People and Places

This fall issue of the Bulletin introduces Swarthmore’s new president Valerie Smith—author, scholar, wearer of a whole array of beautiful, colored scarves, and admirer of our stunning campus. Often seen out and about, Val is making herself at home here, acquainting herself with people and places and welcoming all to get to know her. 

Speaking of places, this issue also highlights the whereabouts of campus artworks, outdoor sculptures that often go unnoticed due to their unexpected locations. Swarthmore freedom fighters from the ’60s, whose unexpected locations were often jail cells, tell of their experiences, loud and clear, while two Internet pioneers give shape to the shapeless. 

The stories of a multitalented sound engineer, a tailor for ice-skating champions, the keeper of a Japanese ancestral garden, a group of summer biology researchers seeking out overheated plant cells, and much more await in these pages to entertain and surprise.