Category: news

Antioch College Volunteer Projects to Continue Through the Fall

Jim Spangler '74 and Garrett Miller '08YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – June 2, 2011 – Thirty Yellow Springs High School seniors joined Antioch’s maintenance volunteers in May for two days of sorting, organizing, and removing files, books and items left behind in McGregor Hall, the College’s main classroom building.

The project was part of an ongoing volunteer program at Antioch College that brought alumni and other community members together on the campus as the College prepares for the arrival of its first independent class in the fall of 2011.

Garrett Miller '08 and Jim Spangler '74 return a repaired oak countertop to the second floor of McGregor Hall.

Since the fall of 2009, volunteers of all ages, skill levels and backgrounds have participated in monthly work projects. Their work was wide-ranging and included such tasks as painting walls in the Art Building in anticipation of 2011 Founders Day Celebration to restoring Pennell House.

In January, due to alumni interest, the College began to focus monthly work projects on building maintenance. Five volunteers – Jim Spangler ’74, Megan Trolander, Tom LaMers ’68, Jon Baker ’72, and Evelyn LaMers ’69 – collaborated with Julian Sharp, manager of volunteer work, in the effort they dubbed VAMP, Volunteers for Antioch Maintenance Projects.

Working with a team of volunteers during two cold weeks in January 2011, they converted the old Maples fire station garage into a volunteer workshop. The team restored heat, electricity and water to the space, which they converted into a well-equipped wood and metal shop utilizing excellent "found" tools and equipment rescued from a variety of closed college buildings. Additionally, they added donated tools and repaired damaged power tools.

The maintenance volunteers put the new workshop to good use while working to repair and refinish thirty-two massive oak countertops in McGregor Hall, a building with about 34,000 square feet of interior space spread over three floors. The task of repairing and refinishing the oak countertops began with a week's work in February, continued with additional work weeks in March and April, and concluded in May.

“This massive multi-month project was done out of love for the college and the hope that students will soon return to its historic campus,” Sharp said. "I am blown away by the amount of high-quality work the maintenance volunteers were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time."

The maintenance volunteers completed a number of other interior projects in McGregor. They repaired damaged office light fixtures on the second floor; stripped forty years accumulation of adhesive grime from doors, wood cabinets and walls on the second floor; stripped and refinished door kick plates and push plates throughout the first and second floors; and refit and repaired interior doors throughout the first and second floors. The group also reconditioned hardware and stops, removed damaged floor tile, refinished rusted bathroom dividers, and polished and sealed the exterior bronze building sign.

“The College owes enormous thanks to the maintenance volunteers who have donated such a large block of time to make meaningful upgrades to McGregor Hall,” Sharp said. “They saved the college tens of thousands of dollars and have created a much nicer atmosphere in a space that will be central to the academic life of the College.”

While VAMP has concluded, expanded work projects, which include maintenance work and other forms of volunteer work, will continue on a monthly basis this summer and fall. Volunteer maintenance work in McGregor continues during the Reunion Work Week, June 13-19. Other volunteer tracks will be available for those interested in offering administrative help, gardening, furniture repair, and more.

A very special thank you must be extended to the volunteers who contributed their time and resources to restoring the Antioch College campus. Jim Spangler and Megan Trolander each contributed seven weeks of full-time work while Tom and Evelyn LaMers contributed six weeks of full-time work. Jon Baker also deserves thanks for helping to set up the workshop in January and involvement at part of the February project.

Evelyn LaMers remarked that when students arrive she will be “very happy to see the Antioch College campus again in use and adored having the opportunity to help make it happen.”

Other regular volunteers were Lincoln Alpern ’11, Ashley Appleman, Paul Duellman ‘12, Eva Erickson ’15, Joe Foley ‘64, Dave Hergesheimer ‘71, Aaron McElwain, Garrett Miller ’08, Kyle Prueter, Wayne Russell, John Stillwell, Helen Welford ‘69, Mai Yanada, and Jonathan Zimmerman ‘70. In the weeks leading up to Reunion, Roger Husbands ‘63 and John Kubale ‘08 are continuing volunteer maintenance work in McGregor. College facilities staff, particularly Ron Hampton and Josh Miller, assisted on each project.

“The College needs all the love and support you can give, the more people who participate the more work we will accomplish,” Sharp said.

For more information on Reunion Work Week or to inquire about other volunteer opportunities, contact Julian Sharp at jsharp@antiochcollege.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Gariot P. Louima ?
Director of Communications
Office: 937-319-6131
Mobile: 937-581-8201
glouima@antiochcollege.org

Antioch College Volunteer Projects to Continue Through the Fall

Jim Spangler '74 and Garrett Miller '08YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – June 2, 2011 – Thirty Yellow Springs High School seniors joined Antioch’s maintenance volunteers in May for two days of sorting, organizing, and removing files, books and items left behind in McGregor Hall, the College’s main classroom building.

The project was part of an ongoing volunteer program at Antioch College that brought alumni and other community members together on the campus as the College prepares for the arrival of its first independent class in the fall of 2011.

(Photograph: Garrett Miller '08 and Jim Spangler '74 return a repaired oak countertop to the second floor of McGregor Hall.)

Since the fall of 2009, volunteers of all ages, skill levels and backgrounds have participated in monthly work projects. Their work was wide-ranging and included such tasks as painting walls in the Art Building in anticipation of 2011 Founders Day Celebration to restoring Pennell House.

In January, due to alumni interest, the College began to focus monthly work projects on building maintenance. Five volunteers – Jim Spangler ’74, Megan Trolander, Tom LaMers ’68, Jon Baker ’72, and Evelyn LaMers ’69 – collaborated with Julian Sharp, manager of volunteer work, in the effort they dubbed VAMP, Volunteers for Antioch Maintenance Projects.

Working with a team of volunteers during two cold weeks in January 2011, they converted the old Maples fire station garage into a volunteer workshop. The team restored heat, electricity and water to the space, which they converted into a well-equipped wood and metal shop utilizing excellent "found" tools and equipment rescued from a variety of closed college buildings. Additionally, they added donated tools and repaired damaged power tools.

The maintenance volunteers put the new workshop to good use while working to repair and refinish thirty-two massive oak countertops in McGregor Hall, a building with about 34,000 square feet of interior space spread over three floors. The task of repairing and refinishing the oak countertops began with a week's work in February, continued with additional work weeks in March and April, and concluded in May.

“This massive multi-month project was done out of love for the college and the hope that students will soon return to its historic campus,” Sharp said. "I am blown away by the amount of high-quality work the maintenance volunteers were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time."

The maintenance volunteers completed a number of other interior projects in McGregor. They repaired damaged office light fixtures on the second floor; stripped forty years accumulation of adhesive grime from doors, wood cabinets and walls on the second floor; stripped and refinished door kick plates and push plates throughout the first and second floors; and refit and repaired interior doors throughout the first and second floors. The group also reconditioned hardware and stops, removed damaged floor tile, refinished rusted bathroom dividers, and polished and sealed the exterior bronze building sign.

“The College owes enormous thanks to the maintenance volunteers who have donated such a large block of time to make meaningful upgrades to McGregor Hall,” Sharp said. “They saved the college tens of thousands of dollars and have created a much nicer atmosphere in a space that will be central to the academic life of the College.”

While VAMP has concluded, expanded work projects, which include maintenance work and other forms of volunteer work, will continue on a monthly basis this summer and fall. Volunteer maintenance work in McGregor continues during the Reunion Work Week, June 13-19. Other volunteer tracks will be available for those interested in offering administrative help, gardening, furniture repair, and more.

A very special thank you must be extended to the volunteers who contributed their time and resources to restoring the Antioch College campus. Jim Spangler and Megan Trolander each contributed seven weeks of full-time work while Tom and Evelyn LaMers contributed six weeks of full-time work. Jon Baker also deserves thanks for helping to set up the workshop in January and involvement at part of the February project.

Evelyn LaMers remarked that when students arrive she will be “very happy to see the Antioch College campus again in use and adored having the opportunity to help make it happen.”

Other regular volunteers were Lincoln Alpern ’11, Ashley Appleman, Paul Duellman ‘12, Eva Erickson ’15, Joe Foley ‘64, Dave Hergesheimer ‘71, Aaron McElwain, Garrett Miller ’08, Kyle Prueter, Wayne Russell, John Stillwell, Helen Welford ‘69, Mai Yanada, and Jonathan Zimmerman ‘70. In the weeks leading up to Reunion, Roger Husbands ‘63 and John Kubale ‘08 are continuing volunteer maintenance work in McGregor. College facilities staff, particularly Ron Hampton and Josh Miller, assisted on each project.

“The College needs all the love and support you can give, the more people who participate the more work we will accomplish,” Sharp said.

For more information on Reunion Work Week or to inquire about other volunteer opportunities, contact Julian Sharp at jsharp@antiochcollege.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Gariot P. Louima ?
Director of Communications
Office: 937-319-6131
Mobile: 937-581-8201
glouima@antiochcollege.org

Aimee Maruyama to Leave Antioch College

Aimee MaruyamaYELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – June 2, 1011 – Aimee Maruyama ’96, director of foundation relations and senior major gifts officer, is leaving Antioch College. She leaves her position at the College on Friday, June 10.

Maruyama and her family are heading to Montpellier, France, for six months in the fall. Her husband, Benji Maruyama, a materials scientist, has been granted a six-month visiting academic and research appointment at Université Montpellier 2 Sciences et Techniques.

Maruyama earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science at Antioch College and a master’s in resource ecology at Duke University. Beginning in 2007, she served as director of alumni relations and development for Antioch College and The College Revival Fund. She was promoted to director of foundation relations in the fall of 2010.

Her diverse work history includes a position as associate director of alumni relations at the college; working as a consultant developing upper-level undergraduate courses on environmental issues for ITT Technical Institutes’ bachelor’s degree programs; and a stint at the Nature Conservancy, where she was part of a team conducting a research survey on the condition and management need of prairie openings at the Edge of Appalachia Preserve in Adams County.

About Antioch College

A private, independent nonprofit liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Antioch College will offer a four-year, undergraduate residential experience to a new class of students beginning in the fall of 2011. The College curriculum puts equal emphasis on rigorous liberal arts learning, work (cooperative education), and community engagement. Students will complete individualized majors based on one of 11 concentrations, a language minor, and six full-time work experiences. The institution, originally founded in 1850, is now completely independent of Antioch University, the multi-campus system it created.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Gariot P. Louima ?

Director of Communications

Office: 937-319-6131

Mobile: 937-581-8201

glouima@antiochcollege.org

State of the College: ‘You have a college that’s yours again’

In his State of the College address Friday night, Antioch College President Mark Roosevelt articulated a new vision for Antioch as a college that will focus on addressing the challenges of sustainability. The May 20 talk, which was open to the community and held in Herndon Gallery, launched the weekend meeting of the college’s pro tem board.

“The way we live in America today is not sustainable. Period. The evidence for this is overwhelming and mounting every day,” Roosevelt said to an audience of about 50 college and village community members. “Our unwillingness to deal with this threatens every single aspect of life as we know it.”

Providing students with a multi-disciplinary program to meet this challenge will prepare them for a wide range of careers, Roosevelt said.

“I believe Antioch College can become a place where the faculty, students and community are working together to find better ways of living,” he said.

Roosevelt also emphasized the need for the college and the Yellow Springs community to join forces, both for practical reasons and because students benefit from being rooted in a community.

“This village lends itself to this being a community college,” he said, using the term not as most frequently used but as “a college in which young people are deeply integrated into the community.”

The loss of community has contributed to a lack of centeredness in not only American culture but the culture of many college campuses, Roosevelt said.

“People are searching for that kind of life,” he said, stating that while some may consider him overly idealistic, “If reading Arthur Morgan has taught me anything, it’s that it’s better to be super idealistic and go for it, than not.”

What is Antioch?

Regarding the issue of environmental sustainability, Roosevelt described himself as having “dramatically changed” in the four months since he came to campus as college president.

“I was woefully, inadequately knowledgeable about what has happened and what we need to do,” Roosevelt said.

Citing a speech by Bennington College President Elizabeth Coleman as an inspiration, Roosevelt stated that Coleman’s basic message is that “America is in significant and serious decline, and academic institutions are on the sidelines and doing nothing about it. It’s an amazing disconnect.”

The most pressing issues of environmental sustainability involve food and water, Roosevelt said, citing statistics that out of 6 billion humans alive today, 1 billion are hungry, another billion are on the brink of hunger and a billion are obese. In this country, there’s been a 300 percent rise in obesity in the past 20 years, Roosevelt said, stating that while lack of exercise contributes to that significant health problem, the largest contributor is the way food is produced and processed.

“We had to step back and look at, what is Antioch? Where is Antioch? We’re in the breadbasket, surrounded by people who are doing interesting things with food,” Roosevelt said, stating that regarding the importance of food to a host of environmental issues, “Kids get it. They get it and know it. They feel it and want to live it.”

At Antioch College, students will “live it,” he said, stating that talks are underway regarding creating a farm on the campus “golf course.” All students will be required to work 10 hours weekly on campus, and many of the first term’s co-op jobs will be on campus as well, giving students the opportunity to be involved in food production.

While specifics about the farm haven’t been ironed out, “We want it to be beautiful and meaningful, to the village as well as the college,” Roosevelt said. “If we do it, we have to do it well.”

Because the new college faculty is small, the approach to sustainability is necessarily multi-disciplinary, Roosevelt said. He also identified other areas of the new college’s focus to be its core curriculum, which students are required to take in their first two years, excellence in writing and the college’s historic emphasis on work and its relationship to academics.

Economic sustainability as well

Sustainability at Antioch College goes beyond environmental issues, Roosevelt said, citing the college’s need to become economically sustainable.

“Ending the chronic poverty of this college is pre-eminently important if we want to become what we want to become,” he said. And the college is a long way from that goal.

“We are nowhere near a position of financial security,” he said.

The college has a budget of about $8 million yearly. It can draw down about $1.5 million annually from its endowment, and has received about $1.5 million so far this year from its annual fund drive, for a total this year of around $3 million.

“The board and I have been in discussions because I’m not comfortable with that situation,” Roosevelt said.

The central financial challenge is that the college’s first group of students is not paying tuition, and significant campus upgrades need to be completed before tuition can be charged, Roosevelt said. College leaders have planned for alumni to take up the financial slack until tuition kicks in, but many alumni remain hesitant to give.

“Many donors are still in a “wait and see” mode,” he said. “The complexity is having enough support to get through the next three years while we build a donor base and heal wounds. It’s not an uncomplicated task.”

The college did receive an anonymous challenge grant of $1.5 million until the end of June, Roosevelt said, and fund-raising for that matching grant is going well.

The college is also in the final stages of hiring a new director of development, who will play a significant role in raising money for the college.

New students give hope

The college’s new students are a “pretty dang cool, interesting and capable group,” Roosevelt said.

The college was thrilled to have 35 out of the 45 students it accepted choose to attend Antioch, 10 more than expected, he said. Because the first-year class is larger than expected, the second-year class, which had been envisioned at around 50, will likely be larger as well.

The new students have an overall grade point average of 3.56, and 18 of the 45 speak a second language. One is a National Merit Scholar finalist, two are semi-finalists and several completed rigorous secondary school programs, including International Baccalaureate.

According to a report to the board, 30 percent are interested in the social sciences, 29 percent in the humanities, 19 percent in the arts, 10 percent in the sciences and 3 percent are undecided.

One new student has been a circus performer, one a blacksmith, and the group includes musicians, journalists, filmmakers and students with “extensive experience in restorative social justice and leadership at their previous schools,” according to the report.

Twenty percent are students of color, including three African Americans, one Hispanic, one Middle Easterner, one Native American and one multi-racial student. Sixty percent of the new students are women.

But the college has not yet achieved the diversity in the student body and the new faculty that would be consistent with Antioch College values, Roosevelt said, in response to a question from board pro tem member Prexy Nesbitt.

Hiring continues

The college has hired three tenure-track faculty, in the areas of chemistry, philosophy and anthropology, and will soon announce the hiring of three more, in Spanish, the arts and literature, Roosevelt said.

“We had an enormous amount of interest in these jobs,” he said, regarding the number of applications received. While the sluggish economy accounts for some of that interest, many applicants also expressed specific interest in the traditions and values of Antioch.

Roosevelt said he continues to talk with former Antioch College faculty, and “desires to place as many former faculty as possible” at the college. Roosevelt described the talks as a “delicate” conversation that continues to move forward.

A key staff position currently being searched is the college’s dean of community life, “a hugely important job,” according to Roosevelt, who described the position as including work with students and faculty to create the college’s community government and campus culture, along with maintaining a relationship with the Yellow Springs community. That search should be finalized soon, he said.

Searches for a campus facilities manager and director of admissions are also taking place.

While Antioch College is still a “work in progress,” the college continues to move ahead, Roosevelt said. “A lot of work has occurred and there’s much more to be done. But in the main, better days are here.”

At the end of his talk, Roosevelt asked the audience to celebrate the successes of the past few years.

“You have a college that’s yours again,” he said to the alumni and community members present. “You have a president, staff and board that’s dedicated only to it. The students are wonderful. You have a college that once again has a chance to become the kind of college that makes a difference in American life.”

 

Students, Faculty, and Staff of Nonstop to Get Arthur Morgan Award at Reunion 2011

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – May 31, 2011 – The Antioch College Alumni Association will award the students, faculty, and staff of Nonstop with the Arthur Morgan Award at Reunion 2011 for service to community.

“Nonstop Antioch” is what alumni, students, staff and faculty dubbed the movement to keep the College alive after the University announced its intent to shutter the campus.

With financial support from alumni and friends, they offered courses, programming, and direct support to the independence effort. Their work and commitment embodies Arthur Morgan’s notion of community.

Reunion 2011, themed “Science and Invention,” is scheduled for June 16-19 at Antioch College in Yellow Springs. The keynote speaker is Antioch graduate Mario Capecchi ‘61, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, which he shares with Oliver Smithies and Martin Evans.

Other Alumni Awards:

  • Horace Mann Award for winning victories for humanity to Robert M. Greenwald ’66, founder and president of Brave New Films, a media company that uses moving images to educate, influence, and empower viewers to take action around issues that matter
  • Rebecca Rice Award for professional achievement to Warren Bennis ’51, the University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and Founding chairman of USC’s Leadership Institute
  • J.D. Dawson Award for service to Antioch College to Scott Sanders, the College archivist, curator of Antiochiana, and the reigning authority on the history of the institution from its original founding to the present day
  • Walter F. Anderson Award for courage in breaking down racial and ethnic barriers to Sylvia Turner ’67, dean of fine & performing arts at Santa Ana College and an award-winning choreographer and educator.

Register for Reunion 2011 at http://antiochcollege.org/alumni/reunion.

About Antioch College
A private, independent nonprofit liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Antioch College will offer a four-year, undergraduate residential experience to a new class of students beginning in the fall of 2011. The College curriculum puts equal emphasis on rigorous liberal arts learning, work (cooperative education), and community engagement. Students will complete individualized majors based on one of 11 concentrations, a language minor, and six full-time work experiences. The institution, originally founded in 1850, is now completely independent of Antioch University, the multi-campus system it created.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Gariot P. Louima ?
Director of Communications
Office: 937-319-6131
Mobile: 937-581-8201
glouima@antiochcollege.org

Antioch College names advancement head

On Friday, May 27, Antioch College President Mark Roosevelt announced that Stephen W. Sturman has been hired as the college’s new vice president for advancement.

The college, with assistance from the search firm Isaacson Miller, has been searching for a head fund-raiser for the college for about six months, since Roosevelt began his tenure as president.

Sturman, who will begin his work at Antioch July 1, was formerly a senior fund raiser for the Culver Educational Foundation, which supports the Culver Military Academy and Culver Girls Academy, both in Culver, Indiana.

He was instrumental in raising $376 million for the schools, according to an Antioch College press release.

“Steve is committed to community and to purpose — the notion of making a difference in one’s work — and it’s that sensibility that makes him a good fit for Antioch right now,” Roosevelt said in the press statement. “His work at Culver required that he get to know a specific kind of institution with a particular history and highly engaged alumni. That experience, together with his proven track record in fund-raising and sales, will be an invaluable asset as we work to firm up our foundation going forward.”

Sturman worked as a fund-raiser for the Culver Foundation since 2003. In that position, he managed a portfolio of 150 significant prospects and donors. His successes at Culver include the generation of deferred major gifts of more than $13 million; the creation of a $4 million endowment to support merit salary increases to faculty and staff; and generating an excess of $7 million over the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

Before that job, Sturman for 23 years operated Sturman and Company, a manufacturer’s representative sales agency founded in 1914. As a sales representative and owner/partner, he managed the Ohio sales territory, including accounts responsibilities for Jo-Ann Stores, Revco Drug Stores and Kroger.

Sturman earned a bachelors of science in management degree from Purdue University and attended the Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Center for Philanthropy.