Grant Supports New Expanding Horizons Initiative

The Charitable Venture Foundation of Clifton Park has provided a grant of $4,100 to enable Skidmore to launch a Junior Great Books (JGB) program in the Schuylerville Junior High School.

JGB is an international program intended to inspire literacy in primary and secondary students. Skidmore will offer a fall course and workshop to prepare college students for presenting the program in Schuylerville during the following spring as a practicum in which the students will mentor seventh- and eighth-grade pupils at Schuylerville. The program will start in September at Skidmore, with a workshop and mentor training courses.

The foundation grant will support costs associated with providing the opening workshop and student workbooks (anthologies) to be used in Schuylerville.

Skidmore’s program will operate under the auspices of Expanding Horizons, the Skidmore/Schuylerville partnership, the Honors Forum, and the Department of English. The program will be available to interested Skidmore students as a credit-bearing Honors Forum course. Registration will be open to interested students in all classes in order to build a pool of certified JGB students throughout the Skidmore student body. Skidmore students will be certified as JGB instructors.

As part of a one-credit course, Skidmore students will complete a 10-hour workshop to train as mentors. The course was developed by Professor of English Catherine Golden, a certified JGB instructor. A representative of the national JGB program will teach the workshop.

The training program will involve 13 Skidmore students, who will divide into six groups of two (leaving one alternate). The six college pairs will each mentor five Schuylerville students. In addition to improving overall reading enjoyment by the Schuylerville students, another goal of the JGB program is to help Schuylerville students prepare for the New York State English Language Arts exam, a mandated test for fourth- and eighth-grade students.

Mobility International Strengthens Ties on Campus and Abroad with Grants

Skidmore is one of five colleges and universities to receive a mini-grant of $2,000 from Mobility International USA and its National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE) through its “Strengthening Ties on Campus and Abroad” initiative. The grants are supporting cooperative ventures between campus-based disability service providers and education abroad staff in the U.S. and overseas.

The goal of the initiative is to increase participation of students with disabilities in international exchange programs. Beth Lyons, Skidmore’s disabilities specialist and an academic counselor, will spend eight days in England in late May and early June to gather information to assist in the inclusion of students with learning disabilities in study-abroad programs with London-area universities.

Lyons will meet with disabilities specialists at colleges that enroll Skidmore students to learn more about the services, laws, and attitudes toward students with learning disabilities. Schools she will visit include Regent’s College, Westminster University, University College, and King’s College. She explained, “I’m interested in faculty attitudes and the college perspective and willingness to accept students with learning disabilities. The meetings will be informal. I’m hoping to gather ‘nuts and bolts’ information.”

She will use the research to prepare a comprehensive guide for students interested in study-abroad experiences in and around London. Lyons hopes to provide information on such things as the laws that govern overseas universities and programs; the types of documentation required to obtain services; access to and availability of classroom accommodations; and availability of assistive technology and disabilities specialists.

Later this year Lyons will share her research through the NCDE, and at conferences sponsored by the Institute for International Education and the Institute for Study Abroad.

The NCDE is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

Mensing at Work on Multi-Disciplinary Project

Assistant Professor of Art Margo Mensing was recently involved in collecting a large number of recipes, not only because she likes to cook, but because she was on a scholarly mission.

Mensing is currently working on an exhibition titled “Inside/Out: Revisioning Hyde House” with Susie Brandt, assistant professor at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

The exhibition, to open in August at the venerable Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, N.Y., will focus on the community ties with the home of Lewis and Charlotte Hyde, the prominent couple whose private art collection became the foundation for the Hyde Collection. The multi-media exhibition will explore the relationship between the museum and the community by focusing on the docents, the house itself, and how the history of the family and the collection has disseminated itself throughout this region. The Hydes are often seen as “arbiters of taste in their community,” according to Mensing.

The exhibition catalogue will include recipes from residents in the region. Earlier this spring, the word went out locally for contributions of traditional family recipes in the following categories: appetizers and beverages; soups and salads; main dishes; breads and rolls; desserts; cookies and candies; and ‘this and that.’ Community participation is considered an important element of the catalogue and exhibition.

Mensing and Brandt (a native of Queensbury, N.Y.), were invited by the Hyde Collection to do an exhibition about the changing Hyde House. Mensing was excited at the chance to examine the house (one of two buildings that are part of the renowned Hyde Collection). “We love to visit historic houses," she enthused. Constructed in 1912 in Italianate style, the Hyde House is modeled after the Isabella Stewart Gardner house (home to another well-known art collection) in Boston. The Hyde House will soon close for about 18 months to enable four rooms in the building to be restored to their 1936 decor. Says Mensing, “This was an important time in the history of the Hyde House, as the Hydes had completed most of their collection.”

As part of the Mensing/Brandt exhibition in the Hoopes Gallery, live-feed video cameras accompany a 10-minute video showing excerpts of docent tours. The public will be able to partially witness the transformation of the house.

In the News

Michael Arnush, associate professor of classics, was interviewed by The Saratogian
for a May 1 story on the Academic Festival titled “‘SkidmOlympics’ a colossal success.”

Mary Lou Bates, dean of admissions and student aid, was quoted in The New York Times May 11 in a story titled “Starting College in the Fall? For Some It's Old School,” about trends in midyear college admissions. In addition, she was a source for a U.S. News & World Report story, “The aid dilemma,” published in the May 5 issue in a special report on “Paying for College.”

Sandy Baum, professor of economics, also was quoted in the U.S. News & World Report May 5 “Paying for College” special report, in a story titled “Money Troubles: As tuition bills loom, try these last-minute strategies.” In addition, she was a source for The Chicago Tribune in an April 13 story titled “Financial Aid: The Search is Harder, Thanks to Economy, Competition.”

Joanne Devine, associate professor of English, was a guest May 10 on “Roundtable,” a program airing on WAMC-FM, a regional public radio affiliate. She discussed the College’s Senior Symposium, “Mediated Society: The Role of Media in Creating Social Structures,” which she coordinated and in which she participated.

Daniel Flores-Guri, visiting assistant professor of economics, was a guest March 12 on WAMC-FM’s “Roundtable,” discussing why the government of Spain was such a strong supporter of the Bush administration’s policies on Iraq.

Roy Ginsberg, professor of government, was interviewed by Le Soir, the national French-speaking newspaper in Belgium, for a March 22-23 “Forum” article titled “What's Left of the Love Between the Western Nations? The question has never been so important as in the aftermath of the divisions which have undermined the European Union and transatlantic relations.” Ginsberg was in Belgium for a series of lectures as part of his duties as the Glaverbel Professor at the Institute for European Studies at the Catholic University Louvain.

Michelle Hubbs, coordinator of volunteer services, was quoted by The Saratogian in a story about the new Habitat for Humanity house being built in partnership with the College in Greenfield, N.Y. Published May 5, the article was titled “Home is where you hang your hammer.”

Barry Goldensohn, professor of English, was interviewed by The Chronicle of
Higher Education for a May 5 story titled “Prime Numbers: Writes of Passage,” in which soon-to-retire professors were asked to estimate the number of student papers they have graded. Goldensohn tallied 30,000 papers in 44 years.

David Karp, assistant professor of sociology, is the author of an opinion essay titled “Out from behind bars,” published April 27 in The Sunday Gazette.

Steven Millhauser, professor of English, was the subject of a May 11 feature story in the Albany Times Union titled “Fiction’s ‘fierce difficulty,’ punctuated by ping pong.”

USA Today Sports Weekly included Assistant Professor of American Studies Dan Nathan’s new book Saying It's So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal, in roundup titled “Some reading while the snow melts away,” of books for baseball fans.

Michael Profita, director of career services, was a source for a Wall Street
Journal.com story, “What? Graduation and No Job Yet?” published April 24. In addition, he was quoted in a May 13 Saratogian story titled “Soon-to-be grads look to the future.”

Sheldon Solomon, professor of psychology, was interviewed by the Albany Times Union for an April 1 story titled “Region Readies for Code Red.”

Mary Zeiss Stange, associate professor of women’'s studies and religion, had an essay titled “Homeland Security and the Lessons of Waco,” published in the April 11 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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