Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• It was a big week in spring sports: With huge weekend wins, women’s lacrosse heads to the final four; men’s golf is off to NCAAs; and track & field teams were strong at New England championships. The news wasn’t so great for tennis teams, both of which were ousted in regionals — men by Johns Hopkins and women by Bowdoin.

• A very large gift box with a cryptic tag appeared in the Davis Family Library lobby.
• Sociology professor Margaret Nelson was interviewed on the syndicated public radio program, “Here and Now” this week to discuss parenting trends in light of a provocative recent cover on Time Magazine.
• In an Associated Press story, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman praised the leadership of Midd alum Tom Stillman ’74, who led a team of local investors in purchasing the St. Louis Blues hockey team. “I know he won’t rest until the players are hoisting the Stanley Cup,” Bettman is quoted as saying.
• It’s a quiet week as finals begin, but for those in need of a study break, check out the country, rockabilly, bluegrass blend of Lila Mae & The Cartwheels on Thursday at 8 at 51 Main at the Bridge. And the Cynthia Baren Band takes the stage at 51 Main Saturday night from 9-12.

• Julia Alvarez’s new book, “A Wedding in Haiti,” is resonating with readers and book critics alike. The Seattle Times called it “a touching, funny, eye-opening and uplifting memoir” that offers “an intimate look at our poorest neighbor in the Western Hemisphere.” The Christian Science Monitor said it’s “a love story that is many love stories.” And just last Sunday, NPR broadcast a poignant five-minute interview with Middlebury’s writer-in-residence for “Weekend Edition.”

• New England Cable News (NECN) network’s Jack Thurston ’02 returned to Middlebury last week to interview “Vermont’s Whistling Whiz,” Yuki Takeda ’14. You can watch the segment here, which includes Jack and Yuki’s rendition of the “Andy Griffith Show Theme Song.”

• Three Panther teams are still in the running for NCAA titles: women’s tennis and women’s lacrosse are hosting regional matches this week, and men’s tennis will be at Johns Hopkins on Saturday. Additionally, golfer Flora Weeks ’12 has qualified for the NCAA championship in Indiana, and members of the track and field team will compete at the Open New England Championships this weekend and at the ECACs and NCAAs later this month.

• Mother’s Day is next Sunday and—hurry!—there may still be time to send mom a card. And to honor mothers locally, the Middlebury College Community Chorus, directed by Jeff Rehbach, will present a “delightful mix of contemporary, traditional, and classical works” in a Mother’s Day Concert on Sunday, May 13, at 3 p.m. in Mead Chapel.

• What makes a healthy building? Middlebury’s visiting lecturer in architecture, Andrea K. Murray, will answer that question in an illustrated lecture on Thursday, May 10 at 7 p.m. in Room 304 of the Johnson Memorial Building.

• The 2011-12 performing arts season will reach a crescendo this weekend with a full slate of performances at the Mahaney Center for the Arts. Events include a choir concert, a musical-theatre revue, a woodwind quintet performance, and a piano recital. Check the arts webpage for details and don’t miss out because after this week things quiet down considerably at the MCFA. Until next September, that is.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• The world knows something new and surprising about black holes, thanks to Frank Winkler, the Gamaliel Painter Bicentennial Professor of Physics, and his international team of astrophysicists. Pursuing a rare transient X-ray source in the nearby galaxy M83, Winkler and colleagues knew they were on to something. Their results will appear in the May 20, 2012 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, and are online now.
• Dwayne Nash ’99 was featured in two April issues of the Chronicle of Higher Education. The former prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office is in his fourth year of Northwestern University’s PhD program in black studies, researching racial profiling. The Chronicle stories include an interview about the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida and two stories on the interdisciplinary growth of black studies doctoral work.

• Maybe you’ve read Kurt Andersen’s best-selling historical novels or his critiques of American culture; maybe you listen to Studio 360 on Public Radio International. Maybe you used to choke reading his and Graydon Carter’s snarky-licious Spy Magazine. Thursday afternoon at Dana Auditorium is your chance to hear him discuss “It Is the Most Radical of Times, It Is the Most Conservative of Times” as the Robert W. van de Velde ’75 lecturer.

• That Paul guy from Liverpool who so totally rocks will perform here Friday night. Yes, Paul Lewis is back–with more Schubert! If you haven’t yet heard the personally unassuming and musically transporting pianist, do! If you have heard him, you know how lucky we are to be one of his concert stops—along with London, Tokyo, Florence…

•  London’s financial district is the setting for Serious Money, playwright Caryl Churchill’s look at greed, power, and politics. The Middlebury College Department of Theatre and Dance presents four performances, starting Thursday.

• The Panthers come out swinging against Bowdoin in a baseball doubleheader, starting at noon this Saturday.

• Has your refrigerator become a hurt locker? On Monday at 12:30, Gary Hirshberg, entrepreneur and founder of Stonyfield Farm, explains the dangers of genetically modified foods and his leading role in the consumer charge to label them. He’s also written the first consumer guide to GMOs in food.

Got a question for the pundits? Send it our way and we’ll do our best to answer online, or in our next video installment. Send questions to: pundits@middlebury.edu.

Daniel Kurtzer

Daniel Kurtzer, who was ambassador to Egypt during President Clinton’s second term and ambassador to Israel during the first half of George W. Bush’s presidency, discussed the Arab Spring (or, as he called it, the “Arab Awakening”) from Israel’s perspective. But he also used the podium to voice his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine question, and state his opposition to Israeli settlements in occupied territories.

Now a professor in Middle Eastern policy studies at Princeton University, Kurtzer is no longer expected to be a reserved, circumspect diplomat, and he certainly didn’t disappoint his standing-room-only audience in the conference room of the Robert A. Jones ’59 House on April 17.

The visitor said Israel is “one of the few nations in the world largely surrounded by countries that deny its existence diplomatically,” and he skillfully placed Israel’s Arab neighbors in three distinct “baskets: democratizers, repressors, and monarchies.”

On how Israel has responded (or not responded) to the Arab Awakening, Kurtzer said, “Most interesting in this respect is in a society where you normally can’t get people to shut up, Israelis have been uncharacteristically quiet because they have understood over the course of the past year that, to the largest extent, they were not the subject matter of Arab discourse.”

Kurtzer examined Israel’s strategic position in response to the Arab Spring using the three “core challenges” that the State of Israel has faced since its founding in 1947: security, economics, and immigration. And while the basic challenges haven’t changed, he said the Middle East landscape has been transformed dramatically: “The secular pan-Arab nationalism of the mid-20th century is now driven by Islamic fundamentalism.”

The major forces in the region aren’t states anymore, Kurtzer explained. “It’s regional players and non-state actors” that threaten Israel’s security, and he listed Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Authority, among others. He also named Iran and Turkey as two countries beyond Israel’s border that now play a role in the region’s politics.

During his 40-minute lecture, which was initiated by Sarah R. Cohen ’15 of Middlebury’s Hillel chapter, the Princeton professor touched briefly on the second “core challenge”—the development and expansion of Israel’s economy—pointing to the country’s shift from an agricultural economy to a technological one.

On the assimilation of immigrants, the former ambassador said there are now 10-plus million people living between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan including the non-Jewish residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Demographers project that the population of the region will shift to an Arab majority sometime about the middle of this century, which prompts Kurtzer to advocate for a two-state solution. “The crux of the issue [is] whether the two sides really believe in partition, in sharing this land they both claim exclusive control over.”

Ambassador Petr Gandalovic of the Czech Republic addressed the topic of “The Velvet Revolution and Lessons for the Arab Spring” as the guest of Middlebury’s Rohatyn Center and the Vermont Council on World Affairs on April 23.

Petr Gandalovic

Gandalovic, who ascended to his diplomatic post in 2011, delivered 10 minutes of prepared remarks and took questions from Middlebury students and faculty for the rest of the hour. Comparing the events of 1989 among the Warsaw Pact nations to current actions in North Africa and the Middle East, the ambassador noted these similarities: the geographic scale of events, the unpopularity of existing regimes, the “powerful will of the people” demanding democratic change, and the unlikelihood that unrest will stop once it has started.

Similarities aside, he acknowledged that there are numerous historic, cultural, religious, and economic differences between the region where Communism fell and the Arab countries where totalitarianism is being challenged today. Two major forces that shaped the course of the Velvet Revolution—the emergence of popular leaders and support from western Europe—appear to be less influential in the Arab Spring.

During the Velvet Revolution “intellectual leaders played a very prominent role,” he said. “Thinkers like the late President Václav Havel helped provide a unified vision and became symbols for the people. Havel steered the revolution in a civil direction, much as America’s founders. He envisioned a civil society and his writings have become a source of inspiration for other pro-democracy movements around the world.”

The Arab Spring does not have charismatic leaders like Havel or Lech Wałęsa, the ambassador explained. It is a revolution “driven by social media,” which Gandalovic recognized to be a “powerful platform” for organizing uprisings and for communicating both inside and outside the region, but social media itself will never “offer the vision and sense of direction” like strong leadership.

In 1989, “the countries of central and eastern Europe could rely on support from the rest of Europe, which was keen for them to return to the family of democratic European nations. Existing European and trans-Atlantic structures served as a great incentive for further reforms in Czechoslovakia and elsewhere. In the case of the Arab countries now undergoing transition, the situation is different,” the ambassador stated, and the relationship between Arab nations and the EU countries is more “complex.”

Nevertheless, the Czech Republic’s foreign minister just returned from an official visit to Egypt, and Ambassador Gandalovic asserted that his country “stands ready to work with the newly elected representatives who want to respect human rights and take their [Arab] nations in the direction of freedom and democracy.”

Photo of Daniel Kurtzer courtesy Jon Roemer.

See for yourself.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• They’re not just “whistling ‘Dixie’”! Whistlers from all over the world descended on the small town of Louisburg, North Carolina, for the International Whistlers Convention recently. Middlebury’s own Yuki Takeda ’14 came in third in the competition and was interviewed for PRI’s The World.

• The sixth annual spring student symposium took place last Thursday and Friday. Always a showcase for the interesting and innovative projects of students, the symposium was once again a huge success this year. Middmag found one student and his project especially intriguing.

• The American Academy of Arts & Sciences recently announced the 2012 class and on the list with Hillary Clinton, Paul McCartney, and Neil Simon was alumna Kathy Cashman ’76. A volcanologist and professor of geological sciences at the University of Oregon, Kathy has researched active volcanoes all over the world. Her impressive body of work has not gone unnoticed.

• “One Dean’s View,” the blog of Shirley Collado, dean of the College and chief diversity officer, had a guest writer this past week. Kemi Fuentes-George, a new faculty member and immigrant from Jamaica, talks about how his identity as a “brown Caribbean” has been challenged over the years in the predominantly white communities he’s lived in.

• It’s time for the second annual Bach Festival. This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be packed with activities, including performances by the early music ensemble ARTEK (whose director is Gwendolyn Toth ’77) and members of the New York Baroque Dance Company. Check here for a list of events. There’s something for every Bach lover!

• If you’d like to intersperse your Bach with other types of music, 51 Main has once again lined up a variety of acts. Friday at 5:00 p.m. you can listen to Afrofusion, featuring several Midd faculty members. Or enjoy a Jerry Garcia Tribute Band called Cats Under the Stars on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. Midd’s famous whistler, Yuki Takeda, will even be on stage with friends to play jazz and groove-oriented instrumental music on Friday at 8:00 p.m. But this time he’ll be showing his talents on alto sax and flute.

• The Spring 2012 Woodin Colloquium Series continues its Thursday luncheon talks this week with Kathleen Colson, CEO and founder of the BOMA Project and Fred Nelson, executive director of Maliasili Initiatives. Their panel discussion is entitled “Social Entrepreneurship and Environmental Conservation in East Africa: Perspectives from the Field.”

• And don’t forget: The former attorney general and governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, will be speaking at Mead Chapel on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. about government regulation on Wall Street. Doors open at 7:00.

Cashman’s research over the years has led to great insight into what triggers volcanic eruptions and has helped to predict those events. With a two-year Fulbright scholarship in New Zealand, where she earned a master’s in geology from Victoria University, and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins, she has spent her career researching volcanic hot spots on all seven continents. But her love for geology began at Middlebury. “I wouldn’t be a geologist if I hadn’t gone to Middlebury. First and foremost in terms of inspiration was Professor Peter Coney. From the very start, he treated all of his students as peers and professionals and truly challenged us to think for ourselves. Although sometimes frustrating, it was also exhilarating to be handed a problem and then have to figure it out.”

Another professor helped further Cashman’s interest in the study of volcanoes. David Folger, who had left Middlebury to work in Wood’s Hole, Mass., hired her as a research scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey in 1979. He then encouraged her in a transfer to the Cascades Volcano Observatory after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. Although she had studied active volcanoes in Antarctica, this was a turning point for her. She arrived at Mount St. Helens just months after the eruption. “The opportunity to work with the USGS team at Mount St. Helens convinced me that this was the direction that I wanted to pursue—I love studying geologic processes that happen on human time scales and that affect human populations because it means that I can indulge my love of solving scientific puzzles with the feeling that maybe something I do will ultimately help to reduce volcanic risk.”

Her impressive body of work has done that and more. And her accomplishments caught the attention of the Academy of Arts & Sciences. While normally Cashman would have gotten the notification of her election while at the University of Oregon, she is spending a three-year leave at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom as an AXA research chair and professor of volcanology. (AXA is a French insurance company that has recently started sponsoring research into environmental hazards.) So she received word she’d been chosen as a Fellow by the University of Oregon communications director. She says she felt “stunned” by the news—but obviously honored.

“It’s very humbling to be joining an honor society that includes so many people in my field, who I’ve looked up to all my career. The fact that my ‘class’ includes people like Hillary Clinton, Judy Woodruff, Andre Previn, Clint Eastwood, and Paul McCartney just seems surreal!”

As for opportunities that may open up for her, it’s too early to tell. But the Academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. For now, Cashman says, the announcement has led to some enjoyable personal benefits. “It reached several of my high school friends, from whom I’ve received a flood of e-mail. It’s been fun to reconnect with them after so many years.”

Kathy Cashman, along with sisters Susan ’72 and Patricia ’72, received an honorary doctor of science from Middlebury in 2008.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• Two Middlebury students received Udall scholarships last week for their individual commitment to “careers related to the environment, tribal public policy, or Native American health care.” Juniors Abigail Borah and Sam Koplinka-Loehr took the honors, which awards undergraduate scholarships of up to $5,000.
• The news is out that former New York attorney general and governor Eliot Spitzer is coming to campus on April 26 to talk about government regulation on Wall Street.
• The Burlington Free Press got a special tour of the 2011 Solar Decathlon house that now serves as home for three lucky students each semester out on Porter Field Road.
• Look alive, everyone, it’s Preview Days! Today through Friday, the campus will be crawling with admitted applicants trying to make their final decision about whether or not to head to Middlebury for the next four years.
• And right on time…the annual Student Symposium will coincide nicely with Preview Days. The kick-off is 7 p.m. Thursday evening at the Mahaney Center, with a welcome from President Liebowitz and keynote from Brian Deese ’00, a senior thesis prize winner and current economic adviser to President Barack Obama. Following that is a jam-packed evening of creative presentations—from costume design and dance performances to original theater, electronic music, and jazz. Student guides from the Museum will also be offering preview tours of the African Exhibition. And, of course, there will be snacks.
• Starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday, you can soak up some more student achievement all day at both BiHall and Johnson (for architecture thesis presentations), where the Symposium continues with poster sessions and oral presentations. Back at Mahaney in the evening, you’ll find more theater and dance performances from 8-10 p.m. And, if you’re lucky, more snacks.