� Whitman Magazine

CAMPUS NEWS

July 2008 �

Students earn 3 Watsons, more than

Whitman students with “unusual promise” and the likelihood of “making a difference” are the norm, not the exception. And while the recognition is rewarding, the honors these young people collected this year — and the amazing opportunities that go with them — are not surprising. “We are immensely proud of these students and the faculty and staff who supported them through the scholarship process,” said President George Bridges. “For any college or institution to have students win two Truman Scholar-ships, three Watson Fellowships, five Fulbright Fellowships (three students declined in favor of other opportunities) and a Udall Scholar-ship in the same year is nothing short of spectacular.”

Watson FellowshipOne-year grant: $25,000 for independent study and travel outside the United States. Erik Andersen ’08, Kneeland, Calif., will travel to Japan, Poland, Austria, Rwanda, Israel and Northern Ireland to study public art to understand how phys-ical reminders of past violence reshape the physical spaces and historical memo-ries of a people. Joseph Bornstein ’08, Ashland, Ore., will spend time in Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, Mali and India to volunteer with, and study organizations involved in, sustainable community devel-opment. Bornstein won a Truman Schol-arship as a junior. Teal Greyhavens ’08, Eugene, Ore., will survey the role of cinema and habits of film audiences in the United Kingdom, Burkina Faso (West Africa), Egypt, India and China, locations selected for their prominent film industries and cultural diversity. “I believe in the power of films to connect and balance diverse peoples, but today’s global cinema is complicated and disorienting since film viewing is not only individually subjective but has become culturally subjective,” Grey-havens wrote in his Watson application.

Truman ScholarshipUp to $30,000 for graduate study and priority admission and financial aid for graduate school. Erica Goad ’09, Golden, Colo., is a biology-environmental studies major who has been active at Whitman in the Campus Climate Challenge, Conservation Committee and Outdoor Program, and has worked with community environ-mental groups. She also was a team

captain for the Ultimate Frisbee Club. Caitlin Shoenfelder ’09, La Grande, Ore., is a politics major with a minor in Latin American studies. She played a lead-ership role in field trips throughout the Northwest and to the U.S.-Mexico border to learn more about immigration, and she volunteers in the local Latino community. Udall ScholarshipUp to $5,000 for college sophomores and juniors who have demonstrated commit-ment to careers related to the environment. Elena Gustafson ’10, Los Alamos, N.M., created the Youth Adventure Program in which Whitman students lead local youth on outdoor education trips. She is active in the Youth Development Initia-tive on campus to create community service opportunities for disenfranchised youth in Sierra Leone.

Fulbright FellowshipOne year of research or teaching abroad. Grant Margeson ’08 (not pictured), Grants Pass, Ore., will put years of German language study and math tutoring to work as a teaching assistant in Germany. That country’s educational system is in transi-tion, Margeson said in his Fulbright appli-cation. With his familiarity with the Amer-ican system (his mom is a teacher), he is anxious to explore how a different culture tackles its educational issues. Margeson, a devoted animal lover active in Whitman’s Action for Animals and a volunteer animal rescuer in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, also looks forward to studying animal rights issues in Germany, the first nation in Europe to provide constitutional rights for animals.

Erica Goad Caitlin ShoenfelderErik Andersen Teal Greyhavens Elena Gustafson Janna Stone Suzanne Zitzer Mark Prentice Henry Musa Kpaka Meheret Endeshaw

Janna Stone ’08, Federal Way, Wash., will teach English as a second language in Germany. She believes her experiences as a summer intern in Germany in 2006, an America Reads/Counts intern, a student academic adviser and a resident assistant for Das Deutsche Haus (Whitman’s German interest house) will help her engage students in intercultural dialogue. She also hopes to explore contemporary German literature written by minorities to better understand the “unique perspec-tive minority voices can bring to a culture.” Suzanne Zitzer ’08, Auburn, Wash., will study at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany. A German and history double major, Zitzer wants to pursue a career in international environmental policy to “shift global practices in the direction of sustainability and work to harmonize the lifestyles of humans with their natural environment.” (See story, Page 19.)

German Academic Exchange Service Two-year scholarship to complete a master’s in American studies at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Freie Universität Berlin. Mark Prentice ’08, Bothell, Wash., will study politics and history at the JFK Institute. “I am interested in German-American political and cultural relations as well as anti-Americanism in Germany itself,” Prentice said. “Being in Germany during the November (U.S.) election will be a unique opportunity to watch how developments within the United States are received abroad.”

The Public Policy and International Affairs Program Seven weeks at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs at Princeton University. Henry Musa Kpaka ’09, a Davis United World College scholar from Sierra Leone, will build on his previous experi-ences helping people in developing coun-tries. Kpaka received a $10,000 Project for Peace grant in 2007 through which he created the “Youth Empowerment in Sierra Leone” three-day workshop to help youth see hope and potential for improve-ments in their country. “During the Civil War, we saw young people at the forefront of destroying the very communities where they grew up,” said Kpaka. “I started thinking about how to help young people regain that sense of belonging and responsibility again.” His effort has blos-somed into the Youth Development Initia-tive at Whitman. YDI students will travel to Sierra Leone this summer to educate youth about community service projects.

Davis Projects for Peace A $10,000 grant to implement a student project that will “bring new thinking to the prospects for peace in the world.” Meheret Endeshaw ’08 will return to her homeland of Ethiopia this summer to implement her project to reduce the stigma borne by Ethiopian children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. “There are many nongovernmental organizations working to combat HIV transmission ... but they’re not addressing the survivors,” Endeshaw said. She plans to create a library with Internet access for orphans in Dessie, Ethiopia. She also wants to start a recre-ation center with a competitive soccer

league. “The recreational program will create close bonds and better integrate these youth back into their community,” she said. Endeshaw volunteers at a Walla Walla nonprofit that supports HIV/AIDS victims and their loved ones.

Humanity in Action Five-week fellowship in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seth Bergeson ’10, a history major from Seattle, will join university students from Europe in an intensive study of contemporary minority and human rights issues. Bergeson is an active member of the Youth Development Initiative at Whitman.

Boren Scholarship (National Security Education Program) One year of study at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Alex Potter ’10 (not pictured), Seattle, is fluent in Chinese and has studied Arabic for a year. The scholarship supports U.S. undergraduates who plan to study languages and cultures now underrepresented in study abroad and critical to U.S. security. Potter hopes to begin a “lifelong dialog between my American culture and the Islamic/Egyp-tian culture.”

For more news about student honors and awards, see www.

whitman.edu/news.

Joseph Bornstein

Standouts also earn Trumans, Fulbrights, a Udall and more ...

any other college in the U.S. this yearSeth Bergeson

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� Whitman Magazine

CAMPUS NEWS

July 2008 �

Mike Osterman ’96, middleware analyst in Whitman College Technology Services, knows project gridlock in front of a computer when he sees it. “I have seen groups of students huddled around a single monitor, which is inefficient,” he said. The solution, Osterman believes, is “SmartSpaces,” which the WCTS team has installed in three locations at Whitman: a formal study space in Olin Hall, a residence study space in Douglas Hall and an informal study space in the Hall of Science. “With SmartSpaces, everyone can be active and doing things,” Osterman said. SmartSpaces use an innovative tech-nology called “TeamSpot,” which allows a group of users to work collaboratively using a large-screen display as an interac-tive digital work surface. Users can wire-lessly connect their laptops to this shared computer. After downloading and installing client software, students can work simultaneously on files or sepa-rately and join files later. “It’s really neat technology,” said Amy Soderquist ’10, a student lab manager in Olin Hall who uses SmartSpaces in meetings. “It’s much easier than zoning

in on individual computers. It’s a great place to go for a group paper.” Soderquist praised the cross-platform compatibility that allows PC and Mac users to combine forces. Whitman partnered with Vassar and Davidson colleges to test the advanced technology. “TeamSpot” has proved effec-tive at large commuter colleges but has yet to be measured at small residential colleges. “Other schools will be looking to see the results at Whitman,” said Keiko Pitter, chief technology officer. Of 62 liberal arts schools in the Consortium for Liberal Arts Colleges, none had installed “TeamSpot” before Pitter took up the challenge. She credits WCTS’s Emerging Tech-nology group with many classroom inno-vations, including CLEo (Collaboration and Learning Environment [online]) and LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). “Too often (Information Technology) staff time is completely consumed by routine daily activities,” she said. “Creating staff positions to focus on new ideas is really paying off.”

— Katie Combs ’08

The blueprint for a renovated biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology (BBMB) laboratory at Whitman made a large impression on funders at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “What better way to make progress in science than by tearing down the walls that keep scientists apart?” HHMI says of the project on its Web site. As a result, Whitman will receive an

$800,000 grant from HHMI as part of a national program to enhance undergrad-uate instruction and research in the life sciences. “We have a unique, interdisciplinary science program in

BBMB,” said Associate Professor of Chemistry Jim Russo. “We’re incorporating at the undergrad-uate level science that historically has been done at the graduate level. The Hughes grant will enhance our program by expanding research opportunities as well as course opportunities.” The grant will serve four purposes: expand student-faculty collaborative research on campus and through Whit-man’s association with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle; create a new faculty line in bioan-alytical chemistry; renovate the BBMB laboratory; and expand outreach partner-ships with middle- and high-school science programs and teachers in the Walla Walla Valley. The proposal, coordinated and chiefly written by Russo, was one of 192 applica-tions reviewed for HHMI by a group of distinguished scientists and educators. “One of the key aspects of the Hughes program is its recognition of the interdis-ciplinary roles that chemistry, physics and biology play in that picture,” said Russo. “The grant will reach multiple departments and faculty. It has a very broad reach, which is exciting for all of us in the life sciences.”

Research, BBMB lab benefit from $800,000 grant

Pictured: (left to right) Todd Wallenius ’10and Jasper Lipton ’10

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Innovative SmartSpaces computer study sites expected to catch on at other liberal arts colleges

An artist’s rendering shows what Sherwood Athletic Center will look like after a $15 million renovation. (Memorial Building is in the background at right.) The climbing wall will be enclosed for year-round use but will be visible to passersby through full-length windows on the Boyer Avenue side of the building when the renovation is complete in fall 2009.

Sherwood renovation includes second gym,indoor climbing wall

Devoted staff members earn Janice Abraham awards

Jim Russo

When Sherwood Athletic Center re-opens in fall 2009, it will have been trans-formed inside and out. The 1960s-style architecture will be bricked over and renovated into a versatile facility for current and future students. While the brick re-face will stand out visually to returning alumni and visitors, the heart of the building will undergo a dram-atic change as well. Removing the ceiling of the swimming pool area, replacing a structural wall with a beam and filling in the pool will create a second full-size gymnasium, said Peter Harvey ’84, treasurer and chief financial officer. The new gym (with a minimum of bleachers) will be available for basketball, volleyball, soccer and indoor batting practice. The locker space, built when the college had a football team and very few women’s sports, will be renovated to meet current athletic needs; the training room area will be enlarged; two multipur-pose rooms for aerobics, dance and tae kwon do-style activities will be added; a team audiovisual room will be created and office space expanded. The new entrance will feature a Hall of Fame atrium to honor Whitman’s former athletes. The new facility also will feature an elevator to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and an improved, enclosed climbing wall. The Sherwood renovation is Phase Two of Whitman’s athletic upgrade, said Dean Snider, director of athletics. “The Baker Ferguson Fitness Center addressed the fitness center and aquatic needs of the college. The Sherwood reno-vation will provide gymnasium and court facilities, multipurpose room, training room and office space needed.” This upgrade is one example of ways the college is enhancing the competitive capabilities of Whitman athletics, Snider added. Construction around the existing large gymnasium will be completed by mid-August 2008 for varsity basketball and volleyball practices and competition.

Four staff members were honored in June with the Janice Abraham Award for their outstanding service to the college. Abraham, former treasurer and chief financial officer, is now an overseer. The 2008 Abraham award winners are:

Jerry Clifton, senior hardware technician in technology services. His willingness to help includes some valiant file rescues from crashed hard drives.

Jim French, custodian in the Hall of Science. Quick to lend a helping hand, he provided special encouragement this year to a student who was in a wheelchair, then on crutches after multiple knee surgeries.

Marilyn Ponti, assistant director of financial aid services. Ponti does everything she can to make students’ and parents’ journey through the financial aid process easier. She also is president of the Washington Financial Aid Association.

Tamara Tinhof ’08, director of donor communications and relations. Tinhof demonstrates a commitment to excellence and a spirit of service in her work with college donors.

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(L-to-R) Tamara Tinhof ’08, Jim French, Marilyn Ponti and Jerry Clifton

� Whitman Magazine

CAMPUS NEWS

July 2008 �

For Loeffler, who has played Ultimate since fifth grade, the beauty of the sport lies in its authentic nature. “It requires the traditional athleticism, but there’s a simplicity in the game in that it’s self-offi-ciated,” he said. “That keeps the sport unique, with no referees. The responsi-bility for fair play is on each player. That purity is attractive.” “Our biggest challenge is how to achieve a balance between being low-key and competitive,” said Haas, women’s team captain for the past two years. “It has a lot to do with wanting to play Frisbee, for whatever reason. We don’t have to define that balance, but we have to have an understanding. You play how you want. The most important thing is building a community of people who want to be playing together for the spirit of the game.”

— Katie Combs ’08

The Sweets’ history dates to the 1980s. See www.whitman.

edu/ultimate.

Skip Molitor, men’s basketball coach and a faculty member in the sport studies department for 14 years, has resigned those duties to be an assistant athletic director at Whitman. Molitor will work with Dean Snider, athletics director, in a “position designed to enhance the student-athlete experiences through promoting team events, directing club sports and working with volunteer leaders of the newly formed W Club,” said Lori Bettison-Varga, provost and dean of the faculty. “Last year was the 33rd year of coaching for me,” Molitor said. “While it’s something I still enjoy, I want to make the transition away from coaching (basket-ball) at a point in my professional life when there is still time to make a real difference with my new responsibilities.”

W Club board named In the last issue of the magazine, we announced the new W Club, which will support Whitman athletics, and the naming of Jim Moore ’66 of Salt Lake City, Utah, as president and Susan Buxton ’85 of Boise, Idaho, as vice president. Here is the rest of the board:Jock Edwards ’66, Walla WallaJulie Gaisford ’65, SeattleJerry Hillis ’61, SeattleBecky Kennedy ’96, Walla WallaJim Michelson ’83, Walla WallaGeorge Osborne ’66, Kirkland, Wash.Cathy Williams ’74, Auburn, Wash. To learn more about the club, e-mail Skip Molitor at molitore@whitman.edu or call him at (�09) ���-�9�0, or e-mail Dean Snider at sniderdc@whitman.edu or call him at (�09) ���-��88.

It was another strong year on the courts for the Whitman men’s tennis team, which rolled through its second consecutive undefeated Northwest Conference regular season, won an NWC title and advanced to the NCAA Division III national championship tournament for a second straight year. Despite a 5-1 loss in the second round to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the nation’s second-ranked team, Whitman ended its season with a 22-10 record and No. 20 national ranking. Whitman’s first NWC title since the 2004 season was earned with a decisive 8-1 shellacking of Pacific Lutheran University in late April in Yakima. Matt Solomon ’10 (pictured here), Los Gatos, Calif., who played No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles for Whitman, was named NWC Player of the Year. Older brother Daniel Solomon ’09 also was named to the NWC First Team. Chris Bailey ’11, Mercer Island, Wash., and Jake Cappel ’10, River

Men win NWC tennis title

Coach Molitor accepts new Whitman role

Skip Molitor

BORLESKE TROPHIESThe R.V. Borleske Trophy (top male) and Mignon Borleske Trophy (top female) recognize athletic achievement, sportsman-ship and leadership.2008 R.V. Borleske Trophy: Max Weber ’08 and Clint Collier ’08. Weber, of Great Falls, Mont., is a soccer midfielder and team captain who helped lead Whitman to a winning season in �00�. Team captain Collier, Albuquerque, N.M., broke a 1�-year-old school record in the 100-yard breaststroke while placing sixth in the NWC champion-ships in �008.2008 Mignon Borleske Trophy: Erin Pettersen ’08, Kirkland, Wash., made history this spring as the first Whitman swimmer to qualify for the NCAA National Championships.

SWIMMINGNancy Alexander ’08, Tigard, Ore., won the Northwest Conference �00-yard backstroke title for the third straight year and helped Pettersen (above) power their team to a third-place NWC finish. Eric Molnar ’10 gave the men’s swim team its first individual NWC title in seven years with a win in the �00-yard individual medley.

SKIINGNordic skier Devon Spika ’10, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is the only Division III skier from the western U.S. to qualify for the NCAA National Championships. She placed ��rd in both the classic and freestyle races at nationals. She also was named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District At-Large Team.

BASKETBALL Chris Faidley ’09, Shoreline, Wash., led the NWC in scoring with ��.� points and was named to the All-NWC Second Team. Michelle Krall ’10, Poway, Calif., also was named to the women’s Second Team.

CYCLING CLUB Ten members of the nationally ranked Whitman cycling team were among �00 elite cyclers in the three-day �008 Tour of Walla Walla bike race in April. It is the first time Whitman cyclers competed in the 1�-year-old race. The team’s participation was funded by tour organizers and Orbea USA.

Those responsibilities will include coaching the women’s golf team, a program he says has “great potential for success.”

Forest, Ill., earned All-NWC Second Team honors. Others who played in the title match were Justin Hayashi ’09, Kirkland, Wash., and Dan Wilson ’10, Bellevue, Wash.; Nadeem Kassam ’10, Vancouver, B.C., and Jasper Follows ’10, W. Vancouver, B.C. Coach Jeff Northam ’88 also shared in postseason honors, winning NWC Coach-of-the-Year recognition for the third time since the 2000 season. Whitman women’s tennis players Elise Otto ’11, Spokane, Wash., and Hadley DeBree ’10, Ketchum, Idaho, earned spots on the All-NWC First Team. Katie Oost ’09, Poulsbo, Wash., was named to the NWC Second Team. The women’s team placed third in the NWC finals.

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Despite the elements, the annual OnionFest tournament brought out the sweet sight of flying discs and a healthy dose of competition for Whitman’s Ulti-mate Frisbee team, the Sweets. Though advertisements for this year’s OnionFest promised “absurdly good weather … rolling hills of amber wheat and the sweetest coed disc this side of Sunnyside,” reality proved more stren-uous. Twenty teams from around the nation weathered gusting winds and intermittent (and rare) April snowfall during the tour-nament. Neither wind nor snow, however, could drown out the traditional Whittie cheer of “Slice ‘em, dice ‘em, sauté, fry!” Nor did the weather put a damper on the day’s cheery atmosphere, live music, onion-eating contest and themed costumes. “The Sweets have a reputation for

being fun-loving and spir-ited, where competition isn’t the end-all be-all,” said men’s captain Jona-than Loeffler ’08. Ultimate Frisbee is the biggest club sport at Whitman, with about 50 active players and nearly 200 members on its list-serv. Both men’s and women’s teams are “self-sustaining,” Loeffler notes, but the college provides funding and resources. Frisbee season begins in the fall, when a coed team forms, and new recruits are put through basic training (catching, offense and defense). “It’s open to whoever wants to play,” said women’s captain Sarah Haas ’08. “There are people who come dressed up as Superman, and then there are more competitive athletes for whom it’s a phys-ical outlet.” In the spring, the women’s team and men’s team go their separate ways to participate in national tournaments or, in the case of OnionFest, to host their own. In the past few years, both teams have traveled to increasingly competitive tour-naments. This year, the men’s team won the Hanford Howl in Kennewick, was invited to the Stanford Invite (reserved for the top 16 teams in the country) and played in the Ultimate College Champion-ship. The women’s team trekked to Nevada for the “Trouble in Vegas” tourna-ment, a grueling two-day event. Loeffler and Jeremy Norden ’11 have played their way to the top and the right to play in the World Flying Disc Federation Championships this August in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, competing against top teams from around the nation.

Ultimate Frisbee team balances need for competition with desire for tons of fun

Jonathan Loeffler ’08 is pleased to pose in his oh-so-sweet Ultimate Frisbee garb at the club’s annual tournament, OnionFest, in April. In August, Loeffler will enter serious competition: He qualified for the world championships in Vancouver, B.C.

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Sweeeeet spirit of the game...

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Lauren Adrian ’08, left, and Julia Spencer ’10 eye the prize during a practice game on Ankeny Field.

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The circle of learning has many models. For Sophie Johnson ’08, none is more profound than her acquaintance through Whitman with journalist and social activist Salim Muwakkil. In the fall of 2006 Johnson traveled to Chicago, where she lived and studied for a semester as an intern in the Urban Studies Program of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. The hub of the program is a directed-study course; the spokes are community-based projects. Johnson’s course was “Race, Media and Politics.” Her professor and mentor was Muwakkil, senior editor for In These Times and an op-ed columnist for the Chicago Tribune. “He taught us by bringing up the tough issues and asking us the tough questions,” said Johnson, one of 12 in the class. “We had such intense conversations. It was so not about theory. It was so actual.” Johnson went to Chicago as a traditional English major. When she returned, her first order of business was to add an emphasis in race and ethnic studies to her study plan. Her second or third order, as co-editor of the campus newspaper, the Pioneer, was to imagine Muwakkil as guest speaker for the Hoso-kawa Journalism Awards. “I didn’t think there was any way that we’d get him to come all the way out here,” said Johnson. “Salim is an incredibly busy man. When the confirma-tion came, I was floored. I was ecstatic.” She was equally honored to introduce Muwakkil to a crowd at Reid Campus Center on the occasion of the Hosokawa awards. She listened to him talk incisively about “Presidential Politics: Race, Gender and the Media Frame,” and heard in his words the echo of all the transformative discussions she shared a year earlier. The circle was complete. “I feel I’ve learned a lot more about journalism as an English major at Whitman than I would have in the journalism school of a university,” said Johnson, whose 52-piece poetry project, “city upside down,” is one of the first two creative theses to be approved at the college. “What you write about doesn’t happen in a classroom or newsroom. It happens in the world.” Somewhere on Chicago’s South Side, Salim Muwakkil is nodding.

Sophie Johnson ’08, right, invited her mentor, Salim Muwakkil, to speak at Whitman.

Beyond the classroom: Senior hosts mentorResearch, adventure draw prof to Congo Snakebitten is the last word herpetolo-gist Kate Jackson would use to describe her first year as an assistant professor of biology at Whitman College. Nevermind that the word carries a bias and isn’t in her vocabulary. Forget that Jackson loves snakes, collects snakes and studies snakes in her occupation. Fortune has smiled on her — and on the college through her work — since she arrived. As Whitman Magazine went to press, Jackson’s book about snakes, science and survival in the Congo, “Mean and Lowly

Things,” had reached No. 1 on the Amazon.com sales chart among herpe-tology titles. Three weeks before Commencement, she presented her research to an audi-ence at the Smithso-nian Institution. The same day, National Public Radio inter-

viewed her for a feature story. “I didn’t really know what to expect about any of this — the teaching or my book,” she said. “It’s the same way in my field work. But yes, I’ve survived.” Two years ago in northern Congo, she nearly didn’t. On the third-to-last day of a month-long expedition, deep in the

swamp forest near the village of Impongui, Jackson met up with a forest cobra. She was clearing a brick pile when the village children screamed and she lunged — for the snake. “What I see is a mid-body coil of a black snake with large scales, skin stretched tight so that there is a bit of white skin showing between the scales,” she writes in her book. “Mehelya. I recog-nize it as the same as the one I caught in the first brick pile and grab hold of the disappearing coil.” But the head of this snake isn’t square-snouted like the Mehelya. And the bronze color at the sides of the head is wrong. In the same split-second that Jackson identi-fies the yellow-banded underbelly in her grip as that of a forest cobra, and shifts her hold to get control of the head, the

snake strikes. Its left fang pricks her right thumb. “I was very upset, of course,” she said stoically. “I felt I’d done something stupid. My greatest fear was having a child get bitten by a snake by having seen me do it.” Jackson survived the accident, of course, but not without emergency measures, extreme pain and no small amount of anxiety. What she worried about most was that the cobra might be the last venomous snake she’d ever catch. To prove she hadn’t lost her nerve, Jackson found and bagged a night adder in the forest outside the University of Brazza-ville before she left Africa. “It reassured me,” she said. Jackson grew up in Toronto, the elder of two daughters of English literature professors. She met her first friend of the suborder Serpentes — a Northern Water

Snake — on the edge of Lake Ontario when she was 5. “My sister was scooping water to put into a tire. Without realizing

it, she turned up a juvenile Northern and dumped it on my leg. “I screamed, but our baby sitter would have none of it. ‘What do you mean making a ridiculous fuss like that, a big girl like you?’ she told me.” Soon after, Jackson asked herself the same question. And then she was hunting and collecting snakes. Growing up, she often imagined herself as a zookeeper or a veteri-narian. Then, on a high-school career day, she got her first glimpse of the herpetology department of the Royal Ontario Museum. In that instant, she knew she’d found her world. The title of Jackson’s book comes from Aristotle and explains the larger purpose in her work. “To understand the world, we must understand mean and lowly things,” Aristotle wrote. “People are drawn to charismatic megafauna — the gorillas, the elephants,” Jackson said. “They don’t understand the interrelationship of living things in the ecosystem. They don’t consider where the megafauna would be

without snakes and toads.” The first step in protecting species, Jackson noted, is collecting and identi-fying them. She chose the Congo for her inventory of “herpetofaunal biodiversity” because it is largely undescribed, and because she’s an inveterate adventurer. For Jackson, the more removed from civi-lization, the better. Her inspiration, as a field scientist and writer, comes from Mary Kingsley, the 19th century English explorer and author. “She was a braver explorer and a wittier writer than I,” said Jackson. “More eccen-tric, too. She thought it very unladylike to wear men’s clothes in the wild. There she was in the middle of West Africa, trudging through swamps in Victorian dresses.” — Keith Raether

Hear Kate Jackson’s NPR interview at http://www.npr.

org/templates/story/story.php?story= 91047036 or see her Whitman Web page at http://people.whitman.edu/~jacksok/.

Kate Jackson doesn’t share the average person’s aversion to snakes. In fact, when she isn’t teaching a biology class at Whitman, she is protecting her slithery friends in northern Congo by collecting and identifying them. (Below) She ponders ways to retrieve a snake caught in her net during a 2005 expedition.

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Economist opens Classical Liberalism series Terry Anderson, an expert in free-market environmentalism, initiated the new Classical Liberalism Speaker Fund series this spring with a talk titled “Markets and the Environment: Friends or Foes?” “Terry’s work on free-market environmentalism and property rights was read by students in courses in economics, politics and environmental studies this semester, so we were especially fortunate to have him visit campus,” said Jan Crouter, associate professor of economics. Anderson, the John and Jean DeNault Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, also is the executive director of the Prop-erty and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Mont. While on campus, Anderson met with students over lunch to discuss his research on the evolution of property rights in the western states. In the evening he visited with faculty and lectured. Anderson was “surprised and pleased by the interest of students in the subject,” Crouter said. “He was captured by students after the talk and spoke at length with them.”

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Professors saluted at Commencement

Popularity, value of Undergraduate Conference continue to grow For one day every April, the natural academic order on campus is reversed. Students still learn, but they also teach: faculty and staff, each other and even some parents and grandparents. At the 10th annual Whitman Under-graduate Conference, 165 students were the faculty. They lectured in their areas of expertise, described their research modes and conclusions, and, in some cases, demonstrated musical talents and explained complicated vocal or instru-mental techniques.

thinking. This is what engaged scholar-ship is all about.” Mark Kennedy ’09 relished the opportunity to learn about his peers’ academic work. “I may know my friend is killing himself trying to write a paper, but I don’t really know about his work,” Kennedy said, while enjoying the campus-wide picnic lunch at Reid Campus Center. He and Sarah McVicar ’09 were plot-ting which presentations to attend before Kennedy’s turn at the podium later in the day to discuss “Finding a Home: The Quest for Canadian Identity.” The pres-sure was off McVicar, who co-presented a morning session on Whitman’s Experi-mental Garden of low-water native plants that she and Nicole Goehring ’09 have

developed adjacent to campus. Conference attendees “get a sense of the richness of the liberal arts experi-ence,” said Mary Anne O’Neil, professor of foreign languages and literatures (French) and the associate dean of the faculty who coordinated the inaugural conference in 1999. This year the first panel O’Neil attended was one presented by first-year students in Core classes. “I was thrilled to see all the young students presenting very good work,” she said. “It gives them a sense of accomplishment for what they have done.” Presenting at this type of conference is a privilege, she added, that

undergraduates from other colleges often don’t get until they’ve completed a master’s degree. O’Neil said the conference thoroughly meets the spirit of what its organizers intended. “It has only gotten better and

better over time,” she said. “There are more participants, larger audiences and more and more multidisciplinary panels.” Technology probably represents the conference’s biggest evolution. Students’ research and creativity have always been on display during the poster session, but in recent years their superior computer

“The music in the science atrium was awesome,” said Undergraduate Conference first-timer Lori Bettison-Varga, provost and dean of the faculty. Between morning sessions, string quartets performed for an audience that filled the atrium and lined the stairs to the second floor. Performing “Bach Does Chicago,” an original composition by Jeff Wilson ’08, are (l-to-r) Sarah Judkins ’10, Leora Stein ’09, Gabriella Sterne ’10 and Alex Abrams ’09.

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Loren Schmidt ’08 presented his research findings on acute lung injury and possible treatment strategies at the Whitman Undergraduate Conference. Some research presented by students at the conference is made possible through annual faculty-student research awards. Each participant is required to have a faculty sponsor, who reviews and approves the conference program abstract.

“This is what engaged scholarship is all about.”

— Lori Bettison-Varga provost and dean of the faculty

skills also are evident in the impressive visual presentations. Technology services plays a large role, staffing each venue to ensure that student-created PowerPoint displays and other technical aspects of the conference work properly. The first year of the conference, O’Neil recalled, things weren’t so smooth. A squirrel ran amok and knocked out power to Sherwood Center, where the midday poster session was scheduled. Undaunted, O’Neil and colleagues moved all the posters to Sherwood’s hallways, where window light illuminated them.

A fluid and appreciative audience moved to and from 10 venues on campus to attend 12-minute presentations that piqued interest and drew loyal peers, friends and family members. Kevin Davis, father of Emily Davis ’08, said his daughter’s lecture (co-presented with Aaron David ’08) on the importance of mussels in the Klamath and Salmon rivers to members of the Karuk Tribe “is further proof of the quality of the education and the nature of the students here.” The conference itself “validates the value of Emily’s decision to come to Whitman.” Presenters bring their work “fully into the public arena, an expectation we have of scholars,” said Lori Bettison-Varga, provost and dean of the faculty, attending her first conference. “Not only is it an opportunity to share their results with their peers, it’s an opportunity to move their work forward, to think about it differently. Comments or questions from observers might lead the student researcher to the next step in their

Robert Y. Fluno Award for Distinguished Teaching in Social Sciences

David Schmitz Robert Skotheim Chair of History

In nominating Schmitz, a faculty member wrote: “David has taught some amazing courses since he has been here, from his highly praised course on Vietnam, numerous courses in the history of the United States and its role in the world, classes in historical methodol-ogies to student favorites like the history of rock ’n’ roll. He has involved numerous students in his own research. He is an excellent, innovative and no-nonsense teacher.” Schmitz joined the faculty in 1985.

Thomas D. Howells Award for Distinguished Teaching in Humanities

Jean Carwile Masteller professor of English In nominating Carwile Masteller, a faculty member wrote: “Jean adopts new technology and constantly reworks her courses.” Another faculty member said: “Jean is a tireless and dedicated adviser, and a hard worker who has had an inesti-mable effect on her students.” Carwile Masteller joined the faculty in 1978.

A.E. Lange Award for Distinguished Science Teaching

Robert Fontenotprofessor of mathematics In nominating Fontenot, a student wrote, “I was impressed by his energy, passion, humor and determination. He is not content to simply lecture us, instead he strives to teach us how to learn for ourselves and then present our finding to the class. I had heard people say that math was beautiful but have only recently realized after taking his courses just how deep and how elegant mathematics can be.” Fontenot joined the faculty in 1975.

See Page 13 for more faculty awards.

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Faculty awardsGeorge Ball Award for Excellence in Advising

Allison Calhounassociate professor of chemistry In nominating Calhoun, a student wrote: “She genuinely cares about how I am doing, not just in classes but as a person. In the classroom, in the research lab and outside of class, Allison Calhoun is incredibly inspiring and is a fantastic mentor.” Calhoun joined the faculty in 2002.

Edwards Award for Excellence in the Integration of Teaching and Scholarship

Robert TobinCushing Eells Professor of Humanities

In nominating Tobin, a faculty member said: “Bob has been exemplary in his successful pursuit of curricular innova-tions, his involve-ment in collaborative research and his mentorship of students in German

studies and gender studies. He has been a model scholar and teacher for both students and colleagues alike.” Tobin joined the faculty in 1989.

Suzanne L. Martin Award for Excellence in Mentoring

Deborah Wieseassistant professor of psychology In nominating Wiese, a student wrote: “Because of Dr. Wiese, I had the opportunity to attend and present at two psychology confer-ences, I am able to graduate this year, and I have been accepted in a graduate program. ... (Wiese) relates to students of different backgrounds because she creates the perspective of cultural awareness and sensitivity that applies to everything she does.” Wiese joined the faculty in 2005.

Bill Gates Sr. told the 385 young men and women in black robes seated before him on an unusually warm Commence-ment day that when he graduated from college some 60 years ago, men wore hats (not baseball caps), and the Los Angeles Lakers were the Detroit Gems. Despite the ways in which his experience might differ from theirs, Gates observed: “My premise is that there may be value to you in hearing what an 82-year-old man has to say about the ingredients that cause him to look back at that life with satisfac-tion. “There is nothing wrong with learning to hit a golf ball straight. Nothing wrong with learning to appreciate beautiful paintings or plant a garden.” By far, he added, “the most rewarding part of my life is — and always has been — that top item on my list: raising a family.” Be deliberate about the job of raising your family and developing lifelong friendships, he advised. “Private life has many rewards,” Gates counseled. “But my

life would have been much the poorer if I had not experienced the times when I felt like I belonged to something larger.” That “larger” some-thing for the past few years has included trav-eling on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a philan-thropic organization that Gates, his son and daughter-in-law founded. “I have seen the stir-rings of a movement for global equality,” the senior Gates said. “I see it in all the attention the foundation is

getting. I see it in something like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. ... More than anything, I see it when I talk to people and hear what they’re concerned about. “And I have begun to perceive that this movement for global equality might just be your civil rights movement,” he told the graduates. “How can a world of plenty have a billion hungry people? How can a million infants die of disease and diarrhea, for which the treatment is Gatorade?” Gates asked. “This could be the world-historical problem that you solve through billions of ordinary acts of citizenship.”

Members of the Class of 2008 face the future with hope as they gather for the annual senior picture before Commencement. (L-to-R in the front row) Lauren Simpson (partially hidden), Lisa Taylor, Whitney Offenbecher, Nakita Parekh, Kelsey Krumdieck and Ashley Gevaart-Durkin.

Bill Gates Sr. shares his ingredients for a full life, a world with less poverty

For more photos and the complete texts of Commencement speeches by Bill Gates Sr. and senior speaker James Rathwell ’08, and Baccalaureate addresses by Adam Kirtley, Stuart coordinator of religious and spiritual life; Nancy Tavelli, associate dean of students, campus life; Elizabeth Vandiver, Clement Biddle Penrose Associate Professor of Latin; and Robert Tobin, Cushing Eells Professor of Humanities, see www.whitman.edu/commencement. Along with Gates, Margaret Chesney ’71 was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters; see Page �9.

Proud families gathered around their graduates after the ceremony. Kalani Katsumi Halemano’s family from Alea, Hawaii, held up this sign during Commencement and adorned him with beautiful flower leis afterward.

It is important to note that the civil rights movement cannot be explained in terms of heroic public service alone, Gates said. For every Martin Luther King Jr. there were “thousands of citi-zens whose names we don’t know.” “So I don’t care if you carry a banner or if you stand near the back ... You just need to be part of the public will to make life on this planet a little bit better.” Global poverty is not primarily an economic or national security issue, Gates said. “This is a humanitarian issue. People are dying and we can save them — that ought to be enough.” Unlike Gates, who graduated from college when there was no Internet, graduates in 2008 would have to work hard not to learn about the wide world, he said. “And when you are aware of suffering, you will act on their behalf.” And so Gates exhorted the students to go fishing, get a massage, find the way to pay the rent, love and be a learned parent and a joyful friend. “But I leave aside any exhortation to go out and change the world. Because you will change it. Not because I say so, but because you are who you are now — graduates of Whitman College — possessed of all of the qualities this fine institution has taught you.”

— Lana Brown

Whitman awarded Bill Gates Sr., cofounder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

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Scholarly perspectives from the classroom and beyond

IN THEIR WORDS

I have taught Shakespeare for more than 20 years, and, like all teachers, I learn from my students as I teach them. But no group of students ever taught me more about Shakespeare’s plays or about myself than the class I taught at the maximum security Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. To this day, the impact of that experience on my teaching extends into my Whitman class-room. I wrote a book about my experiences teaching Shakespeare’s plays to violent criminals. It’s called “Macbeth for

Murderers” and was co-written with John Kerwin, (XLibris Press, 2007). As well as the personal accounts of my prison students about their crimes and what went through their minds when they committed them, it’s also about the struggle of

dedicated teachers like John to give these men a chance at new lives (and, in doing so, make the rest of us safer). The book also explains how a nice middle-class, Ivy League lady like me, with an experience of evil drawn from books, found herself behind prison walls with a roomful of “experts” on the subject, so I won’t go into the details here. I will describe, however, how my time spent in prison contributes to my Whitman students’ education to this day. I try to restrict how much class time I spend talking about the prisoners I taught, but some plays demand the connection. For example, “Othello.” How

Behind closed doors: Shakespeare reaches inmates’ heartsBy Roberta Davidson Professor of English

can I resist reading them the story, narrated by a young man their own age, about how he murdered his girlfriend in a jealous rage and repented it almost imme-diately, when his experience reveals so much about the truth of Othello’s charac-terization? Perhaps, it is a rather heavy dose of reality at 10 in the morning, but it makes the play come alive for my Whitman students (and, based on the wideness of their eyes, it’s more effective than coffee at waking them up). Even more than listening to my former murderer-students speak for themselves, however, Whitman students seem to enjoy hearing about my own experiences teaching at the penitentiary. I have to be careful not to agree every time they ask me to tell them one of those stories — the class, after all, is about Shakespeare, not me. Every now and then, though, in the last few minutes of a class, I’ll tell them about something that happened when I was teaching whichever play we’re discussing at the time. I like to show them that their interpretations of the plays can be surprisingly similar to those of the inmates. On the other hand, I acknowledge that I never have to worry about breaking up classroom fights (“Othello”), or being accused of prac-ticing witchcraft (“Macbeth”), or being stalked (“Hamlet,” but I don’t think there was a connection) when I’m teaching at Whitman. These stories are fun and educational, but they can have a detrimental effect on my students’ punctuality. One day I told my current class about my first day of teaching at the penitentiary, and how a rapist and an armed robber nearly came to blows over their conflicting interpreta-tions of Desdemona’s character. A student came up to me as the rest of the class was leaving and asked what happened next. Obligingly, I described how my stealthy approach to the prospec-tive combatants (with the laudable but, in retrospect, idiotic idea of inserting myself

between them) ended in breaking up the fight because the sight of me stalking the robber amused him so much that he couldn’t keep a straight face. The Whitman student laughed, and so did most of the 25 other people still in the room. I realized that, although the members of the class had risen and picked up their books and backpacks, and the clock indicated that their next classes were beginning, not a student had left while I was finishing my story. Even a couple of the next period’s students, waiting in the hallway, were listening. Since then, I’ve been more careful about my timing. Nonetheless, I never hesitate to share with my students the most important lesson I learned from the inmates: the human potential for transformation, and the power of art to transform us. We are all, in a way, like plays. (Shakespeare called us all actors, alike in our perfor-mances upon the stage of this world.) Undergraduates are comedies — bright, lively, sometimes confused and self-contradictory — but filled with possi-bilities. As we grow older, some lives come more closely to resemble the trage-dies, when our individual desires confront life’s inevitable restrictions. Although, fortunately, not every outcome is neces-sarily as tragic as those of my peniten-tiary students, the truth is that few of us make it through an entire lifetime without mistakes. How fortunate for us, then, that at the end of his brilliant career, Shake-speare turned to writing romances, those moving, almost mystical plays about redemption and second chances. I have seen with my own eyes the power of those plays on hearts hardened by grief and remorse, and on minds resis-tant to hope through continual disappoint-ment. I will never forget the day that I taught “The Winter’s Tale.” It is a story about a man who is responsible for his wife’s death, who repents his actions too late. For 16 years, he suffers for what he has done. Then, one day, he has the

opportunity to look at a statue of her, an image that is exquisitely painful to him because of his guilt. The woman who shows him the image offers to close the curtain, to avoid causing him more pain. “No!” he says. “Not this 20 years.” When he could have looked away, he chooses instead to face what he has done, and the image of the woman whom he loved and destroyed. That, of course, is the key to the magic that follows. His wife returns to life, accepts her husband’s repentance, forgives him and takes him in her arms. Shakespeare accompanies the charm that restores her with music, but even the unadorned words have power to move the listener: ‘Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach; Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come; I’ll fill your grave up. Stir; nay, come away; Bequeath to death your numbness; for from him Dear life redeems you.

I never hesitate to share with my Whitman students the most important lesson I learned from the inmates: the human potential for transformation, and the power of art to transform us.

I spoke these lines in front of a roomful of men whose lives had become death-in-life, whose spirits were stony, whose hearts were nearly numb. When I looked up, I saw that Shakespeare’s charm had worked upon my students, much as it had upon the statue in the play. Life filled their faces, hope and longing seemed to run through them like an elec-tric shock. Hidden in a corner, my most hate-filled student looked back at me, white-faced, his eyes filled with tears. It is not an exaggeration to say that Shake-speare’s words brought men’s souls back from death that day. The class ended, but the plays’ effects remained. What happened in the coming months … but I’m afraid I have reached the end of my time and space to speak to you today, and the rest of my story must wait for another time. “Macbeth for Murderers” is available at the Whitman Bookstore, (509) 527-5274. Roberta Davidson received her bach-elor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College and her Ph.D. from Princeton University. She joined the Whitman faculty in 1988.

Roberta Davidson, professor of English, stands near the boundary of the Washington State Penitentiary. Her book, “Macbeth for Murderers,” recounts her experiences teaching Shakespeare to inmates.

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