Steven K. Katona Appointed COA President On Thursday, June 3, Chairman of the Board Edward McC. Blair announced to the college community that Dr. Steven K. Katona had been elected the new presi- dent of College of the Atlantic by a unani- mous vote of COA's board of trustees. Dr. Katona is the fourth president of the college since its founding in 1969. The announcement followed a six- month search for a successor to Louis Rabineau, who stepped down at the end of June after nine years as president. "Steve has the tools necessary to be an outstanding president," Rabineau stated, "and I am confident the college will do well with him." More than 140 applications and nomi- nations for the presidency were received from across the nation. The ten-member search committee narrowed the field of PETER TRAVERS candidates to ten, five of whom were invited to visit the campus. According to members of the search committee, a num- continued on page 2 President Steven K. Katona addresses the audience at the dedication of the Gates Center, July 9, 1993. Also in This Issue COA NEWS COA Given Wakelin Library 2 ECO/ECO Update 3 A Talk with President Rabineau 4 FALL 1993 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC BAR HARBOR, MAINE Watson Fellowships 5 COA Holds 21 st Commencement Dr. Robert Kates, Geographer 7 College of the Atlantic granted 53 Bache- of trustees, the college honored Rabineau Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Jr. 8 lor of Arts degrees in Human Ecology at for his nine years of leadership. In present- its 21st commencement on Saturday, June ing him with an Honorary Degree in A Russian Internship 9 5. The college also awarded the first Mas- Human Ecology, Trustee Cathy Ramsdell ters of Philosophy degrees in Human Ecol- Gates Center Dedication 10-11 '78 spoke eloquently of Rabineau's ogy, to three graduate students, Dina accomplishments as president of COA. The SunTracker 7 12 Bahrawy, Juli B. Lerner and Bridget "Ultimately," Ramsdell stated in closing, Mullen. "education is about becoming a better per- Campus Roundup 14 A blessing was led by Reverend son: Lou, you're the best." William Booth and welcomes were given Also receiving an Honorary Degree in Personnel Notes 15 by President Rabineau and senior Amy Human Ecology was Liane N. Peach, the Book Notes: John Kauffmann 17 Toensing, who read a poem, "Wild first employee of College of the Atlantic. Geese," by Mary Oliver. Founding President Edward Kaelber paid News Notes 19 At the ceremony, presided over by tribute to Mrs. Peach, who will retire at the Edward McC. Blair, chairman of the board continued on page 20 President Katona continued from page 1 International Meeting ber of applicants were currently serving as Dr. Katona is the founder and direc- presidents of larger and better-known tor of Allied Whale, College of the of the Society of institutions. "The clear message to us," Atlantic's marine mammal research stated Chairman Blair, "was that College group. Since its beginning in 1972, Human Ecology of the Atlantic has emerged as an exciting Allied Whale has been at the forefront of College of the Atlantic alumni and friends institution at the forefront of education in modern whale research and is recognized are invited to attend the Seventh Interna- the U.S." as a leader in the development of tech- tional Meeting of the Society for Human A native of Cincinatti, Ohio, Dr. niques used by whale biologists world- Ecology, to be held April 21-24, 1994, at Katona holds a B.A. and Ph.D. from Har- wide, including photo-identification stud- Michigan State University. The theme of vard University. He has been a faculty ies of humpback and finback whales. the conference, "Progress Through Inte- member in biology at College of the While his involvement with Allied grative Perspectives," emphasizes the Atlantic since 1972, and has also served Whale will be curtailed, Dr. Katona integration of theory, interdisciplinary as a member of the board of trustees and remains very committed to the continua- perspectives and application, as well as as provost and dean of the faculty. At the tion of the program. "Whales are still very the accomplishments of human ecology. June 4th press conference to announce the dear to my heart," he said. Special themes will include agro-ecology, appointment, trustee J. Mason Morfit, a At the press conference, Dr. Katona electronic democracy, environmental member of the search committee, called expressed his dedication to ensuring that poverty and justice, ecology and femi- Katona "a primary architect of what COA College of the Atlantic "does all it can to nism, and environmental arts. has become, having played virtually every make itself a stimulating place." He wel- Proposals for participation should be major position on the team." comed the opportunity to help students addressed to Robert J. Griffore, Depart- Prior to College of the Atlantic, Dr. "find creative solutions to social and envi- ment of Family and Child Ecology, 107 Katona taught at the California Institute of ronmental problems." Human Ecology Building, Michigan the Arts. He has done extensive research A Bar Harbor resident, Dr. Katona is State University, East Lansing, MI on whales, in the Gulf of Maine and married to Susan Lerner, an artist and lit- 48824-1030 (phone: 517-336-3818). around the world. He was president of the erature and women's studies faculty mem- Academic Dean Richard Borden at Col- American Cetacean Society from 1991 to ber at College of the Atlantic. The couple lege of the Atlantic can also be contacted, 1993, and presently serves as the chair- have twin 12-year-old sons. at (207) 288-5015. man of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Society for Marine Mammalogy and as chairman of the North Atlantic COA Given Wakelin Physics Library Marine Mammal Association. Dr. Katona has published extensively Carol Wakelin, fascinated by the in the field of marine mammal research. wife of the late challenge of The fourth edition of A Field Guide to the James Wakelin, unlocking the Whales, Porpoises, and Seals of the Gulf of has donated her secrets of the seas Maine and Eastern Canada, which he co- husband's physics and the oceans, and authored, has just been published by the library to College is credited with hav- Smithsonian Institution Press. of the Atlantic. ing helped oceanog- Containing many raphy win an impor- of the classics in tant place on the the field, the col- agendas of govern- lection of over a ment and industry. hundred volumes He authored numer- will form the ous technical and COA News is published three foundation of the Wakelin scientific texts and times a year. It is circulated to alumni, parents, and other friends college's holdings served as a trustee of College of the Atlantic. in physics. James Wakelin's Ex Libris of the National A trustee of Geographic Society. Editor: Carl Little COA and a longtime summer resident In a letter presenting the collection Writers: Colin Capers, of Mt. Desert Island, Wakelin (1911- to COA, Mrs. Wakelin included a Carl Little, Sharon Reiser 1990) was a physicist, oceanographer copy of her husband's bookplate, and businessman. He was assistant Printer: Downeast Printing which, she noted, depicts three things and Graphics secretary of the Navy for research and dear to him: a globe for geography, a development and later was assistant ship for sailing, and books for study Designer: Z Studio secretary of Commerce for science and perusing. The collection will be printed on recycled paper and technology. He was especially catalogued in the coming months. COA NEWS 2 FALL 1993 ECO/ECO and Maine's Environmental Priorities Project: An Update Three years ago, College of the Atlantic partnership of private interest groups and of the Atlantic is well represented on the trustees, faculty, and staff created the public officials." committee. Two COA trustees, Carol ECO/ECO (Economics and Ecology) On May 24, 1993, Governor John Wishcamper and J. Mason Morfit; Forum, which has brought together ECO/ECO facilitator and Head of Gov- Maine's top business, environmental, ernment Relations Ted Koffman; public civic and state regulatory leaders in a policy faculty member Kenneth Cline; series of professionally-facilitated meet- Maine "is the first and COA Founding President Edward ings and workshops. The purpose of these Kaelber have all committed themselves to meetings has been to develop a collabora- state to undertake an serving on the steering committee. tive approach (and a common agenda) for The Environmental Priorities Project dealing with Maine's complex and inter- environmental priorities will be carried out under the auspices of related environmental and economic the State Department of Environmental problems. project as a partnership Protection. The $250,000 study project is That work has led, in turn, to the to be funded in part by a grant from the development of a two-year, comparative- of private interest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. risk project that will evaluate a range of The EPA grant will be matched by the environmental problems and rank these groups and public state and by private sources. on the basis of their level of risk to public The first working session of the com- and environmental health and the quality officials." mittee took place at College of the of life of Maine citizens. In his article Atlantic on July 7-8, 1993. According to "Risk and Relativity" in the summer '93 an article in the April 1993 issue of issue of Habitat: Journal of the Maine Maine Policy Review, a final Compara- Audubon Society, William Hancock notes McKernan signed the Executive Order tive Risk and Priorities Report is expect- that Maine "is the first state to undertake establishing the 37-member Comparative ed to be issued by the committee in Jan- an environmental priorities project as a Risk Project Steering Committee. College uary 1995. Governor John McKernan and members of the Priorities Project Committee after the signing of the Executive Order establishing the Maine Environmental Priorities Steering Committee, May 24, 1993. At far left, J. Mason Morfit, COA trustee; standing, fifth from left, Ted Koffman, ECO/ECO facilitator. COA NEWS 3 FALL 1993 "To Build on What We've Accomplished": A Talk with President Louis Rabineau (Editor's note: this interview was con- LR: COA has broken out of the mold in LR: There's no question that the business ducted in May of this year.) so many ways. The business of trying to of relating to the community is important. Carl Little: In an interview with Jack have more participatory governance is First of all there's a lot to learn from the Wiggins of the Ellsworth American con- one thing. That COA could start fresh, people around us. Second, we certainly ducted in January 1985, not long after and therefore not have departments that want them to understand what we're you came to College of the Atlantic, you they had to break down-that made it about. Third, we've come to learn that we declared, "I am here for one year, no very interesting. can be of service. There's the Geographic The fact that COA was small was more." Nine years later you are stepping Information System (GIS), which island very, very attractive. I had been working towns have made use of, and students down. How is it you stayed so long? mainly with places where you're dealing doing internships, and many other ways Louis Rabineau: I was seduced. I was with budgets of tens of millions of dollars we serve communities. seduced by the people here, the weather, a year, like in Connecticut where I had And there are ways we hope we can be the program, the excitement, the whole been chancellor of higher education, and a resource for cultural activities, especial- setting of the college. I really had had to worry about a couple of dozen col- ly with the Gates Community Center intended to stay just that first year; I was leges and universities. coming in, but already with the museum planning to return to the Academy for Here, beside the nontraditional aspect, and outreach programs, the Summer Field Educational Development where I had there's the personal aspect of the college, Studies. Those are important. been when I came up here, but it was the fact that you can see students and fac- just so exciting. And there were things to CL: A progress report on COA since ulty every day and relate to them. This 1984 was issued last October. It's an be done. made the college very exciting to me. impressive document, testifying to the CL: You mentioned in another interview CL: Building ties between COA and the growth of the college during your tenure at the time that you have an attraction for greater Mount Desert Island community as president. What are some of the items nontraditional kinds of institutions. What has always been an important item on in this report that give you the most plea- is it about COA that appeals to you? your agenda. Could you talk about this? continued on page 18 MILTON GROSS, courtesy of the Ellsworth American President Rabineau accepting an Honorary Degree in Human Ecology from Chairman of the Board Edward McC. Blair as Trustee Cathy Ramsdell '78 looks on. COA NEWS 4 FALL 1993 Two Seniors Awarded Watson Fellowships For the twelth year in a row, College of any area of interest. The Thomas J. Watson Foundation, the Atlantic students numbered among For her fellowship, Riley will visit now celebrating its 25th year, is a char- a small group of graduating seniors urban neighborhoods in Rio de Janiero, itable trust established by the late Mrs. nationwide selected to receive a presti- Accra (Ghana) and Hong Kong in Watson to honor her husband, the gious Watson Fellowship. Diane Riley order to examine and compare the eco- founder of IBM. This year there were received word in March of her award nomic viability of three culturally dif- 65 winners selected from nearly 200 while Jennifer Rock, originally named ferent communities. finalists; 52 small private colleges and as an alternate, was informed in April. Rock will undertake an around-the- universities across the the nation par- Watson Fellowships support inde- world study of living fossils, plants and ticipated in the program. pendent travel and study outside the animals that are considered evolution- What follows are excerpts from the U.S. for each recipient for the year fol- ary relics. Her itinerary will include Watson Fellowship proposals submit- lowing graduation. Fellows design England, New Zealand, Australia, Bor- ted by Riley and Rock. their own projects which may involve neo and Africa. From "A Personal View of the Neighborhood: 'Candy Religion" By Diane Riley '93 When I was very young, my concept of ing. But the games and teasing, the the world and of my neighborhood long hazy summers, and the relation- were one and the same. That may ships between my neighborhood sound naive, but perhaps it wasn't such friends and me, seemed inconsequen- a misguided assumption. In a sense, a tial to me then. Even the things that neighborhood-even from a child's affected me deeply at the time, things viewpoint-reflects the same patterns that I knew I would never forget, of behavior, the same processes of didn't suggest how they would affect social, cultural and economic exchange me now; how I would come to inter- that we see in a grander society. I think pret them and understand a larger about the correlations between child- world through them. CARL LITTLE hood activities and adult life as a way One such incident I remember to understand our complex society and involved the neighborhood ritual of Diane Riley, Watson Fellow my own goals. buying candy with allowance money. Between second and fifth grade I I'm not using the term "ritual" lightly term "candy" broadly to include things lived in a neighborhood teeming with here. There was a great deal of proto- like ice cream, soda and potato chips. other children, most of whom I saw col and importance attached to our So, our term "candy" was what some every day, either in school or out play- relationship with candy. We used the continued on page 6 From "Living Fossils: Visitors from the Dreamtime" by Jennifer Rock '93 Having grown up on a farm in rural must be what I am experiencing. In Maine, I can count on both hands the itself, travel to the countries I have pro- number of times I remember leaving the posed would be the most exciting, state. It wasn't until I was eighteen that invigorating and influential experience I I finally went beyond the confines of can imagine-a pivotal, once-in-a-life- Massachusetts, New Hampshire and time opportunity. New Brunswick. I don't regret growing My mom and I used to watch up here; I even chose to attend a college "Nature" on public television each Sun- in Maine (though I would have come to day night. Besides augmenting my love CARL LITTLE this school regardless of location). for, and interest in, the earth's plants Yet if one can feel a mental or physi- and animals, I saw glimpses of distant cal starvation for diversity of race, cul- and foreign places. I used to write sto- ture, environment, philosophy, etc., this ries about acacia trees, elephants and Jennifer Rock, Watson Fellow continued on page 6 COA NEWS 5 FALL 1993 Riley continued from page 5 Rock continued from page 5 call "junk food," yet for us it held the jaguars on the Serengeti Plain in Africa. school system (in the poorest county in greatest value of any material good in I painted mental pictures of the bush- New England), have given me years of life. It was more important than toys, men and of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I even practice in self-motivation. I can tell more important than other food, more wrote a poem about lungfish before I you now where you can catch the best important than money. Money was knew anything about their lungs or evo- local trout, and where the catfish holes only of use in that we could buy candy lutionary heritage. In Junior High are in our old duck pond. Two years with it. In the summertime especially, School I read every book about Borneo from now, I hope that I may be able to but even during school, it was our daily that there was in Waldo County, Maine. describe where to find lungfish dug into sacrament. I used to have a dream about bats, and I the muds of Africa and Australia. With candy there were special was sure that it was set in Borneo; I've rules. If someone had the misfortune of always wanted to go. Australia, New In addition to being named a Watson dropping a piece of candy, everyone Zealand, Venezuela I want to make Fellow, Jennifer Rock was one of 73 stu- was deeply sympathetic. There was a them real; they need to become more dents nationwide selected by USA Today purification ritual that one would fol- than picture-book images and encyclo- as an All-USA College Academic Team low. Even when someone dropped a pedia histories in my mind. Honorable Mention. Rock was the only hard sliver of "Jolly Rancher Fire After a childhood in the heart of student from a Maine college-and the Stick" (which was among the cream of Maine, I am secure in my knowledge of only Mainer-chosen for this honor. A candies), and it was retrieved with both plant and animal ecology and natu- panel of 11 judges reviewed 1,342 nomi- chunks of gravel and grit attached, the ral history. This knowledge, combined nees "for their blend of scholarship, ini- unfortunate one would kiss the bit of with an education in the Maine public tiative, leadership and creativity." candy, and hold it in the air overhead. This practice was known as "Kissing it up to God," and had the effect of Sexual Assault and Rape Awareness Week purification as far as we were con- cerned. The candy could then be eaten without fear or ridicule no matter how much grit remained. What I felt and understood then has become the foundation for how I view social and economic issues now. I find myself with a desire to change people's economic relationships, in part because Courtesy of the BANGOR DAILY NEWS I see through the lens of my neighbor- hood experiences. The questions that drive my ambition are saturated with Left to right: Vyvyenne Richie, Matthew Stewart, Dr. Brian Caine, Dottie Cald- feelings conjured from memory-the well and Michael Povich. same way old songs invoke a subtle kind of time travel for the nostalgic lis- A week-long series of events designed to assault panel discussion with Vyvyenne increase awareness and personal safety Richie; Matthew Stewart of the Maine tener. What do different cultures hold was organized in mid-January by the State Police; Dr. Brian Caine of Mount as highly valued? What material goods Sexual Assault Awareness Task Force Desert Island Hospital; Dottie Caldwell, do we equate most with happiness? (SAATF) in cooperation with Downeast a victim-witness advocate; Hancock How do we define prosperity? How Sexual Assault Services (DESAS) and County District Attorney Michael will individuals react to pressures relat- the Women's Advisory Group at COA. Povich; and Ander Thebaud, the col- ed to economic status or lack of eco- Among the events were a presenta- lege's Affirmative Action Officer. nomic power? tion by Vyvyenne Richie of DESAS Susan Lerner, who teaches literature Some day I would like to take my titled "Every Six Minutes: A Look at and women's studies at the college, stat- questions, along with some ideas about Sexual Assault and Prevention" and a ed that the point of the conference was how to answer them, to a neighborhood talk by COA student and DESAS advo- to increase awareness. "Even people very much like the one where I prac- cate Julie Massa on how to support a who did not attend the events," she ticed my Candy Religion. I hope to friend who has been assaulted. noted, "became aware that this issue is find the elements for a thriving sustain- The keynote address, "Rape/Sexual an important one that is being addressed able community, to catalyze the imagi- Assault on the College Campus," was at the college." Fact sheets about sexual nation and innovation that I believe lies delivered by Dr. Sandra Caron, assistant assault myths posted around the campus latent there without a channel for eco- professor of Family Relations/Human helped to further inform community nomic expression, and facilitate its Sexuality at the University of Maine, members about the issues. expression in a way that will lead to a Orono, and Lee Brossoit, from Salem -Sharon Reiser. healthy, productive community. State College. There was also a sexual Reiser is a senior at the college. COA NEWS 6 FALL 1993 Faculty Associate Profile: Dr. Robert Kates, Renaissance Geographer The term "Renaissance man" has been greatly overused by those of us seeking an easy label for an individual of great knowledge, one who knows the world in a seemingly all-embracing manner. Yet faced with Dr. Robert Kates' formidable vita and a list of his current titles-presi- dent-elect of the Association of American Geographers; executive editor of Envi- ronment magazine; co-chair of Overcom- ing Hunger in the 1990s; distinguished scientist at the George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University; University Professor, Emeritus, at Brown University; and faculty associate of College of the Atlantic-one can understand why a writ- er might choose the summary route. Kates might prefer to be called a Renaissance geographer, for geography is the field through which he has come to grapple with the world. He received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago thirty years ago, and has since opened up the discipline to a wide variety of research, from coastal flood hazards and population dynamics to climate impact assessment and world hunger. He is the author, editor and co-editor of 19 books and monographs, including the landmark studies, Hunger in History: Food Shortage, Poverty, and Deprivation (1990) and The Earth Is Transformed By Human Action (1990). Kates' studies have taken him as far away as Tanzania, where he served as first director of the Bureau of Resource CARL LITTLE Assessment and Land Use Planning at the University of Dar es Salaam, and as close Dr. Robert Kates at his home in Trenton. by as the city of Worcester, Mass- achusetts, where he has held various The only major research program in religious rivalries and the proliferation of teaching and research posts at Clark Uni- the world to have as its primary target the food wars have dampened some of the versity. Among the many honors he has long-term prevention and eradication of optimism felt in 1989 at the end of the received are the MacArthur Prize Fellow- hunger, the World Hunger Program Cold War. At the same time, economies ship (1981-1985) and the 1991 National helped develop four distinct goals for cut- are suffering, there is disillusionment Medal of Science awarded by the Presi- ting world hunger in the 1990s. Working with progress towards ending famine in dent of the United States. with an international group of advocates, certain countries, and, as Kates puts it, One morning this past spring, Dr. practitioners and researchers, Overcom- "Hunger is not on everyone's priority Kates spoke about some of the projects he ing Hunger in the 1990s has proposed to list." is currently working on. First and fore- end famine deaths; to cut extreme chronic Yet Kates feels encouraged that most is the Alan Shawn Feinstein World hunger in half; to cut child hunger in half; humanitarian principles are being estab- Hunger Program at Brown University. and to virtually eliminate vitamin A and lished. "We are creating very important Although he stepped down as director of iodine deficiency. precedents; we can intervene," he states the program this past January, Dr. Kates Kates expressed cautious optimism in with feeling; "That no nation has a right is still very much involved with the orga- discussing the progress of this ambitious to starve its own people has become a nization and its activities. program. The explosion of ethnic and continued on page 17 COA NEWS 7 FALL 1993 In Memoriam New Class Examines Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Jr., Literary Theory 1892-1993 "Text and Theory," offered for the first time this past winter at COA, focused on A founding trustee of College of the and community affairs. In 1960 he the changing nature of literary criticism. Atlantic, Arthur Cushman McGif- held a Fulbright lectureship at Cam- Co-taught by literature faculty member fert, Jr., passed away on April 9, bridge University. William Carpenter and education faculty member Etta Mooser, the course centered 1993, in Claremont, California. A longtime resident of Mount McGiffert was a minister of the Desert Island, McGiffert was a on issues concerning the study of litera- United Church of Christ (Congrega- founding trustee of College of the ture. Feminism, reader-response, psycho- tional) and former president of the Atlantic, taught at the Bangor Theo- analysis, new historicism and deconstruc- Chicago Theological Seminary and logical Seminary, and served on the tion were among the schools of literary the Pacific School boards of the analysis discussed. of Religion in Maine Seacoast This course proved stimulating to stu- Berkeley, Cali- Mission, the dents in part because of the different fornia. Mount Desert viewpoints represented by Carpenter and Born in Larger Parish, and Mooser. Carpenter expressed the desire to Cincinnati, the Mount Desert discover an "absolute text," one indepen- dent of the reader and which we can all McGiffert grad- Hospital. He took uated from Har- a strong interest in share. By contrast, Mooser approached lit- vard College. safety on the erature via issues of race, gender, eco- nomic status and historical contexts to see He received a island's roads and Bachelor of in issues concern- how different circumstances preclude the Divinity degree ing Acadia possibility of an absolute reading of a text. Texts studied included William from Union National Park. Theological Fellow Found- Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Expe- Seminary and ing Trustee Father rience, Joseph Conrad's short story "Heart of Darkness" and D.H. Lawrence's novel an M.A. from James Gower Columbia Uni- versity. He was ordained into Courtesy of The Bar Harbor Times described McGif- Lady Chatterley's Lover. Theoretical fert as "fully works by Camille Paglia, Stanley Fish and alive, at every Terry Eagleton were also consulted, along the Congrega- minute, in every with selected readings from Freud and tional ministry. aspect of his life." Nietzsche. Weekly films supplemented McGiffert Father Gower the course readings. taught American recalled that at -Colin Capers. religious Dr. A. Cushman McGiffert, Jr. board of trustees Capers is a senior at the college. thought at the meetings the Chicago Theological Seminary. elderly McGiffert was always alert, The Tyger. Among his publications is a biogra- listening, jotting down notes, taking phy of the theologian Jonathan an active part in discussions. "Con- Edwards. From 1939 to 1945, he sistent with his mode of life," said Burnt the served as president of the Pacific Father Gower, "I'm sure Cush is the School of Religion. He helped form still alive." and direct a Committee on Ameri- McGiffert's wife of 74 years, What can Principles and Fair Play to Elizabeth Eliot, predeceased him in gram. Dare clamp: defend and assist interned Japanese- 1991. Survivors include two sons, Americans. David Eliot McGiffert, of Washing- Tyger In 1946 McGiffert assumed the ton, DC, and Michael McGiffert, of presidency of the Chicago Theologi- Date Williamsburg, Va., a daughter, cal Seminary. He was highly regard- Ellen McGiffert Brokaw, of Santa ed as an administrator, counselor and Paula, Calif., seven grandchildren preacher. After retiring in 1959, he and three great-grandchildren. continued to act in academic, church William Blake's "The Tyger" from Songs of Innocence and of Experience. COA NEWS 8 FALL 1993 A Word from Long Lines, Simple Pleasures: the Internship A Russian Internship Office by Patti Ciraulo '94 The overnight train to Kharkov, Ukraine, Internships are considered special- stopped frequently, but I arrived at the sta- ized training in an area compatible tion 21 hours after leaving Saint Peters- with students' career paths and burg. Sasha and Lena met me with warm interests. They are supervised work embraces and whisked me off to the experiences which allow students to dacha, or summer home, of Sasha's fami- apply their knowledge and skills, ly. For the next ten days, I was encour- develop new skills, establish impor- aged to feast on the bumper crop of rasp- tant contacts and clarify career berries, cherries and currants which sur- goals. rounded the house. The Ukrainians had Students hone these skills and no sugar with which to preserve berries apply their knowledge in challeng- that year and what was not eaten would go ing places around the world. Part of to waste. the experience includes preparation Early one morning, laden down with of a resume and a portfolio of the buckets of berries, Sasha, Lena and I experience. Internship placements embarked on the return trip in their beloved Audi, a trip which I was told are as unique as the students who would encompass two hard days of travel. complete them. Examples of intern- I couldn't understand why so much more ship sites include organic farms, time was required to make the trip by car. environmental education centers, Patti Ciraulo in Red Square. The highway, by Russian standards, was research facilities, and national in good condition. We had stocked up on activities required that we seek the "per- parks. gasoline in Kharkov where it was less fect" location, which usually meant driv- A sampling of last spring's expensive and more available than across ing endlessly through villages, over back internships include the following: the border. The Audi was running well roads, to identify the very best approach to Sherri Bell worked as a field assis- and we planned to take turns driving. the water and the most scenic spot. tant through Louisiana State Univer- Thinking that we would probably make You would not believe how many sity on a study of stopover neotropi- it in one day, I sat back to enjoy the view rivers and lakes there are between cal migrating birds in Louisiana; of expansive Russian sky stretching over Kharkov and St. Petersburg. And we Jason Bernad interned with Dr. Ken- fields of sunflowers and grains-until we stopped at every one! During the entire neth Eckhert at Sisters of Charity came to the first river. Of course, we had two days, my American obsession with Hospital, Buffalo, NY; Audrey Frost to stop and swim. Which was followed by conserving time struggled with my newly worked for the Institute of Range Lena's favorite pastime-a picnic. Both continued on page 12 and American Mustang in Hot Springs, South Dakota; and NOTES ON AN INTERNSHIP: Stephanie Nichols interned with Pri- vacy Rights Education Program in "The Broccoli Pickers of Northern St. Louis, Mo. The successful completion of one Maine: A Photo-Documentary" ten-week, fulltime (400-hour mini- by Amy Toensing '93 mum) internship is a degree require- ment earning academic credits. Probably my most significant term in ing negatives and oral history tapes cre- About ten percent of graduates college was last fall when I spent three ated by Salt Center participants since return to their internship sites for months photographing the broccoli har- 1970. The Center also publishes Salt, a entry-level placements. vest in Aroostook County, Maine. Here I magazine committed to documenting completely connected the study of peo- Maine and its people through words and -Jill Barlow-Kelley, ple with the art of photography. photographs. Some of my photographs Internships and I was on an internship from the Salt of the broccoli harvest, along with a text Career Services Officer Center for Documentary Field Studies. by Kristin Atwell, will appear in a future Located in Portland, Maine, the Salt issue of the magazine. Center is an historical archive, preserv- continued on page 13 COA NEWS 9 FALL 1993 GATES CENTER DEDICATION, JULY 9, 1993 "This day has been a long time The Gateses' daughter Katharine coming. At long last we get to Gates McCoy, a trustee of the col- honor Tom Gates and his contri- lege, and the Blums' son Jack spoke bution to the College of the on behalf of their families. Atlantic." With these words, Also acknowledged at the cere- Chairman of the College of the mony were C.D. and Nancy Atlantic Board of Trustees Edward McCormick for whom the Gates McC. Blair opened the formal dedi- Center lecture hall has been патед; cation ceremony in the Gates Cen- and the late James Wakelin, in ter auditorium. whose name a faculty office has With a full house before him, been dedicated. Chairman Blair welcomed everyone The weekend after the dedica- to this gala event, which marked the tion the college hosted a "Gates formal opening of the Gates Center, Center Open House," inviting the a multi-use facility designed by greater Mount Desert Island com- Burlington architect Turner munity to tour the facilities. Music Brooks. filled the air as student Glen The special guest speaker of the McMillen played harp in the Kael- The Gates Center auditorium under construction. afternoon, Senator George ber Hall breezeway, special projects Mitchell, credited COA with helping supervisor Millard Dority and to find "sustainable strategies for music faculty member John Cooper sustainable growth." He went on to jazzed up the auditorium, and Jef- praise the college's efforts to find frey Ellenberger, a concert violinist, solutions to complex environmental performed in the Blum Gallery. and social problems: "This college doesn't just talk about people's efforts to preserve and protect the environment," be stated, "it prac- tices what it preaches." In an espe- cially critical time in human histo- ry, the Senator concluded, "College of the Atlantic represents a hope for the future." Following Senator Mitchell's remarks, Chairman Blair intro- duced Steven Katona, the new presi- dent of the college. "This evening," Katona noted, "we are dedicating a building but we are also dedicating ourselves to discovering a new path." Founding President Edward The front foyer of the Kaelber раід special tribute to Gates Center auditorium. Thomas S. Gates, Jr., and his wife, PETER TRAVERS Anne. In turn, Louis Rabineau spoke warmly about the late Ethel Ambassador Henry Owen, a trustee of the college, speaks with Senator Mitchell in the Newlin Court- H. Blum, for whom the gallery in yard. PETER TRAVERS the Gates Center has been named. COA NEWS 10 FALL 1993 Christopher Gates Scott, Katharine Gates McCoy and Anne Gates join Senator George Mitchell in the central courtyard of the Newlin Gardens. PETER TRAVERS THE NEWLIN GARDENS In conjunction with the building of the Gates Community Center, the Newlin Gardens are being com- AMY TOENSING pleted. Created as a memorial to E. Mortimer Newlin, father of COA Trustee William V.P. Newl- in and COA adjunct faculty mem- ber Lucy Bell Sellers, the Gardens are a gift to the college from the Newlin family. The Newlin Gardens project The Ethel H. Blum Art Gallery in the Gates Community has been developed in several Center. PETER TRAVERS phases. The final phase completes the landscape treatment around the Gates Community Center and Kaelber Hall. The Garden Court plantings and plaza have been extended to the Gates Center in order to tie the new building in with the central courtyard and Kaelber Hall. At the same time, garden beds have been planted along the west facade of Kaelber Hall. Plantings include native and familiar trees and shrubbery such as birch, rhodora and andromeda. The gar- den beds are еддед by a low granite block wall laid out to provide a generous amount of seating. The landscaping was under- College of the Atlantic student Tim Case, Gates Center architect Turner Brooks and chemistry faculty member Don Cass talk on taken by Coplon Associates of Bar the porch of the newly completed center. PETER TRAVERS Harbor. ALUMNI PROFILE Miles Maiden '85 and his Tracker 7 Born in San Diego, and brought up on ny, as was the country's need for energy Cape Cod, Miles Maiden graduated from sources other than fossil fuels. "The Per- College of the Atlantic in 1985. His sian Gulf War proved that actual cost of studies at COA were not alternative oil isn't just $20 per barrel," he said in energy-related-philosophy and psy- an article in The Bangor Daily News. chology classes with, respectively, John "The price also should include the bil- Visvader and Richard Borden were lions of dollars in military expenditures among his favorites-but through and foreign aid that help to maintain an friends he was introduced to the field of uninterrupted supply of oil." solar energy. Expanding on this thought, Maiden A few years after graduating, an notes that "oil is the most highly subsi- acquaintance in Blue Hill told Maiden dized energy source going-even with- about some large scale concentrating out considering the environmental costs. thermal systems being used successfully If oil ever had to compete on a level in California. Excited by the potential playing field with solar energy, it would and challenge of producing energy-col- be the clear loser in most cases." lecting systems that were both environ- American SunCo set out to take some mentally friendly and affordable, Maid- well-established ideas about solar-ther- en lined up some technical assistance mal energy collection and to try to com- and founded American SunCo. bine and refine them in order to make MILES MAIDEN Maiden's concern about the financial them economical enough for a variety of and environmental impacts of America's applications. "The wheel had already Meg Maiden with a SunTracker 7, dependence on foreign oil was a major been invented," notes Maiden; "we had installed in Sargentville, Maine. factor in his decision to start the compa- continued on page 16 Ciraulo continued from page 9 acquired Russian acceptance of delay. I of environmental consciousness, I can witness the beginning of litter problems in was impatient with our rate of progress only admire the intense and widespread Russia. The public park near my apart- and wanted to push on; however, why practice of recycling and re-use of prod- ment, immaculate at the beginning of the shouldn't we enjoy the vast, lush summer ucts in Russia. summer, was strewn with paper cups beauty of the Russian countryside? My Russian friends have difficulty (used by the new popcorn stand) two Russians are constantly challenged to understanding the American problem of months later. wait-for food, for products, for services. solid waste disposal. Urban sprawl has Last summer there were only a couple To Russians, accustomed to waiting as been controlled by the exclusive use of places in Moscow where you could buy much as six hours in line to buy gasoline, concentrated multi-family housing-at the popcorn, which has only recently our saying "time is money" seems, neces- expense of personal privacy and spacious appeared in Russia. Nowadays, a friend sarily, absurd! They possess a marked living conditions. Traffic is greatly writes me, you can buy popcorn and ability to appreciate any given moment for reduced for a city the size of Saint Peters- American candy bars on almost every itself-an extreme version of "stop and burg because few Russians own cars. The street corner. This friend referred to the smell the roses." system of public transportation is spo- proliferation of such goods as the "Ameri- Maintaining a balance between the two radic, and even when it does work, it can canization of Russia." values seems the healthiest attitude for be so crowded that the vegetables you just Tomorrow I return to Russia for anoth- me. This is only one of the many lessons I bought are better used as puree! I know er five months. For my senior project, I learned during the five months of my from personal experience. have been working with Russian col- internship last summer. While teaching The longest food lines generally form leagues to organize a study abroad pro- English to Russian students ranging from during the traditional two-hour mid-after- gram, which offers Russian language age 6 to 46, I truly learned the value of noon break. Once the doors are opened, instruction paired with a cultural program patience; I was reminded to value simple lines move rather quickly, but are slowed focused on art and architecture. In the pleasures; and I made some of the closest by inefficiencies created by a low con- course of five months, I hope I will see friendships of my life. sumption society. I bought sour cream some positive aspects of "Americaniza- Russian life is much less comfortable only once-from a street vendor in a pre- tion" in Russia-something that goes than life in America. Yet the chronic measured, disposable plastic cup, because beyond the flood of commercialism, and shortage of consumer goods has generated it was easier! Unfortunately, a lot of Rus- which incorporates the Russian values and a tradition of resourcefulness. In this time sians followed suit and we can already practices from which we can all learn. COA NEWS 12 FALL 1993 Toensing continued from page 9 The majority of my studies over the past five years at COA as well as at my previous school, the Evergreen State College, have had an anthropological and/or cross-cultural focus. I spent time on the Navajo reservation working for an elder and studying Hopi-Navajo rela- tions and the plight of indigenous cul- tures. I completed a year-long internship with a women's domestic violence/sexu- al assault shelter. Between schools, I spent five months traveling in Asia where I went about my normal habit of looking closely at people. But it just so happened that I also brought along a lot of film and began watching through my camera. In my first term at College of the Migrant broccoli picker. Photograph by Amy Toensing Atlantic I took a course with visiting artist Debra Goldman, "Photography II: A Private and Public Language." The class challenged me to use the camera in "The Broccoli Pickers of Northern Maine" a more intentional way than I had in the Excerpt from a text by Kristin Atwell past. I wasn't simply pointing at an inter- Lance Smith walks through the fields to check his crop. I watch him pinch esting face: I had a subject to study and stalks, twist heads, sniff leaves. He caresses his broccoli and curses it. He is to come into contact with. vexed by headrot, teased by insects. His livelihood depends on his judgment and I think what I learned most at Salt the beneficence of forces beyond his control. Timing is critical-he must catch was how to go about photography in a the broccoli at its vulnerably ripe peak, but not wait so long that the ground professional manner. In a more general locks itself around the stalks, or that the crop is swept by a plague of headrot. way, I learned the discipline it takes to Just a week or ten days of humid wet drizzle can destroy broccoli's waxy coat, work for oneself. I have worked many soak into the blossom and produce a "black decay," a slimy soft rot-surely times in my life for other people; Salt you've come across it in the refrigerator. Lance has performed broccoli euthana- gave me the experience of self-disci- sia: he's had to have tractors plow under hundreds of acres and to learn to live pline. This is not to say that I did not with it. He says, "You don't win at this game every year, you know, that's why have expectations to live up to outside of they call it farming." Of H. Smith Packing, Inc.'s 1,400 acres, the Limestone crew-the largest of myself-Salt has very high standards for Lance's three-goes through about ten acres a day depending on how heavy the its publication. I am only saying that I crop and how mobile the hands. A good day is 4,000 cartons. At the peak of the had to take full responsibility for my harvest in September the crew set a record for cartons cut in Maine: 5,184. actions. I have never worked at some- That's 5,184 boxes with 14-pack bunches, which amounts to 72,576 bunches of thing as passionately as I did with my broccoli with about three stalks a piece, which come to roughly 217,728 stalks, job at Salt. In short, I thrived there. not counting the ones that didn't make the beauty grade-all cut and packaged by 18 cutters, 15 bunchers, 3 packers, 2 stackers, and 2 floaters. That's one Amy Toensing and her Salt co-docu- crew, one spectacular, exhausting day. menter, Kristin Atwell, were among The cutters are the cool cats of the broccoli trade. They walk ahead of the seven finalists nationally in the Dorothea field pack rig brandishing their machetes, each sharpened and shaped to fit a Lange\Paul Taylor Prize sponsored by personal style. Some blades are long and thin with the curl of a villain's mus- Duke University's Center for Documen- tache. Some have squat thick blades which would make a butcher happy. Most tary Studies. Toensing also won first everyone has the plastic handle wrapped with broccoli-bunching rubber bands to place in the documentary category in the keep them from slipping in cold weather. A slip, even with wool gloves covered 48th annual College Photographer of the by plastic ones, can cost some flesh, at least some blood. There were few acci- Year competition run by the University dents this season, but Papa Albert says, "You have to been used to cutting. No of Missouri School of Journalism. matter how expert you are, once in a while you make mistakes." Whether or not they all have ten fingers, many of the men have learned to smoke without the A selection of Amy Toensing's pho- use of their hands and do so as they walk and cut. tographs of broccoli pickers was shown at the Ellsworth Public Library, June 9- July 2. COA NEWS 13 FALL 1993 dents from across the state enrolled in -Women studies faculty member Campus Roundup alternative educational programs. The Susan Lerner hosted a video fest focus- The past six months at College of the day-long gathering was underwritten by ing on Third World and domestic issues Atlantic have been busy ones. Here are a grant from the Maine Community in April and May. The program was held some highlights of campus activities: Foundation and the Bettingen Corpora- in conjunction with courses on the fami- -Dr. Matthew Bampton of the tion, a private foundation in Beverly ly and literature of Third World women Department of Geography-Anthropolo- Hills, CA. writers. gy at the University of Southern Maine -In late March, students in Andrew -Barbara Boardman '80, planning gave a talk on "Anarchists, Fascists, and and Bonnie Periale's puppeteer class advisor to the Ministry of Natural Saints: The Political Economy of Span- put on "The Masque," an entertaining Resources of the Lands and Surveys ish Mud" on March 5. The night before, series of puppet shows based on Edgar Department in Belize, Central America, Bruce Kantner, director, and Kirstin Allen Poe's story "The Masque of the presented a slide lecture on April 27. A George, student intern, from the Merri- Red Death." The artists-in-residence Fulbright scholar, Boardman has been am Hill Geocommons Year in also hosted a puppet film series which helping to develop management guide- Greenville, N.H., spoke with students was open to the public. lines for the 117,000-acre Gales Point about "Ecology, Community, and Sus- -The "First Annual Feast of the Community Manatee Reserve, the last tainable Living Around the World." Elders" was held on April 3. A small stronghold of the West Indian manatee -As an artistic supplement to her but enthusiastic group of alums gathered in the Caribbean. senior project on Creative Arts Therapy, at COA "for a night of good friends and -Earth Week '93 was celebrated at senior Jennifer Desmaisons presented swapping lies along the beautiful shores COA via a number of events, including an exhibition of her photographs and of Frenchman's Bay." The reunion was the traditional sunrise hike up Cadillac poems, "The Power of Dance," in the organized by Barbara Sassaman '78. Mountain. Students joined in a cleanup Thorndike Library in March/April. -Robert Capers, recipient of a along Route 3 and the coastline. The -Etta Mooser, director of the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism in 1992 for activities culminated with a performance Teacher Education Program, and Brid- his coverage of the Hubble Space Tele- by the Pawprints Environmental get Mullen, a COA graduate student, scope, visited campus in late April and Roadshow. hosted a "Students as Decision-Makers" gave a workshop in the Writing Center. -On April 21, representatives of conference at the college in March. The He is father of COA student Colin Hancock County Habitat for Humani- conference was designed for at-risk stu- Capers. ty spoke at the college about building BOB NOONAN Scene from "The Devil's Ball," part of a puppet show directed by Bonnie and Andrew Periale. COA NEWS 14 FALL 1993 houses for people with donated labor. Personnel Notes -In conjunction with Dr. Etta Mooser's school-restructuring course Financial aid assistant Cathy Kimball has office in March. Lori Alley and Suzy this spring, eight local educators were taken a position in the Financial Aid Taylor filled in for the summer. Tammy invited to speak to the class, with the Office at Husson College. Jean Boddy, White assumed the permanent position in discussions open to the community. who has been assistant to the director of August. Guests included Tad Johnson and housing and summer programs, has taken Patti Ciraulo '94, secretary to the Craig Kesselheim '76, co-directors of Cathy's place. Also in the admission president, has left to lead an art-tour/study the Beacon School Project, who spoke office, Courtney Llewelyn '93 has abroad program in Saint Petersburg, Rus- about the National Science Foundation- replaced Ander Thebaud as assistant sia. She was replaced temporarily by Jen- funded, five-year project they are coor- director of admission. Thebaud in turn has nifer Bureau '93. On August 1, Mabel dinating on Mt. Desert Island. become assistant director of student ser- Pasyck was named to this position. -On April 30 and May 1, Alesia vices, filling the position recently vacated Pam Parvin has left the COA kitchen Maltz, director of advanced studies, and by Martha Greenley. Laura Parlee after 19 years. Marla Dority has assumed Academic Dean Richard Borden host- resigned as secretary to the development the directorship of the food services. ed the Northeast Environmental Studies Program Directors' Meeting at the col- lege. Program directors from as far away as Kansas attended the confer- Garber's Gift ence. The theme of this year's meeting was "Colleges Working with Communi- ties: Environmental Justice and Envi- ronmental Poverty." -Rebecca Aubrey, a first-year stu- dent at COA, won a $1,000 scholarship from Organic Gardening. The award was announced in the May/June issue of the magazine. -The Thorndike Library hosted three exhibitions: monotypes, woodcuts and etchings by Siri Beckman; oils by Richard Saltonstall; and drawings and collages by MaJo Keleshian. The Beck- man and Keleshian exhibitions were occasions for poetry readings by Kate Barnes and Sylvester Pollet. -Speaking of poetry, Patti D'Ange- Left to right: COA Trustee Leslie Brewer, President Louis Rabineau, Michael and lo '92 and Emily Bracale '90 were win- Nettie Garber, Charles Sawyer, and Life Trustee Father James Gower. ners in contests sponsored by, respec- tively, The Bar Harbor Times and The But for the generosity and vision of the college became established, it pur- Michael Garber, College of the Atlantic Republican Journal. chased the land and buildings from Mr. -Jette Jenson, a Danish whale might not have found a place to roost. Garber. Last year, Mr. Garber, who An early donor to the college, Mr. Gar- summers on Mt. Desert Island, was researcher who has been working at the Greenland Fisheries Research Institute ber purchased the present site of the invited to tour the campus, at which college from the Oblates in the mid- in Copenhagen, joined the staff at Allied time President Rabineau presented him 1960s, and generously agreed to lease with a certificate of recognition and Whale for several weeks this spring for photo-identification analysis. the property to COA for $1 a year. As gratitude from the college. -On May 13, P.H. Liotta, essayist, poet and novelist, gave a reading at the college. Following a three-week stay on NEASC Accepts College's Fifth-Year Report Mount Desert Island, Liotta assumed the The New England Association of on its accomplishments since 1983, position of air attaché to the American Schools and Colleges (NEASC) has including the reversal of adverse enroll- Embassy in Athens, Greece. accepted the fifth-year interim report sub- ment patterns, the rebuilding of core aca- -The "sports program" at COA was mitted by College of the Atlantic as part of demic buildings and the reorganization of greatly boosted this summer by several its accreditation process. In her letter of its administration. cricket matches on the south lawn orga- acceptance, Barbara E. Brittingham, Chair The college is scheduled for a com- nized by Nishi Rakajaruna, a junior of the Commission on Institutions of prehensive evaluation by NEASC in Fall, from Sri Lanka. Higher Education, commended the college 1997. COA NEWS 15 FALL 1993 Honoring William H. Drury, Jr. Family, friends and colleagues of the late William H. Drury, Jr. gathered at College of the Atlantic on Saturday, May 29, to honor the memory and vision of the acclaimed ornithologist and biologist who taught at the college from 1976 to 1992. Papers were delivered by a panel of distinguished speakers, all of whom had worked with Drury. The panel was com- prised of Dr. Ernst Mayr, Aggassiz Pro- fessor of Zoology, Emeritus, Harvard University; Dr. Ian Nisbet, President of I.C.T. Nisbet & Co., Scientific Consult- ing Company; Dr. Erica Dunn, a research scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Ser- vice; and Dr. Robert Trivers, professor of biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz. In the afternoon, participants gathered AMY TOENSING in the Camp Community Lounge for the dedication of the William H. Drury, Jr. Biological Research Station. The station Flying Fish and Destroyer, etching by William H. Drury, Jr. consists of a group of buildings connect- ed to the now inoperative lighthouse on Wildlife Refuge paid homage to Drury an exhibition of prints, drawings and Petit Manan Island, just outside Nar- who had spearheaded federal seabird pro- watercolors by Drury and members of his raguagus Bay off the coast of Maine near tection efforts. family was mounted in the new Ethel H. Milbridge. Officials of the U.S. Fish and In conjunction with the colloquium, Blum Gallery. Maiden continued from page 9 to make the wheel affordable." The com- American SunCo's systems are The company has also recently pany received some key in-state help decidedly not the stuff of science fiction. received orders for systems from the from the Maine Research and Productiv- Last year, the company sold two of its United States Naval Air Weapons Sta- ity Center (MRPC). This assistance systems to the U.S. Air Force, which tion in China Lake, California, and from came in the form of a development grant was hired to oversee installation of the the Sandia National Laboratories in and additional technical support. units at Tyndall AFB in Florida. And Albuquerque, New Mexico. These sys- The patent title of the company's earlier, Energy House, the Department tems are slated to be delivered by the most successful system sounds like of Energy-funded demonstration show- first of the year. something right out of Tom Swift: case of energy conservation and alter- Maiden expresses some frustration "Hyperfocal Convection-Suppressing nate energy concepts located in East with the slowness of Federal bureaucra- Tracking Solar Thermal Collector"- Amwell, N.J., selected a SunCo model to cies-"I can see why people charge the SunTracker 7 for short. In order to work, heat its hot water. This system was fea- Pentagon $1,000 for a screwdriver," he the SunTracker 7's large parabolic tured in Popular Science magazine last says wryly: "it's $5 for the item and reflector has to accurately follow the July. $995 for the aggravation." At the same apparent motion of the sun across the Now Maiden's company has gained time, the-president of American SunCo sky. This sun tracking capability is pro- even greater recognition: American points out that more attention is being vided by an electronic controller which SunCo was recently chosen to receive a given alternate energy technology in looks for the hottest spot in the sky and $100,000 government grant. The grant, these post-Reagan/Bush years. steers the system so that it is continually which is awarded to only 2% of appli- As his company moves beyond on target. "It's sort of interesting, and a cants, is a joint program administered by research and development into active little ironic," Maiden says, "that the sys- the National Bureau of Standards' Office sales, Maiden is optimistic about the tem used to aim our solar collector at the of Energy-Related Inventions (OERI) future. "The time is right to be looking at sun is alot like the controller used to and the U.S. Department of Energy alternative energy sources," he says with guide heat-seeking missiles." He adds, "I (DOE). The award will be used for fur- confidence, and the success of American think I like the application we've chosen ther development and marketing of the SunCo bears him out. a little better." system. COA NEWS 16 SUMMER 1993 Kates continued from page 7 principle of the United Nations." Kates Geography Information System (GIS) has required evidence of the desirable, a recently wrote about the subject for The work being done at the college. sense of the possible, and a moral stan- New England Journal of Medicine, an Kates has devoted his life to trying to dard for choice." The human ecology per- article titled "Ending Famine Deaths: The help change the world through scientific spective of College of the Atlantic and Opportunity of Somalia." understanding of the world. In reflecting Dr. Kates's humanistic world view seem As a scientist and humanitarian, Kates upon his research and professional inter- one and the same. The college is both for- has excelled at building networks and ests, he has written, "To suggest ways in tunate and honored to have Dr. Kates coming up with ways for organizations to which humankind and the natural world serve as a faculty associate. collaborate on projects. In speaking of the can coexist, survive, and even flourish -Carl Little issue of hidden hunger-the lack of cer- tain key micro-nutrients in people's diets-Kates reveals how organizational BOOK NOTES and professional differences can impede progress. "There are those who want to Trustee John Kauffmann and the give supplements; those who want to for- tify foods; and those who want people to "Ultimate Mountains" adopt better diets-and the groups have always fought." The World Hunger Pro- In the opening section of Coming Into taineers, a non-profit conservation club gram has helped get the various parties the Country (1976), John McPhee's based in Seattle. Illustrated with numer- working together. account of Alaska, the author describes ous photographs (many by the author), Overcoming Hunger in the 1990s is a trip he took on the Salmon River in this homage to one of the world's last, organizing a meeting that will take place the Brooks Range with a state federal- great, unspoiled wildernesses includes in Thailand in 1994, the fifth anniversary study team. On that team was John history, legend, geography, a roundup of the effort to cut hunger in half. At that Kauffmann, chief planner for Alaska's of the literature on the region, portraits time, they will take a hard look at what is Gates of the Arctic National Park and of some of its champions, and first- likely achievable, and what is not, by the Preserve and Noatak National Preserve hand accounts of exploring the range's year 2000. "Partly our job is to give peo- in the Brooks Range. wildest interiors. ple some sense of what is encouraging, McPhee portrays his friend of many what is reasonable, what can actually be years with esteem and humor: achieved, without being untruthful," says "Before he [Kauffmann] came Kates. up here [to Alaska], he was Asked about research projects that much in the wild (he has been a have particularly interested him, Kates ranger in various places and is mentions several, including a history of the author of a book on eastern hunger and an examination of how American rivers), but nonethe- regional populations fluctuate over peri- less he was a blue-blazer sort of ods of millenia. He is also working on a man, who could blend into the book, at this point titled The Jeremiah tussocks at the Metropolitan Experiment: Hope for a Sustainable Club. Unimaginable, looking at World, which will seek to understand him now. If he were to take off what the social role of scientific jeremi- his shirt and shake it, the dis- ahs is, why in general their forecasts membered corpses of vintage don't come to pass, and what they can mosquitoes would fall to the teach us about new fears such as global ground. Tall and slim in the first warming and sustainability. It's just the place, he is now spare. After kind of research he thrives on: "I don't staring so long at the sharp, have the answers at this point; I like this flinty peaks of the central kind of inquiry." Brooks Range, he has come to Last year, Kates and his wife, Eleanor, look much like them." moved from Providence, Rhode Island, to Kauffmann, a trustee of Col- Trenton, Maine. They have two daughters, lege of the Atlantic, has now Barbara and Katherine, both of whom live written his own account of this in Bangor, with five grandchildren, and a northern kingdom: Alaska's son, Jonathan, who lives in Worcester. Brooks Range: The Ultimate Kates has given talks at College of the Mountains was published this John M. Kauffmann hiking in Alaska's Brooks Atlantic, and recently sat in on a "Works past winter by The Moun- Range. in Progress" presentation that featured the COA NEWS 17 FALL 1993 Rabineau continued from page 4 sure and pride? LR: There's one thing I do want to emphasize, and it isn't just an empty ges- ture: the successes that COA has enjoyed while I've been here were brought about by the different college groups-trustees, faculty, students, alumni, all the friends of COA. With that as backdrop: I think the greatest success is the fact that COA is here. There were times when one won- dered about the very existence of the col- lege. The situation was precarious. We have not just survived, but have been able to flourish, and that's really exciting. The financial stability, the enrollments more than doubling during that period, the fact that we have been able to expand CARL LITTLE the faculty, including a greater representa- tion of women-all this stands out. From left to right: Kathryn Suminsby, President Steve Katona, Susan Lerner, Louis and One thing that I've been especially Mona Rabineau and their daughter, Elizabeth, at the farewell reception for President glad to see happen at the college-and the Rabineau, July 22, 1993. trustees have supported it as have the Davis Family Foundation and other of life was the best education-that's a lot recognition nationally and internationally. sources-is the professional development of what COA is all about too. But as Tom Hall, former chairman of of faculty and staff. CL: What are some of your plans for the board, used to say, "We have to not just Trustees are important at every college, future? look good, we have to be good." That's but they've played a unique role here. the challenge, to build on what we have They're very involved with what goes on LR: Well, immediately, the Academy for accomplished. at COA. They are turned on by the col- Educational Development, a national and lege, and they're tremendously supportive. Members of President Rabineau's family and many of his friends and colleagues CL: You once said that the college didn't turned out on July 22 to bid him a fond have an "edifice complex." And yet in the "As I see it, the farewell. The toasting took place at a past nine years we've seen the physical reception on the Gates Center porch, plant change quite a bit. college is while the roasting was saved for a dinner LR: Let me answer it directly: we don't moving from an at the Pot and Kettle later on. Among have an edifice complex. We needed those paying tribute over the evening to buildings, and we've been lucky to have Rabineau were Trustees William Newlin, introspective been able to put up major new facilities or Peter Sellers, Edward Blair, Cathy Rams- redo existing ones. These buildings are dell, John Kelly and Leonard Silk, Aca- stage to an required items to sustain the mission of demic Dean Richard Borden and Presi- the college. outward-looking one." dent Steve Katona. It was Katona who perhaps summed up Rabineau's achieve- CL: We've spoken before of the impor- ments best: "Lou has put this college on tance of mentors. Is there any one person international consulting firm, wants me to the map in bold letters." who influenced you and your life? step up my activities with them, and you The college also held its final "Lou's LR: I've been lucky to have had a number can't always predict what it's going to be. Place," a four-star cabaret dinner that of mentors at different stages in my life. It certainly will be in higher education. took place in Blair Dining Hall on Fri- My father died when I was very young, day, April 23. Highlights of the evening and I had an uncle who worked all his CL: Where do you see COA headed? included a stand-up comedy routine by way to college. Uncle Sol had a terrific LR: As I see it, we are moving from an Director of Admission Steve Thomas and impact on my outlook. Two of his heroes introspective stage to an outward-looking a stunning vocal performance by Cathy were Alexander Mieklejohn, father of one. We are trying to figure how to work Ramsdell'78 accompanied by Millard COA adjunct faculty member Don Miek- through, and with, what's around us. Dority on guitar and John Cooper on sax. lejohn, and Scott Nearing. He had read We really have a chance to take off. A variety of mouth-watering desserts was them. Uncle Sol believed that the college College of the Atlantic is starting to get served by COA students. COA NEWS 18 FALL 1993 Newsnotes Kenneth Cline, who teaches public coauthored a paper, "Growth of micro- policy at COA, was elected Chair of the propagated lowbush Blueberry with new Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club. He Defined Fungi in Irradiated Peat Mix," Judith Allen, director of computer ser- gave a talk last winter at the Portland which appeared in the November 1992 vices, was guest lecturer on the American Museum of Art on "Ansel Adams and the issue of the Canadian Journal of Botany. Hawaii Cruises during their special "Save North Woods of Maine" as part of a panel Director of Public Affairs Carl Little the Humpback Whales Cruise" in March. discussion on land protection issues in has written the afterword to a limited edi- Visiting ceramics teacher Jennifer Maine. tion of Poems for Sutton Island by Hort- Beckman claimed her first women's A- Administrative Dean Melville Coté's ense Flexner, published by Port in a Storm tennis title during a tournament held at the article, "New Developments at College of Editions. Woodcut illustrations are by Fitness East Health and Racquet Club in the Atlantic: A New Master of Philosophy Polly Coté. Little is also the author of Ellsworth in late April. in Human Ecology," appeared in the Octo- Edward Hopper's New England, recently Academic Dean Richard Borden and ber-December 1992 issue of Environmen- published by Pomegranate Artbooks. Administrative Dean Melville Coté will tal Education and Information, published Trustee J. Mason Morfit lead a tour host a steering committee meeting for the by the University of Salford, UK. to the Yucatan peninsula in February to Seventh International Conference of the Newsletter editor for the Washington assess the success of private, non-govern- Society for Human Ecology, to be held on Environmental Writers Association, Norah mental conservation groups in protecting Earth Day weekend in April 1994 at Davis held a congressional briefing on exceptional natural areas that have been Michigan State University. "Critical Issues in Natural Resources" on designated as Biosphere Reserves. Brian Boyd, visiting faculty member August 26, 1993, in the hearing room for Fred C. Olday, former chemistry pro- in writing this past spring, published a the Committee on Merchant Marine and fessor at COA, writes that he is living in a short story, "The Moat," in the June 7th Fisheries in the House of Representatives. cabin in the woods along the Narraguagus issue of The New Yorker. The April/May issue of Maine Boats River. "At 55 years of age, while my pro- William Carpenter was artist-in-resi- and Harbors features an article, "Maine's fessional life keeps me engaged, my per- dence at the Madison (Maine) High Dolphins and Porpoises," by Dan Den- sonal life is nothing short of pure adven- School this past winter. In May he went on Danto '90, project associate for the North ture-who said, "Is that all there is?" a lecture tour in Germany and Austria, in Atlantic Finback Whale Catalogue. Peter Owens, who taught architec- conjunction with the publication in Ger- Scott Dickerson, a graduate student at tural design at COA, is now a Ph.D. candi- man of his novel A Keeper of Sheep, pub- COA, published an article, "Flight of the date in Environmental Planning and Urban lished by Residenz Verlag of Salzburg. Heron, Nest of the Eagle," in the April Design at U.C. Berkeley. He published an This summer, professor Donald Cass 1993 issue of Habitat, Journal of the article, "The Evolving Metropolis," writ- taught environmental chemistry at the Maine Audubon Society. ten with Michael Southworth, in the sum- Beacon School Academy in Orono. Faculty Associate Walter Litten mer 1993 issue of the Journal of the Amer- ican Planning Association. President Louis Rabineau received an honorary degree from the University of This past New England at the commencement for the College of Arts and Sciences on May spring, College 8. In July, Dr. Rabineau spoke at the of the Atlantic meeting of the State Association Executive Council in Quebec. SAEC is a commission Life Trustee of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). He John C. Dreier will be honored at the 20th Anniversary received the Celebration of Charter Oaks State College in October, in recognition of his important LaRue role in founding that college. Spiker Award in Writing teacher Candice Stover designed and led several writing work- recognition of shops this past winter, including "Perform- ing Autobiography: Women at Work," his leadership presented at the state-wide Eighth Annual and long-term NAN LINCOLN, courtesy of The Bar Harbor Times Women's Studies Conference held at the University of Maine at Farmington. efforts toward An article co-authored by John Vis- vader and Richard Borden, "Education preserving the for Environment: Ecological Strategy of ailing elm trees Survival and Development," appeared in Journal of Human Ecology. The paper is in Bar Harbor. based on an invited joint presentation at the Commission of Human Ecology Inter- national Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in July 1988. COA NEWS 19 FALL 1993 Commencement continued from page 1 end of this year as manager of the col- Anne Kozak spoke of Mrs. Thorndike's Seguin, Ted Bartles and Jennifer Rock. lege's business office. selfless dedication to social causes and Rock's presentation consisted of a collage For the first time since its founding, her profound love of gardening and wild- of writings by graduating seniors, includ- the college awarded an honorary degree flower conservation. "It is only fitting," ing her own humorous take on COA: posthumously, to Elizabeth Thorndike she concluded, "that the college honor "Where else would I have found friends (1908-1992), a former trustee and bene- Betty, a person who embodied the goals like these who play with holy mackerel, factress of the college. The degree in and ideals of human ecology." kidnap chickens, swim in the Atlantic in Human Ecology was presented to John Student perspectives were given by January, haul around whale parts, keep Thorndike, a nephew. Faculty member Cedar Blomberg, Eric Weikart, Vernon scat and dead voles in their freezers, raise seal pups in their bathtubs, and in perhaps our one great act of consensus study a thing like human ecology." Father James Gower, a parish priest and a founder of College of the Atlantic, delivered the commencement message. "The challenge of this generation," Father Gower told the graduating class, "will be the task of creating the spiritual context for the ecological age we are entering." He challenged the seniors to "start making this the one world it truly is. When there are 40,000 kids a day starving in a world where there is plenty of food, it seems CARL LITTLE there is a job for an ecologist to do." Over 500 people took part in the cel- ebration under a tent on the north lawn of College of the Atlantic class of 1993. the campus. 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