On Campus
Winter 1999-2000

Aaronian Named Harlan Page Amen Professor

Richard S. Aaronian has been named the Harlan Page Amen Professor of Science, succeeding James Ekstrom in this historic chair, established in 1914.

In announcing the appointment, Principal Tyler C. Tingley said that it was appropriate that Aaronian hold a chair with such deep associations of history at the Academy. Aaronian has been significantly involved in every phase of school life, as instructor, coach, and dorm head. Appointed in 1971, he served as chair of the science department from 1991 to 1995 and gave important collegial service as a member of numerous committees, including admissions, budget review, faculty affairs, and the faculty fund.

But Aaronian is best known as a teacher who has opened the eyes of students to the glory of the natural world through ornithology and field study. Read Tingley, "It seems that hardly a morning in the spring passes when you aren't observed chugging off campus in a school van filled with sleepy bird watchers-to-be." The principal added, "Whenever I see a student marching across campus with a notebook and knee-high rubber boots, I assume that another Aaronian field trip is about to begin. In appointing you the Harlan Page Amen Professor of Science, I know that you will continue to inspire your students with the wonder of the natural world as you instruct them in its complexity."

Pinsky Is Year's First Lamont Poet

Robert Pinsky, United States Poet Laureate and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress opened this year's Lamont Poetry Series. Before a huge crowd in the Assembly Hall, Pinsky introduced, then read poems from several of his acclaimed volumes of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize nominee, The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996.

A major figure in American letters over the last quarter of the century, Pinsky is the author of five books of poetry and four books of criticism. His 1994 translation, The Inferno of Dante, received both the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award. He has also translated The Separate Notebooks by Polish Nobel winner Czeslaw Milosz (with Renata Gorczynski and Robert Hass).

The Lamont Poetry Series, endowed in 1982 by Corliss Lamont '20, continues to bring remarkable poets to Exeter and remains a testimony to Mr. Lamont, who died in 1995.

Phelps Science Center Breaks New Ground

Invitations in the form of small plastic shovels, bearing the prediction "You'll Dig It," attracted an expectant crowd of approximately 200 students, faculty, trustees, staff, and friends to the Phelps Science Center groundbreaking on October 2.

Attendees found a full-size outline of the building painted on the green lawn along Tan Lane and took their seats in the space that will eventually become the multi-purpose Grainger Auditorium. Principal Tingley welcomed the group, thanking the science faculty and students, trustees, donors, and architects whose combined dedication had made the building a reality. "As we approach the end of one millennium and embark on the next," he said, "we celebrate in the Phelps Science Center another example of the collective vision that is the hallmark of Exeter's heritage and the key to our future."

Speakers included Chris Matlack, chair of the science department, Scott Saltman, instructor in science and department liaison to the project, and Maribel Hernandez '00. With his wife Betsy, Stan Phelps '52 expressed the hope that the new science center would honor Exeter. "The school has given us an appetite for knowledge and a more curious mind," he said. "The light bulb could have been delayed for years if Thomas Edison hadn't had curiosity and perseverance. May the science center encourage both of these traits in your character."

At the sign from Principal Tingley, Steven Kim '00 and Emily Garrison '01 stepped forward to wave an Exeter flag, signaling the earthmover to plow its first stretch of earth. As if on cue, the audience spontaneously rose and left the tent to watch. The tremendous applause that erupted was one more indication of how much the Exeter community looks forward to teaching and learning in the new Phelps Science Center as of September 2001.

Stan Phelps '52, daughter Kate, wife Betsy, and son George climb aboard the earthmover.

Emily Garrison '01 and Steve Kim '00 give the signal to the earthmover.	Stan Phelps '52, with Edgar Valdez '01, Maribel Hernandez '00, and David Roman '00.

Planning For Reuse of Thompson

As the excavation for the new science center was getting underway, the Thompson Planning Committee was engaging the faculty, students, staff, and trustees in formulating a plan for the future use of the Thompson Science Building. The committee has visited various groups on campus — academic and administrative departments, Student Council, and dormitory and day students groups, to name just a few — to gather ideas and possibilities for the building, and they have held open meetings to refine the work-in-progress of the master plan.

Kathleen Brownback, dean of students and chair of the planning committee, believes the team's first goal is to focus on the building space itself. Thompson is a solid, spacious building, with some 45,000 square feet of space, located at the center of the campus. The Academy expects that its renovation will meet some of the school's most pressing programatic needs.

The Phelps Science Center is expected to be completed by the fall of 2001, with renovation of Thompson to begin shortly thereafter.

Exeter in the News

• The annual Exeter-Andover football game, a sports tradition dating back to 1878 making it the nation's longest standing high school football rivalry, was played this past November 13 before a very large and boisterous home crowd. Despite a 19-7 Andover victory, there was still some excellent coverage of the game in USA Today, The Boston Globe, on the New England Sports Network (NESN), WNDS-TV News, New Hampshire, and in all local Seacoast papers.
• The Exeter assembly program was the subject of a feature article, "Prestigious Voices," in The Boston Globe this past October. Not to be outdone, The Boston Herald also covered the assembly program in its December 5 Education Supplement. The Boston Globe also published a feature article on prep school post graduate programs this past November, featuring Thomas Birmingham '68, now president of the Massachusetts Senate, and current PG student Mary Beth Dooley '00, from Winchester, Massachusetts.
• The $15 million gift by alumnus Stanford Phelps '52, the nation's largest single gift toward a high school science facility, and the ensuing groundbreaking ceremony on October 2 for the $38 million Phelps Science Center, generated press in most of the local papers, as well as in The New York Times, The Greenwich Times, and on New Hampshire Public Radio.
• The Summer School program at Exeter received some coverage down south this past July, with a two-part segment that aired on WHBQ (FOX)-TV in Memphis, Tennessee. The news item profiled student Courtney Muldrow, who received a full scholarship from The Prep Program in Memphis, and her experience in the summer school. The Sentinel & Enterprise in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, published a similar piece, tracking student Herald Mateo, and his summer studies at Exeter.
• Last summer also saw the Exeter Math Institute, a traveling conference for high school math teachers founded and directed by Exeter math instructor Eric Bergofsky, receive coverage on KXAS-TV News, in Dallas, Texas, and on KNXV-TV News in Phoenix, Arizona. EMI was also the subject of a feature article in The Boston Sunday Globe, Learning Section, in July.
• Young authors Jedediah Purdy '92 and Chang-rae Lee '83, have both become bona fide media darlings with their respective new books, For Common Things: Irony, Trust and Commitment in America Today (Knopf) and A Gesture Life (Riverhead Books). Purdy has been featured prominently in Time magazine, and The New York Times Sunday Magazine, among many other publications. Lee was featured on the cover of The New York Times Book Review in September and has been reviewed in The Los Angeles Times Book Review and The Boston Globe, among other publications.

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '33 Receives John Phillips Award

At Assembly on October 12, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '33, America's preeminent living historian, received the John Phillips Award from Willard Reynolds '66, on behalf of the trustees and the Executive Committee of the General Alumni/ae Association. The award honors an Exonian, "whose life and contributions to the welfare of community, country, and humanity exemplify in high degree the nobility of character and usefulness to humanity that John Phillips sought to promote in establishing the Academy."

Schlesinger's historical scholarship, particularly his numerous prize-winning books, have significantly furthered the nation's understanding of the strengths and obligations of American democracy. The Age of Jackson, his reexamination of Andrew Jackson's presidency, won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1946; A Thousand Days, an account of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s years in the White House, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1966. A multi-volume narrative, The Age of Roosevelt, still in progress, stands as the comprehensive analysis of the New Deal.

Schlesinger's other honors include National Book Awards in 1966 and 1979 and a 1998 National Medal for the Humanities.

The Phillips Award citation recalls Schlesinger's incisive political analysis, which has proven invaluable both to national leaders and the country as a whole. "Your great work has been to convince government to improve opportunities and enlarge freedoms for ordinary people. With an historian's wisdom, your goal always has been to remind us that the United States will be measured 'in the eyes of posterity not by its economic power nor by its military might.but by its character and its achievement as a civilization.'"

Speaking to the Academy community, Schlesinger encouraged students to take part in the political process and not be disillusioned by it, for political service is ennobling, he said. He concluded by saying that it had been a privilege and an honor to work in the public sector, adding that a life in politics is the "best means" of influencing and shaping the future.

Students Elected To Cum Laude

New members of the Cum Laude Society, inducted into the national honor society on November 14, include the following members of the class of 2000:

David Muehlke, Pasadena, CA (left); Lauren Davis, Sands Point, NY; Timothy-Taylor Hurley, New York, NY; Lawrence Cabusora, Bay Shore, NY; Sarah Wexler, Cape Elizabeth, ME; Julia Tobias, Westborough, MA; Kira Goldman, Hong Kong, China; Fatima Ahmad, Murphysboro, IL; Patricia Pei, Princeton Junction, NJ; Elizabeth Kelly, Bronxville, NY; Justin Fitzpatrick, Haverhill, MA; LeMinh Ho, Santa Clara, CA; Jordon Wang, Hong Kong, China. Not pictured: Suguru Ide, Hyogo, Japan; Jonathan Levy, Exeter, NH; Bonnie Scott, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Living Memories: Library and Gallery Present Concurrent Exhibitions

Through text and photographs, "French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial Exhibition," recounts the deportation of Jews from France during World War II. The exhibition, created by the Beate Klarsfeld Foundation and circulated by the Museum of Jewish Heritage, will be on display at the Class of 1945 Library from January 14 to February 14. The 250 children seen in this photographic exhibit, most of whom were deported to Auschwitz, are among the more than 11,400 children whose lives are memorialized in Serge Klarsfeld's book, French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial, upon which this exhibition is drawn.

On view at the Lamont Gallery from January 14 to February 5 "Living Memories: Installations by Kathi Kouguell and Juni Van Dyke" combine reportage and metaphor to create intimate yet universal reflections on life, joy, sacrifice, and memory. Kouguell's installation of sculpture and collage examines her own life through the prism of her father's words found in a letter written in German by her father to an old friend, describing the family's experiences in Germany during the Nazi era. Van Dyke's work, "These Beautiful Hands: A Tribute to Our Elders," honors her parents and their entire generation. She interviewed 40 women and men, borrowed old photographic portraits, made direct casts of their hands, and subsequently pondered the results of her investigations in paint and in words.

President's Awards Presented to Eight Exonians

The General Alumni/ae Association presented President's Awards to eight Exonians during Alumni/ae Council Weekend in September. Recognized for their loyalty and dedication to the Academy were:

Bronson Binger '48, whose name has become inextricably linked with the words "New York City phonathon." Binger's work contributed to two splendid results: spectacular attendance for 1948's 50th reunion and an astonishing 95-percent participation rate in the 50th reunion gift;

Kelly M. Dermody '85, who has provided an integral presence in Exeter's West Coast recruiting efforts and consistently demonstrated a belief in the Academy's mandate to educate "youth from every quarter;"

Tareck R. Elass '71, who in the deadline-driven world of PEA admissions has been one of Exeter's most conscientious and dedicated volunteers for well over a decade;

Jason S. Fitz '91 and David Z. Rice '91, whose class agent partnership and enthusiastic service to Exeter have benefited their class and the Academy in the eight years since graduation;

Wallace H. Nutting '46 and Maurice D. O'Connell '46, a consummate fund-raising team, whose perseverance and strong leadership has increased their class's annual giving participation rate to a record high of 85 percent;

Daniel Seitz '49, who, as a reunion volunteer and class correspondent, has worked to build a sense of unity within his class, as well as stronger connections to the Academy.

President's Award winners Bronson Binger '48 (front row left), Wallace H. Nutting '46 and Maurice D. O'Connell '46, Daniel Seitz '49 (back row, left), Tareck R. Elass '71, Jason S. Fitz '91 and David Z. Rice '91, and Kelly M. Dermody '85

Bringing Alums Back To the Assembly Hall

What do NYSE president William Johnston '57, photographer Edwin Bernbaum '63, psychologist Ned Hallowell '68, and environmentalists Joanna Thomas '83 and Jay Wickersham '73 have in common? Last fall, all five alums were part of the Traphagen Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series, established last year by Ross Traphagen '40 to bring distinguished Exonians back to the Academy to share their life stories and insights. "The primary focus of the series is to provide an opportunity for meaningful dialogue between outstanding Exonians and students," explains Traphagen. "There are many distinguished Exonians who can make an impression on the students, in particular, and act as guiding lights for their future lives."

The Assembly Program is the principal beneficiary of the Traphagen gift. Also during fall term, the fund sponsored a visit by composer and lyricist Adam Guettel '83. Guettel visited music classes and conducted a master class.