News for the Smith College Community // November 19, 1998
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At its October 31 meeting the Smith College Board of Trustees took action on a number of matters, including the following:
Event to Honor Curie's Mark on Modern World
Pfabé has organized a celebration of the discovery of radium and polonium, "Marie Curie and a Hundred Years from the Discovery of Ra and Po," which will take place on Friday, November 20, in McConnell auditorium. It will feature "Do Not Call Her Madam," a talk by Susan Quinn, author of Marie Curie: A Life. Quinn's talk will be preceded by brief presentations by several members of the Smith faculty who will provide background and context. In "We Have Called Such Substances Radioactive," Pfabé will describe how the discoveries were made; George Fleck, professor of chemistry, will explain the chemistry involved; Stylianos Scordilis, professor of biological sciences, will discuss the discoveries' applications in medical science; and John Brady, professor of geology, will describe their applications in earth sciences. One reviewer called Quinn's book "a brilliant, often surprising portrait, based on new information, that is sure to be the definitive work on one of history's greatest women. Quinn shows... a well-rounded, in-depth view of Curie as a scientist, a woman, a wife and a lover." Marie Curie, winner of two Nobel prizes, received an honorary degree from Smith in 1921 on a visit here with her two daughters. Smith was the first college she visited on that tour. Curie was hosted in Northamp-ton by Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, whose husband was then vice president of the U.S. The faculty talks will begin at 3 p.m. After a break at 4:30 Quinn's presentation will be made at 4:45 p.m. Following her talk, Quinn will sign copies of her book, which is available at the Grécourt Bookshop.
On Election Day, Jessica Densmore '00, a Twelve College exchange student at Bowdoin this year, earned the right to be called Representative Densmore in her native New Hampshire. The 20-year-old government major ran as a Democrat in upstate, traditionally Republican Grafton County District No. 3, which has 1,800 registered voters and includes the towns of Warren, Benton and Densmore's hometown of Franconia. She garnered 555 votes to her Republican opponent's 519, thereby becoming the district's state representative. Densmore says she got the idea to run for public office last summer when she saw how lacking the New Hampshire legislature was in women and young people, particularly those from the northern part of the state. "I thought I could fill a void as a woman and as a 20-year-old," she says. "It's important for youth, for women to get out there. I want to see more people my age taking ownership and striking out in their communities and doing wonderful things. We need to take responsibility now for our future." Densmore says she waged a tough campaign: "It was a big, heated race. Going into it, we knew it was going to be close." She mainly went door to door in the evenings, talking with people about local issues, but also handed out flyers, made hundreds of phone calls and mailed out more than a thousand letters to district voters. She spent $1,700 on her campaign, she reports, and had plenty of help from friends and local supporters. Her father, Ned Densmore, had been a state representative from 1984 until 1992, but she skirted his coattails to the extent of having her campaign buttons simply read "Vote Jessica." Running on a platform strong on education and its financing, Densmore says she also addressed such locally critical issues as health care, employment and the environment. "My candidacy was based on doing what the people of northern New Hampshire really need done," she says. "In areas such as in health care we don't always get the attention they do downstate. It's important to get my area back on its feet." Aside from stints on the Smith student senate and Senate Finance Committee, Densmore says this is her first publicly held office. When she returns to Smith next semester she plans to commute to Concord, the state capital, every week to attend the state congress, which meets twice a week from January to June. She intends to remain full-time at Smith. Densmore says she doesn't yet have designs on higher public office. "Right now this is a way to give something back to my community, the area that raised me," she says. "It's been an exciting process for me. It's one of the best educational opportunities of my life."
Panel to Probe Society's Stand on Child Care Is child care as we know it good for children? How do we know? And what can be done to enable child care to better promote the healthy development of our youngsters? The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute will make its contribution to public dialogue on these questions by sponsoring a panel discussion, "Who Profits from Child Care?" December 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Seelye 106. Serving as panelists will be Ed Gordon, professor emeritus at the Department of Psychology at Yale University, a consultant to Education Testing Service and an early proponent of and activist for Head Start; Claire Higgins, Northampton city counselor, director of the Hampshire Community Action Commission and an outspoken advocate for child care and education in Northampton; Eileen Lindner, associate general secretary for Christian Unity and general secretariat to the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, who has spent much of her career working in the area of human rights and has been an articulate advocate of church-affiliated child care and the organizer of a network linking these programs; and Kathleen McCartney, professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire, who has done research on child care and social development and served on the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) panel evaluating the link between child care and infant-parent attachment. "The recent NICHD report on child care suggests that child care alone does not contribute to problems of social attachment, but that parenting and child care are mutually involved in social development," says Peter Pufall, professor of psychology and one of the chief organizers of the panel. "Are we to assume child care is meeting the challenge of providing something good for children? And if we see child care as influencing the health of the family and community ecologies within which children develop, how can we assure that that influence is a positive one?" The panel discussion is one in a series of events being presented as part of the inaugural Kahn Institute project, "Exploring Ecologies of Childhood." The yearlong effort is aimed at identifying major research issues to be pursued at Smith through continued interdisciplinary inquiry, framing specific public policy recommendations to foster healthy child development, and preparing Smith College to become a leader in this area. Back to top of page
Party to Offer Variety of Lures What has fabulous food from five local restaurants, 11,000 feet and free dance lessons? Give up? It's the president's second annual winter party for faculty, staff and emeriti. This year's party will take place Saturday, December 19, from 8 to 11:30 p.m. in the Indoor Track and Tennis Facility, which will be adorned for the occasion with decorations on an international theme and a brand-new floor covering that will allow partygoers to dance the night away without harming the facility's permanent floor. In something like a scaled-down Taste of Northampton, food will be catered by five Northampton restaurants. The menu will include wild mushroom and walnut ravioli and salmon fillet with saffron fettucine from Fresh Pasta Company; stir-fried beef with cashews and broccoli and green beans with garlic sauce from Hunan Gourmet; lasagna with chicken and eggplant rollatini from Spoleto; assorted tamales, crispy tacos with beef and assorted salsa and guacamoles from La Veracruzana; and various ice creams, hot fudge sauce, holiday cookies and brownies from Herrell's Ice Cream. Music will be provided by Doc Bastarache's Big Band, which won a solid following at last year's party, and the Party Goddess, the deejay who has been a popular feature of the past three annual faculty/staff picnics. Those who want to may brush up on their dancing skills ahead of time with free lessons in the Crew House: Yvonne Daniel, dance department, and Esteban Monserrate, biological sciences, will teach Latin, mambo and cha-cha-cha on December 7 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and Megan McCusker, dance department, will cover swing and big-band dancing on December 8, also from 5 to 6:30 p.m. For further information about dance lessons, call Martin Antonetti at extension 2907. Each invitee may bring one guest. RSVPs to the party invitations are due in the Office of College Relations by December 1.
SCCS Craft Fair Returns Back by popular demand this year is the Northampton Winter Craft Fair sponsored by the Smith College Campus School Parent Teacher Organization. After a several-year hiatus, it will return December 5 and 6, sponsored by the PTO and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hampshire County. Tailor-made for holiday shopping, the fair will be held in Scott Gymnasium from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day and will feature 60 juried exhibitors selling handmade crafts. There will also be food booths, activities for children, musical entertainment and a silent auction featuring items donated by the craft exhibitors.
Singers Sign on for AIDS Event Smith a cappella groups the Smithereens and the Noteables will join the Pioneer Valley Gay Men's Chorus Saturday, November 21, at 8 p.m. in John M. Greene Hall for a rousing evening of music in support of an important cause: AIDS CARE/Hampshire County. Sponsored by Smith College AIDS Education and the Friends of AIDS CARE, the concert will feature the groups individually and jointly performing a blend of pop music, show tunes and classical selections. The PVGMC began in 1993 as a way for gay men to express themselves through music. With a membership as diverse as its repertoire, it has performed for standing-room-only audiences at Northampton's First Night celebrations and in collaboration with the Young at Heart Chorus. AIDS CARE/Hampshire County provides many types of assistance to area people living with AIDS and HIV, including help navigating the complex maze of medical and social services, finding volunteer support and subsidizing over-the-counter medications and alternative therapies. Concert tickets, available at the door, are $10 for general admission and $5 for students. For further information, call Laurie Benoit at extension 2663.
Students Plan Fund-raiser for Local Shelter As part of internships linked to the psychology seminar "Behavior in Nonprofit Organizations," Liz Titus '99 and Tanna Engebretsen '00J have organized an effort to raise funds for Northampton's emergency shelter for the homeless, known locally as the Cot Shelter. Between December 2 and 11 they will seek a $1 donation from each member of the Smith community. They hope to thereby raise close to $2,000. After several years in which it moved from church to church in Northampton, the overnight shelter has for the past two years operated on Hawley Street from November through April. It is open to all men and women in Hampshire County who are 18 years of age and older and in need of temporary shelter. Last year it served 128 people. Titus and Engebretsen will advertise their campaign -- whose slogan is "One Dollar: No More, No Less" -- with flyers, posters and phone mail. They are hoping to organize a series of related special events, perhaps including appearances by senior campus administrators and a cappella groups, to call attention to the drive and provide locations at which donations may be made. "The success of this fund-raiser will hinge on the participation of the entire Smith community," says Titus. "The goal is not only to give support to the Emergency Cot Shelter but to strengthen the ties between Smith College and the larger community of Northampton. The shelter is staffed almost entirely by volunteers and receives a large part of its funding from community support." Titus and Engebretsen have more in common than this project. Both are on the volleyball team and both are making women's studies part of a double major. (Titus is also majoring in psychology, Engebretsen in sociology.) For further information or to donate to the fund, get in touch with Titus at etitus@sophia.smith.edu or box 8934 or Engebretsen at tengebre@sophia.smith.edu or box 8233 Back to top of page
Howard Nenner, Roe/Straut Professor in the Humanities, and Frank Ellis, Mary Augusta Jordan Professor Emeritus of History, are helping to prepare the new edition of The Dictionary of National Biography, scheduled for publication in 2004. As an associate editor for the project, Nenner is finding writers for about 150 entries on legal and political figures of the late 17th century. Ellis is writing the entries on John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, and two figures associated with him, Sir Fleetwood Sheppard and Robert Parsons. The DNB, as the work is universally known, is one of the great monuments of English scholarship. Its original editors, Sidney Lee and Leslie Stephen, were knighted for their work. (Stephen also claimed the distinction of being one of the first Englishmen to ski in Switzerland.) Published between 1884 and 1900 in 37 volumes containing a total of 15,769 articles, the first DNB included Englishmen, Welshmen, Scots and Irishmen-and a few women, including some authors and royal mistresses. The new edition, with some 50,000 articles and 45,000,000 words, will include many more women. ** Cynthia Taft Morris, Charles N. Clark Professor Emeritus of Economics, has been appointed distinguished economist in residence at American University in Washington, D.C. Morris came to Smith from AU in 1983 and reports that while she is happy to being going back, she'll miss Northampton and intends to return for graduations, economic department annual lectures and "other occasions I shall find or invent." ** Marta L. Schaaf has been added to a revised list of members of the class of 2000 who have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. ** Karin Harvey, pursuing a master of science degree in exercise and sport studies at Smith, was honored in the October/November issue of Athletic Management magazine for her work coaching the freshmen boys' basketball team at Northampton High School and was specifically cited for her prowess in coaching, working with people and serving as a role model for students. The first female coach of a male sport in the history of the high school, Harvey is this year breaking more new ground by coaching the school's first-ever junior varsity team in girls' lacrosse. Athletic Management is read by coaches and teachers in athletic departments across the country. ** In Manhattan on October 31, during a meeting of the New England Molecular Evolutionary Biologists, Jennifer L. Riley '99 received an award for best student presentation. Riley, a biology major, is researching the evolution of unusual molecular processes in single-celled organisms. Her paper, growing out of research work with her adviser Laura Katz in biological sciences, was titled "The Evolution of the Big MAC: Extensive Chromosomal Fragmentation in Ciliates." Of the two prizes awarded to students at the conference, the first went to a fourth-year graduate student at Princeton. Riley, the only undergraduate at the event, spoke alongside faculty members, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students. After next May Riley hopes to spend a year continuing her research work in a lab while applying to graduate programs. She wants to keep working on research in molecular evolution and to "continue asking interesting questions about how these strange processes evolved."
Up Close & Personnel Human Resources has announced the following staff changes made during September 1998. New Hires: Maria Aguilar, Chase-Duckett; Milous Bowie, Tyler; Sabrina Bristol, admissions; Elise Cook, alumnae association; Brian Drohan, theatre; Nicolette George, CFLAC; Sarah Gilden, advancement; Donna Gohr, faculty club; Ellen Goodwin, campus school; Janna Goodwin, theatre; Kimberly LeRoy, advancement; Laura Lucchesi, Lamont; Katherine Martins, Cushing-Emerson; Cynthia Moran, health services; Jennifer Murphy, campus school; Monica Reginio, advancement; Claire Renkin, museum; Barbara Sadlier, gymnasiums; Elana-Marie Tozzoli, athletics; Veronique Vouille, biological sciences. Departures: Linda Gourlay, health services; Michael Perkins, Lamont.
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Interterm Courses Registration for noncredit interterm courses, most of them one week long, will be held in Davis ballroom on December 1, 2 and 3, 7:30-10 p.m. Courses range from "Basic Auto Mechanics" to "Scanning Electron Microscopy" to "Soul Food Cooking." (Registration for credit-bearing courses continues through November 20 at the registrar's office.) Interterm runs January 4-23. The catalogue for noncredit courses will be distributed shortly before Thanksgiving break. Weather Alert Next time you face the classic weekday-morning winter-weather decision -- whether to dig out the four-wheel-drive in order to meet your Smith obligations or crawl back in bed and pull up the covers -- check the college's only "official source of weather emergency information," the Smith Information Line at 585-INFO. As of 6 a.m. on bad-weather days it offers the latest announcements about delayed openings, early closings or other curtailed operations. You can also hear about delayed openings or cancellations at Smith on WHMP (Northampton) 1400 AM or 99.3 FM and WFCR (Amherst) 88.5 FM. Graphic Art Contest A $35 cash prize is being offered for the best wide-appeal graphic design for T-shirts and mugs illustrating the concept "Welcome to Paradise" -- with a Smith edge. Interested? Write to Wendy Sutter at wanns@mail.excite.com or Donna DeLuca at deluca@sophia.smith.edu. Musical Travel Those who love music and yearn to travel in France and England can combine affinities by joining the Smith College Chamber Singers on their European concert tour, May 17-28, 1999. The tour will take in such venerable venues as the Canterbury, Ely, Chartres and Roven cathedrals. It will include gatherings with Smith Clubs in Paris and London and tours of many fabled attractions. The $2,399 price includes all admission fees, lodging, airfare and ground transportation, breakfast each day and five dinners. To reserve a space on this tuneful tour or get more information, contact Jonathan Hirsh, Chamber Singers director, at extension 3166 or manager Laura Barrett at extension 7646 or lbarrett@sophia. Reservation deadline: November 30. Faculty & Staff Faculty Meeting Agenda items for the December 16 faculty meeting must be received by the secretary of the faculty, Rosetta Cohen, no later than December 9. Material to be included in the mailing with the agenda must be camera-ready and received in College Hall 27 by December 7. Party RSVP Faculty, staff and emeriti are reminded to return their Winter Party RSVP cards to the Office of College Relations, Garrison Hall, no later than Tuesday, December 1. Admission tickets will not be distributed this year, but it is important to return the cards so that the planning committee can anticipate the number of attendees. Staff Art Show Staff Visions, the annual exhibit of art and crafts created by Smith College staff, will be held January 25-February 5 in Hillyer Gallery. The show's registration deadline has been extended until December 15. Staff members interested in exhibiting their work must fill out a registration form and return it to Patricia Hayes in Garrison Hall. (The forms were included in the September Council Chronicle; if you need another, contact Hayes at extension 2180 or phayes@colrel.smith.edu.) More Winners The winners in the United Way lottery drawing November 13 were Gina Zaikowski, lunch at the Smith College Club; Charles Parham, a bottle of Smith College wine; Muriel Poulin, two tickets to the Academy of Music; Marilyn Woodman, a reserved parking space; Andrea O'Brien, a $25 gift certificate at LaSalle Florist; Susan Steenburgh, a $50 gift basket from Mole Hollow Candles; Donna Schnopp, one day off with pay; Marjorie Postal, a $5 gift certificate from Davis Center; Pat Rist, a CD of Monica Jakuc performing piano sonatas; Christine Manter, a $30 gift certificate from Packard's; Myra Smith, a method-exercise lesson at Your Own Gym; David Baker, a print by Patricia Hayes; Malgorzata Pfabé, a CD of Monica Jakuc performing Francesca LeBrun sonatas; Anne Marie LaFosse, a $40 gift certificate from Trellis Works. |
Job for a January Grad The financial aid office has a temporary, part-time position from January 7 to June 11, 1999, for a financial-aid specialist to answer the office's toll-free information line, 2-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 2-4:30 p.m. on Friday. The specialist will help prospective students and their parents understand financial-aid application forms and procedures. Applicants should be attentive to details and have basic knowledge of undergraduate financial-aid forms and procedures, good judgment, a pleasant telephone manner and good clerical and record-keeping skills. The salary is $10 per hour. Submit a letter of application and brief résumé to Ann Playe, assistant director of financial aid and admission, Office of Financial Aid, College Hall. Consulting Trip to NYC Seniors interested in consulting are invited to visit three consulting firms -- Mercer Consulting, William Mercer and National Economic Research Associates-during a one-day trip on December 11. The free trip will include presentations on the firms, a case interview workshop and lunch. A bus will leave the CDO parking lot at 6:45 a.m. and return at approximately 7 p.m. Sign up at the recruiting desk on the second floor of the CDO. Limit: 22 seniors. Faculty Teaching Evaluations The faculty teaching evaluations will be administered Monday, December 7, through Thursday, December 10, in Wright auditorium foyer. All Smith students are advised to check their campus mailbox for faculty teaching evaluation information during the week of November 23. Students are REQUIRED to complete these evaluations. There is a fine of $25 by the SGA for unexcused noncompliance. Students are asked to enter their data according to the schedule below. If you are off campus on your assigned day, please complete your evaluations on another scheduled day. Evaluations cannot be completed after the last scheduled day. Response data should be entered between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on the following days: classes of 2002J and '02: Monday, December 7; Ada Comstock Scholars and the classes of 2001J and '01: Tuesday, December 8; classes of 2000J and '00: Wednesday, December 9; class of '99: Thursday, December 10. Submission of Papers The members of the Administrative Board urge students not to use campus mail for delivery of papers and not to leave papers tacked to doors, slid under closed doors, or in mailboxes in public places or delivered by friends. Also, students should keep paper copies of submitted work. Each year the Administrative Board is asked to vote on cases regarding final papers or projects that have gone astray. The best way to avoid such situations is to submit papers to an actual person, for example, the professor of the class or a departmental staff member who can verify receipt. Specifying the time and location of delivery of the work in such cases is advantageous to both the faculty and the students in the class. Students and faculty should also be reminded that the college requires that papers delivered in the mail be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. Technological Problems The Administrative Board has been asked to provide guidance to faculty and students concerning "printer, diskette, and other technological failures" coincident with due dates for papers, take-home exams and other written assignments. As is the case for all assignments during the semester, and up to the end of the final examinations period, faculty members are empowered to grant extensions to their students. If there is some technological reason for difficulty in presenting an assignment, a faculty member may grant extra time for submission of the work. (Extensions beyond the end of the exam period may be granted only by the class deans.) On the other hand, a faculty member may wish to require confirmation of the problems, for example from a staff member at one of the computer centers. Alternatively, the faculty member might ask the student to submit a diskette with the relevant file (along with information about the platform and the word processing program) as a substitute for written work. The Administrative Board urges students to prepare their work in a timely fashion (and to back it up) in order to avoid last minute technological difficulties. Nevertheless the board recognizes that even with the blessings of modern technology, these difficulties do, and will continue to, happen. Staff members at the computer centers may be able to provide technical assistance when such problems occur. Take Smith Home The Office of Admission invites all students to participate in the "Take Smith Home" program. Student ambassadors can help regional alumnae with recruitment efforts at any time between Thanksgiving through the end of spring break by visiting their high school or middle school to speak with prospective applicants, contacting prospectives by telephone or participating in an alumnae-sponsored student function. Training will be provided. The house with the highest percentage of participation will win $100 for the house treasury and all fall-term participants will attend a pizza party in January. (Melanie Moultry, ext. 7060; mmoultry@sophia.smith.edu.) Study Abroad Applications for Junior Year Abroad and independent study abroad are available at the Office for International Study, Clark Hall. Those for JYA and Smith-affiliated programs are due February 1; those for other programs are due February 15. The IS office has open hours Tuesday and Wednesday, 2-3:30 p.m., Thursday, 3-4:30 p.m., and Friday, 9-10:30 a.m. Informational meetings are held Mondays at 4 p.m. International Internships The International Internship Fund enables students, particularly those in a Junior Year Abroad or Independent Study Abroad program, to pursue an internship abroad. The internship should provide some practical experience complementing the student's academic interests. Awards may not exceed $2,000. A list of previous projects is available at the Office for International Study, Clark 305. (Elizabeth Lee, ext. 4905). Study Abroad Guidelines Students may obtain copies of the new booklet about independent study abroad in 1999-2000 at the Office of International Study, Clark Hall third floor. Early Deadline Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, student pay vouchers must be processed early. Please note that the schedule indicates that vouchers are due on Monday, November 23, at noon. Paychecks will be issued the following Tuesday, December 1, and will not be available early. |
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