Targeted News Service

Oberlin College Names Director of Athletics

April 28, 2011

Oberlin College issued the following news release:

William Roth has been named the Delta Lodge Director of Athletics at Oberlin College. Roth comes to Oberlin from the University of Pennsylvania, where he has served as the associate director of athletics since 2007. "I am immensely excited about the opportunity to join the Oberlin community," says Roth. "Oberlin is among the nation's premier liberal arts colleges, and possesses a well-earned reputation of creating dynamic graduates who are thoughtful and committed to excellence in all they do.

..."We are excited to welcome William Roth as the new leader of Oberlin College athletics," says President Marvin Krislov. "Mr. Roth's experience, energy, and ideas will build on the momentum and success our varsity and club teams are experiencing. He is a staunch advocate of health and wellness programs and is deeply committed to helping our student-athletes achieve excellence in the classroom and in sports."

A graduate of Swarthmore College, Roth was captain of the track and field team his senior season and was a four-time All-Centennial Conference award recipient. He was also a member of the Garnet soccer team. Roth holds a United States of America Track and Field Level 1 Coaching Certificate. He served as an assistant track and field and cross country coach at the University of Virginia from 1993 to 1996 and at Tulane University from 1996 to 2000. He holds the title of adjunct assistant professor of sports management at Drexel University, where he teaches an undergraduate course on the principles of athletics fundraising. ...

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Pulsing with verse;
Philadelphia's a major poetry producer, making far too much for just a month. Here are seven young workers in words.

By John Timpane; Inquirer Staff Writer

April 24, 2011

Philadelphia is poetry town.

"The city has a heartbeat," says poet Elliot Levy, 17. "You can go to coffeehouse open mics in Philly suburbs and be 20 minutes away from poetry slams in the city. There are poets from every different background here. . . . When you put all this together, you get something beautiful."

Nowhere was that energy and diversity on better display than at the Philadelphia Poetry Festival 2011, hosted by the Mad Poets Society at the Free Library. The idea was to bring together "all of the Philly poetry organizations that we can fit into one auditorium," in the words of Mad Poet Autumn Konopka.

...Nick Gettino, 20, grew up in upstate New York and is currently a sophomore at Swarthmore College. He works as an intern for Saturnalia Books in Ardmore and has assisted with poetry workshops at the Stiffel Senior Center in South Philadelphia. His poetry presents us with the world in its rich unexpectedness. In "Family Dinner," a housewife speaks:

There's a lesson in my clothes:

the worn-through pattern,

like lattice-work, etched on blue cotton.

I think I'd match the wallpaper

if my body wasn't in relief

against my husband's black suit.

Or these unforgettable denizens of "Zoo":

The tigers in the grass moved like oil

slicking over the ground.

... Just a few of the very diverse, very accomplished poets near you: Nathalie Anderson of Swarthmore; Rachel Blau DuPlessis of Temple; Daisy Fried; Leonard Gontarek; Daniel Hoffman; Karl Kirchwey of Bryn Mawr; Miriam Kotzin of Drexel; Ursula Rucker; Elizabeth Scanlon; Ron Silliman; Charles Bernstein, Gregory Djanikian, Lynn Levin, and Bob Perelman of Penn; and everyone's Sonia Sanchez. Never heard of 'em? Let your fingers (or your cursor!) do the walking.

The Delaware County Daily Times (PA)

Liquor referendum on ballot in Swarthmore

By Susan L. Serbin, Times Correspondent

April 24, 2011

SWARTHMORE - Borough residents will have a ballot question in the May 17 primary: "Do you favor the granting of liquor licenses for the sale of liquor in the borough of Swarthmore?"

In 2001, a referendum passed by a 797-711 vote to allow the granting of a liquor license to hotels on properties owned by a college or university in the borough. This was in anticipation of the potential development of an inn or small hotel by the college on an existing athletic field near the SEPTA tracks first proposed about 1999. The college is currently engaged in seeking a developer and plan which for Town Center West would come before the borough in the routine process of development.

The referendum question approved for the upcoming primary ballot was largely initiated by Swarthmore College students who circulated petitions around the borough. Information included in an opinion piece in the Phoenix, an independent campus newspaper, ties the hotel project to ancillary issues including fair labor practices for future hotel employees.

..."According to an opinion letter from the Liquor Control Board's chief legal counsel, a 'dry' vote will not change the current exception that would allow a hotel on the college campus to serve alcohol. A 'wet' vote would allow for the issuance of liquor licenses in addition to that which is currently allowed for a hotel on college-owned property," said Scott.  ...

States News Service

Eight Stanford Scholars Named To American Academy Of Arts And Sciences

April 22, 2011

The following information was released by Stanford University:

Eight Stanford scholars are among the 212 members elected this year to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. ...

Russell D. Fernald

Russell D. Fernald is the Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor of Human Biology and professor of biology. He seeks to understand how social interactions among individuals produce specific changes in the brain. His research group uses the African cichlid fish as their subject. Male cichlids change social and reproductive state based on their social environment and many physiological changes result from changes in social status. His group's research is focused on understanding the mechanisms through which social change is transduced into cellular and molecular changes. They use techniques ranging from behavioral observation to molecular probes to discover how the brain is influenced by social change. Fernald earned his BS at Swarthmore College and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Stanford, he was a professor of biology at the University of Oregon.  ...

U.S.  News and World Report

Liberal Arts Colleges With Lowest Student-Faculty Ratios

By Brian Burnsed

April 26, 2011

Most liberal arts colleges--schools that award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts fields of study--try to differentiate themselves from larger counterparts by touting the inherent benefits of an intimate educational environment. Small class sizes and the potential for individualized attention from faculty members outside of the classroom are often two of their central selling points. Vast lecture halls that can seat hundreds of students are commonplace on the campuses of some of the nation's largest universities, but are atypical among liberal arts schools.

According to data provided by schools in a 2010 survey of undergraduate programs, liberal arts colleges have an average ratio of 12.2 students per faculty member, compared to 15.5 among national universities (schools that offer degrees of all types and emphasize research). Among the 1,311 institutions that provided data to U.S. News, the average student-faculty ratio is 14.8.

The following table includes the liberal arts colleges (16 schools due to ties) with the lowest student-faculty ratios:

SPORTS

The Delaware County Daily Times (PA)

College Baseball: Montalbano, Burnett Spark Swarthmore

April 25, 2011

Anthony Montalbano and Nicko Burnett drove in two runs each to lead Swarthmore to a 6-4 victory over Eastern University in nonconference baseball action Monday afternoon.

The top of the order, Montalbano, Rory McTear and Burnett combined for six hits, five RBIs and four runs scored for the Garnet (20-13). Scott Renauro had two hits and two RBIs for the Eagles (10-17-2).