. Their sights were set on
Shanghai, where hepatitis A, a disease that causes inflammation of
the liver, had infected as many as 300,000 people at one point. They
knew that hepatitis A thrives in poor countries like China because
it's carried by contaminated water, recurs in cycles, and is very
expensive to cure.
Over spring break, Tucker and Grasso-Knight traveled to Shanghai, where they conducted a feasibility study and laid the groundwork for their project. Grasso-Knight had spent the fall 1998 semester in China, could speak some Chinese, and had contacts in Shanghai. "Being in Shanghai was an amazing experience," he says. But before he and Tucker could return to begin their work in earnest, U.S.-led NATO forces bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, and the plan crumbled.
In what Grasso-Knight describes as a "backup scramble plan," he and Tucker decided to study the disease on an American Indian reservation instead. "We still wanted to work on a project that would make science useful to the community," Grasso-Knight says. Closer to home, no community needed such help more desperately than the Native American reservations. "There's a vicious cycle on the reservations that mirrors conditions in emerging countries like China and India," Tucker explains. "Of all the people in the Northern Hemisphere, only Haitians have a shorter life expectancy than Native Americans."
After Dr. Dean Cliver, head of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center on Food Virology at the University of California at Davis offered them lab space for the summer, they decided to target the nearby Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. Hepatitis A outbreaks had occurred there in 1978, 1985, and 1993.
Using the labs at UC&endash;Davis, the students studied water samples taken from streams, wells, septic tanks, and public utilities used on the reservation. Knowing that simply washing hands frequently can stem the disease, they also visited schools to teach Hoopa children proper hygiene and used the students' artwork to illustrate new pamphlets on disease prevention, which they distributed on the reservation.
After Tucker and Grasso-Knight presented their findings, physicians from the local medical center congratulated them. "They told us there is no sustained commitment to Native American health care on any level," Tucker says. "The reservation has trouble finding qualified physicians, and having someone offer help from outside the community is really unique.
Tucker, who graduates this spring, says the experience altered his future plans. Before pursuing an M.D./Ph.D., he plans to spend a year on a reservation in Ontario, Canada, setting up an infectious disease program that will incorporate traditional healers as well as medical doctors.
One of the sweetest moments of the summer occurred at the reservation's only restaurant, run by a young woman who had helped them make contacts among the tribe. Her father, a respected tribal elder, introduced himself and sat with them, expressing his gratitude. "He told us stories about how the tribe had changed in terms of health concerns," Tucker recalls. "Then his granddaughter came over and said, 'Hey, I remember you! You came into our classroom and taught us how to wash our hands.' We realized at that moment that it wasn't just one generation we were affecting. We really made an impact."
-- Cathleen McCarthy
Seven for science … Seven Swarthmore alumni were among 900 scholars awarded graduate research fellowships by the National Science Foundation in April. Timothy Bretl '99, Robert Eberhardt '98, Elizabeth Glater '97, Nancy Hofmann '96, Aarti Iyer '99, Molly Jacobs '97, and Anna Rives '98 each received $15,000 for three years of graduate study in science, mathematics, or engineering.
A
robotic penguin is rolling across a room in Kohlberg Hall carrying a
large tray of chocolate chip cookies. "Alfred" won first place in the
"Hors d'Oeuvres, Anyone?" competition at the American Association for
Artificial Intelligence National Conference held in Orlando in July.
Now his creators--two professors and their students--are showing him
off for the home crowd.
Spotting a woman with his electronic eye, Alfred stops. "Oh hello," he says in a bad British accent. "And who are you?"
"Deirdre."
"Oh, that's nice. I think I'll call you MacBeth. Would you like something to eat?"
"Yes," she says.
"Yes, what? Be polite now."
"Yes, please."
"Oh much better! Take whatever you want," Alfred says, before rolling on.
Bruce Maxwell smiles approvingly. Maxwell, an assistant professor of engineering, and Lisa Meeden, an assistant professor of computer science, led the student team that began designing the prize-winning robot in May. All are here today, watching Alfred like proud and anxious parents. Each student took on aspects of Alfred, according to their fields of study. Jane Ng '01, an Honors art major and engineering minor, designed Alfred's physical structure. Seth Olshfski '00, a theater and computer science major, and Jordan Wales '01, an Honors engineering major and psychology minor, came up with Alfred's theatrical voice and personality. Engineering majors Laura Brown '00, Paul Dickson '00, and Nii Addo '02 worked on integration, navigation, face detection, and speech programming, and computer science major Eli Silk '01 handled the computer vision.
"I only wish the competition could have been this quiet," Maxwell says of today's attentive campus audience. Apparently, Alfred was baffled at times by the buzzing crowd of 500 at the conference. But that did not keep him from impressing the judges. Alfred also bagged the award for Best Integrative Effort, but it was his first place that allowed the team to return to Swarthmore with the big prize: a $7,000 Magellan robot from Real World Interfaces.
Alfred competed against robots from Carnegie Mellon University and the universities of Arkansas, South Florida, North Dakota, and Southern California. Other teams showed up with automated sharks and blowfish and robots based on characters from the animated cable series South Park. Alfred, however, was the only robot that actually served hors d'oeuvres and had no noticeable technical difficulties. It also didn't hurt that he remembered the judges' names--at least, the ones he gave them. Judging from this demonstration, these include MacBeth, Cordelia, and Jenny Halowell.
Back at Swarthmore, Alfred demonstrates his ability to navigate his way to the refill station to load up on cookies and, when he "recognizes" Deirdre/MacBeth, his artificial memory. He has also, apparently, been programmed to recognize "OK." "Don't use that vernacular with me!" he reprimands a student. All of this, Maxwell explains, is powered by two 24-volt batteries.
"Such a good, sturdy name!" Alfred says to a professor who has just introduced himself.
"If you flatter someone, you're perceived as being more intelligent," Maxwell explains to the crowd, "so we're flattering people."
Just then, Alfred turns to a woman in the crowd. "Well, that gent looks well fed. I don't think he'll be needing anything," Alfred announces haughtily, before moving away with his cookies.
So much for flattery.
--Cathleen McCarthy
Editor's Note: Professor of English Literature and Associate Provost Craig Williamson has served as coordinator of the Honors Program since the faculty implemented significant reforms in 1996. Close to 30 percent of the Class of 1999 participated in the revitalized program. Last June, Williamson spoke at a lunch for their visiting examiners.
The principle of independent examination is central to Swarthmore's Honors Program and depends on the generosity and wisdom of our outside examiners. We believe that the surest test of learning is to be able to enter into a dialogue, not only with fellow students and teachers but also with outside teachers and scholars whose works we all read, discuss, and admire.
Each year in their evaluation of the program, students give the examination process very high marks. Students are understandably anxious about being examined by wise strangers. But when they reflect back upon the process, they say that the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with scholars and teachers from the larger professional world is, as one of them put it, "a rare privilege."
This year, while I was administering the Honors Program, I was also reading what is called wisdom literature in Old English. This eighth-century literature includes such genres as riddles, proverbs, precepts, charms, and advice from teachers to students. One night, I came across an anonymous wisdom poem called "The Wonders of Creation" by early editors and "The Order of the World" by later editors.
What struck me immediately was the challenge of the opening lines, which can be translated roughly as: "So, smart guy, how would you like to trade talk, match wits with a stranger?" And I thought, "Aha! Honors orals in eighth- century England." So while Grendel was gobbling up Danes in one corner of the poetic landscape, in another, scholars were thinking about intellectual inquiry into the nature of creation and the importance of dialogue with enlightened strangers.
Professor Elaine Hansen of Haverford College, who was head examiner in 1998, writes about this poem: "The traditional speech situations invoked at the beginning of 'The Order of the World' imply that no matter who is speaking, wisdom is the product of verbal interaction between two parties, challenger and opponent or disciple and wise teacher." I believe that for the 20th century as well as the 8th, this dialogue is the heart of learning.
I spent much of May translating and transforming the opening frame of this poem, using the old text to reshape a new one as poets have often done. Sometimes I would hold true to the Anglo-Saxon poet's notions of dialogue and divinity; sometimes I would call back with the cadences of Gerard Manley Hopkins or the worldview of Stephen Hawking. My poem begins in the original Old English voice, moves from translation to transformation, and finally opens a dialogue across a span of 1,200 years.
-- Craig Williamson
Click here to listen to and read Craig Williamson's poem Weaving Wisdom
The file has been converted to an mp3 file. It is now 2.7 MB.
The Annapolis Group, an association of America's leading liberal arts colleges, collaborated last winter with Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to publish a special issue titled "Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts Colleges." The issue contained 14 essays from college presidents, scholars, historians of American higher education, and notable alumni of Annapolis Group institutions, including Eugene Lang '38, emeritus chairman of Swarthmore's Board of Managers.
Lang calls on liberal arts colleges to return to their historical mission, which he describes as preparing students "to function knowledgeably within a framework of civic responsibility."
"Whatever the nature of the institution or its curriculum, the processes of undergraduate education both in and out of the classroom should be designed to enrich the experience of students by inculcating democratic values, respect for the institutions of democracy, ethical perspectives, civic duty, and social responsibility," writes Lang, who is also the founder of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation and a trustee of the New School University.
Citing a statistic that 64 percent of all college students are currently involved in some form of community service activity, Lang says that young people are more than ready to "initiate or become involved in social causes that touch their idealism, emotions, or sense of justice." Residential liberal arts colleges are "natural laboratories for undertaking long-term institutional commitments to serve social objectives."
Lang's agenda for action includes greater involvement by higher education in primary and secondary schools: "From their prestigious position at the top of the educational ladder, colleges and universities have shown little disposition to reach down with a sustained commitment to help make the total process of education work effectively for everybody."
In addition, Lang challenges liberal arts colleges to teach courses that foster responsible citizenship in a pluralistic democracy, to model social responsibility in the design and governance of their campus communities, and then to "reach out insistently into their communities, where, by their nature, they are important members." He urges collaboration among students, faculty members, administrators, trustees, and alumni in a broad program of social and community involvement that goes beyond "extracurricular 'feel good' exercises that confer little benefit and that may be seen as superficial or patronizing."
The Daedalus special issue proved to be so popular that all copies have been sold, though it remains available in libraries. By special permission, the full text of Eugene Lang's essay is available through the Bulletin web site at www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/collection/lang.html or you can click here. The Annapolis Group was formed to share mutual interests and information intended to strengthen the educational programs and enhance the national visibility of its 94 members. Swarthmore President Alfred H. Bloom served as its first chairperson.
--Jeffrey Lott
Just as baseball's living legends often make cameo appearances at major league stadiums, two retired faculty "giants" recently returned to Swarthmore to lecture. But there was a big difference: Samuel Hynes and Daniel Hoffman are still at the top of their game.
Both were stars in the Department of English Literature, Hynes from 1949 to 1968 and Hoffman from 1957 to 1967. Hynes left for Northwestern and then a distinguished career at Princeton, where he is Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature Emeritus. Hoffman served as the nation's poet laureate in 1973&endash;74, and he left an impressive legacy at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is Felix E. Schelling Professor of English Emeritus. His son, MacFarlane, is Swarthmore '80.
This fall, they lectured in the McCabe Library lobby, amid exhibits related to themes in their work. Hynes spoke on "A Critic Looks at War." J. William Frost, Howard M. and Charles F. Jenkins Professor of Quaker History and Research and director of the Friends Historical Library, introduced him, observing that although he joined the faculty after Hynes left, the professor's reputation still intimidated his contemporaries. A decorated Marine aviator in World War II, Hynes won acclaim for his books exploring warfare from World War I to Vietnam--most recently The Soldier's Tale: Bearing Witness to Modern War.
Hoffman's talk was titled "Returns From the Grave: The Spirit of Poe in Recent Fiction." Thomas Blackburn, Centennial Professor of English Literature, introduced him, noting that he was a junior colleague of both Hynes and Hoffman, "the mainstays of what was surely the most distinguished college English Department in the country."
Marking the 150th anniversary of Edgar Alan Poe's death, Hoffman surveyed Poe's massive influence on both high and pop culture. He said that at speaking engagements he often meets "direct descendants" of the author, who died childless.
As a former student of both professors, these programs were a special treat for me. Having studied The Great Gatsby with Hynes, I knew we were getting extra insights because, like Fitzgerald, Hynes grew up in Minnesota. After our freshman class disappointed him by reacting cluelessly to Faulkner's "The Bear," someone restored Hynes' famous wry grin by draping a bear rug over his lectern.
Those of us who took Hoffman's Honors seminars in the 1950s found ourselves reflecting his intensity back at him. That was the era of the New Criticism in college English departments, and he excelled at making close textual analysis a tool for revelation rather than pedantry. Exploring Moby-Dick with Hoffman, even the fabled whiteness of the whale became less baffling, while losing none of its cosmic mystery.
--Barbara Haddad Ryan '59
Glutted market … Never let it be said that Swarthmore econ profs don't get published. No fewer than three members of the economics faculty---Thomas Dee '90, Stephen O'Connell, and Bernard Saffran---had articles in the summer 1999 issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Saffran writes a regular column for the journal.
Bang for your buck … In addition to the top ranking among liberal arts colleges, U.S. News & World Report gave the College the No. 1 best value in liberal arts colleges, based on average cost ($14,570) after financial aid. U.S. News reported that the average discount on the total cost of a Swarthmore education is 55 percent.
That voodoo that you do … Joining an American group of 11 priests, priestesses, and scholars interested in African-based religions, Yvonne Chireau, associate professor of religion and expert on voodoo, visited Brazil in June to attend a ceremony and conference in honor of the Oba (King) Akako Mendes of São Paulo.
Nearly 1,000 participated in the weeklong festival, which marked a new era in transnational relations between members of African-based religions worldwide--including Yoruba, Candomble, and voodoo practitioners--and the first formal recognition by Brazil's federal government of the thousands of African spiritual houses in that country.
Chireau reported on the event on behalf of the African Religions Congress, of which she is a member, and is writing a book on the intersection of traditions in Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, and Afro-American diaspora religions. She teaches courses on New World African religions.
No. 2 in doctorates … In a recent study of doctoral degree recipients in FY 1997, Swarthmore ranked second among liberal arts colleges. Oberlin was first--and 72nd among all institutions in the total number of doctorates awarded to its graduates. The College ranked first in the proportion of graduates earning doctorates in psychology and the social sciences.
One good class can turn your life around--even if it takes 15 years.
Bruce Weinstein '82 was a philosophy major at Swarthmore when he took Art History Professor T. Kaori Kitao's film class. Weinstein went on to a Ph.D. from Georgetown University and a career as a medical ethics professor at West Virginia University (WVU). But a seed of ambition planted in Kitao's class finally reached fruition in 1995, when Weinstein left WVU to become a filmmaker.
His first documentary, Singing in Color, follows the Chicago Children's Choir on a recent visit to South Africa to sing with a children's choir there and tour the impoverished Soweto. When it aired at his alma mater on Sept. 24, Kitao introduced him--and was the first to raise her hand when the 47-minute feature ended. "Uh-oh, now I'm nervous," Weinstein said. "My cinema teacher is asking me questions!"
He financed the $138,000 production himself, by maxing out nine credit cards--or, as he puts it, "receiving nine grants" from Visa, Mastercard, and others. Weinstein, who played in a rock band while at Swarthmore, also had to sell his drum set and guitar collection.
Beyond Kitao's class and a film class at NYU--"Everybody there thinks they're Fellini!" Weinstein joked--the budding filmmaker received no formal training. "Making this documentary was my film school in a box," he says. "I hear [Kitao's] voice often when I'm working. I hear her say: 'The first shot of a film is its thesis.'" Andrea Packard '85, director of the List Gallery, raises her hand and notes that Weinstein chose the rising sun as his opening shot for Singing in Color. Was it meant as a unifying symbol--a reminder that the same sun rises over Chicago and South Africa? Weinstein nods.
Before retiring to the refreshments, he shows a preview of his documentary-in-progress, a study of pop-culture fans. This film features interviews with Trekkies in full costume filmed at a Star Trek convention. When a student asks why he went from a children's choir to fan clubs, Weinstein muses: "I've noticed a theme running through my films. They're all about the struggle to create community. I really miss the community I had here at Swarthmore. I'm always trying to recreate it."
--Cathleen McCarthy
Samples from some recent Swarthmore literary magazines
…I'm too white, not right,
for the Asian boys.
And
so Asian, just right,
for the white boys.
My black hair is straight, so Asian
with my innocent gaze, just right.
I speak my mind, too white,
and would do it again, not right.
With bangs all my life, so Asian,
I must cook a mean fried rice, just right.
I raise my voice, too white,
to make my point, not right.
For white boys I move too slow,
for Asian boys too fast!
Exotic or white. What shall I be today?
--Jih-Fang "Jenny" Yang '00,
from celebrASIAN
(Swarthmore Asian Organization)
My ancestors curled up inside houses
clustered together inside the russian steppes
they liked the proximity--
the way the smell of their breath all merged together
the garlic and spicy chives.
Even god lived close--nestled under their
armpits in the winter
and blossomed on their cheeks in the spring.
--Mariana Pardes '00, from "forgotten,"
Elu V'Elu (by Jewish students)
Your heart beats soft next to mine
a slight bump jump of life--
acknowledged and newly affirmed…
Your stomach, soft, released against mine
no tension there, where it usually rests
constant and unnoticeable in its
regularity.
soft there is shocking in a cotton candy
teddy bear, g'night kids sort of way
soft there is innocence
--Renee Witlen '02, from "Untitled,"
Common Speaking (Swarthmore College women)
I watched in my mind
As your blood replaced the
Rain on the pavement.
Screaming with no sounds
Running with no motion
Crying with no tears
I share that night with you, my friend
The night I wasn't there
And now you aren't here
--Anonymous, from "1 Night,"
Mjumbe (students of the African diaspora)
It all started after lunch at a Friendly's Restaurant, when Sarah Willie noticed her mother's maiden name on her waitress's name tag. Though she had only recently moved to this neighborhood in upstate New York, her mother's family was from the area. "Excited by the possibility of familial, if distant, connection, I smiled," Willie recalls, and "started to say something to her. And then I hesitated."
Sarah Willie is African American, and the waitress was white. "One brief, unfocused look at my face, and my African ancestry is unmistakable," she muses. "So is my European ancestry. But in this society, my whiteness is not only less visible to most people, it is less important and to some less real."
Willie is an assistant professor of sociology and director of the Black Studies concentration. Although most folks might let such an encounter pass unexamined, Willie examined it--carefully. The result was "Outing the Blackness in Whiteness: Analyzing Race, Class, and Sex in Everyday Life," a paper that will be published next month in Annals of Scholarship--and which Willie presented on campus in October.
She examines her Friendly's encounter--and the lingering undercurrent of white supremacy in our society--through the looking glass of contemporary scholarship, philosophy, and feminist literature. She concludes that Lewis Carroll says it best. "Living as we do within so many constricted systems of identity and status can resemble the absurdity of Wonderland," she writes. "'If any one of them can explain it,' said Alice. 'I'll give him sixpence. I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.'"
"Just referring to our consciences is not enough," she told faculty and students; tackling this problem requires a fresh look at American history. "Don't be fooled," she said. "White supremacy has messed us up good."
Sarah Willie, assistant professor of sociology and director of the Black Studies Program: "White supremacy has messed us up good."
--Cathleen McCarthy
Charlie Ellis loves football--the guys, the game, the good feeling of accomplishing something together. As his senior season winds down, Ellis, a tight end, counts the dwindling practices and games, measuring the minutes of football he has left. A painful broken hand has sidelined him for a few weeks, but he's healing now, getting ready.
Charlie Ellis also loves Swarthmore College. He chose Swarthmore over Williams because of the "awesome" conversations he had when visiting the College as a high school senior: "You'd meet someone and end up talking for six hours." The minds of fellow students attracted him--not the football program, which didn't even recruit him.
Four years ago, when Ellis made the team as a walk-on, Swarthmore was just seven games into its record 28-game losing streak. The streak was stopped--for a game at least--on Sept. 4, when Swarthmore trounced Oberlin 42-6 in what an Oberlin admissions counselor dubbed the Brain Bowl.
Ellis scored two touchdowns. "It was incredible," he said weeks later, a little catch in his voice as he remembered "running off the field together, celebrating, seeing Swatties excited about the team. I'll never forget it. It felt like all the work and suffering through losing all those games was worth it. It felt like we'd done something significant for ourselves but also for the school."
Loving both football and Swarthmore hasn't always been easy for Ellis and many of his teammates. "We've had our share of rough times, but playing alongside these guys has been a very positive experience," he said.
Ellis is the prize-winning product of an elite science and technology high school--a computer science major who was learning about the Internet before most people ever heard of it. He spent last summer at Microsoft designing software, but his favorite Swarthmore course, he says, was International Politics with Professor James Kurth: "He's a great lecturer--so knowledgeable. And he never shuts off a conversation; he values the ideas of every student."
Yet he says that many students and faculty at Swarthmore--the same people he chose to spend four years studying with--"aren't prepared to accept the kind of contribution we make to the school…. Nothing frustrates me more than people who make some negative comment about football players," he says quietly, looking at the floor. "When I hear this, I'll say, 'Wait a minute, I'm a football player.' And they'll say, 'But you're different.' The irony is that everyone I know on the team has had the same experience."
Maybe that's because football players feel a closeness that separates them from the rest of the school. In a fierce physical game, they learn to depend on each other like brothers. "This happens with any activity people do together here, but football gets such scrutiny and negative attention because it's not something that some Swarthmore intellectuals see as a positive experience." Yet he credits the administration's current commitment to football and appreciates the strong support of some alumni.
Seeing his playing time running out, Ellis seems to ask of both Swarthmore and the game: If we can't be lovers, can we at least be friends? He says it's been "tough love" all around--"rewarding but not all sunshine and happiness. We're even proud of our near misses."
The broken hand is healing. Only a few games remain, and win or lose, Charlie Ellis will give himself passionately to the few hours of football he has left, just as he will give himself to Swarthmore for a few more months. "I'm not a bitter guy," he says with a shrug and an easy smile.
--Jeffrey Lott
|
Overall Centennial |
Record Conference |
|
|
Men's Cross-country |
4-0 |
3rd of 9 |
|
Women's Cross-country |
4-0 |
6th of 10 |
|
Field Hockey |
9-7 |
6-3 |
|
Football |
1-8 |
0-7 |
|
Men's Soccer |
4-15 |
1-8 |
|
Women's Soccer |
7-12 |
2-8 |
|
Volleyball |
4-20 |
1-9 |
Cross-country tops fall sports season
Jokotade Agunloye '01 qualified for the NCAA Cross-country Championships for the second consecutive season after a second-place finish at the Mideast Regional earned her All-Mid-East honors. Agunloye became the first Swarthmore woman to capture the Centennial Conference (CC) championship, completing the 5K course in a school-record time of 18:41.67 to earn CC Female Runner of the Year honors. For the men, Liam O'Neill '00 finished second at the regionals and was named to the All-Mideast Regional squad, earning his first trip to the NCAA championships. O'Neill also finished in second place at the CC championships to earn first-team All-Centennial honors.
Midfielder Kristen English '01 led the field hockey team in scoring with 7 goals and 5 assists for 19 points. She was named to the 1999 AstroTurf/National Field Hockey Coaches Association Regional All-American squad as well as first-team All-Centennial Conference. Joining English on the All-Centennial team are midfielder Julie Finnegan '00 and defender Jamie Flather '00, who were named second team, and forward Kim Cariello '02, who received honorable mention.
Running back Ken Clark '03 was named second-team All-Conference after leading the Garnet in rushing and all-purpose yards. Clark led all freshmen backs in the conference with 664 rushing and 1,259 all-purpose yards finishing third in the CC in both categories.
In soccer, freshman goalkeeper Chris Milla was named second-team All-Conference. Milla recorded three shutouts on the season while posting a 2.31 goals against average and an .801 save percentage for the men's team.
--Mark Duzenski
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