COA Volume 7 Number 1 Spring 2011 COA ANNOUNCES A NEW PRESIDENT Darron Collins 92-see - page 2 COA Mission College of the Atlantic enriches Letter from the Editor the liberal arts tradition through a distinctive educational philosophy- Congratulations COA! Soon we will have one of human ecology. A human ecological our own as president. perspective integrates knowledge from all academic disciplines and from By choosing Darron Collins '92 as our next presi- personal experience to investigate, and dent, COA is not only endorsing a young, en- ultimately improve, the relationships between human beings and our ergetic man with great ideas-we're endorsing social and natural communities. The ourselves. human ecological perspective guides all aspects of education, research, It's especially meaningful given that COA's first four presidents had Harvard activism, and interactions among the connections. In fact, I seem to recall an early article about COA describ- college's students, faculty, staff, and ing our founders as something like "disgruntled Harvard types." Don't get trustees. The College of the Atlantic me wrong. Our Harvard leaders have done well by COA. Thinking of their community encourages, prepares, contributions, Ed Kaelber first helped to shape us; Judith Swazey challenged and expects students to gain the us; Lou Rabineau helped restore us; and Steve Katona shepherded us into expertise, breadth, values, and practical a sense of true security. Moving on from Harvard, David Hales brought us experience necessary to achieve national and even international renown and Andy Griffiths, during his short individual fulfillment and to help solve tenure, helped keep us on an even keel. problems that challenge communities everywhere. But now we have one of our own. Someone with human ecology in his veins; someone who will continue the experiment. Front Cover Students take the rapids in Ken Cline's The letter I originally wrote for this page-before we had an announcement Whitewater/White Paper class. See of a new president-focused on our main story, COA's experiential approach page 19 for our feature story on COA's to education. What synchronicity! Darron is such a believer in engaged edu- experiential classrooms. Photo by Lauren cation that he actually created one of the classes we happened to include in Nutter 10. this issue. Back Cover As most of you know, a COA education demands more of students than read- For the Shadow, by Aishath Loofa ing and repeating. Our students are digging hands into dirt, dissecting fruits Mohamed '11 for her senior project and seals, writing poetry, composing music, talking to citizens about changes exhibit, Duality, which was dedicated they might like to see in their community, building an electric car, intensely to the feminine shadow and feminine debating texts-and paddling down rivers. Our students become immersed power and beauty. in their studies; sometimes literally; always figuratively. This engagement does more than teach students the subject matter of the course; it does more even than invest those ideas into their bodies; the en- gagement challenges students to go forth and interrogate, explore and cre- COA is published biannually for the ate-to find their own means of learning. Just ask Darron. College of the Atlantic community. Please send ideas, letters, and As we grow in years and students and programs, as we change leaders, and submissions (short stories, poetry, and then change them again, there's an increasing possibility that the individual revisits to human ecology essays) to: elements that together form COA-as a mission, as a community and as a COA Magazine pedagogy-will fall by the wayside. But Darron embodies every one of the College of the Atlantic elements that shape COA: Energetic. Enthusiastic. Experimental. Experien- 105 Eden St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609 tial. Egalitarian. dgold@coa.edu What a way to begin our fifth decade! PS: As you read about COA's kaleidoscopic approach to experiential educa- tion-an approach as varied and multilayered as the COA community it- self-notice please, how many of these articles are written by current COA students. They make me SO proud! MIX PRINTED WITH CERTIFIED Paper from responsible sources WIND FSC www.fsc.org FSC C021556 POWER Donna Gold, COA Editor Printed on recycled paper with vegetable-based on equipment using 100% wind-generated power. COA Beat COA The College of the Atlantic Magazine Darron Collins '92, COA's Next President 2 Volume 7 Number I Spring 2011 Student Honors and Deep Gratitudes 4 In Celebration of a Consummate Teacher: Judith Cox 7 Donna Gold ALUMNI CONSULTANTS An appreciation by Amy Hoffmaster '06 EDITOR Jill Barlow-Kelley The Sea and Everything In It 8 Dianne Clendaniel Bill Carpenter Evelyn Smith '11 and the Penobscot East Resource Center EDITORIAL CONSULTANT EDITORIAL GUIDANCE Youth Inspirations 9 Sarah Haughn '08 Heather Albert-Knopp '99 COPY EDITING John Anderson By Watson Fellow Lauren Nutter '10 Rich Borden Rebecca Hope Woods Staff Profile 11 Lynn Boulger DESIGNER Catherine Clinger Marie Stivers J.S. McCarthy Printers Julia De Santis '12 Donor Profile Augusta, Maine Jennifer Hughes 12 PRINTER Jabulile Mickle Molefe '14 Polly Guth Oral History 13 COA ADMINISTRATION Rich Borden: A love relationship from the beginning Andrew Griffiths INTERIM PRESIDENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE DEAN Autumn, Maine 15 Sarah Baker By Caitlin Thurrell '11 DEAN OF ADMISSION Lynn Boulger DEAN OF DEVELOPMENT COA's Experiential Classroom 19 Ken Cline Challenging Beliefs: The Team-Taught Newfoundland class ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR FACULTY Kenneth Hill Nishanta Rajakaruna's Delectable Education ACADEMIC DEAN Sarah Luke A Passion for Rivers: Whitewater/Whitepaper with Ken Cline ASSOCIATE DEAN OF STUDENT LIFE Collective Meandering: Bill Carpenter's Bread, Love and Dreams Sean Todd ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ADVANCED STUDIES Dru Colbert: Encouraging Curiosity and Wonder In Doing Nothing, Everything is Done: John Visvader's Philosophy in Action COA BOARD OF TRUSTEES In the Tracks of Winter: Steve Ressel Takes Ecology to the Extreme CHAIRMAN BOARD MEMBERS The Predictable and the Uncomfortable: COA's Outdoor Program William G. Foulke, Jr. Leslie C. Brewer Jay Friedlander: Launching Sustainable Ventures VICE CHAIR T.A. Cox Elizabeth D. Hodder Todd Little-Siebold: Local Apples and Global History Nikhit D'Sa '06 VICE CHAIR Dianna Emory Kneading Across Cultures: Suzanne Morse's Our Daily Bread Casey Mallinckrodt Amy Yeager Geier SECRETARY Catherine Clinger Carves into Art History: Art Since 1900 Ronald E. Beard George B.E. Hambleton TREASURER Philip B. Kunhardt III '77 Poetry 34 William N. Thorndike, Jr. Suzanne Folds McCullough Obade by Jabulile Mickle Molefe '14 Sarah A. McDaniel '93 LIFE TRUSTEES Bog Boots by Ivy Sienkiewycz '14 Jay McNally '84 James M. Gower Smoke by Hazel Jacoby 14 Samuel M. Hamill, Jr. Philip S.J. Moriarty John N. Kelly Phyllis Anina Moriarty Someone by Alonso Diaz Rickards '12 Susan Storey Lyman Helen Porter William V.P. Newlin Hamilton Robinson, Jr. In Memoriam 36 John Reeves Nadia Rosenthal Henry D. Sharpe, Jr. Alumni Notes 39 Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. Marthann Lauver Samek Henry L.P. Schmelzer Alumni Donor Profile 43 TRUSTEE EMERITI Joan Van der Grift Sonja Johanson '95 David Hackett Fischer Paul Van der Grift Sherry F. Huber Faculty & Community Notes 44 Daniel Pierce Cody van Heerden Cathy L. Ramsdell '78 Q&A with Jennifer Prediger '99 48 John Wilmerding Human Ecology Essay Revisited 49 On Changing the World by David Winship '77 WWW.COA.EDU