The Ethel H. Blum Gallery at Col- lege of the Atlantic opened the fall season with an exhibition of tree por- COA NEWS traits by California artist Davis Te Selle. The show consisted of 32 lithographs used as illustrations for The Attentive Heart: Conversa- tions with Trees by Stephanie Kaza. SPRING 1997 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC BAR HARBOR, MAINE The book was published originally in 1993; a new edition appeared this fall, published by Shambhala Publica- tions of Boston. We are pleased to be able to pre- sent an excerpt from the book and are grateful to artist and author for their contributions to the dialogue on the fate of the forests, which has occupied the people of Maine and many COA community members this past year. Cutting Wood by Stephanie Kaza What is my relationship with wood? I carry this question like a burning coal to the jumbled pile of firewood that needs stacking. It is only a slight variation on the question I have been carrying for years-what is my relationship with trees? The questions serve as Zen koans-teaching puzzles not meant to be explained by the intellect but used instead to pen- etrate the nature of reality. Koans work on the questioner like a mantra or meditation, unsettling the mind to open up new ways of seeing. Each piece of wood presents this koan in material form; the jagged heap challenges me to pay attention to the question Wood stacking is a labor of love. A woodpile is an art form. People who appreciate this rec- ognize each other by the shape of their woodpiles. A fine wood- pile, like a good stone wall, reflects the eye of the stacker. Each piece is handled with a par- ticular feel for its placement. Redwoods, a lithograph by Davis Te Selle. The Douglas firs, maples, oaks, ginkgo, red- Where exactly does it fit in the wood and other species featured in Te Selle's prints are based on actual trees he found in developing sculpture? such places as Yosemite National Park, the Napa Valley, the Muir Woods and Columbia I consider each piece in my Gorge. "Producing these prints has given me a way to integrate my aesthetics and my hands, looking over the stack for environmental concerns," says the artist, who holds an M.F.A. in printmaking from the just the right spot. If it lies snug San Francisco Art Institute. "I offer the prints on behalf of misused and obliterated places and stable, then it will not be and creatures that have been my solace and inspiration." continued on page 6 COA News The Newsletter of College of the Atlantic College of the Atlantic awarded MacArthur Grant Spring 1997 EDITOR AND DIRECTOR College of the Atlantic was one of only six colleges selected to receive a $750,000 OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Chicago- Carl Little based foundation, one of the country's largest private philanthropic foundations, PRESIDENT awarded the grant to the college in recognition of its distinctive approach to liber- Steven K. Katona al arts education. "They looked at the field of higher education and said, 'Here is a place that is CHAIRMAN OF THE doing an excellent job and its long-term future should be secured," said President BOARD OF TRUSTEES Steven K. Katona at a press conference held at the college. "A lot of times people Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. look for a symbol of success or approval, and the MacArthur Grant is as good as it EXECUTIVE EDITOR and gets," he said. DEAN OF INSTITUTIONAL Grants amounting to $4.5 million were awarded to six colleges, including ADVANCEMENT COA, as part of a one-time-only initiative by the MacArthur Foundation, which Karen Cadbury sought to highlight and support colleges "that are distinctive, innovative and deter- WRITERS: Carl Little, mined to carry out their missions." Kelly Sheets Dickson Chairman of the COA Board of Trustees Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. said that the COA News is published receipt of the grant was a validation of something that those associated with the twice a year. It is circulated college have known all along. "The MacArthur Foundation believes that the educa- to alumni, students, parents tion offered at COA is the kind of education that is really necessary for solving the and friends of problems the world faces today," he said. College of the Atlantic. More than half the funds will be used to increase the college's endowment. PRINTER Approximately $150,000 is earmarked for library support, $100,000 for faculty Downeast Printing development and $150,000 for student aid and scholarships. The remainder of the and Graphics grant will be used for short-term needs such as purchasing and installing a man- agement information system, improving energy efficiency for campus buildings, DESIGN expanding activities for students and supporting recycling and conservation efforts Z Studio on the campus. The other five independent colleges to receive awards were Hampshire Col- lege in Massachusetts, Antioch College in Ohio, Marlboro College in Vermont, Contents: Alverno College in Wisconsin and Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina. From Maine to Mexico: The following statements by Adele Simmons, president of the John D. and Catherine T. A Yucatan Update 5 MacArthur Foundation, were included in the statement of the award and in releases issued by the foundation. Faculty Profile: "Despite a growing demand for undergraduate education focused on narrow Karen Waldron 7-8 career preparation, a number of colleges have retained a commitment to the liber- al arts and sciences. These colleges focus on preparing students to think critically Think Complexity, and to adapt intellectually to the unforeseen. At their best, they help students to Act Simplicity- A Global Perspective develop both strength in disciplines and an appreciation of the multidisciplinary by Robert Kates nature of most problems. A lively liberal arts education is ideal as preparation for 9-10 citizens living in a world marked by uncertainty and rapid change. A Tribute to Senator "Some of the most important innovations in the liberal arts and sciences over Edmund Muskie the years have been developed and tested by a relatively small number of colleges by William Carpenter with a special commitment to trying new approaches. 11 "Liberal arts colleges across the United States are a crucial asset to society. We Acadia National Park are pleased to recognize the contribution of a number of them through this initia- Headquarters tive. In particular, we have chosen to provide support to colleges that are distinc- Moves to COA Campus 12-13 tive, innovative and determined to carry out their important missions. "College of the Atlantic has built a coherent and broad curriculum around the A Watson Fellow Flyfishes unifying theme of the relationship between human beings and their natural and 15 social environments. The foundation also recognized the college's special collabo- COA Arts rative relationships with its local community. 20-21 "The touchstone for innovation in the liberal arts and sciences must be what News Notes serves students' learning. In developing this initiative, we tried to be alert to inno- 17-19 vations drawing on the best new scholarship and to innovations showing promise Commencement 1996 of consequences for students' lives beyond the college years." 22-23 COA NEWS 2 SPRING 1997 Last summer, John H. Chafee, Republican senator from Rhode early experiences on Frenchman Bay," Sharpe said. Island, gave the Champlain Society's Distinguished Lecture at Col- Senator Chafee was reelected to a fourth term in 1994. As chair- lege of the Atlantic. Senator Chafee was introduced by COA Trustee man of the Environment and Public Works Committee, he was a Henry Sharpe, Jr., who provided an overview of his cousin's accom- leading voice in crafting the Clean Air Act of 1990, which strength- plishments, including his "great ecological legislative successes." ened pollution emissions standards. He is a long-time advocate for Sharpe also noted the senator's longtime ties to the coast of wetlands conservation and has been a recipient of numerous envi- Maine, specifically to the downeast town of Sorrento. "I suspect some ronmental awards. of his very first exposures to the natural world, to whose preservation The following are excerpts from Senator Chafee's talk. he has made such important contributions, trace themselves back to Global Environmental Challenges of the Twenty-first Century by Senator John H. Chafee There is a bumper sticker one occasionally sees that says, we saw in the 1970s. Now we are dealing with such toxic "The Environment: Think Globally, Act Locally." To a con- chemicals as benzene in the air in concentrations of one siderable degree, that is what we in the United States have part per billion; it is a carcinogen, causes leukemia and is done over the past 30 years. We have strived to get our own very difficult to eliminate. house in order, to try to set a Many of the current untreated threats to the environ- "To say that good example for other nations. ment and human health come from thousands of small dif- After all, if we clearcut in the fuse sources: the neighborhood bakery, the dry cleaner, the population Alaskan Tongass rainforest or drill corner service station, malfunctioning septic systems in for oil in the Arctic National homes, even wood-burning stoves. We have to deal with the growth has Wildlife Refuge, how can we urge continued on page 4 put pressure the Kenyans not to seize wildlife habitat for cattle grazing or hector on our natural the Brazilians about using the Amazon rainforest for timber? resources is a It seems to me that as we head terrific under- into the twenty-first century, we must do two things: act locally statement." and also act globally. While we have acted locally to a consider- able degree, as good as our laws are, they could be better. We must apply more of a cost-benefit analysis to the laws we have. How can we better allocate scarce federal dollars? For example, Superfund, to clean up toxic waste dumps, costs $3 billion dollars per year. Is this the best use of such large sums of money, or should we be tackling the problems caused by radon which amounts to 13,500 lung cancer deaths per year in our country? Our government must provide more incentives for envi- ronmental protection than currently exist. We must seek the voluntary conservation of farmland, ranches, forest lands, wetlands, wildlife habitat and other open spaces. Currently the government is consistently seen as being solely in a pun- ishing mode. For example, if an endangered species is found on your property, you are subject to severe restric- tions, so every incentive exists for you to get rid of that endangered species, to engage in what's known as the three S's: shoot, shovel and shut-up. Let us substitute such a destructive policy with one that says if you commit to devote a portion of your property to a habitat for an endangered species, you can use the rest of your property as you choose, even if the endangered species PHOTO COURTESY SENATOR CHAFEE'S OFFICE. might have migrated to that other property. What we have accomplished in the past 30 years is won- derful, and we must keep pressing forward on these same fronts. The visible malefactors of the past are gone; we don't Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island delivered the 1996 see great pipes spewing evil liquid discharges into rivers as Champlain Society Distinguished Lecture. COA NEWS 3 SPRING 1997 Tenor Jay Emlen, center, is backed up by fellow accapella singers (left to right) Nina Horner, Bill Horner, Bob Keteyian and Amy Briggs during a concert to benefit the family of James and Catherine Elk '82 of Bar Harbor. The Elks' infant daughter, Claire, was born in July with biliary atresia, a rare liver dis- ease. She is on a waiting list for a liver transplant. The concert and a community-wide raffle raised more than $7,000 PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES that will go toward medical costs. Chafee, from page 3 hundreds of different chemicals that farmers use, which population growth is to improve maternal and child health. seep into the ground water and eventually into our drinking It has been shown that poor health keeps a nation poor and water supplies. These are very difficult challenges to meet. underdeveloped. Ironically, poor health even contributes to One of the greatest sources of water pollution today is overpopulation. If parents can be certain that their children run-off from our streets: oil and grease drippings from cars, will survive, they invest more in them emotionally and mate- animal wastes, lawn fertilizers and garden pesticides. I was rially, and feel under less pressure to have as many children shocked to learn that every year do-it-yourselfers, who as they can. change the oil in their own cars, pour twenty-three times Finally, we must also continue all-out efforts to control more automotive oil down municipal storm drains than was population growth. Millions of women would practice fami- spilled by the Exxon Valdez! ly planning if a modern method were available and accept- able to their families and communities. Families all over the One cannot ponder for very long the need to preserve our world need and deserve access to contraception and volun- natural resources-fresh water, biodiversity, topsoil, forests, tary family services. decent air, fish in our seas, a stable climate-without recog- There is a bugaboo in this country that funds dedicated nizing the tremendous pressure put upon those essentials by to family planning might somehow end up being spent on the rapid growth of the human population. abortions. That's unfortunate, because these programs are To say that this population growth has put pressure on about eliminating the need for abortion. our natural resources is a terrific understatement. In the I'm pleased to report that this year, the U.S. contributed past 50 years, our world is estimated to have lost one fifth of $22.75 million to the Population Activities Fund, and next its topsoil and one fifth of our tropical rainforests, plus tens year that level should increase to $30 million. You know, of thousands of plant and animal species so important to $30 million isn't all that much of an investment in U.S. bud- biodiversity. Overfishing in our oceans, combined with pol- get terms. By way of comparison, $30 million dollars can lution, has resulted in the overexploitation of two thirds of buy us exactly one F-15. the fisheries of the world. As we approach the twenty-first century, we must contin- What can we do to stabilize the population of the world? ue our efforts to solve our national problems: strengthen In 1994, the United Nations sponsored an International our laws, make more inducements available in order to Conference on Population and Development in Cairo to encourage compliance, put our financial resources where address this very question. The conclusion was that there they will accomplish the most good, foster greater recycling are three major efforts the world-especially rich, developed and reduce our currently wasteful consumption. We must nations such as the U.S.-can make that will help curb popu- also deal with the tough problems caused by toxic chemicals lation growth. in the air, water and land, and lead the way in reducing our The first is to focus on education in the developing output of CO2 with its potential greenhouse effects. At the nations, particularly female literacy. It has been shown over same time, we must be more active on the international and over that if you teach girls to read, then everything else scene, especially in our efforts to reduce and eventually sta- follows: later marriage and greater use of contraception, bilize the world's population growth. fewer and healthier children, better maternal health and a Yes, we must act locally and care for our nation's land, smaller likelihood of living in poverty. but we must act globally, too. We are all on this one planet The second thing developed nations can do to influence together. COA NEWS 4 SPRING 1997 From Maine to Mexico: A Yucatan Update This year, College of the Atlantic is completing a two-year, Humberto Suaste $112,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's (right), one of Center for International Education, which has supported the Mexico's foremost development of a program in language studies and a human photographers, ecology curriculum at several colleges in Mexico, on the lectured to COA Yucatan peninsula. The grant also provides funds for the community mem- preparation of courses on the natural and social sciences and bers about his on arts and design as they relate to Latin America. work. Suaste is Since the grant was received in July, 1995, a wide range known for his of cultural and educational activities related to the Yucatan documentary have been presented on campus. These events have included images of rural life. an exhibition of the work of acclaimed Mexican photogra- Douglas Barkey pher Humberto Suaste; a series of talks about the ecology (left), one of the and culture of the Yucatan by Mexican scholars and scien- directors of the tists; and the creation of a traditional Mexican altar in the college's Yucatan Blair Dining Hall. The altar commemorated a Catholic-Mexi- program, provided can religious holiday called the Day of the Dead. Armando a simultaneous Arceo, a student from the Yucatan in residence at the college translation of this past fall, and his wife, Angelica, designed the altar and the talk. gave a presentation on its social and religious significance. Ms. Arceo and Tammy Packie '97 also presented a lecture on PAUL DAVIS the changing roles of women in Mexico. In January, 1997, a group of faculty and students-21 in photographs of Mount Desert Island by Humberto Suaste all-traveled to the Yucatan to participate in the program's and his student Joanny Garcia, who was an exchange student student and faculty exchanges. Project director Gray Cox, from the Yucatan at COA for the fall, 1996, term. The exhi- faculty member in social theory and political economics, bition also featured images of the Yucatan by Barkey and was accompanied by Douglas Barkey, faculty member in three of his students, Paul Davis '99, Kara Fanning '96 and graphic design, and Davis Taylor, faculty member in environ- Tammy Packie '97. mental and resource economics. Students lived with families The long-range goal of the program in the Yucatan is to in Merida, Mexico, studying Spanish and taking college provide students with opportunities to participate in intern- courses at the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan. ships and to complete senior theses and post-graduate work On January 24, an exhibition featuring work by photog- in Latin America. Further North-South student and faculty raphers from the Yucatan and College of the Atlantic exchanges and joint projects are planned to continue after opened at the Museo Arte Contemporaneo Ateno de the expiration of the grant in the summer of 1997. Yucatan (MACAY) in Merida. The exhibition included During their stay at COA, visiting exchange student Armando Arceo and his wife, Angelica, from Merida in the Yucatan, Mexico, arranged an altar in honor of "El Dia de los Muertos"-The Day of the Dead-in the Blair Dining Hall. The holiday, celebrated in Mexico on the last day of October, includes offerings of food and spirits to the dead. The Arceos added Brendain photographs of three COA faculty members to the altar to honor their memory: William H. Drury, Jr. (1921-1992), BIBLIA de Dan Kane (1940-1995) and Dick Davis (1940- 1982). CARL LITTLE COA NEWS 5 SPRING 1997 Cutting Wood, from page 1 secure enough to support others on top. I touch and As the chain saw vibrates, the resistance of the bay notice each piece for what it is, another form of tree. We branch enters my right arm. It shakes and bumps as the have a silent communication as I place piece after piece on tree and I make contact. Again I wrestle with the questions the pile. of relationship-tree or wood, will you kindly serve me? In the silent rhythm of work I listen again to the koan- Will you accept my gratitude for your life given on behalf what is my relationship with wood? The questions fill my of mine? May I know you through the exchange of energy mind: What does it mean to consume wood? What is my and warmth? The questions are a bridge of connection responsibility to trees as a con- even in the process of fragmentation. sumer of wood? What is the As the wood falls off the sawhorse, I imagine flames "I ask each impact of firewood harvesting consuming the chunks. Each piece burns fiercely, purifying on California oak forests? My the questions, stripping bare the questioner. piece - how actions are part of a complex The hungry chain saw sputters. I stop to refill the tank web that I can ignore or pay with a mix of gas and oil. Gas and oil from where? The attention to. Paying attention is Persian Gulf, Alaska, or the coast of southern California? will you far more difficult and demand- Through what war zones or ice floes has this gas traveled ing. The questions obligate me before entering the chain saw? How much has it already respond to at a deeper level. I want to work cost in transportation and energy to produce this liquid with wood, not against it. gold? The questions multiply as I sink into the core of rela- I consider the internal struc- tionship. The koan digs into conditioned thinking, uncon- this saw?" ture of the pile. How can I stack scious patterns, habitual ways of seeing. It works me like a this wood with an eye toward teacher, opening the possibility for insight. harmonious relationship? I see Each cut requires diamond mind-sharp focus and that with these pieces of forest I attention on the wood and saw. This is dangerous activity; am building another ecosystem. Already crickets and one false move could land the saw in my leg or forehead. lizards are seeking out cracks in the pile. Pillbugs and slen- Mindfulness is not something to dabble in here; it is sheer der salamanders will crawl under the bottom logs and hide necessity. there over winter. Perhaps a mouse or two will settle on a I ask each piece-how will you respond to this saw? wider shelf between pieces. Leaving cracks and holes for Where are your knots and hard places? How can I be most animals, I lay the wood down, thinking of those who will attentive to your shape and form? This is the artist's ques- inhabit the woodpile. tion-how does one work with the materials to honor A woodpile is a system on a very small scale. This makes them? How do I become the material that is being worked? it more than just a sculpture: it is a living art form. In fact The subject shifts. I am no longer just listening to the this is what all ecosystems are-living art forms. As living wood. I am engaged completely in this relationship; I am forms of art, these systems are more complex and multi- meeting the tree with total presence. The chain saw brings dimensional than a human mind can imagine. That is the us to the point of intimacy, the hinge point around which beauty of it-the system of comings and goings that make all aspects of the story turn-fire, woodpile, oil, mind, dan- up this architectural event in time. By stacking the wood ger, connection- each interpenetrating in the meeting with some eye to system, I touch a little of the bigger story. place of our bodies. Still the koan is not fully answered. I carry to it another The brilliance is tiring, the physical meeting of tree and cord of wood a week later, where I am plunged more person is so magnified by the chain saw. It requires such deeply into the question. This wood is bay laurel from tension to grip the saw and manage its behavior. My hand trees thinned for fire protection. is shaky, my arm aglow with electrical energy. In an instant Now I am the one cutting the wood; it is my hands on of falling away, my mind slips off in a thought, and I can the chain saw. It is my fingers on the trigger making the see the possibility of an accident. whirring and biting sound. Can I stay conscious and aware Away from the riveting meeting ground of intimacy, of what I am doing? What conversation do I have with the whole thing falls apart. And it happens in a single, trees as they fragment into firewood in quick, efficient drifting thought. Now I have become part of the wood- slices? The questions penetrate my body with the raw force pile. The tree is in my body; we have met through the pas- of the saw. sionate medium of the chain saw. The art form of wood I cut the limbs with a requesting heart. It is a cold day, stacking rests on this knowledge of wood-cutting. The and I need the warmth from these trees. I am asking them koan pierces through all the elements, burning a flame of to serve my life. I am asking them to enter my bones and naked insight in the core of our meeting. blood and fuel my cells with fire, to make it possible for me to stay warm through the winter. Stephanie Kaza is an environmentalist, Buddhist and feminist. They say that firewood warms you twice-once while She has been a naturalist and teacher in California for more you are chopping it and again while you are burning it. than twenty years. Currently, she is a professor of environmental But I think the real warmth comes from the heart's gen- studies at the University of Vermont, where she teaches environ- uine request. It is a request for relationship-for direct, mental ethics. Kaza was a featured speaker in the "Spirituality intimate, interpenetrating relationship. In this case it is the and Human Ecology" lecture series organized by Nancy Lowry relationship of one organism consuming another, one life '94 at College of the Atlantic two years ago. sustaining another. COA NEWS 6 SPRING 1997 FACULTY PROFILE Karen Waldron: In Love with Literature by Kelly Sheets Dickson, M. Phil. '97 Karen Waldron, faculty member in literature, has been Before coming to COA, Waldron taught at Brandeis Univer- at College of the Atlantic only a year and has already sity and Boston College. She has always loved teaching, but managed to cram about a thousand books in her office in she says she is now experiencing a new freedom from the the Arts and Sciences Building. Bookshelves from floor structure and impersonal lecture-hall ambiance of other to ceiling hold a rainbow of paperbacks. A stack of non- schools. "One of the things I really like about this college is fiction grows from the floor like a bean stalk, aspiring to that people are more alive, more awake here than at the latch onto the intriguing novels and biographies set high other places I've worked. People make real connections, talk- above. Waldron's favorite authors include Toni Morri- ing across the barriers of age, class and discipline. Students son, Virginia Woolf, really want to make a William Faulkner, difference, not just Emily Dickinson and get a piece of paper Henry James. She that says they accom- describes the latter plished X, Y and Z." writer as being The literature "bizarre and limited, buff now enjoys her but wonderful." profession on a "But I'm some- deeper level and has one who can love time to establish just about any- close, meaningful thing," Waldron relationships with claims. "I mean, I her students. "The don't devour kind of teacher I am Harlequin fits well with College romances, but even of the Atlantic. I feel those can be inter- esting when you PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES I can really make an impact here." study their plot for- And Waldron mula." She is always already has, judging willing to try a title by how easy it is to suggested by one of find those willing to her students, eager sing her praise. to broaden her per- "She makes class- Karen Waldron teaches a literature class in the seminar room in the spective of the Thorndike Library. Ed Haynsworth '98 is seated next to her. es so exciting and world. scintillating that "When I went to college, no women authors were read," everyone has to talk," says COA student Sarah Gentry '98, explains Waldron, who holds a doctorate in English and who took Waldron's Nature of Narrative course in the fall- American literature from Brandeis University and two mas- her third with the instructor. "She always finds something ter's degrees, one in women's studies from Brandeis and I'm interested in to pull me in," Gentry notes. one in English from the University of Massachusetts, "Karen is really a master of a new kind of teaching, Boston. "While some institutions still teach the Great where the knowledge of the teacher is subordinate to the Canon the same way it was taught 50 years ago, most discovery process of each student," says faculty member in schools have undergone a change in consciousness. They literature William Carpenter, who served on the search now recognize that to get a picture of the world we're in, committee that chose Waldron from a pool of more than you have to represent it accurately by introducing as many 1,000 applicants. He notes that she stood out from the voices as you can. For example, in the study of American pack because there was a sense of "fit-ness" between her literature, it's important to look at the works of women, and the college. African Americans, Native Americans, Puritans and west- The fit was confirmed when Waldron came to campus ern explorers." for an interview and taught a sample class. "She taught one One of Waldron's students, Jamilah Campbell '98, of the most well-prepared classes I've ever seen," Carpenter wanted to do an independent study on contemporary recalls, "and yet, she didn't just talk for an hour. Her prepa- women writers from Puerto Rico. "I really hadn't read ration was in the form of really well-placed questions that much from that country, but we found material together," elicited student responses." says Waldron. "She learned a lot while she taught me, and I learned In a Tuesday afternoon United States history class, one a lot too, including how to write better," says Campbell, finds Waldron well assimilated among her 14 students, sit- who believes her teacher is genuinely interested in cul- ting around a table in a room with magnificent views of tural and racial diversity, and is always willing to speak Frenchman Bay. The class, which she coteaches with Gray up about it. continued on page 8 COA NEWS 7 SPRING 1997 Fresh from several months in Wales and Northumberland, England, where he complet- ed a COA internship breed- ing, raising and training fal- cons for the Abu Dabi royal family, Erin Gott '99 shared his love for these magnificent birds with youngsters in the multi-age classroom at the Mount Desert Elementary School in Northeast Harbor. He brought along his one- year-old red-tailed hawk to meet the children. From Kennebunkport, Gott has completed the two-year falconry apprenticeship and is now a general falconer. He is studying in the college's teacher training program. PETE TRAVERS/ BAR HARBOR TIMES Waldron, from page 7 Cox, is learning how to use historical narrative to survey ly done, and I have a publisher who is interested in it, but alternative interpretations of our country's history. I'm a perfectionist," she sighs. Waldron is also being con- Waldron does not stand in front of the class lecturing. sidered for some collections, one titled Writing Nature and Instead, seated among the students, she asks questions one about African-American writers. about the assigned reading. She doesn't feel impelled to fill It's a wonder she has time to do anything other than quiet space with her undoubtedly insightful comments. She teach. She stays late in her office almost every weeknight allows the silence to grow uncomfortable until even the working on class preparations and talking with students most reserved student is emboldened to speak up, to postu- who drop in. Soon after her last class on Friday, she begins late their theories and ideas. the five-hour drive to Littleton, Massachusetts, where her "At COA, people Then she poses another husband, Rich, and children, Nathaniel, 6, and Richard, 10, question. The questioning still reside. talk across the eventually leads to an ani- Rich, a software engineer who designs large-scale pro- mated discussion, with near- grams (such as airline reservation systems) is a member ly everyone contributing of a team and cannot move to Bar Harbor with his wife. barriers of age, equally. "He loves his job, and I love my job, and neither of us class and "Ideas really catch fire would think of asking the other to sacrifice that," says here at COA," says Wal- Waldron. "It's not an ideal arrangement, but it's not as discipline." dron. "There seems to be an bad as you might think. I call Rich and the boys every imperative for the faculty to day, and we e-mail all the time. A fax is not unheard of." continue learning new While she probably didn't envision the long commute, things and to teach in inno- living on Mount Desert Island is the fulfillment of a roman- vative ways. This leads our students to try new things, and tic dream Waldron has had since college. In 1927, her sometimes a great independent study or senior project grandmother and grandfather-who was a crew member comes out of it." with Samuel Eliot Morrison-built a camp on Sawyer Cove When it comes to developing new courses to teach at in the town of Seal Cove, and her family would visit each COA, Waldron enjoys being innovative. She is toying with summer for a week or two. "But it was more than just a various ideas, such as a course on women's history, a genre vacation place to me," Waldron reflects. "The island fasci- fiction class (on sci-fi novels, for instance) and a Pan-Ameri- nates me. I'm a New Englander through and through." can literature study where students would compare similari- ties and differences between written works produced in Kelly Sheets Dickson is a graduate student at College of the North and South America during a certain period of time. Atlantic. She holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Waldron has recently completed a manuscript for a Alaska. She also works for Friends of Acadia, a non-profit organi- book which analyzes the phenomena of narrative voice in zation dedicated to preserving Acadia National Park. nineteenth-century American women's novels. "It's basical- COA NEWS 8 SPRING 1997 Think Complexity, Act Simplicity by Robert Kates PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES This etching by Krzysztof Skorczewski, Wiere Babel // (The Tower of Babel), is one of several works of art given to the college by Charles Merrill. For the past six years, Merrill has supported an exchange program between College of the Atlantic and Palacky University in Oloumoc, the Czech Republic. Thanks to his generosity and interest, members of the college community have had opportunities to make connections with young people from Eastern Europe, and vice- versa. Merrill's book The Journey (Kenet Media, Cambridge, Mass., 1996), a travelogue relating the author's many visits to Eastern Europe, features an etching by Skorczewski on the cover. To provide a global perspective at College of the Atlantic's twenty- strong sense of place and more than ever must try to under- fourth convocation, COA President Steve Katona invited Robert stand the links between the global and the local. Kates to address the college community. A faculty associate of the Living at the edge of the sea provides a metaphor for the college, Kates is past president of the Association of American future. I think of the future in terms of currents, tides and Geographers. He is university professor emeritus at Brown Univer- surges. The currents are those powerful trends that will prob- sity and was the founder and director of the Alan Shawn Feinstein ably unfold throughout the next fifty years or more. The World Hunger Program. Dr. Kates currently serves as executive tides are those rhythmic changes that flow in and out of our editor of Environment Magazine. In recent years, he has written collective lives, ranging from the short-term oscillations of several keynote essays on the fate of the earth, including feature Pacific warming, through the mid-decades fluctuations of the pieces in Scientific American and Daedalus. He received the business cycles, through the decades-long political fluctua- National Medal of Science in 1991. tions of progressive and conservative, and the half-century cycles of technological innovation and diffusion. The surges I am a geographer who works at the intersection of nature are those surprise happenings, good or bad, such as AIDS, and society. I have a penchant for the large, the long and the ozone hole in Antarctica or the fall of the Berlin Wall. the deep-thinking of nature and society at the global and Individually, we will have to adapt to these changes; col- continental scale, trying to understand the long history of lectively, we need to do more. In July, here at COA, a group human interaction with the natural world and trying to of us met to explore what needs to be done and how we, as make sense of it all, three layers down in the onion of scientists, can help. We see the great challenge of the next understanding. But as a geographer, I also have to have a continued on page 10 COA NEWS 9 SPRING 1997 True's Beaked Whale: A Rare Specimen The skeleton of a rare True's beaked whale is among recent additions to the Natural History Museum's collection of wildlife displays. The articulation and preparation of the exhibit were completed by Tiffany Petersen '96; Gabe McPhail '97 painted the background. The whale was recovered from Camden Harbor in August, 1993, by staff mem- bers of Allied Whale, the college's PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES marine mammal research group. Complexity, from page 9 century as the "Sustainability Transition." The world must alternatives for forest practices, all of us struggling with provide the energy, materials and information to feed, what's right for the forest, the fate of forest-related jobs house, nurture, educate and employ many more people, that are so much a part of our economy, but which are so probably twice as many than are alive today, all the while dependent on large corporations as far away as South preserving the basic life support systems of the planet and Africa. In all these cases we had to think and act both reducing hunger and poverty. locally and globally-which is easier said than done. Such a profound and unprecedented transition has no Let me offer an alternative motto, not quite as catchy, charted course. We see safe passage as a process of social but more difficult, challenging and realistic. My bumper learning and adaptation amidst times of turbulence and sticker reads: "Think Complexity, Act Simplicity." much surprise. Science can help provide direction by identi- In your four years at COA you should learn to think fying the energy, materials and knowledge requirements for complexity. Most everything arises from multiple causation. the transition, the crucial indicators of unsustainability, the There is also a law of unintended consequences, in which levers of change to move us towards sustainability and the most sensible actions have both expected and unexpected measures that report on our progress. But it is people, indi- results. There are limits to knowing as well. We should be vidually and in their institutions-government, corporations smart enough to know that everything is not knowable. and, most important, organizations-that will make the tran- To think complexity is also to be unsure, uncertain, frus- sition possible. trated and inhibited. To overcome these feelings, we must What can you do? More important, what can you learn to act simplicity. do, in this special place? Let me suggest a bumper sticker as Those of us who see the world simply will surely act; a motto for your times. No, it's not "Think Globally, Act those of us who appreciate its complexity can do no less. But Locally." While that's a good motto, it isn't quite right for a here again we can have help. We first need to rely on our val- world in which we must think and act both globally and ues, on our sense of the good and the desirable. If we care locally. For example: in Bangor people initiated a clean for the earth, but are uncertain of the reality of the threats to clothes campaign, struggling for ways to influence how their it, we can advocate the precautionary principle. Walmart and K-Mart clothes made in El Salvador or Indone- We can also act on the other meaning of simplicity. The sia can be produced without extremes of sweatshop or child great hope for a sustainability transition lies in finding ways labor, how jobs can be maintained here in Maine and how to have full and meaningful lives while reducing our heavy Maine people can afford to buy clothes. footprints on the world. Simplicity in our lifestyles, our con- Around that same time, in Augusta, COA's Director of sumption, our needs and desires is a precautionary principle. Government Relations Ted Koffman was meeting with the Winters are long in Bar Harbor, but College of the Maine Climate Change Task Force, trying to understand Atlantic is an intense hot house. Don't settle for a how we in Maine are warming the earth and how the monocrop education, no matter how high the yield. Think earth's warming will affect us. And in Ellsworth, State Sena- Complexity, Act Simplicity. tor Jill Goldthwait had convened a hearing on the complex COA NEWS 10 SPRING 1997 At the college's twenty-fourth commencement, Chairman of the and air quality that Mainers and Americans enjoy today." Board of Trustees Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. conferred an Honorary Muskie was highly regarded by the COA community for his Master of Philosophy in Human Ecology degree on the late contributions to the state and nation. On the week that Muskie Edmund S. Muskie, former senator and Secretary of State. "We died, William Carpenter, a faculty member in literature, paid his are paying tribute to Muskie's leadership in shaping environ- own special homage to the late senator in a short essay written for mental policy for this country," Shorey stated. "His legacy lives The Enterprise, a newspaper published in Bucksport, Maine. on in the legislation he helped shape and in the improved water The Senator and Mr. Hyakutake by William Carpenter I am a night runner. I put on brief mileage after my evening People are comparing him to Lincoln and Daniel Web- work, around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., and it's usually uneventful. ster. They're saying he would have been president, but he But this week has been different. After covering my eyes committed the unspeakable fault of shedding a tear at the against oncoming headlights, I raise them to the sky, and wrong time. His fault was to be human. there is a new friend, our visitor from outer space, Mr. In a way, we all die when one of our great ones dies. But Hyakutake. the comet can't stop for death. It doesn't get to celebrate Many times in the past I've responded to comet false spring. It doesn't get a beer, a hot shower, a seat by the alarms, everyone standing on a mountaintop straining to woodstove, a replay of Peter Jennings and Jim Lehrer. see an invisible speck through a cloud bank. But this one is The comet is one of the homeless, and it must keep run- really here. At first, it looks like just another star with a ning. It has a long elliptical journey to make, through cold cloud over it, then you realize there's no star-just a nebula weather, in order to keep its appointment with the sun. of glowing greenish light. As your eyes adjust, you see the William Carpenter is the author of three books of poetry and a tail stretching backwards, showing by its wake the comet's novel, A Keeper of Sheep. He has completed his second novel, orientation towards the sun. titled The Elephant God, and is currently working on a third. I looked up Sunday night, and it was at the tip of the Big This past year Carpenter received a commendation from the Dipper's handle. Monday, it was right in the bucket of the Board of Trustees for 25 years of distinguished service to the Dipper; Tuesday, it was well past the Dipper and heading college. "Since his hiring as the college's first faculty member in for the Pole. 1971," read the citation, "Professor Carpenter has brought great Like many precious things, you see the comet best when credit to this institution through imaginative teaching, careful you're not looking directly at it. Look into empty space scholarship, intellectual leadership and outstanding personal beyond it and you'll see the radiant head and tail out of the creativity in literature and the arts." corner of your eye. As I keep running in the comet's direction, up the Penob- scot River towards Bucksport, I imagine I'm a passenger up there looking down. I'm seeing the state of Maine in the light of a half moon, a patchwork of March snow and spring mud. If I look closely I see a few evening flags at half-mast because the state has lost its great statesman and senator. Since my space vehicle has been around before, I remember the last time we passed here thousands of years ago. Maine was just thawing out from a blanket of ice. There was no brightly-lit paper mill, no graceful bridge spanning the river. The moon and stars provided the only light, with maybe an isolated campfire or two kindled by the earliest humans to ward off the fearful radiance in their sky. Beyond the fire circle, ice-age mammals went about the business of life without worrying about changes overhead. Most drivers on the road pass me without noticing. They have their business, coming home from a basketball game or going to their shift. I'm grateful when they see me and dim their lights. Because I'm not blinded, I can look up and say farewell to the comet which I may never see again. When comet Hyakutake completes another orbit, I won't be here. Even the youngest of us will be long gone. The mill probably won't be here either, or the bridge or the friendly PAUL DAVIS orange waterfront lights of Bucksport. Maybe the ice will have come back, or the sea or a permafrost tundra dominat- ed by howling wolves. We don't know. Leon Billings, a member of the House of Delegates of the I say goodbye to my comet and turn in for a shower and Maryland General Assembly and a former staff advisor to late supper. The news is full of pictures of the late Ed Edmund Muskie when he was senator and Secretary of Muskie and people with long "70s hair. State, accepted an honorary degree on behalf of the Muskie family at the college's twenty-fourth commencement. COA NEWS 11 SPRING 1997 Historic Acadia National Park Building Moved to College of the Atlantic Campus "WE ARE PRESERVING AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE PARK'S HISTORY," SAID COA's ANOTHER STRUCTURE RECYCLED PRESIDENT STEVEN K. KATONA, ALL BUILDING MATERIAL RECYCLED LANDFILL SPACE NOT CONSUMED "AND WE ARE RECYCLING A #1 SOURCE LOW COST HOUSING INSTANT HOME EQUITY Kenneth D. Jordan BUILDING TO CREATE AN EXCIT- Ellsworth, ME MEMBER (207) 584-5000 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ING NEW FUTURE FOR THE STRUCTURAL MOVERS NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM." T he original Acadia National Park headquarters classroom space," said College of the Atlantic building, which was constructed in 1914, President Steven K. Katona. "When the Natu- was moved from its site in the town of Bar ral History Museum is relocated in this new Harbor to College of the Atlantic's campus in facility, the college will be able to offer more October, 1996. This historically-important courses, lectures, field trips and exhibitions for structure, which was donated to the college COA students, residents of the coastal area by the Mount Desert Island YMCA, will be and summer visitors to Mount Desert Island." used to house the college's Natural History In recent years, with increased use of the Museum, currently located in the Turrets museum by local residents and visitors, a lack building. of space has become a major concern. "The "The acquisition of this building and the collection of exhibits in the Natural History generous support of many kind donors is Museum is growing each year as a part of our going to make it possible for the college to effort to serve more island residents and to greatly improve the museum's exhibition and expand our museum courses and outreach COA NEWS 12 SPRING 1997 ENTERING ACADIA NATIONAL PARK? NOT QUITE. ALL TRAFFIC WAS STOPPED WHEN THE FORMER PARK HEADQUARTERS WAS MOVED TO COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC'S CAMPUS OVER ROADS USUALLY RESTRICTED TO VISITORS. Entering Acadia National Park photographs by Carl Little programs," said museum director Steve Ressel. other companies to map out the least busy When the building is renovated, it will have route and a propitious time for moving the 1,000 square feet of new space and a patio Dorr house to the campus. The relocation of added to accommodate natural history dis- the building took place after the busy Colum- plays and an expanded field-study program. bus Day Weekend in order to reduce the The Acadia National Park headquarters impact on tourism and on the general public. building was commissioned by George B. Several grants, including one from the Dorr, one of the park's founders. The rustic David Rockefeller Fund, have been dedicated one-and-a-half story building is listed on the to this new museum project. The college is National Register of Historic Places. It has seeking further financial support to meet all not been used as the park headquarters the costs of renovating the facility. If you since 1968. wish to know more about this project, please The college worked with officials from the contact the Dean of Institutional Advancement town, the park, the NYNEX corporation and at College of the Atlantic. COA NEWS 13 SPRING 1997 College of the Atlantic Students Among First to Receive Udall Scholarships Three College of the Atlantic students were The Udall Scholarship and Excellence in named Morris K. Udall Scholars for 1996-1997. National Environmental Policy Foundation oper- Traci Hickson '98, of Verona, Maine, Eugenio ates an educational scholarship program designed Bertin '97, of Mahopac, New York, and Amy to provide opportunities for outstanding United Ferrero '97, of Meriden, Connecticut, were among States students with excellent academic records 55 students nationwide to receive the $5,000 and demonstrated interest in, and potential for, scholarships. careers in the fields of environmental public poli- The three Udall Scholars were nominated by a cy, health care and tribal public policy. college committee consisting of faculty members The foundation was established by Congress in Kenneth Cline and John Anderson, and a trustee 1992 to honor Udall's public service, which includ- of the college, John Kauffmann. Each applicant ed 30 years in the United States House of Repre- was asked to write a short essay about Congress- sentatives. The Udall Foundation is a non-profit man Udall and his legacy of public service. organization "committed to educating a new gen- Hickson, who hosts "GreenFire," an environ- eration of Americans to preserve and protect their mental program on WERU community radio in national heritage by the recruitment and prepara- Blue Hill, Maine, paid tribute to Udall's "courage tion of individuals skilled in effective public policy and vision to speak a word for the wild." Ferrero conflict resolution." and Bertin, who have organized river clean-ups in As members of the inaugural class of Udall Maine, wrote of the congressman's honesty and Scholars, the three students were invited to commitment to the environment. All three hailed attend a recognition dinner held at the Udall Cen- his role in the passing of the Alaska National Inter- ter for Public Policy at the University of Arizona est Lands Conservation Act in 1980, which dou- in Tucson. bled the size of the National Park System in the United States. COA Featured in New Book on American Rivers In May, 1995, Tim Palmer, a leading writ- er and activist in the field of river conser- vation, visited College of the Atlantic at the invitation of Kenneth Cline, faculty member in environmental law. As part of his visit, Palmer, who is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from Amer- ican Rivers, gave a talk on "The Case for River Conservation" and joined Cline's 369 class White Water/White Paper on a canoe trip. In Palmer's latest book, America by 366 Rivers (Island Press), published in fall, 1996, the author acknowledges Cline and the college in a chapter devoted to the Penobscot River. In the book, Palmer PAUL DAVIS also mentions COA Trustee John Kauff- mann and his book Flow East and acknowledges Tammis Coffin '87, the water quality planner for the Department Students Sam Hamill and Mike Morgenstern of the class of '99 pull of Natural Resources of the Penobscot hard at the paddles during the annual Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Nation. Coffin has won a number of Race. Held every April, the race attracts COA students, faculty and canoe races in Maine in recent years. staff members. COA NEWS 14 SPRING 1997 Prestigious Watson Fellowship Goes to COA Senior MICHELE STAPLETON/BANGOR DAILY NEWS Mariska Obedzinski '96 takes a few practice casts at Duck Brook in Bar Harbor. Mariska Obedzinski '96 was awarded a Thomas J. Watson son Executive Director William F.L. Moses. Fellowship for 1996-1997. The $16,000 grant, one of 60 The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is a charitable trust given this year nationwide, enables college graduates of established in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., exceptional promise to undertake an independent 12-month the founder of IBM, and his wife, Jeannette K. Watson, in overseas project to explore a topic of their own conception. honor of their parents' long-standing interest in education This marks the fourteenth year in a row that a College of the and world affairs. The Watson Fellowship is administered in Atlantic senior has received a Watson Fellowship. cooperation with 50 outstanding private colleges and univer- Obedzinski is studying trout and salmon fisheries in New sities in the United States. Zealand, Argentina, Chile and Russia, exploring the cultural, economic and ecological aspects of fly fishing. She hopes to lend her expertise to specific fish conservation efforts, such Goldwater Scholar Named as the Kamchatka Steelhead Project, a cooperative program College of the Atlantic junior Sara B. Faull won a Barry M. involving the Russian government, local Kamchatka govern- Goldwater Scholarship. Ms. Faull, from Sylva, North Car- ments, the University of Moscow, the United States-based olina, was one of 264 students selected on the basis of aca- Wild Salmon Center and the Federation of Fly Fishers. demic merit from a field of more than 1,200 mathematics, "Born to a man who is fanatical about fishing," Obedzins- science and engineering students who were nominated by ki, of San Geronimo, California, wrote in her proposal, "I the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. As a think I learned to fish even before I learned to talk." She junior scholar, Ms. Faull is entitled to two years of scholar- had her first experience fly fishing on a family trip in Idaho ship funding totaling up to $14,000. when she was eleven. She plans to fish each of the rivers she In her Goldwater Scholarship proposal, Ms. Faull high- studies. lighted her involvement in efforts to conserve several Obedzinski's fellowship made national news when the species of terns that breed on Petit Manan Island off the Associated Press circulated a story on the Watson program. coast of Maine. Her study is the first attempt to gain an Her project was also written up in Fly Rod & Reel, Outdoor understanding of the population dynamics of the tern Life and several other publications. colony using molecular technologies. Watson fellows are selected based upon their character, The Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Educa- leadership potential, willingness to immerse themselves in tion Foundation is a federally-endowed agency established new cultures and the creativity and personal significance of in 1986 to honor Senator Barry M. Goldwater. The schol- the projects proposed. "Our hope is that a unique life-chang- arship program is the premier undergraduate award of its ing year spent pursuing dreams and passions overseas will type in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and result in Watson Fellows enriching business, science, aca- engineering. demia and the arts when they return to America," said Wat- COA NEWS 15 SPRING 1997 Alesia Maltz Bids Adieu After eight years teaching history at COA, Alesia Maltz left students when they find the right project. I will also miss this past September to become the first faculty member in the way the light enters my office to shine on the wool a new environmental studies Ph.D. program at Antioch along the back wall and the constantly changing colors of University in Keene, New Hampshire. "Maltz is an out- the ocean and mountains." standing teacher and outstanding scholar," said President Most of all, Maltz said, she will miss the learning. "I Katona, "and we will miss her at the college." feel that I have spent the last eight years here learning so During her tenure at COA, Maltz taught 33 courses in much of what it means to be a teacher, what it means to the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences, and be a community member and what it means to be a served as Associate Dean of College of the Atlantic's gradu- human being," she said. In her new position, she will be ate program. She also completed research on a proposed doing more extensive research work on issues of environ- superquarry on the Isle of Harris, Scotland, working with mental justice, and will have opportunities to write more the Scottish Office of essays. She also liked Public Inquiry. A the fact that she report of their find- would only be three ings will be published hours from her fami- this year in the Journal ly's home in Cole- of Law and Religion. brook, "which means In bidding I can garden on farewell, Maltz spoke weekends." about her days at Maltz hopes that COA with great friends, colleagues warmth. "I will miss and students will keep working with such a in touch with her, via dedicated and com- "e-mail, phone calls, mitted group of telepathy, or whatever teachers, the smell of else gets the message the ocean as I walk through." She can down to Turrets reached at amaltz@ every morning, the antioch.ne.edu or by look of pride and snail mail at Antioch accomplishment on a New England Grad- student's face after CARL LITTLE uate School, 40 the third rewrite, the Avon Street, Keene, freedom of inventing NH 03431-3516, new courses, the activ- Alesia Maltz (right) joins College of the Atlantic graduate students (left to telephone 603-357- ity level in my office right) Bob Collins, Molly DenHeyer, Gib Brown, Kelly Sheets Dickson and 3122 (w) or 603-827- and the curiosity and Jennifer Beaudin for a group portrait in the James H. Wakelin Visiting 4199 (h). attentiveness of my Faculty and Graduate Student Office. Theda Skocpol (left) signs a copy of her latest book, Boomerang: Clinton's Health Security Effort and the Turn Against Government in U.S. Politics (W.W. Norton), for Mr. and Mrs. Hellmut Juretschki, summer residents of Somesville. The book-signing followed a talk the author gave on "President Clinton, the Republicans, and the Politics of Health Care" at COA. Skocpol is a professor of govern- CARL LITTLE ment and sociology at Harvard University and is the president of the Social Science History Association. COA NEWS 16 SPRING 1997 News Notes Academic Dean Richard Bor- who also recorded the song den served as a specialist for a on a recent CD. In Memoriam review of educational pro- grams at the Vrije University This past winter, museum education director Dianne of Brussels in Belgium. He Clendaniel served as leader advised the university on how to reorganize the curriculum of the Maine delegation to a Children's International and helped to design new teaching methods for the uni- Summer Village in Argenti- na. She is a member of the versity's two-year, English-lan- Board of Directors of The guage Master's degree and its Environmental Schools one-year, Dutch-language Master in Human Ecology (TES), a residential environ- mental education organiza- programs. tion, and of the Mount Moira Brown, who joined the Desert Island YMCA. COA faculty two years ago in Maine Public Radio broadcast marine ecology and served as director of Allied Whale, has a performance by music facul- announced that she will be ty member John Cooper's leaving the college at the end instrumental ensemble, the Sax Summit. The group The COA community mourned the untimely death of of winter term. Brown will become senior scientist at the played work by Charlie Park- Alford "Tom" Williams, Jr., pictured here with students er, as well as a composition Anthony Higgs (left) and Stacey Gallagher. Williams Center for Coastal Studies in Cooper wrote recently that is captained the Indigo, the college's research vessel. He Provincetown, Massachusetts, in April, 1997. based on a poem by Langston succumbed to cancer on March 29, 1996. Hughes. Tom Cipullo's aria "The Thorndike Library Director by Dworak and Director of Ecuadorian Sailors," based on Marla Dority, food service Marcia Dworak was appoint- Public Affairs Carl Little, was a poem by William director at COA for the past ed chairman of the Board of one of 10 runners-up in a Carpenter, was performed at several years, has resigned. Trustees of the Mount Desert national media contest spon- Carnegie Hall on October 10. She is teaching Spanish at the Island Hospital. She became sored by the American Library On October 23, also in Mount Desert Island Regional a member of the board in Association. The library Carnegie Hall, Carpenter's High School and at COA. 1990 and serves on the Joint received a Microsoft Reference poem "Girl Writing a Letter" Michael Anderson, founder Conference Committee, the Library and a 1997 Encarta was sung by Amanda McB- of the popular Miguel's Chairman's Advisory Com- Encyclopedia as prizes. room, known for her popular Restaurant in Bar Harbor, has mittee and the Nominating song "The Rose." McBroom replaced Dority as food ser- Committee. Craig Greene, who teaches vices director. Anderson was included the song on her lat- An article about the tech- owner and head chef at biology and plant ecology at est album. The music was nological advances in the the college, was appointed composed by Lori Lieberman, Miquel's for 12 years. Thorndike Library, co-written Associate Dean of Graduate Studies this year, replacing Alesia Maltz. Kenneth Cline, faculty mem- The Living Sea, an IMAX film ber in environmental law that features President Steven and a member of the K. Katona and researchers National Conservation Gov- from Allied Whale, is breaking ernance Committee of the attendance records across the Sierra Club, was invited to country. At the Denver IMAX attend Environment Day at theater, for example, the film the White House. He joined drew nearly 400,000 viewers environmentalists from during a six-month engage- around the country for a ment. At the Polynesian Cultur- briefing by Vice President AI al Center in Hawaii, The Living PHOTO COURTESY THE WHITE HOUSE Gore and a number of cabi- Sea will play every day until the net officials. Cline attended year 2001. The film has also a reception at the White drawn large audiences in House where he had an Japan, Paris and Copenhagen. opportunity to speak with Katona also represented President Bill Clinton about the Marine Mammal Commis- environmental issues. sion this past winter at briefings and a demonstration held COA NEWS 17 SPRING 1997 by the United States Navy at Foundation's Leadership Mayport, Florida. He advised Maine Delta class. Each year the navy on how to reduce the Leadership Maine accepts 45 negative effects of naval opera- people who have demonstrat- tions on Northern Right ed a commitment to the Whales. In December, he also future of the Maine economy, presented a seminar to the a record of accomplishment biology faculty and a group of in their own organizations, a undergraduates at Morehouse history of involvement in College in Atlanta, Georgia. community activities and the capacity for leadership at a Trustee John Kauffmann was statewide level. named Conservationist of the Year by the Society for the Anne Kozak, director of the Protection of New Hampshire college's Writing Center, Forests. He serves on the recently taught a two-week Board of Directors of the For- course in technical writing in est Society of America. English for Latin American scientists in Merida in the Ted Koffman, director of Yucatan, Mexico. government relations, was appointed to the Board of To mark the fiftieth anniver- Trustees of the Maine Tree sary of the founding of the J. Foundation and to the Maine William Fulbright Academic Economic Growth Council. Exchange Program, College He was also made a member of the Atlantic presented a of the Maine Development special lecture by education PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES Actress Kathleen Lake performed a one-woman show based on the life and work of American writer Dorothy Parker in the Gates Community Center to benefit the Mount Desert Island Historical Society. Lake gave a repeat command performance at an All College Meeting in January. faculty member Dr. Etta tion of University Women in Kralovec, who won a Ful- Camden. He also was the fea- bright Fellowship this year to tured reader at a presentation teach at Africa University in of the Live Poets Society held Zimbabwe. Dr. Kralovec was at the Rockport Opera House PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES introduced by President in Rockport, Maine. Katona, who is a former Ful- Little received a Rising bright fellow. The Fulbright Star Award at the annual Program was founded in 1946 meeting of the Council for the to foster exchanges between Advancement and Support of the American people and Education (CASE)'s District 1, those of other nations in an held in Boston. The award rec- effort to promote under- ognizes the accomplishments Visiting professor David McGiffert, son of founding COA standing and tolerance. of new advancement profes- sionals-with less than five trustee Cushman McGiffert, taught a course on constitu- Director of Public Affairs tional principles at COA this past fall. Now retired from a years experience-whose early Carl Little gave a talk about success bodes well for future career in law and government in Washington, D.C., his new book, Paintings of New leadership and achievement. McGiffert brought more than forty years of experience England (Down East Books), to share with students in his class. to the mid-coast Maine chap- The Burning Tree, the restau- ter of the American Associa- rant in Otter Creek owned by COA NEWS 18 SPRING 1997 COA faculty member in painted turtles in Acadia Education faculty member Economics faculty member anthropology Elmer Beal and National Park. John Stiles presented a paper Davis Taylor was a featured his wife, Allison Martin '88, at the National Science speaker at a forum on clearcut- Trustee Maurine Rothschild was recently featured in Down Teachers Association's Global ting issues in Bar Harbor this fall. spoke to the Camden Confer- East Magazine. " Over the Summit on Science and Sci- He and students from his Sus- ence and the Islesboro Forum years," writes Sarah Scott, ence Education held in San tainability and Resource Eco- on her work with Third World "creative concoctions have Francisco. His presentation, nomics class also attended an women's groups. made the Burning Tree one titled "What Research Says eco-tourism and sustainable A group of early twentieth- of the finest dining experi- About Hands-on Science forestry management conference century artworks by Russian ences on Mount Desert, and Activities," appeared in Iowa held on Swan's Island. Taylor's Constructivist artists from the one of the go-to places for Educational Leadership. current research is focused on Maurine and Robert Rothschild seafood." developing economic models of collection will be on view in the Adjunct writing instructor species extinction and on the Steve Ressel, director of the Ethel H. Blum Gallery in Candice Stover's collection organization of the fisheries Natural History Museum, initi- August, 1997. of poems Holding Patterns, industries. ated a frog and toad survey for which won the 1994 Maine Peter Stevick '81, a research Mount Desert Island in con- Chapbook Award, is now in Karen Waldron, faculty member associate at Allied Whale, the junction with Acadia National its second printing. This fall, in literature, gave a paper at the college marine mammal Park. His paper on "Ultrastruc- Stover was a writer in resi- American Studies Association research center, coauthored a tural Properties of Muscles dence at Blue Mountain Cen- Conference in Kansas City. The paper titled the "Behavioural Used for Call Production by ter in Blue Mountain Lake, title of the presentation was effects of exposure to underwa- Neotropical Frogs" appeared New York, and led a sympo- "Indians, White Women and ter explosions in humpback in Physiological Zoology. His cur- sium titled "After Frost" at Removals: The Migration of whales." The article appeared in rent research includes a study the Jesup Memorial Library Story in (Re)Publications of the Canadian Journal of Zoology. of the mating behavior of in Bar Harbor. Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative." PAUL DAVIS, PRINT COURTESY RAYMOND STROUT COLLECTION College of the Atlantic hosted a special lecture series and an art exhibition as part of the celebration of Bar Har- bor's bicentennial last summer. Featured speakers included landscape designer Patrick Chassé and historian Earle Shettleworth. This engraving by Joseph Decker, titled Cruise of the Eastern Yacht Club, Arrival of the Squadron at Bar Harbor, appeared in the August 4, 1888, edition of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. The print was includ- ed in the show "Views and Visions: Bar Harbor at the Turn of the Century" in the Ethel H. Blum Gallery. COA NEWS 19 SPRING 1997 Chicago-based performance artist Nancy Andrews, who taught at COA last spring, incorporates film, music, animation and video in her work. Puppets, including Hermione Pine, star of "Woods Marm," her latest mixed-media presentation, are given movement and life through a process of stop- COA Arts action animation, which the artist describes as "a sort of Space Age, Nanook of the North style." While at COA, Andrews presented "An Epic: Falling Between the Cracks," a 50-minute solo per- formance piece. Her interdisciplinary work has been presented at the Whitney Museum, the Balti- more Museum of Art and other theater and art venues. She combines the narrative traditions of American tall tale and fairy tales, and meshes them with autobiography, documentary, songs and story- telling. Artforum magazine compared her to "a deadpan, female Harpo Marx, armed with a fiddle instead of a harp." Andrews was a Distinguished Artist in the col- lege's artist-in-residence program. With a United States Department of Education grant over a three- year period of time, nine nationally-known artists CARL LITTLE representing artistic disciplines such as sculpture, painting, dance performance and photography completed one-term, on-campus residencies. Nancy Andrews works on a new piece, titled "Woods Marm," in the Visiting Artists Studio at College of the Atlantic. The work was premiered in Chicago and was performed at the Center for Louis Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, Scotland, in PISOCK January, 1997. CARL LITTLE For its eleventh annual production, College of the Atlantic's Theatre Workshop, under the direction of Lucy Bell Sell- ers, presented The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, a play by Jay Presson Allen based on the novel by Muriel Spark. The title role was played by Rebecca PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES Mann '00, shown here rehearsing with members of the cast. College of the Atlantic President Steve Katona made a cameo appearance as a grouchy gardener. COA NEWS 20 SPRING 1997 An appreciative crowd turned out for a presentation related to the exhibition "Up River: The Story of a Maine Fishing Community" in the Ethel H. Blum Gallery. The show fea- tured black-and-white photographs by Olive Pierce (left, in front of door) and "word pictures" by novelist Carolyn Chute (center, seated). Fisherman Fern Carter (right, head turned), subject of several photos in the show, also spoke at the gathering. The exhibition and a complemen- tary display of community crafts, LAURIE SCHREIBER/BAR HARBOR TIMES including a skiff, were partially under- written by the Maine Humanities Council and the Shore Stewards Part- nership. The presentation was the first in a series of special events relat- ed to the theme of "A Sense of Place" cosponsored by Port in a Storm Book- store and College of the Atlantic. Students in an after-school arts class at the Conners-Emerson School in Bar Harbor had fun installing a special exhibition in the Ethel H. Blum Gallery. The class was taught by COA student Ashleigh Madureira '97, who introduced her young artists to new techniques and ecologically- oriented forms of creativity. PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES January Knoop stands before a group of her sculptures, which are all made of animal bones. The artist, from Cincinnati, Ohio, took part in a joint exhibition titled "Bones in the Blum: The Drawings and Sculpture of Gendron PETE TRAVERS/BAR HARBOR TIMES Jensen and January Knoop" COA Arts at the college. Thanks to this show, one of Knoop's pieces was reproduced in the February, 1997, issue of Harper's Magazine. COA NEWS 21 SPRING 1997 COA Celebrates 24th Commencement College of the Atlantic's twenty-fourth total number of COA alumni to 820. Five seniors spoke on behalf of Commencement was marked by poet- "One of the pleasures of my job," he their class. Jill Agee, Ryan Ruggiero, ry, music and a tribute to the late Sen- said, "is to correspond with many Bogart Salzberg, Ian Helfrich and ator Edmund Muskie. The commence- graduates, and I have found that Samantha Smith presented their per- ment speaker was master storyteller nearly all remain true to the college's spectives on their lives at the college and prize-winning children's book urgent and ambitious mission: to put and after. Agee drew on The Wizard author and illustrator Ashley Bryan. education to work to help solve of Oz, the German poet Rilke and Fifty-six graduating seniors received novelist Virginia Wolff in urging her B.A. degrees in human ecology; a sin- classmates to pursue the answers to gle Master of Philosophy degree in difficult questions. "You have human ecology was awarded, to Four special awards were present- Chikako Araki of Japan. ed. James Kellam '96 received the learned that Presiding over his first com- William H. Drury, Jr. Prize, which mencement exercises since assuming honors the late ecologist who taught the chairmanship of the COA Board interrelationships at COA. Melita Peharda '96 received of Trustees last year, Clyde E. the first ever Daniel H. Kane Award, are essential in the Shorey, Jr. welcomed college com- established this year to honor Kane, munity members and several hun- a founding faculty member who died consideration of dred guests to the ceremony. "You last year. Rebecca Aubrey, who have learned that interrelationships helped establish a Geographic Infor- are essential in the consideration of any problem." mation Systems (G.I.S.) lab in any problem," Shorey told the gradu- Uruguay, was presented with the ates. "That is an important element Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. Center for Applied Human Ecology of tolerance and a major part of what Board Chairman Award, another new prize. Awards we mean by human ecology." were presented by COA faculty Following a blessing by Harry members John Anderson, Kenneth Cabot '96, who invoked Native many complex social and environ- Cline and Isabel Mancinelli. American commandments, welcom- mental problems challenging our Erin Flatley, a junior, received the ing remarks were made by Melita planet's future." Jason Harrington Alumni Merit Scholarship Award, Peharda '96, from Croatia, and Presi- '96 rounded out the introductory which was presented by Louise dent Steven Katona. Katona noted section with a rendition of Richie Tremblay '91. The award, which rec- that the graduating class brought the Havens' classic song "Follow." ognizes community service, academic PAUL DAVIS The class of 1996 gathers for its portrait in the Beatrix Farrand Gardens on the COA campus. COA NEWS 22 SPRING 1997 achievement and environmental awareness, covers the tuition costs for one year of study at COA. Two Honorary Master of Philosophy degrees were conferred, on Ashley Bryan of Little Cranberry Island, and on the late senator Edmund Muskie. In his citation for Bryan's degree, President Katona spoke of the author/artist's "ecological eye, which looks at the world with the open wonder of a child and translates its beauties into wise and wondrous cre- ations." The COA Chamber Choir premiered two poems by Bryan set PAUL DAVIS to music by choir director John Cooper and Randy Taylor. Mary Harney '96 is surrounded by family and friends during commencement Introduced by Nerin Moroney celebrations. Originally from England, Harney was recently appointed Youth '96, Bryan gave one of his signature Education Coordinator for the Down East AIDS Network in Ellsworth, Maine. electrifying performances, which included readings of poems by Langston Hughes and a passage from his book Turtle Knows Your Name. He spoke of his upbringing in the Bronx and his studies at Cooper Union, Columbia University and the Skowhegan School of Paintings and Acclaimed story- Sculpture, where he was a member teller and children's of the first class, which celebrated its book author and fiftieth anniversary in 1996. illustrator Ashley "Every person is a special kind of Bryan receives an artist," Bryan told his rapt audience. honorary masters He emphasized the importance of of philosophy in performing poetry. To underscore human ecology this point, he led the commencement degree from Presi- audience in a lively reading of Eloise dent Steven K. Greenfield's poem "Things" to con- Katona and COA clude his address. Board Chairman Leon Billings, a member of the Clyde E. Shorey, Jr. PAUL DAVIS House of Delegates of the Maryland General Assembly and a former staff advisor to Muskie when he was sena- tor and Secretary of State, accepted the honorary degree on behalf of the Muskie family. Describing his former colleague as "the first steward of the planet Earth," Billings challenged the graduating seniors "to live to his standard and to maintain his stew- ardship." Following the conferring of degrees, the COA Winds ensemble performed the recessional. A recep- tion for seniors and their families fol- lowed in the Newlin Gardens. PAUL DAVIS John Anderson, faculty member in biology, congratulates James Kellam '96 on winning the William H. Drury, Jr. Prize. The prize honors the work of the late faculty member and a student who has excelled in the field of ornitholo- gy. Kellam is currently attending graduate school at Purdue University, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in the biological sciences. COA NEWS 23 SPRING 1997 Enrollment Surge at College of the Atlantic College of the Atlantic wel- cles in the New York Times California, Oregon, Utah, Well-known storyteller comed the class of 2000 this and elsewhere have helped New Mexico, North Dakota, Jackson Gillman 78, the fall, the largest in the col- place the college on the Minnesota and Georgia. "Stand-Up Chameleon," lege's 24-year history. The national map. "People are There are also two students performed several signa- 114 new students represent very excited to hear about from Mexico and one from ture skits, then led the an increase of more than 35 COA, and the number and the Czech Republic. assembled COA in a percent over all previous quality of the incoming Two COA alumni pre- human ecological pledge: classes. Of the 114 students, class bode well for the com- sented special convocation "We pledge allegiance/to 90 of them are first year, ing year," Thomas said. addresses. Andrea Perry the Web of Life/of which which is also a record for Around 25 percent of '95, from New Sweden, we're each a strand/and the school. Total enroll- the new students come Maine, spoke about how to our planet Earth/on ment this fall surpassed 250 from Maine, the state with she made the connections which we stand,/one for the first time in the his- the largest representation. between her formal educa- ecosystem/under the tory of the institution. Other members of the class tion and practical service sun,/interdependent.,/ The 114 students were of 2000 have arrived from to the greater Mount with diversity/and toler- selected from a pool of 350 further afield, including Desert Island community. ance for all." applicants, the largest ever, according to Steve Thomas, director of admissions at the college. Nearly two- thirds of the entering stu- dents ranked in the top tenth of their high school The Sixth Annual graduating class, he report- ed, and their average SAT Bar Island Swim scores stood at about 240 took place at COA points above the national in September. An average for first-year stu- enthusiastic and dents. The incoming class brave group of included eight high school more than forty valedictorians. students, faculty "In the past three or and staff made four years, the college has the chilly crossing benefitted greatly from from the college increased publicity," CARL LITTLE pier to Bar Island, Thomas noted. A profile on about a third of a National Public Radio's mile distance. "Living On Earth" and arti- COA NEWS Nonprofit Organization College of the Atlantic U.S. POSTAGE PAID 105 Eden Street Bar Harbor, ME Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 Permit #47 207 288-5015 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED