September 1977 College of the Atlantic Nonprofit Organiz. U.S. Postage Paid Bar Harbor, ME 04609 Bar Harbor, Me. Permit #47 COA News million. To support the projected growth, the college seeks to raise an endowment of $4 million. And $750,000 will be required to renovate "The Turrets", which, when restored, would provide the additional classrooms, laboratory space, and student housing necessary for any enrollment growth (from the present 110). In regards to the academic program, the projections state, in part: "Within our four broad resource areas we have identified a few specific fields of inquiry, reflecting both our current strengths and our discussion of curriculum development. Environmental Science: ecology; marine studies; plants and soils. Design: architecture; aesthetics; drawing and drafting; alternative energy. Social and Cultural Studies: anthropology; Trustees examine site analysis maps prepared by COA economics; regional planning; law; politics. Values and students for Acadia National Park. Consciousness: philosophy; literature; history; religion. "In addition to these four, we would like to develop two Trustees Annual Meeting 'adjunct' resource areas, in Education and in Regional Studies." The report also explains the college's planned change to a The major topic of discussion at the July 11 annual meeting of new academic calendar: the Board of Trustees of College of the Atlantic was a "In September 1978 we will switch from our present calendar Five-Year Projection report given by Vice-President Samuel of three ten-week terms to a modified 4-1-4-1 calendar: a Eliot. The trustees also approved a $1 million budget for the 14-week fall term, 4-week intensive winter term, 14-week 1977-78 academic year, and elected four new members to the 23 spring term, and 4 or 6-week intensive field-oriented summer member board. term. The new calendar will increase flexibility for students The purpose of the Five-Year Projections, which were and faculty members in planning programs and courses, developed over the past year by task forces which included encourage interdisciplinary (and in-depth) study, cut down on students, faculty and trustees, is not to provide a firm blueprint duplication of administrative tasks, provide greater opportun- for 1982, but rather to clarify objectives and suggest guidelines ity for exchange and cooperation with other schools, and enable for growth and development during the next five years, Eliot the college to be open virtually year-round." said. The Board of Trustees, chaired by John C. Dreier, elected There was college-wide agreement that COA will grow four new members at the meeting. Two members are returning slowly, with 300 students as the upper limit of enrollment, with to the board for third terms: Dr. Elizabeth Russell, Senior Staff the possibility that this may level off at 250. The Scientist at Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor; and Mr. Leslie'C. student-faculty ratio is not expected to exceed 12:1. The college Brewer, Businessman, Bar Harbor. Joining the board for the plans to continue awarding financial aid to at least 30 percent of first time as trustees are Mr. Daniel H. Kane, Jr., Attorney, the enrollment, the report states. Faculty Member, College of the Atlantic; and Mr. Thomas J. The annual budget for an enrollment of 300 is projected at $2 Watson, III, Attorney, Boston. Summertime "Is the college open in the summer?" many people inquire. Definitely. This summer, 15 students lived on campus and some 40 students participated in one or more of the five summer courses; audiences of 50 to more than 150 persons attended the weekly Summer Forum at the college in July and August; COA's summer "Poet-in-Residence", Joel Oppenheimer, and guest poet, Siv Cedering Fox, presented an evening's poetry reading to a most appreciative audience; and, in July, the trustees of the college gathered for their annual meeting. The Bar Harbor Festival of Music took place at COA in August. Many prospective students and their parents came to visit and speak with admissions office personnel, and many summer visitors to Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island stopped to see the college's gallery exhibit or to inquire about the college's work, particularly COA's whale studies and work in alternative energy. Colorful balloons, a pony and cart, craft demonstrations, ice cream, tacos, games and music were enjoyed by a gathering of Benefit Concert more than 200 people at a Fair held at the college Sunday, Aug. 21 to benefit Cranberry School. COA students and faculty A benefit concert for "The Turrets" was hosted by COA have been involved with the alternative pre-school since it was Trustee Mrs. R. Amory Thorndike at her home in Bar Harbor first created in 1975. Sunday, Aug. 14. Pianist Thomas Brockman played pieces by Shumann, FIPSE Grant Shubert, Rachmaninoff and Debussy for an audience of about 80 persons. The Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education At intermission, architect and COA faculty member Roc (FIPSE) has recently awarded COA a $64,000 grant to expand Caivano briefly described to the audience the potential of "The the college's present offerings in environmental design and to Turrets" as a restored building, and invited members of the establish a model educational curriculum that deals with the audience to contact him for a tour of the building. problems of energy, economics, environment and aesthetics as "The Turrets", a shorefront home owned by the college and one undergraduate field of study. located adjacent to the present campus, can, after renovation, The study of environmental design at the college began with provide 4 additional classrooms, 14 offices, three laboratories, courses in shelter design and alternative building and heating an historically restored public meeting room, a 50-seat dining technology and has evolved to include study of architectural hall, and housing for 12 students, according to Caivano. history, site analysis and design, and solar energy. The FIPSE grant will allow the college to hire two new will combine outdoor competency skills acquisition with the faculty members, a structural engineer and a building study of literature. contractor. Beginning winter term, these new instructors will Sentiel Rommel, Ph.D., who was a visiting faculty spring offer courses in building, cabinet making, and alternative term, is a research associate in zoology at the University of energy development. The grant will provide funds for Maine at Orono. He will teach a course in animal physics fall necessary building materials and will support efforts to term at COA, while continuing his research at UMO. communicate experiences of those involved in this curriculum A year-long series of writing courses to be offered at COA development to other institutions which would like to offer will begin fall term with Norah Deakin Davis, freelance writer, similar learning opportunities. offering an introductory level writing course. Dr. Earl Green, As the two new faculty members teach building skills, Roc former director of Jackson Laboratory, who last fall taught Caivano and Ernest McMullen will be able to expand their genetics at COA, will offer a course in "Elements of Statistical offerings in the design field to include such explorations as "The Reasoning". Graphic: Symbolization and Communication of Natural Sys- Benjamin Smith will offer a course entitled, "History of the tems", which Caivano will offer. Machine, Philosophy of Science". George Weisel, an elemen- At the end of the final phase of the three year project, COA tary school teacher and outdoor education program coordina- plans to have a specific model curriculum that will be useful to tor, will be teaching a course in "The Interdisciplinary Aspects both liberal arts colleges and trade schools interested in this of Environmental Education". And Melba Wilson, research work, according to project director Roc Caivano. associate at Jackson Laboratory, will offer a course in cell "Graduates of our program will be equipped to either go into biology. various construction industries and occupations or attend graduate school in architecture or related fields," Caivano says. On Leave New Faces As COA enters its sixth academic year, not only are many new people found joining the college community, but some of those In addition to the appointments in history and anthropology in who have been here since the college's beginnings are taking a the last newsletter, the college has made three one-year and leave of absence. five one-term appointments for fall term. The new faculty will Samuel Eliot, vice-president of the college, and Mary K. be offering courses in literature, animal physics, cell biology, Eliot, assistant to the president, who both came to COA in statistics, writing, philosophy, and environmental education. 1971, are headed to Cambridge, where Sam will pursue a Charlotte Bonica, Ph.D., comes to COA from the University doctorate degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy of Pennsylvania. Bonica will offer a course fall term in short at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. fiction of the 20th century, and will develop work in drama Steven Katona, faculty member in environmental sciences, during the year. and Susan Lerner, faculty member in literature and dance, who Lynn Hammond, Ph.D., who received her degree from the both came to the college in 1972, are taking a one-year leave for University of Southern California, will offer a fall course on travel. They flew to London in late August and were to go from Huxley. Hammond plans to offer a course spring term which there to Egypt, the first stops of a journey around the world. Orientation COA's sixth year will get under way for most students and faculty Wednesday, Sept. 7 when they gather at the college to prepare for the Outdoor Orientation Program (OOP), an eight-day foray into Maine's woods and onto Maine's lakes and Can You Match This? streams. Ten different small-group trips are planned for this year's OOP. They range from leisurely canoe excursions on the Grand Lake Chain to demanding routes down the East Branch of the Penobscot River for experienced canoers, with one hiking trip in the Sabao Mountain region. The college's outdoor orientation is seen as an opportunity for new and returning students and faculty to get to know each other prior to the beginning of the academic year, to share the experience of wilderness travel, and to explore the elements of self-reliance and interdependence characteristic of human ecology. The "woodspeople" are to return to Bar Harbor Thursday, Sept. 15, with academic orientation to begin the next day. Friday's schedule includes a welcome from President Edward Kaelber, discussion of the philosophy and history of the college, faculty presentation of course descriptions, and an orientation to community and regional resources. There will be time Saturday morning for a look at the library and discussion of college governance. Convocation will be held Saturday afternoon, followed by a picnic, music, and dancing. And, of course, classes begin Monday, Sept. 19. Internships Two internships have to date been approved for fall term. Mark Simonds will intern at the Tatnic Hill School, an alternative high school for environmental studies in Wells, Maine. Mark plans to assist in the designing and teaching of an alternative energy program and to instruct students in the building of wooden canoes. Marc Madore is to intern as a staff member of the Androscoggin School in Lewiston, Maine. This is an alternative high school in its first year of operation. Marc will assist in administration and teaching, particularly attending to a water ecology project and outdoor education. Alumnus Profile News from COA's first graduates, William Ginn and Cathy Johnson, 1974, has been direct and regular on the one hand (Ginn, who has been assistant director of the Maine Audubon Society), but rather "distant" on the other. After an absence of almost three years, however, Cathy Johnson returned to visit COA this July, bringing tales of rhinos, elephants, tigers and exotic birds of Nepal. Cathy came to COA in the college's first year, 1972, as a transfer from Yale University. Her internship was as a leader with the Youth Conservation Corps and naturalist for Acadia National Park. For her COA final project, Cathy wrote a bill to establish the Maine National Seacoast. After graduation from COA, Cathy entered law school at the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham. While there, an old application for the Peace Corps was revived and, without her "The Turrets", designed in the 1890's by Bruce Price, seeking it at the time, she received an offer to go to Nepal as a architect of Quebec's Chateau Frontenac, is one of Bar Conservation Education Specialist for the Nepal National Parks Harbor's oldest remaining shorefront "cottages". College Office. of the Atlantic owns this massive stone building, which "I said no right away; law school was a very big, serious has been named a National Historic Landmark, and plans investment. But several days later, while I was studying law, a that, once restored, the many gracious rooms will friend who had heard of my offer asked me what I was doing provide the additional classrooms, offices and meeting passing up such an opportunity." space necessary to accommodate any enrollment growth. Not long thereafter, Cathy was headed to Kathmandu and the Nepal National Parks Office, where she would work for The National Endowment for the Humanities has almost two years disseminating information on the country's awarded COA a $100,000 Challenge Grant, a major parks to schools and other institutions, and visiting the parks of portion of which will go toward restoration of "The Nepal. Turrets". Under the NEH Grant, each federal dollar After leaving the Peace Corps, Cathy found a position as awarded must be matched by COA with $3. manager of a privately operated tourist camp in Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal. It is here that she has had the If you would like to help COA restore this company of elephants, which are used to transport the tourists "unmatchable" building, please send your tax-deductible on nature trails, which Cathy often leads. The Park is a contribution or pledge to President Edward Kaelber, beautiful home to rhinoceros, tigers and leopards, and a wide College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609. variety of tropical birds, she says. Cathy Johnson's visit to COA was part of a three-month vacation from her position as leader for the tourist camp. She plans to return to Nepal in September. Whale Watch Right whale sighted off M.D.R. this summer. From Mount Desert Rock (M.D.R.), a five-acre island about 20 says. A mother and calf right whale were again sighted July 6. miles offshore, volunteers for the fourth year participated this During the month of July, COA alumnus Scott Kraus, summer in the Mount Desert Rock Whale Watch, sponsored by directing whale watching cruises out of Northeast Harbor, and College of the Atlantic. Steven Katona, COA faculty, leading a summer class in marine Greg Stone, student coordinator of this summer's watch, mammals, visited the waters surrounding M.D.R. in search of reports that observers were first placed on M.D.R. June 13, whales. Observers on the island were able to help those in boats and that by June 26, five species of cetaceans were positively locate whales by communication via C.B. radios. identified: humpback whales, finback whales, minke whales, Whale activity tapered off between the second and third right whales and harbor porpoises. week in July, but was expected to pick up again during August. "On June 23 a mother and calf right whale were observed, Volunteers for the one-week watch shifts this summer and the calf breached. jumped almost completely out of the included seven COA students as well as volunteers from particularly exciting because their population is still suffering and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. heavily from the days of whaling in the Gulf of Maine," Stone Solar Homes Admissions Solar homes in Maine? There are three solar homes in Bar Joining the admissions office at COA this summer was Marilyn Harbor, all designed, constructed and owned by COA faculty. Downs, member of the class of 1977. Marilyn was hired as an The college has recently published a brochure detailing the admissions assistant and will work with Gail Stuart and Ted three solar systems. Koffman. Her responsibilities include traveling in the In the introduction, Norah Deakin Davis writes: Northeast and Midwest to visit high schools, organizing the "In all three homes the primary consideration was to combine small, but growing, pool of alumni, interviewing prospective minimization of environmental impact through energy conser- students, planning curriculum, advising, and working with the vation, with livability and aesthetic satisfaction. Homes were steering committee. needed, not just solar machines. For all three sites an attempt Marilyn's major "moonlight" activity continues to be work was made to reduce ecological impact by visually integrating with the anti-nuclear efforts of the Island Energy Coalition. the exteriors with the surroundings, and by using renewable resource materials wherever possible. Costs were kept as low MDI Market Survey as possible, providing prototype solar-heated, one-family dwellings easily built by their owners and inexpensive enough A survey of Mount Desert Island independent craftspeople, to be within the reach of the majority of Americans." fishermen and farmers, done this summer by COA student Copies of the Solar Homes brochure may be received by Joan Feeley, indicates some interest in developing an Island writing: Beth MacLeod, Public Information, College of the marketing association. Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Me. 04609. Donations to cover costs of The project, entitled "Maine Coast Trails", has thus far printing will be appreciated. involved interviewing more than 100 year-round craftspersons and other small business operators on MDI to find out what COA In Print kinds of products are being made and what problems, if any, they have in marketing their goods. Of those interviewed, more Two views of COA activities have recently been published. The than 75 percent expressed an interest in having a directory of August issue of Sail magazine carries an article, "Cruising into independent producers and many expressed interest in a Maine History", by William Carpenter, COA faculty member in marketing association. literature. The article describes his course, "Maine Coast The survey found people on MDI making everything from History" which has been offered the last two years aboard his pottery to harpsichords, and included producers of clothing, sailboat. furniture, jewelry, and stained glass. Feeley also spoke with In Country Journal's July issue, freelance writer Gordon S. photographers, painters, fishermen, boat builders, and Hayward chronicles his days as a volunteer whalewatcher for vegetable farmers. COA's Allied Whale. Hayward was a whalewatcher on Mount A meeting is being planned for September to determine more Desert Rock for two weeks in the summer of 1976. His article precisely what interest there may be in the idea of Island contains information on COA's whale studies, as well as craftspeople, fishermen and farmers joining together to build a interesting specifics of his personal experience sighting marketing association. cetaceans in the Gulf of Maine.