This is Vassar...                   February 2008

Thompson Library Named One of the Most Beautiful

Curious Expeditions, a website dedicated to unearthing and documenting the most remarkable places of past and present across the globe, has named Vassar’s Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. Visit the website to view Vassar’s library, alongside the likes of The Long Room in the Trinity College Library in Dublin, the library in the Strahov Monestary in Prague, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Not only does Vassar’s main library rank in beauty, but together all of Vassar’s libraries are among the very best liberal arts colleges collections, currently providing students and faculty more than one million pieces. In addition to the Thompson Library (1905), Vassar’s libraries include The Van Ingen Library (1937), the Helen D. Lockwood Library (1977), and the Martha Rivers and E. Bronson Ingram library addition (1999), and the George Sherman Dickinson Music Library (located in Skinner Hall).

Photo credit: Tamar Thibodeau

Alumnae/i to Share Their Stories and Advice with Current Students

The Council of Black Seniors (CBS) is planning an alumnae/i panel, “The Paths They Took: Life After Vassar,” on Saturday, February 9. Formed in 1990, CBS is a student-run organization that provides pre-professional services, as well as social and cultural events that reflect the diversity of the senior class. Examples of these events include career fairs, workshops, lectures, study breaks, block parties, and photo exhibits. These events focus specifically, but not exclusively, on the needs of black seniors.

By organizing the alumnae/i panel, CBS hopes to offer seniors a glimpse into some of the many paths that Vassar alumnae/i have chosen and the experiences they have had since graduating. In order to highlight a wide range of experiences, CBS will offer two separate panels that seniors and other interested students can attend. In the afternoon students will have the opportunity to hear from more recent alumnae/i; this group will speak to everyday life immediately after college and share their experience in the work world or in post-graduate academia. The second panel of alumnae/i will offer insight into long-range options that aided them in reaching their career goals. While this event is created for seniors of color, it will be open to the entire campus.

And on Friday, February 15 the Office of International Services will host an alumnae/i panel on life after Vassar. Organized by the office's student interns, the panel participants, primarily former international students at Vassar, will offer current students advice on how they chose their career paths. Students seeking to pursue a career or continue their education outside their home country face many obstacles, some foreseen and some not. These alumnae/i will address the obstacles they have overcome in their diverse journeys.

The program consists of two sessions, and all students are welcome at each one. The first, from 4–5 p.m., will feature alumnae/i participating virtually from around the globe via tools such as Skype. Alumnae/i who live nearby and are able to come in person will present and answer questions from 5–6 p.m. in the second session.

For more information, please contact the Office of International Services at internationalservices@vassar.edu.

Post-Grad Plans Loom Large for Molly Finkelstein ’08

Worrying about my future is very time consuming. The possibilities seem endless and, in many respects, I guess they are. I don’t have any real obligations post-grad except for paying off my Vassar loans, which, for the time being, I am mentally repressing. I’m not tied to any particular locations—I pick a new country to live in every week and, for a while, I was trying to decide between Portland, Park Slope, or Prague. I’m also fairly open in terms of occupation, at least hypothetically.

I’ve been trying not to get overly excited about any specific life plan in case it doesn’t work out. In this vein, I have developed an ever-expanding collection of hypothetical post-Vassar plans. They come in several categories. First is the Very Specific Plan. These plans include studying ancient history at a graduate school in the Netherlands (no Greek and Latin competence necessary, unlike their American counterparts), working at a teen magazine in Australia, and teaching English in rural France.

Then there are the Incredibly Vague, Generally Unlikely Plans, mainly involving places I’d consider living. These generally don’t consist of much more than “Move to Singapore.” I also have Ultimate Back-Up Plans, in case all else fails. These are primarily based off the singular goal of not living in New Jersey anymore. These include working for my cousin doing “something in English” in Beijing or getting a cheap apartment somewhere in Philly.

I also have Plans Based Off Advice From English Professors, which singularly includes taking a year off to “do whatever—work at a bakery or something” and then applying to M.F.A. programs.

Then, I’ve got what I consider my more realistic plans (though God knows how realistic they actually are), which are pretty much the typical Vassar senior plans: move to Brooklyn and try to get a job in publishing or at a museum or doing something sort of interesting. According to my calculations (36,000 alumnae/i, average of 25 years of occupational experience), you have a combined 900,000 years of job experience, so any wisdom you could impart to the terrified seniors of the class of ’08 would be greatly appreciated.

Photo credit: Craig Burdett

17th Annual Alumni Basketball Game

Eighteen former Vassar men’s basketball players returned to campus in January to reminisce, watch the current undergraduate team play, and take to the court. Many of the alumni players came from East Coast cities such as Washington, New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. But Anthony Mannara ’80 worked his visit into a business trip and made the trek from Italy to return to campus.

Standing: Adam Perrelli '99, Tom Driscoll '07, Evan Hannay '07, Mike Chin '05,
Dave Cronan '91, Alan Kapson '79, Josh Beauregard '00, Ed Pittman '82,
John Clancy '92, Joe Slotnick '99; Kneeling: Colm O'Malley '91, Joe Ward '07,
Anthony Mannara '80, Mike Merlo '98, Dave Padrino '00
Not pictured: Avi Kramer '04, Sean Sweeney '83, Dave Kaplan '83

The weekend started with an overtime win for Vassar’s varsity team versus Hamilton College. On Saturday, alumni were in the stands for another Vassar win, this time against Hobart College. Finally, it was time for the college students to officiate, keep score, and cheer for the alumni—and the alumni did not disappoint. The final score was 74-72. The Burgundy Team won with a last-second shot by David Padrino ’00 on an assist by Josh Beauregard ’00. Head Coach Mike Dutton, who had coached many of the returning players as undergrads, said, “It’s nice for the students to meet the guys who came before them, and for the alumnae/i to watch Vassar’s team play well—and for some of them, even see and play on the new basketball court for the first time. It is a weekend of connections and reconnections.”

Laurie Schwab Zabin ’46, Recipient of the 2008 AAVC Award for Distinguished Achievement, Will Give On-Campus Talk

On Friday, February 8, AAVC will honor Laurie Schwab Zabin ’46 with the seventh annual Award for Distinguished Achievement. Before the on-campus dinner and award ceremony on the 8th, Zabin will speak to members of the Vassar community on Thursday in a talk entitled “Poetry-->Population-->Public Health: Choice, or Chance?” that traces her path from a senior thesis at Vassar on the poetry of Dylan Thomas to an M.A. at Harvard in English literature to a Ph.D. in population dynamics from the Johns Hopkins University to the position of professor in that same university’s department of population, reproductive, and family health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Recognized as one of the most cited authors in the social sciences, Zabin’s research focuses on interventions for adolescents, abortion and its aftereffects, and women at high risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection in the United States, and she has testified and spoken broadly on reproductive health and rights. Zabin was the founding director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, and since establishing the institute has extended her research to the developing world, with current research projects underway on adolescents and youth in Shanghai, Taipei, and Hanoi. Zabin has authored three books and many articles, book chapters, and reports.

Before academia and research, Zabin served with Planned Parenthood at the local, national, and international levels, including as acting director and president of the Maryland affiliate and, in the 1960s, helped to bring some of the first federal funding into the family planning field.

Zabin will join her AAVC Award with ones she has received from, among others, the American Public Health Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, and the Johns Hopkins University, which established a fellowship in reproductive health in her honor in 2002.

Photo credit: Randall Scott

Artists in Residence Theodore Bikel and Tamara Brooks Visit Vassar

From February 10-18, Vassar will host renowned actor and folk singer Theodore Bikel and conductor Tamara Brooks as its Artists in Residence for 2008. Bikel was Broadway’s original Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music. One of the show’s most famous songs, “Edelweiss,” was written for him. He played Tevye, the lovable father in Fiddler on the Roof, more than 2,000 times and has entertained audiences on stage, in film, and through music for decades. Bikel is also a peace activist and known for his dedication to preserving Jewish language and culture. Brooks is an internationally renowned classical pianist and conductor, who taught at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. She is also a peace activist who has put music at the service of bringing people together.

Together, Bikel and Brooks will share their love of music, drama, and activism with the Vassar community through a program entitled “The Arts as a Bridge to Peace.” The two will spend the majority of their time at Vassar teaching students during workshops on acting, film, and music; and participating in classes and workshops on the Holocaust, music, Jewish art and culture, and dramatic writing.

The public is invited to participate in two free special events at Vassar during the Bikel-Brooks residency. On Thursday, February 14 at 5:00 p.m., the pair will deliver a lecture with music called “The Artist as Activist: A Conversation with Theodore Bikel and Tamara Brooks” in the second floor auditorium of Students’ Building. They will discuss the nature and power of the arts to transmit culture, hope, and history—and how artists can use art in the service of activism. And, on Sunday, February 17 at 3:30 p.m., “An Afternoon with Theodore Bikel and Tamara Brooks: Stories and Songs from Around the World” will be presented in the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film’s Martel Theater. A limited number of free tickets will be available; please contact Joan Gerardi at 845.437.5584.

This Artists in Residence Program is presented by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and is made possible through the generosity of Joan Kostick Andrews ’52 and Peter Andrews.

Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Theodore Bikel

New Athletic Team at Vassar; Bring Your Own Broom

Every Sunday and Wednesday, Vassar transforms into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when students, toting brooms and a volleyball, take to Joss Beach for a friendly game of quidditch. The sport, which was created by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series, has taken off at college campuses nationwide. Vassar’s team, the Butterbeer Brewers, already has close to 30 members.

Woodrow Travers ’09 introduced the sport to Vassar earlier in the year after visiting his friend Xander Manshel at Middlebury College. Manshel, who wrote the original rules of college quidditch, encouraged Travers to bring the sport back to Vassar. The game, which has spread to at least 15 other schools (there’s even an Intercollegiate Quidditch Association), has already garnered the attention of the Wall Street Journal and ESPN The Magazine. The players were recently interviewed by USA Today following the November 11 World Cup at Middlebury.

Vassar’s quidditch team went head-to-head with Middlebury for the World Cup. Players donned bright pink capes sporting a giant “V” and other “wizarding touches” that were created and sewn together by Conard Schott’s mom. “It’s hilarious and so much fun to be running around on brooms,” says Schott ’11, who has become the unofficial team captain. “In quidditch, anything goes. It’s similar to rugby. You can tackle and do whatever you need to do to get the ball.”

“Quidditch is pretty unique,” adds Travers. “It’s like a combination of literature, physical activity, and Halloween.”

Photo credit: Ryan Kellet

Renowned Women’s Studio Workshop Artists’-Books Collection Archive is Established at Vassar

The Archives and Special Collections at the Vassar libraries now holds a collection of artists’ books produced by the nonprofit Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW), which since 1979 has grown to become the largest publisher in the country of these hand-printed and hand-bound works. The WSW is based in nearby Rosendale, New York.

While there is no fixed definition of an artist’s book, it is always a work of art in itself, created for its own sake. The objects incorporate a wide range of media, which at the WSW may include hand-drawn, sewn, and painted images, handmade paper, letterpress, silkscreen, photography, intaglio, and ceramics. Artists have produced 160 of these books with the WSW, through annually juried international competitions.

The workshop’s first shipment of 22 artists’ books was recently made to Special Collections, which houses all of the college’s extensive rare book holdings, including a number of private press and artists’ books. Vassar will acquire nearly the entire existing body of the publisher’s books over the next five years, and simultaneously Special Collections will add the new books WSW produces each year.

Over the past eight years, the WSW has also established repositories for its artists’ books at Yale University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Indiana University, the University of Delaware, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Image credit: Alphabet Tricks, by Diane Jacobs (2000)

Listen Anytime Online to WVKR, Vassar’s Independent Radio 91.3 FM

Did you know that you can listen to 91.3 FM, WVKR, Vassar’s independent radio station, anytime online? Visit http://www.wvkr.org to hear daily live broadcasts from the station.

WVKR, which began in the early ’70s as an AM station broadcast from Main Building just to the on-campus community, transferred to an FM frequency by 1975 and reached an 18-mile radius outside the Vassar campus. Transmission shifted to a stronger, off-campus transmitter in 1994, offering 24-hour, year-round programming to listeners in five (New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) states.

Almost completely student-run, WVKR also features community DJs that help put out the mix of programming that encompasses everything from a Polish hour to the nationally syndicated Democracy Now!: The War and Peace Report to classic country to a program called Library Cafe, on which scholars, artists, and librarians talk with Vassar Art Librarian Thomas Hill about books, ideas, and the formation and circulation of knowledge.

Photo credit: Will Faller