John Gaustad, the Edward Hicks Magill Professor of Astronomy, has joined a team of astronomers across the nation to map the southern sky using a new robotic telescope installed at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Without losing a wink of sleep, Gaustad and his fellow mappers will study the night sky by analyzing the data gathered by the telescope.
One goal of the two-year project, which began in November 1997, is to map the intricate structure of the interstellar medium--the gas and dust between stars. So far, the team has mapped about 86 percent of the southern sky.
The new telescope allows Gaustad and other astron-omers to see up to 50 times more than previous instruments allowed. "There is a lot in our galaxy that we haven't known about before. It was either too far away to detect or intrinsically less bright. So we may discover new remnants of supernovas or other kinds of structures. Even where the robotic camera sees nothing, the data are still of great scientific value," Gaustad says. "Other astronomers can now be certain that their observations are not contaminated by radiation coming from interstellar gas in our own galaxy."
Another goal is to analyze that gas. "Our survey will show that in parts of the sky, the gas from our own galaxy is so sparse that it doesn't interfere with studies of the cosmic background, which is important in learning about the formation of galaxies," he says.
And how does the electronically transmitted Chilean sky compare with gazing up at the real thing? "Just being in an observatory with the dark sky is thrilling compared with living here in Philadelphia, with so many bright lights you can hardly see anything," he says. "But as far as the scientific data are concerned, the images are viewed on a computer anyway, no matter where they come from. So you may as well be home where it's warm and dry."
Once upon a time, Swarthmore was a hotbed of student activism. These days, students don't even know how decisions at this college are made, decisions that impact their everyday lives.... That needs to change."
So opened the December election bid by Jenny Yang '00, the new student representative on Swarthmore's College Planning Committee (CPC), a group of Board members, faculty, staff, and students conducting a two-year study of the College's priorities. After missing the deadline for submitting platforms, Yang had to run as a write-in candidate. Despite that formidable handicap, she won by a wide margin, helped, in part, by spirited campaign promises published in The Phoenix.
Those familiar with the outspoken, charismatic student were amused but not surprised by her offbeat campaign. A political science/public policy major, Yang plays on the volleyball team and works as an admissions tour guide. She has also served as president of the Swarthmore Asian Organization, played clarinet in the wind ensemble, and had a WSRN radio show. She plans to enter public service and, eventually, teach government in public high school.
"As members of the student body, we shape Swarthmore's identity just as it has shaped ours," she wrote in The Phoenix before the CPC election. "Think about it--we contribute financially more to the College than the average alumnus/a. It's time to wield that 'consumer power.'"
Among other things, Yang promised to meet "every single student--really, I'm not kidding," to report on every CPC meeting in the student newspapers, and to publicize and personally run public forums "with food provided, of course." She also pledged to hold weekly "office hours" in Parrish Parlors. ("Yes! Your very own talk-to-your-CPC-rep booth!")
"Make your opinions known," she urges fellow students. "I'm going to talk at every single CPC meeting. And I mean talk."
Peggy
Seiden (left) became College librarian in September, coming to
Swarthmore from Skidmore College. She brought expertise not only in
traditional libraries but in the new field of "information services,"
which encompasses everything from books to bytes, from incunabula to
the Internet. Seiden spoke with Collection editor Cathleen McCarthy
about the future of college libraries.
Which interest came first, computers or books?
A love of books. At the University of Toronto, I was in medieval studies, which involves old-language scripts. I've always liked being in libraries.
How did you get from medieval studies to a specialization in electronic media?
I tend to hop to opposite extremes. When I left my graduate studies to go to library school in the late '70s, I had to choose between Columbia, which had a wonderful rare books program, and Rutgers, which was up-and-coming in the use of computers. I chose Rutgers. I was tired of feeling stuck in ninth-century England. I wanted to know more about the world.
What kind of impact has electronic information had on research?
We did a study at Skidmore, and it revealed that students look for the most convenient way to access information--and computers provide that. What we found is that when somebody does [an electronic] search, they tend to go with the first piece that strikes them. An article that's cited in an electronic index will be used more often than one that's not. And that's going to redefine what is viewed as seminal or core information on a particular topic.
Any plans to do a study like this at Swarthmore?
I plan to go right into the dorms this spring and set up focus groups in the lounges during study breaks. We'll provide coffee and popcorn and get the students talking about who goes to the library and why, and how they do their research. Before this year, Swarthmore didn't have a huge amount of materials in full text online, so there wasn't a great deal students could do from their dorms, but we have at least doubled--if not tripled--what we provide. Now students can access library information at 3 a.m. from their dorm rooms.
Do you think bound books will exist in the distant future?
Oh, definitely. The monograph was a great little invention, and it's going to remain an important component of undergraduate research. Everybody agrees that nobody wants to read a book online. But I think books will get published in a different way. Right now, presses can't afford to keep large inventories of material, so they do a short run and then another, and that's it. I think publishers will eventually maintain presses just for online inventory. Then anybody can request anything at any time. Universities have been doing that for years with theses, maintaining them on microfilm and printing out copies as needed. I think we'll see that with digital archiving.
Are libraries moving away from their original role as warehouses?
Warehousing will certainly continue to be an important function of the library. Libraries have to fulfill the need for archives because nobody else will. But the perception of libraries has changed considerably from warehouses of knowledge to places where people come to learn. Still, libraries need to be more inviting. If you look at the architecture of McCabe Library, there's no room for interaction. That's something I really want to change.
Can studying and socializing happen in the same space?
The success of Borders and Barnes & Noble proves they can. There is a huge amount of browsing that goes on there, and a lot of socializing. Yet I read a study recently that shows students are going to those bookstores to study. Libraries need to take a lesson from them.
What hints of Borders might we expect in a renovation of McCabe?
I'd like to see lounges. Let's take the newspaper lounge upstairs and make it a coffee bar. If somebody spills coffee on the current issue of Time, it's no big deal. We have it online and on microfilm. I think that's the way people study. The advantage of coming to the library is that if you need help, there is a staff here to help you.
Do students depend on staff for computer expertise?
Computer research requires a different kind of librarian. If you're providing access to online information, library staffers need to know the ins and outs of databases and how to fix the printer when it breaks down. Since the circulation staff members are the first ones students turn to, they're being trained by the Computing Center.
And what about the faculty--what changes can they expect?
For a library to remain vital, it has to be more heavily integrated into the curriculum. I'd like much closer ties to the academic departments. I want to provide the faculty with more instruction about information resources. Right now, when academic departments want to use computing in their curriculum, they're being supported mainly by the Computing Center. If a professor is constructing a Web page with information resources for his students, I'd like him to be able to come to a divisional librarian who specializes in that field.
Will it be expensive to bring McCabe into the electronic age?
Our libraries are incredibly well funded, but most of our budget is tied up in periodical subscriptions. We've canceled 200 periodical subscriptions, and we're down to about 2,300. Of our budget, we're spending at least 70 percent, some $630,000, on periodicals. That allows no flexibility to explore new areas of curriculum like online resources. I've asked for a 50 percent increase--$50,000 more for online resources next year.
What do you think of the near-exclusive use of Macintosh computers at Swarthmore?
I'm very strongly against it. Our students are going out into a Windows environment, both in grad school and in the business world. No matter what the popularity of the Mac, it will only be a market segment. We try to create a cozy and safe environment for students and faculty, but maybe we need to make it riskier. The world is risky.
Victorious debating duo
Sophomore John Dolan and senior Damon Taaffe teamed up to take first place at the Bucknell Invitational Debate Tournament in December, defeating teams from Columbia, Yale, and the University of Virginia. As a result of this victory and a November second-place finish at the University of Pennsylvania, the pair is ranked fourth in the nation in a league of about 500 two-person teams.
New Board members
Six new members were elected to the Board of Managers in December.
• Term Manager Paul Corddry '58 retired in 1992 as senior vice president of European operations for H.J. Heinz. Corddry majored in economics at Swarthmore and endowed the economics wing of Kohlberg Hall, which was named for Corddry and his wife, Charlotte, in 1996.
• Term Manager Carley Cunniff '72 is vice president and portfolio manager for Ruane, Cunniff & Co. and assists in managing the $3 billion Sequoia Fund, a top-performing value investment fund. She was an art history major who went on to receive an M.B.A. from Harvard.
• Alumni Manager Catherine Good Abbott '72 is chief executive officer of two interstate pipeline subsidiaries of Columbia Gas System that transport most of the natural gas used in the Washington, D.C., area. She received a B.A. in religion and sociology/anthropology from Swarthmore and, from Harvard, a master's in public policy.
• Alumni Manager Elizabeth Scheuer '75 is a medieval studies scholar who became an attorney. With an M.A. from University College, London, and a J.D. from Columbia University, she works for the Community Outreach Law Program of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
• Alumni Manager Alan Symonette '76 became a self-employed labor arbitrator/mediator in Philadelphia after earning a B.A. in political science and a law degree from Villanova University. He served as president of the Alumni Association and member of the Board of Managers from 1995 to 1997.
• Young Alumni Manager Michael J. Kuh '94 is director of field operations for the Children's Scholarship Fund, which manages a $2 million fund for disadvantaged public school children. He was an Ivy Award recipient and Honors history student.
And a new VP
After a yearlong search, Dan West was named vice president for development, alumni, and public relations at Swarthmore. He began his new job in mid-January. The position has been vacant since the October 1997 death of Harry Gotwals.
A veteran fund-raiser and administrator, West spent the last six years as vice president for college relations at Union College, where he directed a capital campaign that raised more than $150 million and doubled annual giving. He also served as president of Carroll College in Wisconsin and Lyon College in Arkansas and co-authored two books on higher education management.
A Presbyterian minister with a D.Div. in systematic theology from Vanderbilt University (and an Ed.D. in higher education administration from Harvard), West says one thing that attracted him to Swarthmore was the College's ethos. "I identify with the residue of Quaker values that still pervades the place, the commitment to diversity, academic rigor, social justice, and the search for truth."
The new VP, a devoted horticulturist, has already found his favorite spot on campus. If he's not at his desk, look for him in the rose garden.
By David Ramirez, Director of Psychological Services
(Left:
David Ramirez)
What are college professors for anyway?" honorary degree recipient Ulric Neisser M'53 playfully asked the audience at Commencement last June. A dominant figure in cognitive psychology, Neisser joked that the faculty is potentially obsolete, what with the College's excellent library, loads of information available on the World Wide Web, and the fact that our students are so bright.
Neisser then answered his own question. Professors, he asserted, are an essential part of a triangle. Human learning is distinguished by the uniquely human ability of two people to focus simultaneously on an abstract object of interest, thus creating a triangle of learning.
In his words, I recognized the enterprise in my little corner of the campus. At Psychological Services, the triangle consists of the counselor, the student, and the shared object of interest--the student's inner world. In this sense, the role of counselor mirrors the role of the professor. The goal in both cases is to help the student come to know his or her subject. This involves essentially the same process: knowing what questions to ask, what assignments to suggest, when to push, and when to wait.
Lately, the stress of college life has been receiving a lot of media attention. It's not just the intensity of the academic process that generates that stress, it's the potent combination of applied intellectual effort with unexpected, often puzzling revelations of emotional experience.
As I sat on stage looking at the Commencement audience, I recognized many faces. More than a third of these 328 graduating seniors had visited Psychological Services at some time in their college careers. Most of these graduates chose Swarthmore College in order to become full participants in "the life of the mind." The discovery that such a life includes much more than the school's renowned academic rigor takes many students by surprise. What unfolds during their years here inevitably includes experiments in self-definition, a reworking of relationships with peers as well as authority figures (including parents), and the development or reconsideration of one's primary mission in life. An emotional education takes place in the midst of the academic enterprise.
Yet the keen analytic eye students turn on the world around them often falters when applied to themselves. The objective, nonjudgmental, information-gathering attitude that makes them such excellent students falters in the face of self-study, which is more often characterized by a judgmental, foreclosed attitude. "I'm here to learn of things I haven't yet imagined" becomes "I really should know better, and I should be able to figure this out myself." The latter fosters neither curiosity nor understanding and can become a major source of stress. At this impasse, the triangle of shared attention can prove indispensable.
Learning your subject, in this case, is not simply a matter of getting answers to questions but of learning how to re-flect on oneself. As counselors, we try to get students to study themselves just as they might study a text or another culture. Our job is to help them find the most effective ways to become nonjudgmental observers of themselves. We offer talking as a form of stress relief.
People do many things to relieve stress, but the simple act of talking can be a most profound release--if it's done the right way. That's why students often feel relieved after meeting with a professor whose course they're struggling with. Although people assume that professors create the bulk of students' stress, they also de-stress them because they're there to talk to. So are we, and unlike some institutions, Swarthmore does not limit the amount of counseling some students may receive. Someone is available 24 hours a day at the Worth Health Center to become part of the triangle of learning.
At graduation, as students proudly claim their diplomas, we have the most tangible evidence of intellectual transformation wrought by the college experience. But another, less tangible transformation has also occurred. Ideally, it includes the maturing ability to understand and accept one's inconsistencies, tolerate ambiguity, and build an enduring sense of self-worth independent of one's immediate ability to have all the right answers. Achieving this has meant coming to terms with the loss of some illusions--including the possibility of perfection. It has meant creating new possibilities consistent with one's genuine interests and skills, discovering new abilities, and settling some unfinished business.
Without necessarily saying so explicitly, graduates know that something quite profound has occurred during their years at Swarthmore. Part of the special quality of that experience derives from finding someone to work with, someone whose curiosity matched--or kindled--their own.
High-scoring Schofield
would "rather win"
From the moment Tim Schofield '99 entered Swarthmore as a freshman, it was obvious he was just what the men's basketball team needed. A starting player from his first year, he soon became the leading scorer, averaging about 19 points per game.
As his final season wound to a close in late January, Schofield made a three-point baseline shot against Messiah College and became the 14th man in Swarthmore history to score 1,000 points. With seven games left in the season, he had set a new school record for three-pointers (177) and become the fifth highest scorer.
Perhaps more significantly for a small liberal arts school, Schofield has proved himself to be a team player. With 208 assists to his credit, he's seventh on the all-time assists list. "He's always been a good scorer," says head coach Lee Wimberly of his star player. "But what many people don't realize is that Tim is a selfless player. If someone has a better shot, he'll give the ball up."
After a rewarding first two years, ending with a win over Johns Hopkins that took the team to the conference championship in 1997, things began to go downhill. Despite Schofield's consistent performance, two disappointing seasons followed. As co-captain during this period, Schofield was doing his best to motivate himself and his teammates but admits it isn't always easy. "Personal achievement is nice," he says, "but when you've lost as much as we have, there's really no feeling like coming home with a win. When it finally happens, you appreciate it that much more."
An economics and political science major and member of the golf team, Schofield has already lined up a job after graduation as analyst for Andersen Consulting. Basketball, he says, has made him "mentally tougher" and a pro at self-motivation.
As the season wound down, Schofield had a shot at becoming third highest scorer in College history. "It would be nice," he admitted. "But I'd rather get a win." He got it all: a third place with 1,284 career points, Regional Academic All-American honors--and four wins.
Black Enterprise magazine recently listed Swarthmore among the nation's most highly recommended schools for African American students. The college guide in the magazine's January issue ranked Swarthmore 13th overall and fourth behind Stanford, Georgetown, and Oberlin. Atlanta's Spelman College and other historically black institutions topped the list.
More than 1,000 black professionals in higher education rated schools with a minimum of 1.5 percent African American students, based on factors such as graduation rates, academic strength, and social environment.
Reacting to the ranking, President Alfred H. Bloom points out that the percentage of students of color has risen from 16 to 34 percent during his tenure, with black students now accounting for 9 percent of the student body. Diversifying Swarthmore has been one of his major goals, Bloom says. A high percentage of students of color is "vital for minority students to keep from feeling marginalized, or treated as tokens," he told the Student Council recently.
As an African American who attended the College when that percentage was much lower, Vice President Maurice Eldridge '61 agrees: "It's that critical mass that makes people feel comfortable."
Heather Kile '02 of Marlton, N.J., became the first Swarthmore player to be named to the All-Centennial Conference (CC) Women's Basketball first team. Kile set the CC record for points scored by a freshman (478) and the school record for rebounds in a season (355).
Aliki Bonarou '02 of Athens, Greece, won Outstanding Swimmer honors at the Centennial Conference Swimming Championships, where Swarthmore finished second for the fifth year in a row. Bonarou won the 200 individual medley (IM) and the 400 IM and placed second in the 200. During the season, she also set College records in the 200 and 400 IM.
At the Centennial Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, Desiree Peterkin '00 of Staten Island, N.Y., won the triple jump for the second consecutive season and the long jump for the first time. Peterkin has qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships in the triple jump for the third straight season. On the men's side, Steve Dawson '00 captured his second straight Centennial high jump title.
|
Overall Conference |
Centennial |
|
|
Women's Basketball |
12-12 |
7-8 |
|
Men's Basketball |
4-20 |
2-11 |
|
Badminton |
6-2 |
|
|
Men's Swimming |
9-4 |
5-1 |
|
Women's Swimming |
10-4 |
6-1 |
|
Men's Indoor Track and Field |
7-1 |
|
|
Women's Indoor Track and Field |
8-1 |
|
|
Wrestling |
5-6 |
1-5 |
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