THE REPORTER
LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS SALUTES THE 'DREAMKEEPERS'


With the vast profusion of knowledge in the Information Age, modern librarians are navigators and gatekeepers to knowledge. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, in his Fall Convocation address, suggested they are also “dreamkeepers” who hold the essence of cultural memory.

“Dreams are embedded in written and spoken language laid out in ordered sequences and still largely preserved in books,” Billington said. “Electronic technology must be integrated into the world of books—new technology linked with old memories and old values; and there must always be human intermediaries on the spot, teachers and librarians, local dreamkeepers who can direct users back to books as they seek answers to the questions raised by electronic materials.”

Under his direction, the Library of Congress has launched major educational initiatives that use new technology to preserve the memory of our national past. Through the American Memory program, the Library is bringing the nation’s cultural heritage directly into the Internet. “We must preserve the dreams of all our yesterdays,” Billington said, “even as we seek to understand the dreams of others today.”

Similarly, The National Digital Library distributes free electronic versions of the most important and interesting primary documents of American history and culture to elementary and secondary schools across the country.

By the year 2000, the Library hopes to have more than five million items of American history and culture produced online. With a computer and an Internet connection, students can see sketches of George Washington, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Brady’s Civil War photographs and Edison’s earliest movies.

“By making special materials hitherto available only to a few freely accessible to all,” Billington noted, “we hope to encourage broader and fuller participation both in the citizenship and the entrepreneurship which free, dynamic and self-governing societies require.”

Not only will online documentation of historical records encourage new generations of students to read and to think critically, Billington says, these measures preserve books and paper-based records that are fast disintegrating.

Another Library initiative is promoting better international understanding. Through a program called Meeting of the Frontiers, Billington said, the Library of Congress is collaborating with the libraries of Russia to produce a package of digitized materials tracing the development of the Russian movement east and the American expansion west, beginning with Lewis and Clark. This project, which adds a comparative dimension to history, will be provided free to schools in both countries. Joint projects with other countries—England, Spain and China among them—are also in the works.

“One cannot build a bridge to another culture unless one has first sunk a caisson deeply and securely into one’s own native soil,” Billington remarked. “If others do the same, there can be solid bridges of understanding, and creativity will be stimulated in new and unexpected ways.”

While the Library of Congress deftly adopts new technology, Billington remains first and foremost a champion of books. “Books are and will remain our principal guardians of memory: of the anguish and the aspirations as well as the achievements of those who have gone before,” he said. “Books are islands of coherence. Whatever the confusion of our minds and the profusion of our information, things can still come together in a book—just as the left and right halves of the brain come together in one human mind, and the hemispheres—East and West, North and South—in a single, fragile planet.”

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CAMPAIGN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE REGIONAL EFFORT

One year after the public announcement of the Campaign for Washington’s College, national campaign leaders are reaching out through an expanded fundraising effort focused on smaller, regional campaigns.

While continuing to seek leadership gifts of $100,000 or more, Campaign leaders are organizing regional efforts to reach alumni, parents and friends in Baltimore, Washington and Wilmington/Philadelphia. Future plans may include campaigns in New York and Boston, as well as the southern and western regions of the United States.

In September, major grants from the Eugene B. Casey Foundation and the Seraph Foundation pushed the campaign totals to $52 million. Commitments from trustees reached $17 million.

Funds raised to date are supporting many aspects of the academic program, including the new C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Center for Environment and Society, independent study and honors programs, advanced technology and international programs. Campaign funds are also supporting campus improvements such as the renovation of William Smith Hall and the construction of Goldstein Hall, and endowment for faculty incentives and student scholarships.

“We are delighted with our progress to date,” Campaign Chair Jack S. Griswold and Vice Chair of the Board of Visitors and Governors said. “More than 55 donors—alumni, parents, friends, corporations and foundations—have made commitments of $100,000 or more. The number of active members of the 1782 Society, donors of $1,000 or more annually, has topped 500. Membership in the George Washington Society, granted to those whose planned gift provisions for the College exceed $25,000, has grown to 106. The new 50 Guinea Club, honoring those making contributions of $50,000 or more beyond previous commitments, attracted eight members in its first year.

“But we have not yet reached out in any kind of broad-based appeal,” he continued. “If the improvements to the College brought about by this campaign are to be sustained into the next millennium, we must involve alumni and parents who can make gifts at all levels. Only by expanding alumni and parent ownership in the College’s future will Washington College move into the next century on firm footing.”

The work of the Baltimore Campaign Cabinet is well underway. Craig Lewis, a member of the Board of Visitors and Governors and a parent, and Douglas Hoffberger, a 1994 graduate, are serving as co-chairs. Also serving on the Baltimore Cabinet are Kathy Wurzbacher Corrigan ’83, Robert Hopkins ’83, Board of Visitors and Governors member Charles L. Lea Jr., Secretary of the Board of Visitors and Governors John Moag ’77, Carl Nordberg ’98,
Thomas Sutton ’76, Board of Visitors and Governors member Bonnie A. Travieso ’66, Board of Visitors and Governors member Peter Van Dyke and Albert “Jay” Young ’81.

Donald C. Tomasso, a parent, and Matthew Weir ’90, a member of the Board of Visitors and Governors, convened the first planning session of the Greater Washington Area Cabinet in late October. At this time, serving with Tomasso and Weir are Thomas C. Crouse, Jr. ’59, Michael Farnum, Richard V. Fitzgerald ’60, former Washington College First Lady and Board of Visitors and Governors member Libby Cater Halaby, Elizabeth A. Likens ’96, Edward P. Nordberg ’82 and Eric Wentworth.

“The early successes in the Campaign represent a great vote of confidence in the College,” Craig Lewis said. “Most donors give to institutions that have a clear sense of mission, are exceptionally well managed, and know where they want to go and what it will take to get there. The challenge now is to avoid complacency and to recognize that the next $20 million will require all alumni, friends and parents to participate.”

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SCHOTTLAND FOUNDS BUSINESS AWARD

Citing the need to foster innovation and excellence in American business, Stanley A. Schottland, retired CEO and Chairman of American Packaging Corporation, has established the Schottland Business Leadership Award at Washington College.

The award grants one graduating senior $5,000 in cash. Award winners must accept a position within an American corporation for at least two years, after which they will be eligible for a $10,000 graduate program tuition grant toward expenses at an accredited business school. Second and third place awardees receive grants of $1,000. The initial commitment of $75,000 funds the program for five years, a trial period during which the success of the program will be evaluated. If the Schottland Business Leadership Award program is deemed a success, Schottland intends to create an endowment for continuing support.

The Schottland Business Leadership Award competition is open to any WC student who meets the academic, moral and leadership criteria. Applicants are judged by a three-member panel comprising a member of the business manage
ment department, Mr. Schottland and a representative of an American corporation.

The first Schottland Business Leadership Awards will be granted this spring.

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CASEY FOUNDATION SUPPORTS ENDOWMENT, SCHOLARSHIPS

The Eugene B. Casey Foundation of Washington, D.C., has announced two grants to Washington College totaling $1,350,000. The first increases an established endowment that is used to maintain the five buildings the Casey family has funded—Casey Academic Center, Casey Swim Center, Brown Cottage, Nussbaum House and O’Neill Literary House.

“This is a truly enlightened gift,” College President John Toll said. “We greatly appreciate the Casey Foundation’s understanding of the importance of not only building facilities but of maintaining them well. Betty Brown Casey ’47, who has served as a member and emeritus member on our Board of Visitors and Governors since 1973, knows how hard it is to find funds for maintenance. She has long been an advocate for a beautiful campus and, with her help, we want our buildings and grounds to match the other goals of excellence of our college.”

The second grant adds $100,000 to a $200,000 scholarship Mrs. Casey endowed earlier this year in memory of Clark V. Clifford, Secretary of Defense under President Lyndon B. Johnson and a presidential adviser to three others. Jack S. Griswold, Chair of the Campaign for Washington’s College, emphasized that half of the $72 million goal of the Campaign is designated for endowment. “Not only do we have to meet current needs, we must constantly strive to increase our endowment to support future needs of students and of the College. The Clark V. Clifford scholarships support students with a commitment to excellence in legal studies. We hope others will follow the splendid example set by Mrs. Casey and the Casey Foundation.”

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HARVEY'S STUDENTS LOG ON FOR GOOD WRITING

Michael Harvey, assistant professor of business management, supports student writing however he can. If that includes giving students instant, interactive access to his writing advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so be it. But Harvey doesn’t lose a wink of sleep. When his students want his advice, they turn on their computers, open their Internet browsers and type http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu. Up on their screens pops The Nuts and Bolts Guide to College Writing, a Web-based handbook Harvey created this summer. Students like what they see, calling it “truly a Washington College asset.”

The online Nuts and Bolts Guide to College Writing extends into cyberspace a manual Harvey has developed over the past three years to deal with common problems in student writing. Over time the material grew, and the Web seemed like a logical next step. “The Web is the main way today’s college students study, the main way they interact with the world at large,” Harvey says. “For a writing guide, the Web format works perfectly.” The site’s strong, clear presentation keeps busy Web surfers visually satisfied, Harvey says, and its content “cuts through the clutter and delivers value.”

Nuts and Bolts delivers value so well that Yahoo!, an Internet search engine that screens and categorizes sites to facilitate searches, has designated it as one of the best sites on the Web in the category devoted to composition, writing and research papers.

Yahoo! isn’t the only one impressed with Harvey’s writing guide. It is being praised by his students. Seth Gabriel, a junior political science major from Ithaca, NY, calls Nuts and Bolts “the best organized and user-friendly guide on the Web.” Within a month of the guide’s appearance online in August, three publishers had contacted Harvey about a printed version. Grateful users from around the world laud Nuts and Bolts every day—“Love your web site,” wrote one user. “My teacher even loves your site.”

Harvey’s colleagues also appreciate the site’s clarity and ease of use. Richard Gillin, professor of English and chair of the department at Washington College, says, “It is a well-thought-out guide. The examples are lucid, and the visual links, in regard to active voice, for example, are easy to follow and sensible.”

Gabriel would like to see Nuts and Bolts integrated into the college academic core curriculum.

A writer himself with more than 20 years’ experience teaching writing, Harvey sees the process of becoming a good writer as a lifetime commitment. “No one can become a good writer overnight,” he says. “I created the Nuts and Bolts Guide to give students some handy tools that they can start using right away.”

But it’s more than just a tool kit. “Above all,” Harvey says, “I encourage students to see writing as a vital intellectual activity, not as something you do after you’ve thought things out, but as something you do to help you think better.”

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COLLEGE FOCUSES ON HOUSING

Eighty percent of today’s students have never shared a bedroom. Only half have never shared a bathroom. And nearly all of them come to college with an SUV-load of electronic equipment, from alarm clocks and boomboxes to computers and television sets.

Despite their taste for retro music and vintage clothing, today’s students draw the line at aging furniture and decaying pink-tiled group showers that were cutting edge in college housing 40 years ago.

That’s why Washington College, like hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, is paying close attention to its housing facilities, striving to provide the privacy and the amenities that make students feel more at home. Within the next five years, the College intends either to renovate or to replace every residential facility on campus. The newest housing addition will be a complex of garden apartments, being planned to replace the aging Cardinal Dorms.

“On a national average, college students living on a residential campus spend approximately 75 percent of their time in a residence hall,” notes Maureen McIntire, vice president for student affairs. “It’s where they sleep and study and socialize. The College is committed to providing campus housing that is conducive to learning while offering a safe, comfortable environment.”

The housing initiative began with the 1997 opening of Harford Hall, a facility built to accommodate a growing student body. Now students vie for the opportunity to live in one of Harford’s suites. Each suite has two doubles and three single rooms, two bathrooms and a common living space. Each floor, too, has common lounge space with two small study rooms.

Last summer, the Hill Dorms were refurbished. This summer, the College com-pleted interior renovations of Cecil, Dorchester and Talbot houses, homes of the three fraternity chapters. Reid Hall is slated for renovations next summer, and Queen Anne’s will be closed for a major overhaul in Fall 2001. Caroline and Kent House will be taken offline in successive years for extensive renovations.
It’s all part of WC’s strategic plan to make the campus environment more appealing to students. The College is committed to keeping 80% of the student body living on campus.

And it’s quite a financial undertaking. The College administration hopes to raise the funds for renovation and construction projects from private sources. Current efforts are aimed at securing funds for Harford Hall and Talbot, Cecil and Dorchester, the “new dorms” of the past 30 years and home to the campus’s fraternities.

“We hope that fraternity alumni of the Kappa Alpha, Theta Chi or Phi Delta Theta organizations will want to participate in this important project by providing adequate housing for their current brothers,” says Susannah Chase Wittich ’90, the College’s special projects coordinator for this fund-raising effort.

A gift of $2 million will allow an individual to name Harford Hall. A commitment of $300,000 will enable a donor to name Talbot, Dorchester or Cecil House. Naming opportunities exist within the fraternity buildings from $100,000 to $10,000. A contribution to one of the College’s housing projects is considered part of the Campaign for Washington’s College.

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BUSINESS STUDENTS NAIL DIRECT MAIL AWARD

A little creativity and a knack for appealing to consumers paid off for 12 business advertising students last spring when they garnered the 1999 Guy Yolton Award for Creative Direct Mail.

The award, given by the Direct Market Association of Washington Educational Foundation during its Collegiate Maxi Competition, recognizes teams of students who submit outstanding marketing plans and direct mail packages to the annual contest.

Three teams of four students each created marketing campaign packages aimed at college students—complete with full explanations of the projects’ development—for Bank One, a banking service.

“The contest material clearly states that there’s only one Yolton award winner each year,” Professor Terry Scout explained. “When I learned that there was a three-way tie for first and that all three teams were from Washington College, I was flabbergasted. All three teams did a great job, but given the number of entries submitted, and competing against such large schools, I just hoped that one team would win something. I never dreamed that all three would be number one.”

“I was very proud of the award,” said senior Becca Corbin, who admitted she thought fellow teammate Brian McNew ’00 was playing a practical joke when he informed her of the achievement.

“Brian kept telling me that we had won, and I didn’t believe him,” said Corbin. “But then I heard a rumor that Dr. Scout said we had won the award, and then the confirmation finally came in the mail. It was very rewarding because we were competing against a lot of big schools with huge business programs, and advertising is an elective here.”

Corbin said that while receiving the Yolton award was thrilling, preparing entries for the contest gave students an up-close look at the advertising world.

“The contest really let us practice what we had learned in class as far as conducting research and identifying demographics and a target market,” she said.

Scout said that while his classes previously practiced their skills by creating on-campus projects for the Cove, the bookstore and the admissions office, this year marked Washington College’s debut into a regional advertising contest—an element that makes the receipt of the Yolton award all the more significant.

“This year was the first time we entered an off-campus competition,” Scout said. “It won’t be the last time.”

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PHOTOS:

#1 - top: James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, received the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters at Fall Convocation.

#2 - Casey Academic Center photo: The Casey Academic Center is one of five buildings on campus that bear witness to the generosity of Eugene B. and Betty Brown Casey ’47.

#3 - Professor Harvey: Dr. Michael Harvey, shown at left with business management students, devised the Nuts and Bolts Guide to College Writing to help students of all disciplines master this critical skill.

#4 - dorm: Talbot Hall is now home of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. All three national fraternities are housed in Cecil, Dorchester and Talbot Halls, which are undergoing renovations. The interiors were refurbished last summer and landscaping improvements will be made in the coming months to enhance the quad area as a social center.

#5 - bottom: Terry Scout (far right) congratu-lates Yolton Award winners (from left) Brian McNew, Becca Corbin and Christyl Johnson-Arrabal.