St. Lawrence may soon begin investing money in Canton, based on support expressed by the University's Board of Trustees, at their February meeting, of a proposal from President Sullivan. No dollar amounts or specific projects were decided upon; levels of investment will be considered at a subsequent Board meeting. The goals of the "Canton Initiative" are threefold, according to Dean of Administrative Operations Tom Coakley, who at President Sullivan's request drew up the proposal that the trustees reviewed. St. Lawrence wants to establish a strong, proactive relationship with local governments, business leaders and agencies on economic and infrastructure development, invest in projects that would enhance the appearance of areas near campus, and help Canton develop its downtown and expand its tax base, explained Coakley, a member of a family that has operated a business in Canton for most of this century. Canton Mayor James Monroe said the village is working on a master plan to address many of those concerns. "When parents and prospective students come to visit, if they're attracted to the community our retailers and residents benefit, and the colleges win too," he told a Watertown Daily Times reporter in February. "One of our first steps will be to determine how the University can participate in developing that master plan," says Coakley. President Sullivan will ask several individuals from the University and the community to serve on a board of advisors to oversee the initiative, according to Coakley. The board will be chaired by Trustee Frank Burr, who chairs the Board of Trustees' External Relations Committee. "We see this as a way of getting St. Lawrence more involved in its community, perhaps in ways that have never been done or thought of before," says Coakley. He welcomes suggestions, and will be glad to speak to campus groups about the program.
Work done by students is the focus of the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery's two final exhibitions of the year. "Envisioning the Other: Indians on Film," April 3-June 10, uses critical text panels written by students in graduate fellow Anthony Grajeda's fall course of the same title. The exhibition, organized by Grajeda, gallery Collections Manager Carole Mathey and Director Catherine Tedford, includes stills, posters and lobby cards from films such as Broken Arrow, Apache, Cheyenne Autumn, A Man Called Horse and Dances With Wolves, gathered from the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research in Madison and the Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley. The Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition will be in the gallery from April 4 through June 10. Student artwork in all media, including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics and printmaking, will be presented in the exhibition, organized by the Student Art Union, the gallery and the fine arts department. All students are eligible to enter artwork for consideration.
St. Lawrence currently has only two contracted students who participate in the Clarkson ROTC program (in ROTC parlance, "contracted" means they have agreed to serve on active duty following graduation). Each is the recipient of recent recognition. "I am very excited about being in the army," says Eric Shiffman '97. Shiffman, a government major, recently won the George C. Marshall ROTC Award, which recognizes outstanding seniors in military science and leadership in colleges and universities throughout the United States. On April 15-18 he will travel to Lexington, Va., where he will attend a series of seminars with field experts along with top-ranked seniors from other battalions. Immediately following Commencement this May, Shiffman will be commissioned in campus ceremonies and will begin preparing for his active duty. He intends to join a field artillery division; the site has not been determined. After active duty he plans on attending graduate school. Tracy Hatch '98, a math major and psychology minor, is preparing for Advanced Camp at the beginning of the summer. The camp is itself preparation for the rest of her summer; she has been selected to participate in the Cadet Leadership Training Program in Germany, with an aviation division. The program runs for approximately a month, during which she will observe operations, gain military experience and further develop her leadership skills. Hatch captained both the field hockey and women's basketball teams this year. "The ROTC people were supportive of my participation on both teams," she says. "They feel that my role as captain further develops my leadership skills." After being commissioned in 1998, Hatch hopes to serve her active duty in aviation.
The sounds of music will bid the snow farewell as April welcomes four musical performances at St. Lawrence. Cellist Elsa Hilger will return for her annual recital. Accompanied by pianist Catherine Baird, Hilger, retired cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, will perform on Sunday, April 13, at 2 p.m. in Sykes Common Room. A reception will follow. Hilger will also be on campus to receive an honorary doctorate from the University at Commencement. The annual Gretchen Bence Young Artist Recital is also scheduled for April 13, at 4 p.m. in Gilbert Recital Hall. Performer Mark Lawrence has sung solos in works by Honegger, Bach and Menotti, and was a semi-finalist in the Orpheus Vocal Competition in Tennessee. Admission to the recital is free. Bence, a Class of 1950 biology and chemistry major, started her singing career with the Robert Shaw Chorale. She later became a star of the Munich and Vienna Operas and a teacher. She died April 1, 1992. The concert schedule continues on Friday, April 18 at 8:30 p.m. in Gulick Theatre with the fourth annual Vocal Accords invitational concert. The concert will feature three St. Lawrence groups--the Singing Saints, Sinners and A Cappella Angels--and Euphoria from Williams College; at press time there was the possibility of other non-SLU groups also performing. Tickets are $3 for SLU students and employees and $5 for others; they can be purchased at the door. Finally, on April 25 at 8 p.m. in Gilbert Recital Hall, Michael Farley and Barbara Phillips-Farley will demonstrate their diverse talents. Phillips-Farley, a pianist, will play works by Schubert and Paccione and a multimedia composition by Reynold Weidenaar, silk road. Farley's contribution is a computer-controlled work of synthesizer and voice, entitled Out of Elysian Fields, based upon Sally Savic's novel of the same name. The concert is free.
In order to prepare for their upcoming spring production, the cast of Getting Out went to prison. According to cast member Adam French '97, the actors visited the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility to gain a deeper understanding of life in prison. The play deals with the difficulties a recently released convict faces; directed by Rebecca Daniels, it will be performed April 10-13 at 8 p.m. in Gulick Theatre. Getting Out addresses the theme of abuse and its consequential effects on people. The central character is a young woman, Arlene/Arlie, who was physically and sexually abused as a child and young adult. The play is set in the present, after Arlene has just been released from prison and wants to start life anew. The present is interspersed with scenes from Arlene's past, both before and during her time in prison, when she was known as Arlie. This helps the audience understand where Arlene is coming from and why it is so challenging for her to cope with her situation. The cast includes Christine Woodworth '99, Anita Nouryeh '99, Maria Mallardi '97, Caitlin McAndrews '98, Robert Larrabee '97, Geoffrey Wahl '99, David Amiott '00, Tara Lazarus '97, Molly McCaffrey '98, Adam French '97 and Ash Howard '98.
Bicyclists will take over Park Street on Sunday, April 20, marking the beginning of Earth Week activities on campus. The Environmental Awareness Organization (EAO) is hosting this "bike out" to encourage people to use less gasoline for their transportation. On Tuesday, April 22, EAO is sponsoring a bus to Albany to participate in the annual Environmental Lobby Day. Wednesday, April 23, Anne LaBastille, an ecologist, Adirondack advocate and author, will speak under the auspices of EAO, the environmental studies program, the Outdoor Program and the First-Year Program. Her lecture is set for Sykes Common Room at 7 p.m. Earth Week will come to a close as EAO hosts a bake sale in the U.C. on Thursday, April 24, and a drum circle on the Quad on Friday, April 25. For more information contact Maura Sullivan, 7017.
For St. Lawrence lecture fans, April may be the best month of the year. The annual Frank P. Piskor Lecture and the first-ever Alfred Romer Lecture are both on the April calendar. Associate Professor of English Sid Sondergard, the 1997 recipient of the Piskor Lectureship, will speak on "Deadly Charisma: Social Morality and the Uncensored Robin Hood Myths in Contemporary Film" on Monday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Herring-Cole. His lecture will focus on the differences between the image of Robin Hood in early poems and plays and the contemporary image. The first annual Alfred Romer Lecture will be presented by Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, on Monday, April 21 at 8 p.m. in Hepburn Auditorium. The Romer Lecture was established this year in honor of Physics Professor Emeritus Alfred Romer, who has been associated with St. Lawrence for 50 years and remains actively involved with physics department activities at the age of 90.
St. Lawrence's annual springtime tradition of Moving-Up Day, a ceremony during which student accomplishments are recognized with awards and classes "move up," and new members for the leadership honorary society Omicron Delta Kappa are "tapped," will take place this year on Saturday, April 26, beginning at 10 a.m. in Gunnison Memorial Chapel. The ODK tapping follows immediately, on the "triangle" formed by the chapel, Owen D. Young Library and Richardson Hall. A variety of departmental and organization awards will be given during the ceremony, to which all members of the University community are welcome. As in years past, a representative number of students from each class will represent the "moving up" of classes by weaving in and out of rows at the front of the chapel, while singing one of the traditional Moving-Up Day songs. On Friday, April 25, an alumni career panel, focusing on alumni with careers as entrepreneurs, will take place at 3:30 p.m. in Herring-Cole. At press time, participants confirmed included Kimberly Whitehead Puckett '86 of Wayzata, Minn., founder and co-owner of Caribou Coffee; and Clarence Burris '75 of Herndon, Va., a former trial attorney who now is a martial artist and martial arts instructor.
A book with ties to St. Lawrence University and the North Country, and the
first best-seller of the 20th century, has been published in a new edition.
Eben Holden: Tale of the North Country, by St. Lawrence alumnus and
trustee Irving Bacheller (1859-1950), was first published in 1900 and was an
immediate commercial success, selling some 250,000 copies in its first year.
The new edition is published by Wordsworth Editions Ltd., of Ware,
Hertfordshire, England, as part of their American Classics Series. It
includes a brief introduction by Canton College librarian Doug Welch.
The semi-autobiographical story chronicles the flight of Eben Holden,
a homely hired man who is wise and kind, and his nephew, Bill, from Vermont
to Paradise Valley, Bacheller's appellation for a section of the Waterman
Hill area south of Canton. Full of local dialect and eccentric personalities,
it reflects many historical, cultural and social aspects of North Country
pioneer life. Although Eben Holden is the title character, Bill is
Bacheller's partial alter ego.
Bacheller, who grew up in Pierrepont ("Faraway" in Eben Holden
and graduated from St. Lawrence in 1882, became a journalist in New York
City. With the publication and success of Eben Holden he was able to
pursue his writing career full-time. He was acquainted with many of the most
noted writers of his day, such as Jack London and Stephen Crane, and helped
several of them secure their reputations by syndicating their works. He wrote
many more novels and two purely autobiographical works, but Eben
Holden is the best known. He is often credited with coining the term
"North Country."
Republication was the brainchild of Piskor Professor of English
Albert Glover. "I'd long wished to see Eben Holden available again,"
Glover says. "When I was directing the London program in 1993-94 I became
acquainted with the publisher and their American Classics series, and when
they asked me to become their American editor, there was my opportunity."
February 15 saw the latest benchmark for admissions: application deadline.
With the caveat that things change daily, a look at the most updated
information at press time (March 17) shows:
April 3 Gallery Opening: "Envisioning The Other: Indians On Film," Brush Gallery, through June 10 April 4 Gallery Opening: Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition, Brush Gallery, through June 10 Reception for student artists: Brush Gallery, 4:30 p.m. Reading: Linda Hogan, Sykes Common Room, 8 p.m. April 6-7 Admissions Yield Weekend April 7 Piskor Lecture: Sid Sondergard, "Deadly Charisma: Social Morality and the Uncensored Robin Hood Myths in Contemporary Film," Herring-Cole, 7:30 p.m. April 9 Reading: Diane DiPrima, Sykes Common Room, 7:30 p.m. April 10 - 13 Drama: Getting Out, Gulick Theatre, 8 p.m. April 10 Reception for students involved in "Envisioning the Other" art exhibition, Brush Gallery, 4 p.m. April 11 Slide Lecture: Robert Stam, "Cinema History Multiculturalism," Griffiths 123, 4:30 p.m. Friends of ODY Lecture/Reception: Robert Thacker, "Voyaging Into Substance Through the 'Jesuit Relations'," Herring-Cole, 4 p.m. April 11-13 Black Student Union Reunion April 13-14 Admissions Yield Weekend April 13 Recital: Cellist Elsa Hilger and Pianist Catherine Baird, Sykes Common Room, 2 p.m. Gretchen Bence Young Artist Recital: Mark Lawrence, Gilbert Recital Hall, 4 p.m. April 18 Vocal Accord Concert (Saints, Sinners, Angels, Williams College "Euphoria"), Gulick Theatre, 8 p.m., $5 adults, $3 students April 21 Passover begins at sundown Romer Lecture: Jack Horner, title TBA, Gulick Theatre or Hepburn Auditorium, 8 p.m. April 23 Concert: SLU Catch Club, Herring-Cole, 8 p.m. Presentation: Anne LaBastille, "Thoreau and the Woodsman," Sykes Common Room, 7 p.m. April 25 Alumni Leadership Career Panel: Herring-Cole, 3 p.m. Faculty Recital: Barbara Phillips-Farley and Michael Farley, Gilbert Recital Hall, 8 p.m. Performance: Dance Ensemble, Gulick Theatre, 8 p.m. April 26 Moving-Up Day and ODK Tapping, Chapel and Richardson Triangle, 10 a.m. April 30 Concert: Barenaked Ladies, Appleton Arena, 9 p.m. (approximate), tickets $5 for all but SLU students
As of February 28, 1997, commitments (cash and pledges) to Campaign St. Lawrence totaled $36,460,585, with a discount to present value of $33,074,757. Since July 1, 1996, commitments have increased $6,143,603.
Recent commitments to Campaign St. Lawrence include: