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SHERIDAN ROAD | What's New at Lake Forest College

Biggest. Symposium. Ever.

With 484 students covering 190 topics in sessions attended by 2,100 people, the Steven Galovich Memorial Student Symposium was the largest ever held in the event’s 10-year history. On April 9–10, the Symposium provided students with an opportunity to share their scholarly research and creative projects with the College community through presentations, exhibits, debates, performances, demonstrations, and posters.

From illegal immigration, Lake Forest College values, and bird migration research, to a performance of Asian cultural traditions, forensic fingerprinting demonstrations, a hands-on brain exhibit, and a cell-phone symphony, topics spanned every academic discipline as several student organizations participated as well.

“The day is a testament to our diverse intellectual achievements and strong collaboration between faculty and students both inside and outside the classroom,” said Symposium Chair Shubhik DebBurman, associate professor of biology. Sessions occurred in venues across campus, including the Donnelley and Lee Library, Mohr Student Center and Stuart Commons, Hotchkiss Hall, Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel, and Durand Art Institute.

Two new traditions highlighted the 2007 Symposium. On April 9, Danielle Allen, University of Chicago Professor and Dean of Humanities, delivered the Ruth Winter Community Lecture entitled “On Democracy and Knowledge.” The lecture was also part of the Sesquicentennial Lecture Series.

For the first time, the Red & Black Closing Ceremony featured the best student work of the year. Four student scholars— chosen by a committeeof faculty, students, and staff—presented on topics that ranged from the sciences, to education, history, and foreign language. Shannon Buckley ’07 was awarded the inaugural 2007 Steven Galovich Memorial Prize for Excellence at the Student Symposium for her presentation “Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars: Educational Programs” (see page 12 for related story).

The symposium was renamed after Dean of Faculty, Provost, and Professor of Mathematics Steven Galovich after he passed away unexpectedly in December 2006. Professor Galovich proposed the idea of a student symposium a decade ago to highlight his passion for the academic work of students. He believed that Lake Forest College should devote a day during the academic year to showcase students and their research. The annual event is now an integral part of the College.

Camp Hope

More than two years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the surrounding areas, rebuilding efforts are still under way. Over spring break in March, 19 Lake Forest College students, one faculty member, and one staffer traveled to New Orleans to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, which is helping with rebuilding efforts after the storm.

The College volunteers stayed at Camp Hope, a renovated elementary school that was destroyed during the hurricane and turned into a base camp for up to 800 volunteers at a time. During the trip, they built a park for local children that included basketball courts, a sandbox, and a baseball field, and painted benches and planted flowers. They also worked at the Habitat warehouse taking apart walls to reuse the wood for other construction projects and built bunk beds for Camp Hope.

Most of their efforts concentrated at a site called Musician’s Village, a project that aims to restore the New Orleans music scene. “Since New Orleans is known for its music it is important to bring back musicians to work in the city,” says trip volunteer Taylor Tuscherer ’10. “The homes built by Habitat volunteers in this area will be used to provide affordable housing to musicians and their families.”

New Grants

A $500,000 grant from the James S. Kemper Foundation will help establish a permanent endowment of $1.5 million to support the James S. Kemper Foundation Chair in Liberal Arts and Business. The College will soon appoint the first James S. Kemper Foundation Professor to occupy the newly endowed faculty chair. The professor will teach and strengthen business courses by increasing their emphasis on critical thinking, analysis, and communication skills; publicly acclaim the practical benefits of a liberal arts education; and organize lectures or conferences, in collaboration with the Kemper Foundation, that will feature speakers able to address how the liberal arts prepare students for successful professional lives.

“The College is deeply grateful to the Kemper Foundation for this generous, strategic support,” said Lake Forest President Stephen D. Schutt. “As the Foundation recognizes, a liberal arts education opens students’ minds to knowledge from many different disciplines, and teaches them to read and think critically, to connect one area of experience with another, and to communicate effectively. There is no better preparation for success in today’s ever-changing business world.”

Suman Gautam ’10 and Annada Rajbhandary ’10 will travel to their native Nepal in July to help women gain economic self-sufficiency after they lost their husbands during the country’s decade-long Maoist insurgency, in which many male heads of household died.

Their project — made possible by a $10,000 grant awarded by the Kathryn Wasserman Davis (KWD) 100 Projects for Peace program — seeks to address this problem by helping women gain new skills and establish a sustainable source of income over a four-week period in the Chitwan district located 110 miles from Kathmandu.

With assistance from the local Red Cross, the students will recruit 35 families to receive income-generating training in the areas of cotton weaving and animal husbandry. The women will also receive low interest loans that will help them start their own businesses.

Gautam and Rajbhandary will recruit women whose husbands were on both sides of the conflict in an effort to reduce rivalry and promote peace in the country. Before the project ends, they will also recruit an individual to oversee the micro-credit fund.

Documenting the Immigration Debate

As the immigration debate rages in Congress, two Lake Forest College students are finalizing a documentary that examines the issue from the perspectives of a deported illegal immigrant, his American wife, a former INS director, and the head of the Illinois Minuteman Project.

Dan Kolen ’07 and Justin Lansing ’07 were thinking about creating a film for their senior theses in April 2006 when they decided to team up and look at the immigration issue. They went to downtown Chicago for the immigration march on May 1 hoping to find someone who would agree to be featured. There they met Pam Salazar, the wife of a deported immigrant named Octavio and the mother of their two children (plus two more from a previous marriage). She currently lives in Rockford while her husband is in Mexico, unlikely to return.

Rosanna Pulido, the Illinois Minuteman Project director, and Brian Perryman, who headed up the Chicago INS from 1997 to 2003, also agreed to participate in the documentary, “Clandestination and the One Man Banned,” which looks at different sides of the immigration debate through the stories of these four individuals.

Kolen and Lansing say the film is not about taking sides. “We’re not trying to change anyone’s mind about the issue,” says Kolen, who majored in politics and independent studies in film. “We’re not trying to polarize, we’re trying to raise questions.”

With funding from recent alumni Oliver Serafini ’06 and Adam Dick ’05, who are starting a production company, they visited Aguascalientes, Mexico, over winter break to interview Octavio and get footage of his life apart from his U.S. family. They went to Rockford several times to speak with Pam and filmed the others, generating about 27 hours of footage.

Figuring out the logistics of making the film was as much of an education as examining the issue. They had to find willing participants, develop a budget, secure funding, buy and use equipment, transcribe interviews, and handle other production and post-production issues, not to mention write their theses to back up the film.

Lansing became interested in immigration issues during a semester abroad in Costa Rica when he took a class called Nicaraguan Immigration into Costa Rica. “Coming home, I knew it was a big debate,” says the sociology and Spanish double major. A banjo player from Denver, Lansing likes the creativity of making movies and draws a lot of that fromhis interest in music. He incorporates that into the documentary with a soundtrack that ranges from Beastie Boys to Mexican music.

Kolen’s interest in film started at an early age when he and his sister filmed fake commercials with a video camera In his Iowa City high school he made a movie called “Being George W. Bush.” Freshman year he made a film about the deportation of Muslims after September 11 and started the Lake Forest Film Fest last fall.

They plan to enter the film in the Latino Film Festival in March 2008 and in others around the country in hopes of landing a distribution deal. But Lansing’s main goal is for the movie to strike a chord with viewers. “I want people to have a human response,” he says. “This is a horrible tragedy. I don’t know if it has to be fixed but I want people to feel emotion when they see it.”

Dan Kolen ’07 and Justin Lansing ’07 set up a camera in La Plaza de la Patria in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Sesquicentennial Lecture Series Podcasts

“By extreme architecture I do not mean extreme height or extreme size. What I mean instead has nothing to do with size and everything to do with expression. I mean extreme as in over the top, baroque, not measured and classical but willfully expressive, like an organ player who lets out all the stops.”
— Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for Chicago Tribune
February 15, 2007

“My main philosophy in wine is you should never let anyone intimidate you.”
— Alpana Singh, award-winning sommelier, television host, and author
April 12, 2007

“I think people simply cannot live life the way they did before.”
— Michael P. Polsky, renewable energy expert and president and CEO of Invenergy LLC
April 24, 2007

Want to hear more? Listen to podcasts from the Sesquicentennial Lecture Series online. Check back in the fall when the series continues, including a speech by Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and author.

Red Wall and Bicycle

International relations major Mary Joe Norero ’09 observed two things about Beijing early in her semester abroad: red is everywhere and bicycles nearly outnumber people on the streets. She found this bicycle in the gardens of Beijing’s oldest Catholic Church, Chóngwénmén.

“At first glance it meant just a peaceful image of a resting bicycle, but after my three-week trip to China it represents much more to me. The powerful color of red is ever present in Beijing’s oldest buildings like those of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, and a forgotten bicycle symbolized for me China’s present sociological state – age old traditions being left behind in a corner of a silent garden.”

She won first prize for “Best Photography” in the Off-Campus Photo Contest.

Most Improved Magazine

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has awarded a gold medal to our very own Spectrum magazine in the “Print Periodical Publishing Improvement (Magazines)” category as part of the 2007 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards Program.

Out of 48 entries and several rounds of voting, a panel of judges awarded one gold medal, one silver medal, and two bronze medals. The magazine underwent a redesign a year ago.

Parents Program

A revitalized Parents Program is up and running, offering resources and volunteer opportunities for parents who want to get involved with the College.

A new Web site offers resources that include answers to frequently asked questions for first-year students, emergency and referral contacts, campus visit information, and available College communications. The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations also hired Liz Wesel as the parent relations coordinator.

Volunteer opportunities are available for parents in several areas, including promoting the College at admissions events, welcoming new parents to campus on Move-In Day, and assisting in fundraising through the Parents Fund Committee. This newly launched committee is co-chaired by Anne and Bill Chao, parents of Andrew ’04 and Allison ’08. It will work to raise money for the Parents Fund, which supports innovative programs and events, student enrichment opportunities, financial aid, and faculty development at the College.

The Chaos first became involved with the College during their son’s first year because they believed supporting the school would benefit his education. “We have personally seen the tremendous strides that Lake Forest College has made in these past seven years, including raising the bar academically and improving the campus and the services for the students,” Anne said. “We want to help make visions for the College’s future turn into realities.”

The Chaos believe the committee will increase the awareness of parents that it is possible to feel more connected to the College and benefit the College, families, and students. “As parents of an alum, we know that Lake Forest continues to work for its students well after graduation,” Anne continued. “As parents of a current student, we know that there are tremendous benefits to be had at this small powerhouse of a school, and as parents of a daughter who hopes to enroll in the class of 2014, we know that we want the College to continue on its current path as a premier liberal arts college.”

Parents may also become involved in the College by attending campus events such as performances, lectures, art openings, and athletic contests, Homecoming and Family Weekend, and the annual Steven Galovich Memorial Student Symposium. For more information, contact Liz Wesel at 847-735-6005 or wesel@lakeforest.edu.

Clowning Around

The Neo-Futurists, a Chicago-based experimental theater company best known for the long running show, “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind,” spent four days on campus in February as Artists-in-Residence. They held several performances and workshops, including a movement workshop, which explored mime and clown skills, and how the body and physical movement conveys meaning and emotion without words.

Pictured here, Mark Vinson ’10 and Tom Sargent ’10 do a clowning exercise in which the actor uses the audience and fellow actors to complete a simple task. Their task was to move the shoe from the seat of the chair and balance it on the back. The exercise required them to do three things continuously until the task was complete: look at each other, look at the task at hand, and check in with the audience.

Speakers Sound Off

Roya Ayman of the Illinois Institute of Technology delivered a lecture on why women have trouble accessing the top decision-making positions on February 5 as part of the Current Advances in Psychology Colloquia Series.

Leon Lim, Killing Fields survivor and co-founder of the Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, spoke about his experiences on February 8.

Abstract artist and writer Clarence Morgan discussed his exhibit, which opened atthe Sonnenschein Gallery on February 22.

Sara Laschever, co-author of Women Don’t Ask: Negotiating and the Gender Divide, spoke about her research on women’s life and career obstacles on February 28.

Entertainment expert and author Doug Lamoreux spoke about stagecraft and screenwriting on March 8.

Award winning author Debra Di Blasi spoke on March 29 as part of the On the Run lecture series.

MIT biologist Susan Lindquist delivered the 21st Annual Volwiler Distinguished Scientist Lecture on proteins and neurological disorders on March 26.

University of Chicago professor Danielle Allen delivered the Ruth Winter Community Lecture, speaking about democracy and knowledge on April 9.

Nationally recognized history teacher Barry Bradford talked about his success, along with three students, in re-opening the 1964 Mississippi civil rights murder case involving the lynching of three civil rights workers on April 11.

Iranian dissident Akbar Gangi spoke on democracy and human rights in Iran on April 13.

By the Numbers

56 Students who published in Collage, the foreign language magazine
44 Award recipients at the May 11 Senior Honors Convocation
42 Senior theses awarded distinction
31 Students elected to Phi Beta Kappa
8 Illinois College Press Association awards granted to the Stentor
2 Student readings at Powell’s North Reading Series
1 Chapter in Clay Eals’s new 800-page book Steve Goodman: Facing the Music about the legendary folk singer’s time as a Lake Forest College student from fall 1967 to fall 1968.

In the News

Assistant Professor of Biology CALEB GORDON’s annual bird banding project was covered in the May 10 issue of theChicago Tribune.

The Lake County News-Sun wrote a story May 10 abouta grant secured by SUMAN GAUTAM ’10 and ANNADA RAJBHANDARY ’10 to help Nepalese women gain economic self-sufficiency.

Financial Aid Director JERRY CEBRZYNSKI discussed how to compare financial aid packages in the April 27 issue of USA Today.

Director of Admissions WILLIAM G. MOTZER JR. explained why Lake Forest College uses a graded paper instead of a personal essay during the application process in the April 27 Chronicle of Higher Education.

Professor of Sociology and Anthropology AHMAD SADRI critiqued the movie 300 on NPR’s All Things Considered on April 14.

Associate Professor of English DAVIS SCHNEIDERMAN published an article in the April 13 issue of EconoCulture about his own plan for hosting the 2016 Olympics in Chicago.

A March 29 article in the Lake County News-Sun featured SYED KARIM ’07 and his charity search engine Searchkindly.org.

Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology HOLLY SWYERS commented on the bonds among Chicago Cubs fans in the March/April 2007 issue of Psychology Today.

Q&A with Robert Baade, A. B. Dick Professor of Economics

On April 14, the U.S. Olympic Committee awarded Chicago the right to represent this country for the 2016 Summer Olympics bid. While many lauded the decision, questions remain about the economic costs and benefits to the city. Spectrum asked Professor of Economics Robert Baade, a widely quoted expert on the economic impact of the Olympics, sports stadiums, and political conventions, to discuss the issue and assess Chicago’s chances for becoming a host city.

What factors affect the economic impact of the Olympics?
It depends on several things. First, it depends on what a city has in the way of infrastructure necessary to accommodate the various events, including the opening ceremonies. Second, it depends on the synergies between the new infrastructure the games require and otherwise induce and the city’s economy. Third, it depends on the extent to which the games provide a mechanism around which citizens of a community coalesce to expand the economic footprint of the Games to include investment in items that support economic activity once the event ends.

Why would a city go through more than a decade of planning if it may lose money?
Cities are motivated by more than economic impact. City officials might see political gain from hosting the games, and they will be encouraged by various vested economic interests to pursue a mega sports event. Construction and banking interests in a community would likely benefit from hosting the Games. Citizens similarly might benefit psychologically from having their city chosen for an event as special as the Olympic Games.

Some cities have claimed that the Games provide an economic legacy in that those who visit for the event might return after they “discovered” the city. Things have to go right for there to be an economic legacy. That is difficult to insure given the complexity of the event. So there is some risk involved as is true with any investment.

How can cities better estimate the actual costs of an event like the Olympics?
Cost overruns are the rule rather than the exception. The best way to more accurately estimate the costs of hosting the Games is to look at the recent experience of host cities, and use that to filter your cost and benefit estimates. It has been common practice to overestimate the benefits and underestimate the costs. Cities should also develop a sensible and practical plan for the use of the infrastructure for the Games.

What do you think about Chicago’s claim that building new venues in poor neighborhoods will spark urban revitalization in these areas?
Host cities have become cleverer at linking Olympic infrastructure to city needs following the Games. It is a good strategy both politically and economically, for example, to designate that the Olympic Village be used to house the urban poor following the Games. The vast majority of infrastructure built for the actual Olympic events, however, does not serve such a lofty purpose. Stadiums, for example, cannot be reasonably argued to provide leisure opportunities for the urban poor. The demographics of those attending professional sporting events are increasingly consistent with economic privilege rather than economic disadvantage.

The International Olympic Committee will make its final decision in October 2009. Does Chicago stand a chance?
It appears the 2016 Games are likely to be located in the Americas, and that would suggest Rio and Chicago are the frontrunners. Chicago has the advantages of being located in the central time zone, which is better for television viewers, and strong and able political leadership.

The international political environment, however, argues against a U.S. city. Rio will host the Pan American Games and is the frontrunner to be selected as the next World Cup host city. If Rio hosts both of those mega sports events, Chicago’s chances may improve.

Commencement Shines

Under sunshine and blue sky, Lake Forest College held its 129th Commencement on May 12 at Ravinia Festival Park in Highland Park. As proud families and friends looked on, the College awarded diplomas to 322 seniors and seven Master of Liberal Studies students.

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky delivered the Commencement address, “The Year 1857 and the Liberal Arts in America,” in reference to the College’s 150th anniversary. In his speech, he invoked the importance of Justin Smith Morrill, who became a U.S. Senator and passed legislation to create land-grant colleges in the 19th century.

“It is my job to tell you graduates that you are not the most important people here today, nor are any of us,” Pinsky said. “The most important people are those who preceded you and us all in that chain and those who will follow you. We here, all of us, are caretakers and conduits for knowledge we got from the past, that we owe the future, and truly we can be good caretakers only if we refine and improve the knowledge, as Justin Smith Morrill refined and improved the role of American government and the nature of American education.”

Other honorary degree recipients included Lovie L. Smith, Chicago Bears coach; Yasuhiro Moriuchi ’68, CEO, Hitachi Government and Public Corporations Systems Engineering, Ltd.; and Susan E. Mayer, Professor and Dean, The Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.