This is Vassar...October 2009

The Van Ingen Art Library: A Restoration Revisits Technology

The beginning of the fall semester marked the reopening of the newly renovated Van Ingen Art Library, which had been closed for the duration of the last academic year. The library was built in 1937 and designed by John McAndrew, who taught architectural history and drafting at Vassar from 1931 to 1937. Many art historians consider the library a rare example of a complete early modernist American interior from the pre-World War II period. The building’s remarkable architectural elements were respected during its overhaul—there has been a complete restoration of the original interior as detailed in the plans from the 1930s, for example—but new art visualization technologies have been introduced to make the library more modern and efficient.

The newly refurbished Art Library

To commemorate the reopening of the Art Library, Vassar held lectures, tours, and a panel featuring architectural historian Mardges Bacon; Christopher Wilk ’76 of the Furniture, Textiles, and Fashion Department at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum; and New York City-based architect Charles Platt. An exhibit examining the life and work of the original architect, entitled John McAndrew: Architect, Educator, and Preservationist, will be on display through November 1.

Women’s Studies Presents First Annual Peace Week

In celebration of the International Day of Peace on September 21, the Women’s Studies Program inaugurated the College’s first-ever Peace Week in hopes of promoting peace activism around the Hudson Valley and Vassar communities. The keynote speakers were Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Gini Reticker and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. Reticker directed the 2008 documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which depicts the rise of a Liberian women’s group that worked to promote peace and to elect the nation’s first female head of state. Gbowee, who received the 2009 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for exceptional public service, is one of the activists featured in the film. Reticker and Gbowee hosted a screening of the film and a lecture entitled “Women, War and Peace.” Peace Week also featured a “Peace is Loud” vigil, a panel discussion for students on opportunities in and funding for peace work, and a roundtable discussion on peace.

Associate Professor of History Lydia Murdoch ’92, who directs Vassar’s Women’s Studies program says Peace Week will become an annual event highlighting a different aspect of women’s peace activism each year. By raising awareness about the various forms of violence that women face while also articulating the practice of living in peace, Murdoch and the Women’s Studies department endeavor “to promote the idea that peace is a process—not an event—which requires coalition building, respect for all human life, and tenacity.”

Credit: Original artwork by Olaf Hajek, poster Design by PrettyCo

Lecturer Emeritus Jeh Johnson to Receive
Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award

The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill will bestow the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award upon architect and retired Senior Lecturer in Art Jeh Johnson during a ceremony at the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park on October 18. The award honors people and organizations that demonstrate the values Roosevelt espoused in her public life, among them helping people in need and inspiring the next generation.

Johnson, who taught architectural design at Vassar from 1964 to 2001, will be celebrated for his commitment to social awareness in design throughout his distinguished career and his insistence that designers recognize their social responsibilities and promote fairness and “humaneness” through their work. Johnson, who was a co-founder of the National Organization of Minority Architects and of the New York Coalition of Black Architects, has designed more than 4,300 high-quality, low-cost housing units for underprivileged groups and was an early pioneer of urban development, serving on President Lyndon Johnson’s Commission on Urban Problems in 1967. Johnson also designed the ALANA Center and Susan Stein Shiva Theater on Vassar’s campus as well as several buildings in the Poughkeepsie community.

Alumnae/i Medical Panel Offers Advice to Budding Doctors

In conjunction with the Career Development Office (CDO) and the Office of Pre-Professional Advising, AAVC served as sponsor of “Career Paths in Medicine,” a panel featuring four established physicians who are Vassar alumnae/i. The event, which took place on September 26, was targeted to Vassar’s freshman class, many of whom are considering a career in the field. Moderated by Associate Professor of Psychology Susan Trumbetta, the panel featured Dr. Margarita Camacho ’78, an AAVC trustee; Dr. Gary Epstein-Lubow ’89; Dr. Juliet Nevins ’91; and Dr. Eran Zacks ’96.

The four panelists, whose specialties include cardiac transplants, psychiatry and geriatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and cardiac electrophysiology, focused on the ways in which their Vassar educations had shaped their career paths and recalled their trajectories through medical school, residencies, fellowships, and practices. They also discussed the rewards and surprises they have encountered along the way. The audience comprised both students and their parents, who were invited to a networking luncheon with the panelists and members of Vassar’s Pre-medical Advisory Committee after the discussion.

Campus Dining Offers Wink to Alumna Meryl Streep’s Julie and Julia

Audiences around the world found themselves enchanted by this summer’s culinary film Julie and Julia, starring Meryl Streep ’71 as legendary chef Julia Child. But Streep isn’t the only Vassarion involved in the film, which tells the story of Child’s rise to fame alongside the journey a 21st century blogger who sets out to cook all of Child’s recipes in a year. Julie and Julia featured an appearance by Frances Sternhagen ’51, who plays chef Irma Rombauer, mother of Marion Rombauer ’25.  Also portrayed in the movie is the husband of Julie and Julia author Julie Powell, alumnus Eric Powell ’96. 

On September 5, current Vassar students got a taste of Julie and Julia, too, as Campus Dining spiced up the usual offerings at ACDC by offering classic recipes from Julia Child’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, including French onion soup, crepes, ratatouille, and boeuf bourguignon. To further entice attendees, Campus Dining offered a drawing for prizes including a copy of Child’s book and a Vassar apron autographed by Streep herself.

One of ACDC’s prizes—a Vassar apron signed by Meryl Streep ’71

Campus Dining Marketing and Sustainability Director Kenneth Oldehoff, says, “I saw Meryl Streep being interviewed by Diane Sawyer and she seemed like such a genuine person and a good sport. I thought it would be fun to combine the food aspect—Julia Child's recipes—and the Vassar connection with Streep,” he says. Oldehoff notes that students really seemed to have fun and enjoy the French fare. “The event was a tremendous success, thanks to the ACDC’s staff”—which had to figure out how to translate recipes for eight people into those serving 1,600. Oldehoff reports, “One student at the dessert table said, ‘This is the happiest day of my life,’ and sort of meant it.” As Child herself used to say, "Bon appétit!"

Beach House: An Alumna’s Band Returns to Campus

On October 9, Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) will host the indie-rock band Beach House—featuring alumna Victoria Legrand ’03— in its major concert of the year. The concert will be held in the Chapel and also will include the band Grizzly Bear.

While at Vassar, Legrand, a drama major, took vocal lessons and played in various bands. “There were lots of people in bands playing parties and shows,” she told the Miscellany News in 2007. “I met a lot of people who knew a bunch of crazy stuff, so it made me grow musically.” After graduating, she moved to Baltimore, where she met future bandmate Alex Scally and began collaborating on what would soon become their acclaimed self-titled debut, released in February 2006.

Their music, a fusion of guitar, keyboard, vocals, and organ, has been hailed as “languid,” “lonely,” “haunting,” and “wistful”—a testament to the lingering quality of the vocal tracks for which the classically trained Legrand is responsible. The duo released another critically successful album, Devotion, in 2007, and recently signed to Sub Pop Records, a prominent label with acts as popular and diverse as The Shins, The Postal Service, and Fleet Foxes on its roster. Beach House’s anticipated next release, scheduled for winter of 2010, was recorded this past July.

The event is open to the public. Tickets are available for $25 at TicketWeb.com; a limited number of tickets will be available at the door for the same price.

Photo caption: Victoria Legrand ’03 with bandmate Alex Scally
Photo credit: Liz Flyntz

October Speakers at Vassar

Poet and University of Michigan Professor of English Thylias Moss will deliver the Elizabeth Bishop lecture in Sanders Classroom 212 on October 1. Her latest book of “poams,” Tokyo Butter, was written during the development of Limited Fork Poetics, her theory of interacting language systems. She was a 1996 MacArthur Fellow and has received a Whiting Writer’s Award and a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation. Learn more about Moss.

Israeli 19-year-olds Maya Wind and Netta Mishly will deliver a lecture, entitled “Why We Refuse,” in Rockefeller Hall on October 4. Mishly and Wind refused to join the Israeli military to fight their neighbors in Palestine and have served jail time as a result. They are members of a group of conscientious objectors, the Shministim. Read more about the group.

Brian Martin, Williams College professor of French and comparative literature, will discuss “Gays in the Military: Combat Companions and Soldier Lovers in France,” on October 5 in Rockefeller Hall. Before modern debates on sexuality and the military, soldiers around the world sought companionship in one another from the Trojan War to World War I. The lecture is part of the series “Transnational Queer: Genders, Sexualities, Identities,” offered in conjunction with a course taught by French professor Vinay Swamy. Learn more about Martin and his publications.

Reverend Petero Sabune ’77 and several colleagues from Sing-Sing Correctional Facility will host the panel discussion “Religion in Prison in the 21st Century” on October 27 in Sanders Classroom 212. Sing-Sing is a maximum-security prison located in Ossining, NY. Sabune, a native of Uganda, is widely recognized for his work with Episcopal faith communities and immigrants. Read an article about Sabune at “Episcopal Life Online.”

Pulitzer-Prize winning author Junot Diaz (pictured) will deliver the Gifford Lecture in the Villard Room on October 28. Diaz has received worldwide acclaim for his fiction, which includes Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He currently works as fiction editor of the Boston Review and Rudge (1948) as well as the Nancy Allen Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Read up on Diaz.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Junot Diaz