Summer 2002

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Contents

Features

Observations

Letters

On campus

Faculty focus

Sports

Arts on view

Alumni affairs
and development

Class notes

Commemorations:
Cherished bonds honored at Reunion

Despite a broken foot, President Jamienne S. Studley leads the Parade of Classes in style.

     Friday’s dark, dramatic cloudbursts and Saturday’s bright freshness nicely complemented a Reunion laced with cheers, hugs, tears, and belly laughs. Along with the traditional alumni art show, minicollege courses, dances, and fireworks, more than 1,000 alumni and friends joined for special dedications and memorials, including remembrances of Professor Emeritus Erwin Levine, who died in January, and Frank Reisman ’82, who was killed in the World Trade Center attack of September 11. Warm feelings of fellowship and communion found expression in many of the reunion class gifts presented on Saturday(see below).
     Graduates from 1967 reunited with Anne Palamountain, wife of the late Skidmore president Joseph Palamountain, to dedicate the Class of ’67 Lobby in Palamountain Hall. The gesture not only reflects the class’s affection for the Palamountains but will also help underwrite the upcoming renovation of the lobby. Nancy Nims Mullins ’67, Sally Huling Hilderbrand ’67, Beverly Harrison Miller ’67, and their classmates were pleased to make their mark at the entrance of Skidmore’s main academic building, which houses a range of classrooms and labs, as well as three public auditoriums. And the class’s impact didn’t stop there: ’67 topped all reunion classes this year with an annual-fund gift of more than $203,000 gathered from an impressive 68 percent of the class.

Former first lady Anne Palamountain, Nancy Nims Mullins ’67, and Sally Huling Hilderbrand ’67, with President Jamienne S. Studley, dedicate the Class of ’67 Lobby in Palamountain Hall.

     Other observances included the dedication of the Intercultural Center by the class of ’72, and the presentation of a Filene piano in honor of the Class of ’47. Both classes won awards for most dollars raised: ’72 for a class between its twentieth and thirtieth reunion, and ’47 for a post-fiftieth class. The class of 1957 achieved impressive records as well, raising $168,000 from 67 percent of the class and setting a new standard for forty-fifth reunions.
     Milestone classes—those celebrating tenth, twenty-fifth, fortieth, and fiftieth reunions—were spotlighted at the recognition ceremony, as this year’s milestone grand total, which includes all gifts and pledges, topped $2.5 million.

• Reunion fireworks over the Tang Museum

  The ’92ers broke tenth-reunion records for annual-fund dollars and participation, with a gift of nearly $47,000 from 43 percent of the class. The class also welcomed twenty-two new donors at the Friends of the Presidents level ($1,000, or $100 for each year after graduation), for a total of twenty-nine FOP members.
  
  
• The graduates of ’77 proved that a twenty-fifth-reunion class could defy the nationwide pattern of difficult fundraising among ’70s alumni, blowing away their previous records and more than tripling their annual-fund total from last year. The ’77ers gave $127,000 in total gifts and pledges and dedicated the Jonsson Tower penthouse in honor of their milestone.
  
  

• The Class of 1952: steppin’ out for the fiftieth.

  The fiftieth-reunion class of ’52 hit the 73 percent mark in participation and raised over $500,000 in gifts and pledges. The ’52ers joyfully gathered to dedicate the Tang Museum’s rooftop and also a Porter Plaza daylily garden. On Saturday night the class enjoyed a champagne toast and watched the Reunion fireworks from the 1952 Tang Rooftop.
  
  
• The fortieth-reunion ’62ers gave a whopping $1.8 million in total gifts and pledges, shattering a record set by the class of 1948 at their fiftieth. The gift also established a Class of ’62 Scholarship Fund.
  

     In all, reunion giving provided more than $1.1 million of Skidmore’s record-breaking $4.2 million annual-fund total (raised from alumni, parents, and friends) this year. See the list beginning on page 33 for full class giving results. —SR, MM

“Frank’s room”    The Class of ’82 gathered, with President Jamienne S. Studley and many others, to dedicate a Bolton Hall classroom in memory of Frank Reisman ’82, who was killed in the September 11 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center. The pain of loss was still fresh, but longtime friend Lori Leman ’82 urged classmates to remember Reisman as the fun-loving, outgoing “regular guy” they knew and loved. “We’re still grieving,” she said, “but we’re here to celebrate his life too. We’re thankful to have known Frank.” Lori Leman ’82 and Professor Roy Rotheim honor the life of 9/11 victim Frank Reisman ’82.    Professor Roy Rotheim shared his own fond memories of Reisman’s academic enthusiasm and exuberance. “Frank was intense,” said Rotheim with a big grin. “I can still see him arguing and talking in this very classroom—and following me down the hall to talk some more.” Pointing to the bronze plaque mounted near the classroom door, he added, “From now on, my classes won’t be in Bolton 282, they’ll be in ‘Frank’s room,’ and I’ll feel his presence each day.”    President Jamienne S. Studley told the class, “This plaque will remind students to seize the day and treasure their friendships, as you did Frank’s. That’s a wonderful legacy.”