Clark University - Clark News winter 2007
Newsbriefs (winter 2007)
Clark University receives $10 million gift for new institute
On Oct. 20, Clark announced the creation of the Mosakowski Institute, funded by a $10 million gift from William S. ¹76 and Jane Rossetti '75 Mosakowski. The Mosakowskis' giftthe largest single gift ever presented to the University‹will help to close the gap between research and practice, and promises to improve government effectiveness through mobilization of rigorous use-inspired research. The Mosakowski Institute will support research on major issues of social concern, drawing on the widely recognized expertise of Clark faculty in such fields as economic development, environmental sustainability and education reform.
In addition to a new professorship and substantial research funds to support both students and faculty who complete the institute's projects, the endowment will fund publication of white papers and public reports, as well as seminars and symposia for experts in both academic and applied roles for addressing major social challenges.
"This splendid gift from a wonderful couple directly supports Clark's mission to Œmake a difference' in our world through research and through transformative education for our students," said Clark President John Bassett.
Mr. Mosakowski is a Clark Trustee and CEO of Public Consulting Group (PGC), Inc., in Boston. The Mosakowskis are dedicated Clark alumni with a long and generous history of giving, which has made an impact at Clark in many ways through the years, including the "Mosakowski Challenge" to Clark Fund donors. In 2000, Mr. Mosakowski partnered with Clark's Graduate School of Management to offer an on-site MBA program to employees at PCG. In 1999, the couple created the William B. and Dorothy E. Mosakowski Endowed Scholarship fund in honor of Mr. Mosakowski's parents. Dorothy Mosakowski worked at Clark for 30 years, many as coordinator of Rare Books and Special Collections in the Goddard Library.
Robert B. '50 and Susan G. Carlisle Endowed Scholarship established
The Robert B. '50 and Susan G. Carlisle Endowed Scholarship Fund has been established at Clark to provide scholarships to talented, underprivileged students from Worcester's secondary schools by a bequest from the estate of Robert Carlisle, who passed away in December at age 77.
"Clark had an extremely strong place in my father's heart," said Robert Carlisle's son, Bruce Carlisle Jr. "I'm pleased that we can use this bequest to give back to Clark and to Worcester what was so valuable to him."
Born and raised in Worcester, Robert Carlisle graduated with honors from Clark with a degree in history and international relations; he earned a Ph.D. at Cornell University. He was a Cornell-Glasgow Exchange Fellow at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and a Fulbright Scholar at Institute d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.
Robert Carlisle taught at Boston University and spent 33 years at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., where he founded the university's international studies program, served as the first chairman of the faculty council and first faculty representative to the Board of Trustees, and chaired the History Department twice. He authored two books, "The Saint-Simonians and the Foundation of the Paris-Lyon Railroad" and "The Proffered Crown: Saint-Simonians and the Doctrine of Hope," and many journal articles. He retired as the Lee Professor of History Emeritus in 1991.
In recent years, he served as a docent for the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and tour guide for "Boston by Foot." At the time of his death, he was conducting research on the social and cultural history of Worcester. He and his wife were long-time members of Clark's Legacy Society.
"My father grew up in a Depression-era broken home. A couple of librarians at a Worcester library noticed that he was an exceptionally smart and curious student and were instrumental in helping him secure a scholarship to Clark," says Bruce Carlisle. "All of his accomplishments flow from that accident of fate, and he never forgot it."
Pasticcio does it again
Now four years in the running, Clark's student yearbook "the Pasticcio (2006)" has again been inducted into the Walsworth Publishing Company's Gallery of Excellence. The designation is awarded by the publisher to those yearbooks which unfailingly demonstrate superior quality.
Kimberly Tentor '06 and Stephen Albano '07 were the co-editors-in-chief of the award-winning 2006 Pasticcio, joined by staff members Kim Harris '07, Kate Head '08, Rebecca Mayer '07, Jordan Hirschhaut '06, Harrison Mackler '07, Katy Carlin '06, Katherine Ramsey '08, Christopher Miller '06, Zoe Cohen '07, Garrett Abrahamson '07 and Andrea DeRocco '09.
The Pasticcio has consistently received the Gallery of Excellence Award from Walsworth since 2003. In addition, the 2004 Pasticcio was inducted into 'The President's Collection' by Walsworth, an honor given to only a handful of yearbooks each year. The same book was also one of only 14 yearbooks nominated for the highest award a collegiate yearbook can receive, the Yearbook Pacemaker Finalist Award, given by the Associated Collegiate Press 'in recognition of general excellence and outstanding achievement by a college yearbook in a national competition.
Alumni-in-Residence program connects students and faculty with talented alumni
Fifteen alumni returned to campus on Nov. 15-16 for the third-annual Alumni-in-Residence program. This program gives alumni the opportunity to contribute to the intellectual life of the University, and allows students and faculty to benefit from alumni expertise. Alumni working in a wide range of professions were invited to spend the day on campus attending classes, meeting with student groups and participating in panel discussions.
The following alumni returned to campus as Alumni-in-Residence to inspire current Clark students. The University extends its thanks to those who participated: Douglas Apatow '73, Doug Apatow Agency; Andrew Astor '78, CEO of EnterpriseDB; Ingrid Busson '96, V.P. and legal counsel, Calyon; John Faber '90, CEO of Ridgeworks; Marci Gerston '80, attorney, McGrane Greenfield LLP; Steven Greenbaum '76, physics professor at Hunter College of CUNY; Neal Hurwitz '56, trial lawyer, New York City; Mary Ellen Krober '69, government litigation attorney, U.S. Postal Service; Neil Leifer '76, attorney, Thorton & Naumes; Naomi Levin '80, U.S. EEOC attorney/special assistant to the commissioner; Sallie Marston '75, geography professor, University of Arizona; Daniel Ranalli '68, visual artist/director of arts administration graduate program at Boston University; Wendy Katherine Roberts '96, postdoctoral associate, Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-oncology at Rockefeller University; Nishkala Suntharalingam '85, political affairs officer; Michael Zivyak '91, founder and publisher, Berkshire Living Magazine.
Clark launches DIfficult Dialogues program
This fall Clark launched its Difficult Dialogues program, aimed at creating a culture of dialogue on campus. Clark is one of 27 institutions of higher education selected out of 675 nationwide for a $100,000 Ford Foundation grant to facilitate a two-year program of trainings and events to encourage discourse across differences.
The goals of Clark's Difficult Dialogues program are: to develop the skills of dialogue among faculty, students and administrators; to encourage a culture where those skills are valued, developed and practiced in respectful, safe settings, and to integrate these practices into the curriculum. This focus on dialogue is aimed at addressing a climate of separation and silence around difference that too often exists not only on campuses across the nation but in society as a whole.
The Difficult Dialogues program officially began at Clark on Oct. 31 with a campuswide 'Day of Listening,' where faculty, staff and students explored skills of listening during a series of informal interactive workshops held around campus throughout the day. The weeklong launch included a variety of events such as a keynote address on Nov. 1 by Wellesley College president Diana Chapman Walsh and a forum, 'Bridging the Abortion Divide: The Boston Story' on Thursday, Nov. 2.
"I'm hopeful that many people on campus got some new ideas and experiences of dialogue during the launch events, and will continue to participate in the wide range of Difficult Dialogues activities coming up next year," says Higgins School of Humanities Director Sarah Buie, who co-directs the Difficult Dialogues program with International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE) Director Bill Fisher.
"There were many highlights for me, but one was on the Day of Listening, sitting in a circle which included faculty, staff and students, all of whom took time to slow down, listen, and deepen their contact with each other. The project will have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams if the quality of that experience can become more prevalent in our community life."
Difficult Dialogues runs throughout 2007 and will include events that will provide experiences and develop tools to stimulate the kind of open, thorough and respectful dialogue about difficult issues that is essential to maintaining a democratic society. All of the events are co-sponsored by the Higgins School of Humanities and the IDCE Department at Clark. For more information about Clark's Difficult Dialogues programs, visit www.clarku.edu/difficultdialogues.
Jonas Clark Fellows Honored at recognition event
More than 150 guests attended the Jonas Clark Fellows and Leadership Donor Recognition Dinner on Oct. 21 at the Museum of Science in Boston. Guests enjoyed viewing the exhibits within the Museum's Blue Wing over cocktails, and dinner was highlighted with a presentation from professors Christopher Landee, Physics Department chair, and Mark Turnbull, Carlson School of Chemistry and Biochemistry chair.
The evening commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Jonas Clark Fellows and celebrated the extraordinary commitment of Clark's Leadership Donors.
Kidd joins Clark as director of Alumni Affairs
Aixa L. Kidd, of Cumberland, R.I., recently joined Clark University as the director of Alumni Affairs. Kidd oversees reunions, regional activities and homecoming events, and works closely with the University Advancement management team at Clark on issues of fundraising from alumni.
Kidd received her B.A. from Bowdoin College, and earned an M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She has served as the assistant dean of Student Affairs at the Boston Conservatory. She also worked as an instructor at the Boston Center for Adult Education and at Suffolk University.
Kidd succeeds Bill Bennett M.P.A. '97, who now heads the Clark Fund.
Petrocelli joins Clak as dirctor of planned giving
Daniel L. Petrocelli, of Holden, Mass., recently joined Clark University as director of planned giving. He is directing, managing and coordinating a comprehensive planned-giving program for the University, including education, both internally and externally, about deferred gifting strategies and techniques.
Petrocelli served previously as director of planned giving for the American Heart Association/Northeast Affiliate in Framingham, Mass. Prior to that, he worked as associate director of planned giving at Brown University, and as associate director of planned giving at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
He earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master's degree in history from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Planned Giving Group of New England and the National Committee on Planned Giving.
Clark researchers are at the fore of landmark study in fungal evolution
"Fungi are a huge, important, but poorly known branch of the tree of life. They have few distinctive morphological characters or physical features, and they have a lousy fossil record," says biologist David Hibbett. "All of this means that our understanding of the evolution of this group has been hazy."
Thanks to an international consortium of researchers, which includes Hibbett and researchers in his lab, scientists will be approaching the topic with revised clarity.
The consortium produced an impressive new tree of life for the kingdom Fungi—a landmark study in fungal evolution—which they presented in the Oct. 19, 2006 Nature article 'Reconstructing the early evolution of fungi using a six-gene phylogeny.' Before now, the only broadly sampled phylogenetic trees of the fungi were based on sequences of a single gene. Broad sampling of species is essential, because under-sampling is known to adversely affect the construction of evolutionary trees, as is the quantity and quality of data. Previous data were insufficient to provide strong statistical support for many key branches in the evolutionary trees.
According to Hibbett, the paper represents a fairly massive international collaborative effort to resolve the evolutionary history of fungi. Hibbett and six researchers from his lab—Clark postdoctoral fellows P. Brandon Matheny and Manfred Binder, Ph.D. students Jason C. Slot, Zheng Wang, and Andrew W. Wilson, and Judd M. Curtis '06—were among the many scientists who contributed materials for the project or did lab work or analytical work. Curtis worked on the project in Hibbett's lab as an undergraduate.
Seventy scientists fused their diverse talents and pooled efforts to assemble the large dataset, consisting of DNA sequences from six different genes from nearly 200 species of fungi. According to Hibbett, analyses of this multigene dataset provide a detailed, robust hypothesis about the evolution of the fungi. "Getting this many scientists to cooperate was an achievement in itself," says Hibbett, pointing out that science today is a global undertaking. Clark strives to be at the forefront of such global discoveries.
For more information about Hibbett's research or AFTOL, visit www.clarku.edu/faculty/dhibbett/.
Clean energy comes to Clark and City of Worcester
Last spring, Clark students who applied for campus housing were given a new choice, which would offset the negative impact of their electrical use with clean wind power. Hundreds of students joined the Choose Renewable Energy Program by contributing $30. This fall, even more students enrolled.
Thanks to their generosity sparked by a commitment to clean energy, Clark officials and students donated $10,320 to the New England Wind Fund, administered by the nonprofit Mass Energy Consumers Alliance. The check was presented on Oct. 25 in correlation with National Campus Sustainability Day, a day when universities nationwide highlight their environmental efforts.
"Currently, there are not many wind turbines in Massachusetts or throughout New England. But thanks to the students and many others who are choosing clean energy, we will begin to see new projects develop in the weeks and years ahead," says Larry Chretien, executive director of Mass Energy, which recognized the students with its annual Private Sector Leadership Award.
Additionally, through the CLEAN ENERGY CHOICE program the state matched these funds twice for renewable energy programs'once to the City of Worcester and once to a fund benefiting low-income residents throughout Massachusetts. CLEAN ENERGY CHOICE is a program of Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a public agency of the Commonwealth and administrator of the Renewable Energy Trust.
"This is what Clark students do: they identify pressing issues and move on innovative solutions for real change," says campus sustainability coordinator David Schmidt '04.
"I am proud to be part of Clark's effort to turn around the serious damage that is being done to our planet. Clark's Choose Renewable Energy program will help make Clark a more sustainable institution, while encouraging renewable energy development in greater New England," says Lily Acunzo '08.
Acunzo and other students hope that Clark's commitment will be an example for what other universities, residents of Worcester and local institutions can do to support renewable energy.
Film notes from Tim Shary
what's playing?
African cinema has a rich and diverse history, even though African films often achieve little notoriety outside the continent. While white Europeans and Americans have often journeyed to Africa to make various films, black Africans had very limited access to filmmaking practices until the 1960s. In fact, the most famous indigenous African director was also the first black African to make a film: Ousmane Sembene of Senegal directed the 18-minute 'Borom Sarret' in 1963, beginning an incredibly influential career. He followed with more famous features such as 'Black Girl' (1966), 'Xala' (1975), and 'Guelwaar' (1992), exploring relevant social issues within African culture, and his most recent film may be his most timely yet: 'Moolaadé' (2004) critically examines the cruel practice of female circumcision.
Yet beyond Sembene's work, many other African nations and directors gave further visibility to films made on the continent. One of the Anglophone countries that first established filmmaking facilities, Nigeria, began like many countries, with a prominent television industry, in the late 1950s. The first native Nigerian to then achieve fame as a director was Ola Balogun, who began making successful comedies and musicals such as 'Alpha' (1972), 'Musik-Man' (1977), and 'Orun Mooru' (1982), and has become the most prolific African filmmaker ever, even though his films are rarely seen beyond Nigerian borders.
Francophone nations of Africa have otherwise been more present in the global cinema community, since groups like the Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes (FEPACI) advanced pan-African filmmaking in the '70s, especially in nations colonized by France such as Algeria and Tunisia. By 1975, FEPACI was boosting filmmaking in 39 nations like Mali, Benin and Ethiopia, where the majority of productions were critiques of past and present colonialist practices, such as Haile Gerima's 'Harvest, 3000 Years' (1974). In the 1980s, other groups and festivals brought additional attention to African cinema, including the biannual Ouagadougou Festival in Burkina Faso, which also built the first school for African students to learn filmmaking. Consequently, African auteurs began to emerge, such as Gaston Kaboré ('Wend Kuuni,' 1981, Burkina Faso), Souleymane Cissé ('Yeelen,' 1987, Mali), and Mweze Ngangura ('La Vie est Belle,' 1987, Zaire).
The film studies academy also began to take up African cinema by publishing the first books on the topic, such as 'Cinéma Africain' by Paulin Soumanou Vieyra (1975). Manthia Diawara, whose work most informs my knowledge, published one of the first studies by a U.S. press in 1992: 'African Cinema: Politics and Culture.' Coincident with these publications, courses on African cinema in film programs across the United States and Europe have further promoted interest in the continent's numerous national cinemas.
Most recently, Hollywood has turned its attention to Africa with films such as 'Blood Diamond' and 'Babel,' both generating great interest in 2006. Nonetheless, indigenous African cinema, which would include 'Tsotsi' (2005, South Africa), 'Sisters in Law' (2005, Cameroon), 'Omaret Yakobean' (2006, Egypt), and 'A Goat's Tail' (2006, Ghana), should be promoted and celebrated by film fans and academics. We can now hope that African culture will gain greater exposure around the world through films in the 21st century.
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