This is Vassar...June 2009

Vassar Announces 2009 Fellowship Recipients

Every year, Vassar students achieve national recognition for their academic pursuits with the garnering of various fellowships and awards. This year was no exception, with an outstanding number of Vassar students — and recent alumnae/i — earning an array of honors.

The Kathryn Wasserman Davis Projects for Peace Prize was awarded to María José Méndez ’10 (pictured), a native of Honduras. With the $10,000 she was given, Méndez will spend this summer working with her hometown community to build a water supply that is both sustainable and safe for the village of El Ciruelo. Her efforts will include building a new 10-meter-deep well, in addition to a water pump, piping system, and 10,000-gallon water tank.

The Fulbright Fellowship, which aims to create intellectual and cultural connections between the United States and other nations, was awarded to five graduating seniors. For Laura Fletcher ’09, her Fulbright will bring her to China to examine the theory, technique, and application of psychological procedures in schools in differing locations; Jonathan Kaiman ’09 will also travel to China to study the impact of modernity on the musical traditions of the Yi people; and Alexander “Sasha” Steinberg ’09 will embark on a critical investigation of public art and urban identity in Moscow. Allison Bloom ’09 and Michael Frenkel ’09 will travel on behalf of Fulbright’s English Teaching Assistantships (ETA) Program to Uruguay and Spain, respectively. Two recent alums were also awarded Fulbrights — Ethan Bien ’04 will travel to Russia to study Soviet animation techniques, and Acacia O’Connor ’08 will pursue an ETA in Malta.

Katharine Fussner ’09, Dana Levin ’09, and Brian Mawyer ’09 will all travel to France, having been awarded French Government Teaching Assistantships through the French Ministry of Education.

A number of other fellowships and grants were awarded to Vassar students and recent graduates this year, including two Compton Foundation Mentor Fellowships, a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, and National Science Foundation grants. The Office for Fellowships and Pre-Health Advising also has several fellowships open to alumnae/i. Contact the director, Lisa Kooperman, at likooperman@vassar.edu for more information.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Tamar Thibodeau

Students Honored at Athletics Banquet

Each May, Vassar’s athletes and coaches gather to honor and celebrate the achievements of the past year at the annual Department of Athletics and Physical Education banquet. In recognition of their contributions as both powerful players and exemplary teammates, five Vassar athletes were honored with awards.

Female Athlete of the Year: Emily Love ’09
In her four years at Vassar, Love has made a lasting impression on the record books, owning six individual records as well as swimming on four record-breaking relay teams. She was the Liberty League Swimmer of the Year in both 2007-08 and 2008-09, and qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships in both 2007 and 2008, where she earned All-American status each year.

Male Athlete of the Year:
John Kessenich ’09
Kessenich (pictured) finished his senior year as the all-time leader of assists since the rally-scoring era began, ranking him seventh nationally. He was also honored twice by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), who named him a Second-Team All-American as well as National Player of the Week — the first time in six years a Vassar player was given this honor.

Athletic and Fitness Alumnae/i Award: Christine Eaccarino ’09
Eaccarino was honored by AFAVC for her extraordinary leadership and performance on the women’s lacrosse team this season. Scoring a goal in every game but one, she led the team in both points and assists, ranking her second for assists on the all-time career list. Her offensive prowess also earned her an All-Liberty League Honorable Mention.

Frances D. Fergusson Coaches Award: Scott Leserman ’09
This men’s volleyball player established himself as the national leader in digs, earning Second-Team All-America honors from the AVCA. This past season he had 361 digs, the third highest single season total in program history. Leserman is also the all-time leader in digs per game.

Betty Richey Award: Liz Pacheco ’10
Named in honor of longtime Vassar coach and administrator Betty Richey, this award was presented to junior Liz Pacheco of women’s lacrosse. She was selected for the Defensive All-Liberty League First Team, but proved herself a strong offensive player as well, possessing the highest shots-on-goal percentage (.944) of the Vassar team.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Robin Deutsch

Commencement 2009

On Sunday, May 24, 2009, 616 Bachelor of Arts degrees were conferred upon the Class of 2009 in Vassar’s 145th commencement exercises. President Hill presided over the ceremony, which also featured remarks from Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, Senior Class President Luis Gabriel Hoyos ’09 (pictured), Chair of the Trustees William A. Plapinger ’74, and Commencement Speaker Matthew Spitzer, president of Doctors Without Borders USA. “It is not an entirely welcoming world that awaits you,” President Hill warned the graduates, “but it is a world that needs you.”

The ceremony marked the conclusion of an event-filled week celebrating the achievements of the Class of 2009, during which seniors brunched at a local winery, took over the lanes at Hoe Bowl, cruised down the Hudson on a party boat, and danced all night at Mahoney’s. In addition, the traditional Baccalaureate Service, which featured keynote speaker Dr. Claudia Thomas ’71, as well as the APAVC Lei Ceremony and the AAAVC Kente Cloth Ceremony, all served to commemorate both the accomplishments and the promise of this year’s graduating class.

New to the schedule this year was the first-ever Lavender Grad Reception, sponsored by the Campus Life LGBTQ Center, “for graduating seniors who identify as queer, questioning, and allies to the queer community.” The purpose of the reception, says Julie Silverstein, Vassar’s assistant director for campus life for LGBTQ programs, “was to honor the significant contributions to Vassar made by the queer and ally community.” The reception was also intended to “acknowledge some of the unique experiences queer students have at Vassar.” Rainbow tassels were given to all seniors in attendance, who were encouraged to wear them at Commencement to demonstrate their pride and support for Vassar’s LGBTQ community.

Photo credit: Todd Shapera ’79

An Unusual Bequest

When Beth Hughes was given a Vassar College graduation pin that had belonged to a friend’s mother, Ethel Marie Burr, class of 1909, she knew she had a unique treasure on her hands. The tiny pin is shaped like an owl wearing the numbers “09” over its eyes like spectacles, with the initials “E.M.B.” on its back. (Hughes, a history teacher, had also been given Burr’s Vassarion, which she liked to show to her students.) As the hundredth anniversary of Burr’s Vassar graduation approached, Hughes wanted to do something special with the pin — perhaps to somehow present it to a member of this new century’s Vassar ’09ers?

She contacted Executive Director of Campus Activities Teresa Quinn, who then alerted Director of Alumnae/i Relations for Programs Cathy Lunn of Hughes’s unique bequest. Lunn searched the members of the class of 2009 for someone with Burr’s initials — and found just one match: Elizabeth Marta Bock.

Lunn met with Bock, an art history and political science double major, and gave her Burr’s yearbook so she could see Ethel’s photograph. At that meeting, Lunn says, “I knew I had found the right person” for the pin — regardless of the serendipitously matching monogram. “She told me that she came to Vassar because of the history,” Lunn says, “and now she will have a part of it.”

Bock, as a senior, happened to work in Vassar’s special collections library, where she was able to look up Burr’s biographical file, hoping to learn more about her. Ethel Marie Burr — the great-grandniece of Aaron Burr — “seemed like a very fascinating woman, who read and traveled a great deal,” she says.

Bock was presented the pin at Commencement. AAVC President Meg Venecek Johnson ’84 mentioned the pin and its history in her remarks that day, after noting that graduation was the moment when the class of 2009 became not just the “beneficiaries of Vassar traditions,” but also “the guardians of those very same traditions.” She asked Bock to take “good care” of the pin — it is, she said, “due back before the class of 2109 walks across this stage.”

Bock plans to attend law school next year at the University of Michigan.

Photo credit: Todd Shapera ’79

A Jeopardy! Update

At the time of our last eNewsletter, it was unclear what fate awaited Vassar freshman Greg Lichtenstein ’12 as the Jeopardy! 2009 College Championship began. As readers of this eNewletter may already know from having watched the show, Lichtenstein triumphed in the first round, edging out the competition and marking himself as the only freshman to make it to the semifinals. In Lichtenstein’s next appearance, which was broadcast the following week, he led the pack up until the Final Jeopardy! round, where he came in second to a senior from the University of Missouri — but nonetheless, walked away with $10,000.

Lichtenstein, who spent his spring break in California with his family while filming Jeopardy!, was unable to reveal the outcome of his exploits to any friends in the interim. “Surprisingly,” he says, “it was not too difficult keeping it a secret. It was almost like a little game.” The suspense certainly built up on campus, where students gathered eagerly at screening events to cheer on their classmate. Greg, who was also in attendance, notes that although the experience of watching himself on TV was “weird,” he was “very happy to see so many people come to watch with me and support me.”

The following is a sample of some of the many Jeopardy! answers Lichtenstein correctly provided questions to. See how you do! We’ve included the answers — that is, the questions — at the very end of the eNewsletter.*

1. Of Nobel Prize literature laureates, this documenter of the Gulag has the longest one-word surname.
2. In the Crusades, the knights of this Mediterranean island had to contend with fire-hurling Saracens; the FDNY later adopted their cross as a badge of honor.
3. After a mating flight, male ants wander off and die; queen ants tear these off and search for a nesting site.
4. This archduke of Austria, who became emperor of Mexico, died before a firing squad in 1867.

Photo credit: Courtesy of "Jeopardy!" Productions, Inc.

Pirates!

The serenity of a peaceful spring Sunday was shaken on May 10 when Vassar fell victim to an invasion of pirates — members of the Bard College student group P.I.R.A.T.E.S. (People Interested in Restoring a Tradition of Excellence at Sea), that is.

According to Madison Fletcher, a Bard freshman and a participant in the raid, the pirates were of the friendly variety, attempting to bring some cheer and entertainment to Vassar students during the frenzy of finals. “When we raided this year we knew that the kids had finals the next day but we figured that we could bring some comical stress relief,” she says — “and I believe we did to some. It really is just playful fun.”

P.I.R.A.T.E.S. was founded in the fall of 2003 by two Bard freshmen who hoped to use their fledgling group to screen pirate movies, throw pirate-themed parties, and raid Vassar. P.I.R.A.T.E.S. cofounder Josh Klein-Kuhn, Bard ’07, recounts that on their first raid, upon “slunk[ing], en masse, onto campus,” the “two large vans’ worth” of pirates “ran around the quad, demanding booty.” They then created a scene in ACDC, where several “fair maidens went shrieking in, followed closely by bloodthirsty pirates, who chased them around the serving area.”

This year’s raid, in contrast, was somewhat tamer. The Bard students, bedecked in swashbuckling apparel, cruised a 17-man paper ship through the quad, crying “Barrrrrd!” along the way. After the requisite staking of (peaceful) conquest flags, which bore the letter “B” imposed over a skull and crossbones, the incursion concluded on the steps of ACDC, where the pirates reveled in traditional piratic greeting and cheer. “We even had a few Vassar students join in,” Fletcher notes. “We made them ‘walk the plank.’”

Photo credit: Courtesy of Madison Fletcher

* The questions to Greg Lichtenstein’s Jeopardy! answers: 1. Who was Solzhenitsyn? 2. What is Malta? 3. What are wings? 4. Who was Maximilian?