and hold her up as a model for generations of alumni-at-large.”
Making Learning Fun
F or the sake of inspiring students to learn, many WC graduates transform their classrooms into theaters, where they perform as actors, magicians, and acrobats. They demonstrated this in song, dance, and other merrymaking during a recent reunion of alumni in the field of education hosted by professors Tom McHugh and Sean O Connor.
Tom McHugh, chair of Washington College’s education department from 1969 to 1973, was standing on a chair in front of the classroom playing his banjo. His audience of alumni educators and administrators, students, and their parents joined in terpsichorean motion and choral refrain as instructed. Sean O Connor, chair of the College’s education department since 1979, a.k.a. “Professor Chokemchild,” dashed around in tails and top hat, shushing and scolding the same class. “Facts, not fun!” Sylvia Kuhner Baer ’71, an English professor at Gloucester College in Sewell, NJ, raised her hand. “Joy in learning is not frivolous, but essential,” she argued.
Colleen Spivey-Ireland ’70 has loved being a science teacher at Dundalk High School in Baltimore for 29 years. Allison Cooksey Highland ’72 hated standing in front of a class, so she founded Universal Gymnastics, Inc., in Annapolis where she tumbles around with her 700 current students. Chris Santa Maria ’85, who began his career keeping
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was honored on
Washington’s Birthday with the 1998 Alumni Service Award for exceptional support to the College.
An alumni-elected member of the Board of Visitors and Governors since 1987, Ingersoll has demonstrated remarkable enthusiasm for and dedication to the work of the College. Now in her second term as trustee, she has served on the Academic Affairs Committee, the Academic Resources Committee, the Student Affairs Committee, the Honors and Awards Committee, and as Board representative to the Alumni Council. She also is a founding member of the Friends of Miller Library and is active in the Women’s League of Washington College.
In addition to her time and energies on behalf of the College, she and her husband, Daniel W. Ingersoll
After raising four sons, Ingersoll came to Washington College in 1967 as a non-traditional student to complete her bachelor’s degree, graduating with departmental honors in sociology. She then completed a master’s degree and doctoral work (ABD) in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She occasionally taught in the College’s sociology department as needed.
“Pat Ingersoll clearly is someone who values education in general, and who has been a wonderful advocate for Washington College in particular,” remarked Glen E. Beebe ’81, president of the Alumni Council. “We applaud her as a stellar alumna, benefactor, and trustee,
