Features - Lesley University

News From 29 Mellen
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty and Staff
Features
February 2015
Dean’s Message
Page 2
2015 Child Homelessness Conference
Page 3
Lesley University Presents the Paul A. Fideler Lecture
Page 5
Faculty Scholarship
Page 6
Renewing the Faculty Scholar: The Sabbatical Experience
Page 10
Senior Honors Thesis
Page 11
Undergraduate Student Entrepreneurship
Page 9
Sisterhood in Action
Page 13
Graduate Student Activists Make an Appeal for Action
Page 14
Real-World Learning in CLAS: The Internship Experience
Page 16
Dean’s List Scholars
Page 17
News From 29 Mellen
Dean’s Message
A Community of Pluralistic Intellectual Practice and Candor
This edition of News from 29 Mellen speaks to a new lecture for CLAS—the Paul A. Fideler Lecture; to our fourth annual Child Homelessness conference which features Elisabeth Babcock, on March 2, 2015; to faculty scholarship—
conference papers, published essays and books; to cross-school team teaching of a seventeenth-century English author, John Milton, by Mary Dockray-Miller and Tony Apesos; to first-person accounts of the CLAS internship experience; to the dynamism of Amy Rutstein-Riley’s CLAS Girlhood Project; to the robust voices of non-CLAS student activists, and to CLAS student scholarship and cross-school collaboration in LUCAD and CLAS student entrepreneurship.
We are assessing five programs of study across all divisions of the College, and we are building three new online
programs—Human Services, Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Humanities, and a Master’s in Business Management—to complement the online programs in Psychology and undergraduate Business Management. We are also
working to build and sustain a modest community college initiative with Bunker Hill Community College—an initiative that includes early childhood studies. New curricula are being developed for existing programs as well. The
strengthening done in Biology BA degree has meant that we are now ready to prepare for a teacher education license so that students who want to teach biology can be licensed to do so upon graduation from CLAS. The requested expansion of the science laboratory and the lab courses will redound to the benefit of our students across
both biology and environmental science. We are investing in the preferred future.
In addition to the good and necessary efforts above, the CLAS faculty, staff and students are engaged in service, high
-impact advising programs, practica, in study abroad activities, and in conversations with one another about equity,
excellence, and re-establishing a solid foundation for understanding shared governance, shared responsibility, and
sustainability of this institution and the environment. At its core this is a conversation about shared interests and
the legacy of Lesley University—now and in the future—not just the past. Long ago someone referred to colleges
and universities as the Ivory Tower. Throughout its existence Lesley University has been anti-elitist. Our charge is to
state clearly and emphatically not what we are against but what we are for. The real world is part and parcel of
knowledge acquisition and the processing and synthesizing of ideas and ideals. We invite students to experience this
real world and we invite the world in to Lesley University. It is for this reason that activist student voices resonate in
this edition of CLAS, alongside the voices of students in pursuit of business enterprise, ArtLynx. Finally, it is for this
reason that we feature the honors students who excelled in the presentation of their senior theses, Catey Bayse and
Lauren Carey, and those who presented at a conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Katie Elmes and Jackie Geilfuss.
This is what it means to walk the walk!
Equal opportunity is critical to the social justice mission of Lesley University. Women still do not have equal wage
rights in the United States. Women of color are even farther behind. Sexual violence is a reality on many college
campuses. Black boys and men are still too often on parole—from birth to death--in America. Micro-aggression is
still ubiquitous in our world—including in the world of work. Child poverty rates and homelessness are scandalously
high. It is for this reason that the CLAS conversations and CHI conference matter. Please join the conversations
March 2, 2015 at University Hall.
At the end of a long day or years of work, faculty and students alike must pause and think anew about their teaching, research, service and their lives as human beings. Robert McGrath’s essay on his CLAS sabbatical is a call to
name the challenges we face and surmount as human beings, so that we might all share a language of self- and other-respect and build a community of pluralistic intellectual practice and candor. Tall challenges reside here in the
pages of News from 29 Mellen. Great promise lives in these pages. My confidence in and respect for Lesley University’s past, present and future are located here as well. It is with this confidence that CLAS welcomes the College of
Art and Design to Cambridge.
Page 2
News From 29 Mellen
The 4th Annual Child Homelessness Conference
Lesley University is honored to invite you to attend the Lesley University March
2, 2015 Child Homelessness Conference. The conference focuses on the eradication of child homelessness and poverty in Massachusetts. Drawing on a fifty-year
retrospective on poverty, the morning panel will identify variables contributing
to child homelessness and poverty in Massachusetts and focus on promising interventions, policy, advocacy, and strategies at work in the Commonwealth’s
governmental and non-governmental sectors. Noah Berger, the author of the
report From Poverty to Opportunity: The Challenge of Building a Great Society
(https://MassBudget.org/PovertytoOpportunity), will start off the morning panel. A number of elected officials, including Rodney Elliot, the Mayor of Lowell,
Massachusetts, will also participate in the morning discussion.
Elisabeth Babcock, the President of Crittenton Women’s Union (CWU), the premiere anti-poverty Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the nation, will give
the keynote address, “Sustaining Exits from Poverty and Homelessness: Some
Determinants of Efficacy.” She will reassert the conference goal of developing and sustaining exits from poverty
and child homelessness—exits that lead to citizenship, familial resilience, and the health and well-being of children and families. The two afternoon panels will focus on the challenges faced by homeless children in the
school and family setting. Drs. Lisa Fiore and Jan Wall, co-developers of courses in the CHI curriculum, will facilitate these sessions and engage experienced practitioners in a conversation about student, teacher, and parental resiliency and the values, knowledge, support, and skills required to foster healthy imaginations in children
as they develop.
Elisabeth Babcock
At Lesley University the Child Homelessness Initiative (CHI) is a collaborative effort led by a team of talented
multidisciplinary faculty and community partners. The mission of CHI is to prepare Lesley University students--next generation teachers, policy advocates, therapists, and child care providers--with a trauma-informed asset
model that enables practices and policies consistent with maximizing infant and toddler health, happiness and
well-being. The trauma-informed asset model includes online and on-ground courses that examine the structural origins of homelessness, determinants of parental resiliency, the vital role of play and reading in infant
and toddler development, neurobiology, and a series of structured internship and experiential learning opportunities. This curriculum pathway encourages an analytical focus on the linkages among child human development, emotional attachments, well-being and equal opportunity. Furthermore, community service organizations and expanded internship offerings and partnerships are another manifestation of CHI’s impact and value
on Lesley University graduates.
Crittenton Women’s Union promotes sustainable pathways from poverty for Children and Families of Greater
Boston. This organization manages over four hundred volunteers and provides pathways out of poverty for 457
families.
February 2015
Page 3
Lesley University Presents The Paul A. Fideler Inaugural Lecture
After 45 years of dedicated service to Lesley University, Dr. Paul A. Fideler,
Emeritus Professor of History and Humanities, retired in 2014. Paul was
committed to elevating the liberal arts at Lesley as part of our educational
mission. He chaired the cross-university study on the liberal arts and was
the executive editor of its foundational report, “The Liberal Arts at Lesley
University: A Glass Half-Full and Half-Empty.” He led the committee that
created the undergraduate history major in 2004 and oversaw the significant expansion of Lesley’s global course offerings. Paul also developed and
taught courses in philosophy and world religions.
Paul Fideler
Emeritus Professor
A past president of both the New England Historical Association and the
Northeast Conference on British Studies, Paul regularly presented his work
at regional, national, and international meetings. He has been a Fellow of
the American Council of Learned Societies and the recipient of numerous
other awards. In 1992 he edited the volume, Political Thought and the Tudor Commonwealth (Routledge), and his widely praised Social Welfare in
Pre-Industrial England: The Old Poor Law Tradition (Palgrave Macmillan)
appeared in 2006. Paul’s research and teaching have enriched the University’s focus on social justice and contemporary policy options.
By his own rigorous example, Paul modeled his belief in the importance of challenging students in his classes, introducing them to current scholarship, and developing curricula that reflected the ideals of a liberal education and a
changing world.
To honor Paul’s contributions to Lesley University, we established The
Paul A. Fideler Lecture in History and Philosophy. The inaugural Paul A.
Fideler Lecturer is Robert Putnam (pictured below), the Peter and Isabel
Malkin Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard John F. Kennedy
School. The London Sunday Times has called Professor Putnam the “most
influential academic in the world today.” Putnam will speak on the Brattle
Campus at 6:30 PM in Washburn on March 2, 2015. His topic and the title
of his new book is Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Professor Putnam is the author of Bowling Alone (2000) and American Grace (2010),
among other influential studies.
We welcome your attendance at the March 2, 2015 6:30pm lecture.
Please join Paul at this special event to honor his legacy.
Robert Putnam
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News From 29 Mellen
Faculty Scholars
Mary Coleman, Dean
College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences
Dean Mary Coleman’s Winning the Argument and Moving the Fight:
The Legacy of a Grassroots Humanitarian was published in Public Voices Volume XIV by Rutgers University. Dean Coleman argues that a two
-decades-long litigation struggle was necessary to push political actors
into a more virtuous than vicious legal/political negotiation. Throughout the essay the following questions pose themselves: In thinking
about the Road to Fordice and to political settlement, would the Justice Department lawyers and plaintiffs' lawyers connect at the point of
their shared strength? Would the timing of the settlement benefit the
plaintiffs and/or the State? Could plaintiffs’ lawyers hold together for
the length of the case and move each piece of the case forward in a
winning strategy? Who were the plaintiffs’ opponents and what was
their strategy? With these questions in mind, Dean Coleman offers an
analysis of how the campaign—political/legal arguments and political/
legal remedies to remove the vestiges of de jure segregation in higher
education—unfolded with special emphasis on the initiating lawyer in
Ayers v. Waller and U.S. v. Fordice, Isaiah Madison.
CLAS Invited Conference Presentations
Heather MacDonald
Michael Illuzzi
Mary Beth Lawton
Christine Evans
Robert Wauhkonen
Nancy Jo Cardillo
Jane Richardson
Bryan Brophy-Baermann
Kimberly Lowe
Dialogical Self Conference
American Political Science Association Annual Conference
Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children
Colloquy Simone Weil
National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists
49th American Dance Therapy Association Conference
Expressive Therapies Summit
International Studies Association Northeastern Annual Conference
The Legacy of World War I
Amsterdam
Washington, DC
Burlington, VT
Paris, France
New York, NY
Chicago, IL
New York, NY
Baltimore, MD
Philadelphia, PA
Janet Sauer
Leela Tanikella
Mary Dockray-Miller
Anne Pluto
Bryan Brophy-Baermann
Kazuyo Kubo
Roser Gine
Brian Becker
Steve Benson
Kimberly Lowe
The Association for the Severely Handicapped (TASH) 2014 Conference Presentation
American Anthropological Association
Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies Easter Term Conference
Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference
International Studies Association New Orleans
Eastern Sociological Society
Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators
International Neuropsychological Society Conference
2015 Joint Mathematics Meeting
American Historical Annual Meeting
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Manchester, UK
Minneapolis, MN
New Orleans, LA
New York, NY
Orlando, FL
Denver, CO
San Antonio, TX
New York, NY
February 2015
Page 5
Faculty Scholars
In Professor Mary Dockray-Miller’s book, The Books and the Life of
Judith Flanders, she provides a narrative of Judith of Flanders’s life
through analysis of the books and art objects she commissioned and
collected. Organizing her book chronologically by Judith’s marriages
and commissions, Dockray-Miller argues that Judith consciously and
successfully deployed patronage to support her political and marital
maneuverings in the eleventh-century European political theater. During her marriage to Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria, she commissioned at least four Gospel books for herself in addition to the numerous art objects that she gave to English churches as part of her
devotional practices. The multiple treasures Judith donated to
Weingarten Abbey while she was married to Welf of Bavaria culminated in the posthumous gift of the relic of the Holy Blood, still celebrated as the Abbey’s most important holding. Lavishly illustrated with
Dr. Mary Dockray-Miller
never-before published full color reproductions from Monte Cassino
Professor of English and Literature
MS 437 and Fulda Landesbibliothek MS Aa 2I, The Books and the Life
of Judith of Flanders features English translations of relevant excerpts
from the Vita Oswinii and De Translatione Sanguinis Christi. Dockray-Miller’s book is a fascinating account of this intriguing woman who successfully negotiated the pitfalls of being on the losing side of
both the Norman Conquest and the Investiture Controversy.
Professor Dockray–Miller is also an editor of The Wilton Chronicle and is the author of Motherhood and
Mothering in Anglo-Saxon England.
Color Plates (from the Books of the Life of Judith of Flanders ) pictured on the right
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News From 29 Mellen
Faculty Scholars
Political scientist Dr. Michael Illuzzi’s article “Lincoln’s ‘Race of Life’ Is
Not the American Dream of Equal Opportunity,” appeared in the fall
issue of American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions,
and Culture.
The scholarship on the American Dream identifies Lincoln and his Whig
forebears as the first ones to popularize the concept of equality of opportunity, but a phrase central to this interpretation—“race of life”—is
at odds with this narrative. Tracing the relations among Lincoln’s uses
of “race of life” in his collected works and comparing them with the
uses in historical newspapers, Dr. Illuzzi argues Lincoln coopted the
term “race of life,” a nonpartisan term, and rejected the idea of competitive equality of opportunity as insufficient. Conflating Lincoln’s
“race of life” with the competitive equality of opportunity central to
contemporary conceptions of the American Dream not only obscures
Dr. Michael Illuzzi
Assistant Professor of Political Science Lincoln’s novel fusion of republican and liberal elements but also ends
up using the authority of Lincoln to bolster a conception of equality
fundamentally at odds with Lincoln’s own political career and thought.
Dr. Illuzzi’s “Equality” was also published last fall in the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought. He
also presented a paper entitled “Theorizing the Social Gospel as Stories of Peoplehood: A Case Study of
Mayor Samuel ‘Golden Rule’ Jones (1894-1904)” at the Northeastern Political Science Association conference on November 15 in Boston. Dr. Illuzzi served as a discussant on a panel entitled “Historical Encounters with the Digital Present” at the American Political Science Association Conference in Washington,
DC, August 28-31, 2014.
February 2015
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Faculty Scholars
Sonia Perez-Villanueva
Assistant Professor of
Foreign Languages
In Professor Sonia Perez-Villanueva’s book, The Life of Catalina de Erauso, the Lieutenant Nun: An Early Modern Autobiography, she argues that
Vida y sucesos should be considered as a form of autobiography, with the
understanding that the autobiography is an intersubjective and hybrid
form or a forma fronteriza. Professor Perez-Villanueva examines Vida y
sucesos de la Monja Alférez as a form of autobiography through a comparative study with early modern secular life narratives: the picaresque
novels La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes, y de sus fortunas y adversidades
(anonymous) and La picara Justina by Francisco López de Úbeda, the
chronicle Relación que dio Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca de lo Acaescido
en las Indias en la armada donde y va por governador Pánfilo de Narváez
desde el ano de veynte y siete hasta el ano de treinta y seis que bolvio a
Sevilla con tres de su compania by Cabeza de Vaca and the soldier narrative Vida, nacimiento, padres, y crianza del Capitan Alonso de Contreas
natural de Madrid Cavallero del ordern San Juan Comendador de unas de
sus encomiendas en Castilla, escrita por el mismo by Alonso de Contreas.
Two questions are addressed. How is Vida y sucesos similar to or different
from picaresque novels, chronicles of the New World and soldier narratives? How are the similarities and
differences between Vida y sucesos and these forms of writing related to theoretical parameters for an
autobiography? In order to conduct this comparative analysis, four theoretical parameters are established for assessing autobiographical texts. These parameters (coincidence of narrator and protagonist,
historical referentiality, whether the subjective narration has a plausible basis in the experience and belief structure of the narrator, and the intention of the narrator to tell an autobiographical truth) are
based upon the critical approach of hybridity and intersubjectivity but also draw upon related theoretical
works.
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News From 29 Mellen
Renewing the Faculty Scholar: The Sabbatical Experience
In the spring preceding my first, highly-anticipated sabbatical, we sold our house to find
another one more suitable for raising young children, one with better public schools,
community activities, and the like. Before long, we found ourselves looking at an idyllic
Cape Cod style home replete with dormers, shrubbery and a capacious yard worthy of a
couple of kids and a spunky dog. The house was on Main Street.
Thus, my sabbatical began on Main Street. But, I must say, I have been unable to shift
my frame away from the classic Rolling Stones album from 1972 entitled Exile on Main
Street. To the point, I report to you now not of a vaunted academic journey, but an exile, or as it were, a Sabbatical on Main Street. And while Jagger, Richards, and the rest of
the Rolling Stones were on the French Riviera to escape the British tax collectors, I was
off into the unknown.
We know that our beloved sabbaticals are releases from the rigors of what we do:
teaching, advising, and service. These rigors pull from us much of our energy - psychological and physical, even spiritual -- and ask that in our “spare” time we engage in the
“S” word, i.e., scholarship, where we undertake to unravel our disciplines’ mysteries and
fill some of their gaps.
Thereupon, after seven daunting years of these joys and despairs, I was released, upon
presenting a sufficiently compelling case, for a semester of Sabbatical. It is worthy of
note that “sabbatical” is a concept derived from ancient and Biblical roots including the
Shabbat, or the Sabbath, literally a “ceasing,” for example, as in God’s rest after creating
the universe. So, sabbatical is just that, a period of rest, rejuvenation, regeneration, and
disengagement from protracted preceding effort. Freedom from these strains and freedom to breathe fresh air, to generate, not
stagnate.
Professor Robert McGrath
Assistant Professor of
Business Management
We should not overlook the crucial inherent paradox. The sabbatical sets up a classic Catch-22. This frustrating, contradictory arrangement goes something like this: Here is your deserved break to rest and relax; simultaneously, during this period, produce demonstrable, substantial scholarly output.
I was lost. The unique and reliable academic rhythm on which I had grown so reliant, and the benefits, yes, benefits---an external
locus of control--- were gone. No handles to be grasped. Few thoughts to hold me steady – nothing to provide the cognitive and
affective infrastructure of my life. I did nothing, nothing that is, except walk the dog and spend some time understanding my anxiety and depression.
Robert Frost said it with a “sigh,” but I say it with both a sigh and a growl, that the path of my sabbatical is much more of an Exile on
Main Street. By the end of six years, I was so spent that the only thing left was nothing. My exile was week upon week of depression, isolating myself from all of the people and things I had wanted to see and do during my time “off.” And that is not a lot of fun.
One reason I offer these reflections on my exile is that I hope we become far more serious as a society about mental health. I do
think Lesley does a sensitive job on this, but there is always room for improvement. First, we need to be aware of the struggles of
our students and colleagues. Then, we have to give them permission to be who they are, and accept them. The statistics on the
ubiquity of depression, anxiety, bipolar, and the like are stunning. How candid are we with ourselves about our own health and the
health of our community? Would we be willing to model candor to our students and colleagues? Would we have the courage to
name whatever it is? And I am much more, too. Then we embrace, support and help.
If we had that courage to take risks, to put ourselves on the line, would we become better educators? Might we become better
educators on life, in addition to our disciplines? I am certain the answer is yes. I am certain that the time is now. In fact, we are
overdue. Are we prepared to make these commitments of ourselves, and is the university prepared to make mental health awareness and action an enduring primary priority? And would we dedicate the requisite resources - people, time, money - to have a real,
sustained impact, not just a short-term initiative? Could it just be that these ideals could become who we are and continue to be
and that they continue to be embedded in our organization’s culture? I don’t know. But, I do know these are worthy causes and
questions.
Thus, if some of this is what I got, where I ended, and where I begin anew, then maybe the sabbatical was not only an Exile on Main
Street.
February 2015
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The Senior Honors Thesis
Catey Bayse and Lauren Carey both completed Honors Theses in English at the end of the Fall semester. Catey's advisor on the project was
Dr. Dockray-Miller, Lauren's Professor Liv Cummins. These represent the Major's first, inaugural theses. Catey and Lauren presented their
research to an audience of students and faculty on Dec. 9th at Sherrill Library. The following are descriptions of their projects.
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work on my senior thesis project this semester alongside
Professor Liv Cummins. My topic is a combination of my academic interests and skills in literature here
at Lesley and my personal interest in film outside of school: I look at three films by the Coen brothers, O
English Literature
Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit, each of which is an adaptation of a
work of literature. Having noticed the Coen brothers’ preoccupation with American settings, characters, and themes in the films, my paper
begins with an analysis of the ways in which each film explores American cultural myths and their influence on American identity creation. I
conclude this analysis with a discussion about the Coen brothers’ commentary on the nature of identity in general throughout their work.
This process has been an incredibly rewarding one as it has allowed me to engage my own interests and work alongside faculty in a new and
exciting ways. As a nine-month long process, the senior thesis project afforded me the opportunity to delve more deeply into my material, to
draft and redraft my ideas, and to consult more closely with my advisor than I ever have before, and this all culminated in a paper that, in its
focus and depth, went beyond even my own expectations. Through all of this, I have learned about a topic that I may not have been able to
explore in another course, but I have also learned important lessons about my own skills and interests, lessons that I plan to take with me
outside of this university setting. I could not have asked for a more rewarding experience for my final semester here at Lesley, and I encourage anyone who is considering writing a thesis of his or her own to embrace this important and exciting opportunity.
Lauren Carey ‘15
I began the preliminary work on my senior thesis in literary criticism in the fall of 2013. Through conversations with Professor Dockray-Miller, I discovered how my critical interests align with her areas of scholEnglish and Creative Writing arship. From there, my project began to take shape. I decided to investigate epic heroic construction in
three distinct historical and literary time periods. My primary texts included Homer’s Iliad, the seminal
poem about the Trojan War that is critically considered the first major work of Western literature; John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the midseventeenth century poem that tells the Christian story of the fall of Mankind; and James Joyce’s Ulysses, a Modern revision of Homer’s Odyssey set and published in early 20th century Dublin.
Catey Bayse ‘15
My thesis takes a postmodern approach to reading the hero of Paradise Lost and the Iliad by rereading those texts through Ulysses. The argument I set forth in my paper centers on a new definition of heroism that emerges from this retrospective reading; heroic construction
comes to mean something different to postmodern readers than it does to classicists and Romanticists. In his construction of Leopold Bloom
as the everyman, modern hero, Joyce is unconcerned with physical strength, youth, honor, virtue, lineage, or glory. Rather, Joyce constructs
Bloom as a hero with psychological and emotional depth, intellectual strength, and an identity in the domestic sphere; Bloom is constructed
as Other from dominant culture and as a self-defined individual. The critical consensus on Bloom as hero, in addition to the new heroic criteria his construction proposes, provided me with a solid foundation on which to argue for Satan as hero of Paradise Lost and Hector as hero of
the Iliad.
The process of writing this thesis proved the most difficult and most rewarding academic
experience I have had in my four years at Lesley. It has been a formative process to spend
months absorbed in my primary texts and buried under mountains of research, and then
emerge on the other side with a finished product that, perhaps, says something about
these canonical texts that has not exactly been said before. The rigorous, exciting, fun,
even entertaining process of discovery, of extended study, and of finding and developing a
critical voice has persuaded me to consider continuing this kind of work at the graduate
level. My previous literature courses prepared me well for this challenge, insisting that I
develop and hone the critical, research, and writing skills necessary for a project of this
scope. I am grateful for all of the literature and creative writing professors who took an
interest in my work, challenged me, and encouraged me throughout my course of study. I
am especially grateful to Professor Dockray-Miller for directing this project and to Professor
Evans for acting as my second reader. Both set high expectations for me and supported me
as I attempted to meet them. To any student considering this kind of project: pursue it – it
is a great opportunity to study a specific interest and work closely with dedicated faculty.
Page 10
Lauren Carey and Catey Bayse (pictured
above) with CLAS Faculty Liv Cummins and
Mary Dockray-Miller
News From 29 Mellen
Undergraduate Student Entrepreneurship
The process it took to
bring ArtLynx from an
Business Management and Art idea to reality had many
and Design
steps. Gaining the support of our fellow students was step one; having a USG proposal that was
passed was the first step towards our project becoming
a reality. After that our members met with University
officials. We met some of the University’s Deans and
Professor Robert McGrath to come-up with our business plan. After our preliminary steps we moved on to
other offices. There were meetings with the Alumni
Office, the Marketing Department and the Lesley Uni(Pictured from left to right) Catharine Garborcauskas, Naomi Torres- versity Legal Counsel on the process of getting a webOrtiz, Alexis Moisand, Ryann Stockman, Meredith Patterson, Jeremy site approved and up and running. One big aspect that
Colon, Emily Groth, and Nick Tuccinardi take a group photo at the every entrepreneur has to face is finding funding. The
December 2014 ArtLynx Launch.
Management Student Association and ArtLynx are very
proud and thankful for the continuous support of the
Alumni Council at Lesley University who has helped us.
Ryann Stockman ‘15
Now that the website has launched, the fun really begins. This is where the opportunity for students to run and operate a real
business happens. We will be operating and changing our artwork about every four months. This means that every period we
have to conduct a new submission process, hold a panel review, cycle in the new chosen artwork while managing the website,
finances, and the large amount of paperwork that comes with running a business. Students will be able to have a hands-on
experience of running a business day to day. This is also a chance for students to learn and experiment with how to market and
promote the website; this includes going out and doing promotional events, getting our names out there and published, and
expanding our consumer base. Every single member in the Management Student Association will play a role in this, which is
very exciting.
I think this is a great opportunity for art students to learn how to advocate for themselves and their artwork. When you are an
artist trying to sell your work, you are approached with the question of how to price your artwork, and how to read and agree
to a contract. Is your copyright being protected? What are the terms of the contract? How does one negotiate a contract?
These are all very real circumstances that art students will be faced with, and we are giving them an opportunity to start having
those conversations now with expert guidance from those in the field.
There is no other opportunity at Lesley University where the faculty, the students, and the
alumni from all four schools are united like this. They all have their own exhibits or openings,
Business Management
but their work is never displayed side by side, or in such conjunction. This is a great opportunity
for the four schools to see what the others are producing. This is a way for communication
across the schools, broadening the students’ networks, and will hopefully open up opportunities for partnerships in the future.
Jeremy Colon ‘15
ArtLynx has shaped me to become more team orientated and take my business studies more seriously. The ArtLynx process has
showed me that anything is possible once you put your complete time and focus into it. With great classmates who pushed one
another to the uttermost limit, I am proud to have built this over the four years so students can live their dreams and have the
opportunity to showcase their artwork not only locally but even internationally.
February 2015
Page 11
Sisterhood in Action
Kate Elmes (’13) shares her experience and what it means to be a
part of the Girlhood Project.
This past November, Professor Amy Rutstein-Riley, my classmate
Jackie Geifuss (LCAL ’14) and I flew into beautiful San Juan, Puerto
Rico to present at the National Women’s Studies Association. Our
presentation focused on the work of The Girlhood Project, a multidimensional exploration of how girls, ranging from middle school to
college, negotiate their emerging and evolving identities in a culture
where numerous social institutions bombard them with narrative
about how they should be, act, look and feel about themselves.
I first took Dr. Amy Rutstein-Riley’s course, Girlhood, Identity
and Girl Culture, as a sophomore education major at Lesley. The
course’s work is embedded in the developing field of girl’s studies,
but has developed national recognition because of the servicelearning component that serves middle school girls from Cambridge’s
racially and economically diverse Area IV. Over the last nine years,
Lesley students have used their lived experiences and girls’ studies
coursework to develop and implement a 7-week girls’ group for local
Kate Elmes , Social Sciences Associate Profes- girls where conversation and activities address forming identity, mesor Amy-Rutstein-Riley and Jackie Geilfuss dia, body image and relationships. Both Dr. Rutstein-Riley’s teaching
(pictured above from left to right) at the Na- and the program itself are framed through the use of feminist pedagogy and feminist group process. College students are tasked with
tional Women’s Studies Association in San
building authentic and equitable safe spaces where the local girls,
Juan, Puerto Rico
college students, teaching assistants and research assistants are engaged and working together to create justice by challenging dominant narratives about girls and girlhood, examining
their own intersectional identity and co-constructing counter-narratives that better represent their lived experiences.
By my junior year at Lesley, I no longer dreamed of having my own classroom, but I instead wanted to focus on
social policy in the United States. My decision to design my own major that focused on the intersections of political science and women’s studies stemmed from seeing first hand the injustice and hardships that black, low income girls face
in the United States. Hearing the girls discuss their views and interactions with their schools, neighborhoods, and their
families and friends, I was astonished at how different their girlhood experiences were from my own as an upper-middle
class girl. These concepts of privilege and oppression and also the resiliency of the human spirit were the hardest but
most rewarding learning I did at Lesley.
My senior year, I worked closely with Dr. Rutstein-Riley as project manager, taking on yet another perspective of
the profound learning and relationship-building that takes place during the semester. As most of my classmates were
dreaming of their lives outside of Lesley, I was engaged and challenged by my work in girlhood class.
Since graduation, I use the skills and perspective from the girlhood project daily as a program coordinator at a
youth-oriented nonprofit. Attending the conference to highlight the 3 years of work from my time at Lesley allowed me
not only the opportunity to review all of the research I had done but also to celebrate my own personal growth as a
woman and scholar. Hearing bell hooks speak about the intergenerational and intersectional work of the present day
feminist movement spoke to my heart as I reflect on all of the meaningful relationships I built at Lesley with my friends,
classmates, local girls and with my professors, such as Amy, who pushed me, inspired me and believed in me.
Page 12
News From 29 Mellen
Graduate Student Activists Make an Appeal for Action
My first full weekend in Massachusetts, I learned of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African American man in Ferguson, Missouri at the hands of a police officer. As a Black woman, one who has been made
aware of her blackness and the disadvantages of having been born with brown skin, I have been conditioned
to react a certain way when events such as these take place. Because I have learned to expect to be treated
unequally, I automatically shut out news reports or social media posts that speak of heinous acts of violence
and injustice committed on black people and people of color because I know that nothing will be done; once
again justice did not favor a person of color. But in my heart I was screaming. The kind of helpless, hopeless
screaming that one expresses internally when there is a universally-accepted injustice perpetuated by a system and a society that has learned not to care.
As the weeks passed, I attended several events offered nearby at Tufts University. They were taking a direct
approach to addressing the events unfolding in Ferguson and in the nation. Tufts was highlighting race by
creating dialogues addressing topics that often make Americans uncomfortable, especially when those
Americans stand on opposite sides of the color line. Tufts set an example for me of a university that was
boldly confronting issues that affected their student population and the nation as a whole. I watched and
waited for Lesley to strike up a conversation, send an email, orchestrate an event—something, anything that
Hythia Phifer
acknowledged that Lesley was interested in even focusing the smallest portion of their attention and resources on the blatant perpetuation of violence by our criminal justice system on black lives. I watched and
waited. Nothing. Surely, we would discuss Michael Brown in my Power, Privilege and Oppression class, especially since it is directly
related to course content. Nothing. Surely, once other schools got involved, Lesley would at least issue a simple statement.
The undergraduate student organization, Students for Social Justice, organized a rally and later staged a die-in. Both were
poorly received and even more poorly attended. I watched a classmate experience the effects of systematic racism within the police
force and still no support, no acknowledgement, no movement from the school I believed in, I hoped for, I bet on with my whole life’s
savings. I read and re-read Lesley’s mission statement, giving particular attention to the specific description of the values, “diversity”
and “social justice.” I weighed these values against the inactivity I witnessed on a daily basis in Lesley’s classrooms, in the administration and in the student body.
As I watched other schools from around the nation rally together to protest the murders of black men and women, I felt more
angry, hurt and alone. I wondered how it was that Lesley had yet to submit anything that even acknowledged the events in Ferguson
and NYC. I recognized that the faculty was unsure and perhaps even intimidated about bringing these events into the classroom.
I believe that Lesley should have been interested and involved in this fight long before other institutions decided to protest. I
believe that Lesley should be at the forefront of any and all protests against the violation of human rights, which of course includes civil
rights and racial equality. I believe that when Lesley saw an inactive, apathetic response from their students, at the very least a copy
of the mission statement, reiterating the institution’s core values and reminding students that it is our duty to care about issues that
the rest of the world avoids.
Whenever I even try to discuss the events in Ferguson, NYC, Oakland, Florida and throughout the country, I am met with
hostile resistance from peers and even some faculty. When I stood with some of my peers and faculty to bring these events and Lesley’s silence to the attention of the Board of Trustees, I feel that we were met with the avoidance and even hostility that I had experienced in my conversations with my peers.
This has made me feel alone, angry and afraid. If national issues that directly affect my
safety and directly affect my white peers, by perpetuating their privilege—that is, the privilege of
not having to be concerned with being undervalued and murdered by the police and the subliminal collective depreciation of black bodies—are not addressed or even acknowledged by the
school where I am receiving my graduate education, then what am I doing here? If the very school
I attend, which historically educates artists, educators and psychologists, ignores issues that overtly and covertly harm the people we will eventually serve, then what am I doing here? If Lesley
University, its students, staff and faculty, do not care about the pervasive murdering, imprisoning
and oppressing of black and brown lives, then what am I doing here? Everything about the way
that Lesley has handled these events and its students in the wake of these events has informed
me is truly valued at this Institution -- not diversity, not social justice, not black lives, not bold conversation.
February 2015
Page 13
Student Activists Make an Appeal
Benjamin Blair
As an institution committed to diversity and social justice, Lesley should model an educational
environment in which administrators, faculty, and staff across all disciplines are equipped to identify and address individual and institutionalized racism. Faculty and students should feel free to
speak openly and knowledgeably about privilege, power, and oppression. More rigorous cultural
sensitivity training is a good starting point and should be mandatory for all university employees.
Undergraduate and graduate course requirements, electives, and existing curricula should also
reflect this commitment to multiculturalism and expose students to the prejudices they have inherited through socialization in a racist society. Deconstructing racism at the individual level is a
vital precursor to mobilizing a greater movement and implementing lasting institutional changes
that our nation so desperately needs.
As unarmed black men continue to die, and as judges continue to refrain from prosecuting
their murderers, we witness the most glaring symptoms of the racist systems that thrive in this
country. By our silence, we perpetuate these systems. Let us instead raise our voices and stand in
solidarity with the communities of Ferguson, New York City, and black and brown communities
throughout the country. Solidarity should begin on Lesley’s campus!
As a member of the Lesley community, I devote myself to upholding the school’s vision of social justice on our campus and beyond. I chose to attend Lesley University because of its declaration of dedication towards social justice, diversity, and service. When Michael Brown and Eric Garner’s murderers received no indictments, I expected Lesley to make a university-wide statement speaking out
against anti-black police brutality. In the wake of the repeated tragic miscarriages of justice, my university fell silent. A great heaviness settled down on me and a familiar grief penetrated me. I thought
of all the brilliant Black children I grew up with in Atlanta and my Black classmates at Lesley. In search
for community I attended protests against anti-black police brutality. During a moment of silence
sitting with my hands up, I cried on the street near I-93 while the incarcerated men flickered their
lights and wrote Michael Brown’s name on the window. When I returned to school a part of me was
still searching someplace else. I sat quietly during lectures with my throat clenched and burning.
In the city I saw the surrounding colleges holding largely-attended protests in Michael’s and Eric’s
honor. More than ever I continued to push myself to speak out in classes and share my personal experience of race. I laid bare all I could and I tried to embrace vulnerability, as I never have before. I
Tracy Huerta
peeled back the bandages covering the wound of my color and revealed my wounded spirit, my invisibility, my rage, my abysmal loneliness, and my wild hope. I repeated myself when necessary and held my composure against pushback. I
tried to comfort or listen to those who needed to speak and be witnessed in their truth. When the time came I stood in peaceful protest
against my university’s lack of bold action in the face of the annihilation of Black people.
In the future I hope to see Lesley embrace the topic of race and continue the dialogue at a university and classroom level. The Eric Garner dialogue was a great step towards this goal and it would serve Lesley well to invite people of color—artists, writers, and speakers—
to enrich the campus. There is also great potential for the students to become involved by expressing themselves during discussions at
campus-sanctioned open mics, film screenings, and art shows.
Others within the Lesley community and myself have expressed a great need for coming together to address experiences of race and
racism. I plan to build community among the students of color and those allied with justice by joining and revitalizing the Allied against
Oppression graduate student group. Through this work I hope to provide a space where students can organize around social activism
that aims to restore the rights of Black people and people of color. Action begins with community.
Page 14
News From 29 Mellen
Real-World Learning in CLAS: The Internship Experience
Rebecca Meyers ‘16
Art Therapy
A year ago, if asked to picture what my perfect internship experience would be, I don’t think I would have been able to
accurately describe the best scenario. I was still pretty fresh in the field of art therapy, without many experiences to
draw from. Now, in the last semester of my year-long internship at The Children’s Room, I have so much more insight
into what an ideal internship and professional environment looks like for me. The Children’s Room is an organization
and internship site that completely embodies what I’ve been hoping to learn and experience.
One emphasis that is put into practice regularly at this site is externalizing our thoughts and feelings. We do this verbally, creatively, silently… in a variety of ways that challenge us and allow us to look within and strengthen our relationship
with ourselves so that we can also better support, and simply be with, others. I’ve seen in myself the growth in my
ability to be present and mindful, which makes a significant impact on the experience I have with my groups of kids in
the program. With the personal growth I’ve experienced through this internship, I’ve become more confident about
the possibilities ahead of me in the field of art therapy. Being able to help provide a safe space for kids in vulnerable
and difficult situations, and witnessing really touching moments of expression, has been hands-down the best experience I could ask for from an internship.
Being able to intern in two very different environments was a curious but incredible experience for me. In
my time spent with Samaritans, I found out the true effectiveness of active listening and the importance of
self-care. Providing comfort and assistance to others who were in deep pain or crisis was incredibly rewarding for me and has also shaped my way of interacting with those around me on a daily basis. Everyone deserves to be heard and to have their feelings validated. Of course, taking on emotionally-charged conversations for extended periods of time can really take a toll on you, and learning how to allow yourself the time
you need to breathe and recollect yourself before continuing with your work is absolutely crucial. Samaritans provided me with a safe supportive space to practice self-care.
Elizabeth Altherr ‘15
Transitioning from Samaritans to the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House was difficult at first, but I honestHolistic Psychology
ly don’t think I would have wanted it any other way. It was a chance for me to really push myself out of my
comfort zone, into a fast-paced environment with an age group I had no experience working with: children.
Needless to say, I took a lot away from my time spent at MFNH; being in this space allowed me to strengthen my sense of responsibility, and improve upon my problem-solving skills. The environment is unpredictable when you’re working with children, so being able to think on your feet is
important! Being that I am quite an introverted type, I found that this active and energized space was a great place for me to practice coming out
of my shell and advocating for myself. I was also given the opportunity to tackle some administrative work, which I had never done before! Working on multiple levels of the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House (both figuratively and literally) was very rewarding for me; I look back now at all
the opportunities I was given to try new things, and I feel very accomplished and proud of myself.
I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with such incredibly supportive and caring staff at both Samaritans and the Margaret Fuller
Neighborhood House. The things that I have learned from each of these sites will stay with me for years to come.
I recently completed my second internship placement at the Home For Little Wanderer’s: Waltham House. Waltham
House is an adolescent, residential milieu where the clients are referred through the Department of Children and Families, or occasionally, through insurance. The clients are placed at Waltham House because of behavioral issues coexisting
with mental illness and LGBTQ+ identification. The purpose of Waltham House is to provide the adolescents with a safe
and nurturing environment that can eventually assist in the reintegration of the individual back into the family or community environment.
At Waltham House I was working as a direct-care counselor where I interacted with residents in a one-on-one capacity,
as well as sitting in on groups, reviewing case files, and presenting during staff meetings. Interning at Waltham House
provided a unique opportunity to have a first-time experience working within the milieu setting with an exceptionally
helpful staff and bright, emotive adolescents who were both challenging and enjoyable. Many of the residents participated in Boston’s drag culture and saw drag as a means of both creative and gender expression. Drag not only created an
Micaela O’Connor ‘16 opportunity for the clients to become connected with their greater community, it also allowed them to connect with
each other. Much of the residents’ free time was taken up by teaching each other make-up skills, dancing together, or
Counseling
talking about future drag routines. Beyond this, Waltham House created an atmosphere where residents were willing to
share their feelings and struggles both with staff as well as with each other. I deeply enjoyed the opportunity Waltham
House provided me in working with adolescents and the complexity of their lives as both children in the foster care system as well as LGBTQ+
individuals.
February 2015
Page 15
CLAS Congratulates Dean’s List Scholars
Abagail Roy
Abigail Collins
Adaire Bane
Adam Mooney
Adrienne LaFarge
Adrienne Mill
Alesandra Tenore
Alessandra Russo
Alessandra Tovo
Alexa Rizzuto
Alexandra Rowell
Alexandra Wheeler
Alexandria Cruz
Alice Clegg
Alina Budrys
Aliya Jasensky
Allison Prata
Allison Reese
Allison Richardson
Allison Sasner
Alycia McDonough
Alyson Finbow
Amanda Breckner
Amanda Cowgill
Amanda Curran
Amanda Fata
Amanda White
Amber Farrell-Gulias
Andrea Nunes
Andrew Perry
Angela Lozada
Angela Talkowski
Anna Luti
Anna Rosado
Annarose Squillante
Arthur Guerra
Ashley Backunas
Ashley Grimes
Ashley Sheedy
Ashlye Borden
Audrey Jerome
Aynsley Wedge
Page 16
Belle Johnson
Benjamin Carton
Benjamin Percival
Beth Brooks
Bonnie Wong
Brendan Aylward
Brendan Creane
Brendan Flaherty
Briana Karman
Brianna Barrows
Brianna Butlin
Bridget Dunbar
Brielle Weinstein
Brittany DiSorbo
Brittany Murtaugh
Brittany Spillane
Brittney Gardner
Bryanna Laughlin
Bryce Henderson
Caitlin Bonenfant
Caitlin Foley
Caitlin Greene
Caitlyn Van Deusen
Cameron Brown
Cameron Burke
Carly Eaton
Caroline Sullivan
Carolyn Fieger
Casey Terzian
Cassandra Cardenas
Cassandra Clemens
Cassandra Neary-Orne
Cassidy Hopkins
Catherine Bayse
Catherine Bond
Catherine Childress
Catherine Vaitses
Charlene Flynn
Chelsea Brown
Chelsea Reuther
Cheyenne MacDonald
Chloe Adler
Christian Lorenzen
Christina Ogunti
Christine Kaveski
Christopher Watson
Clara Palmer
Claudia Smith
Colleen Sullivan
Courtney Mitterling
Crystal Alaria
Crystal Tarrago
Dakota Powell
Dana Prandato
Daniel Geisz
Daniela Sierra
Danielle Boudreau
Danielle Budreau
Deirdre Smith
Destini Kohnen
Donna Niosi
Elena Eames
Elena Rivera
Elise Grenier
Elizabeth Altherr
Elizabeth Brown
Ellen Breslin
Ellen Costa
Emily Ellis
Emily Fishman
Emily Hight
Emily Johnston
Emily Noel
Emily Paton
Emily Pysczynski
Emily Reid
Emma Benard
Emma Luster
Emma True
Emma Wolper
Erica Redfern
Erika Cain
Erin Morse
Eryn Dioli
News From 29 Mellen
Dean’s List
Gabriella Lee
Gabrielle Uitti
Hallie Guare
Hanna Henshaw
Hannah Brosnan
Hannah Brunelle
Hannah Carlon
Hannah Dillis
Hannah Landerholm
Hannah Whitaker
Hannah Willis
Hayley Wirth
Heather Stevens
Ian Adler
Ian Ljutich
Ilana Chason-Sokol
Isabelle Lawrence
Jacob Martin
Jacqueline Hendrickson
Jacqueline Homsi
Jamie Magid
Janice Hind
Jaquelina Dabo
Jasmine Sanchez
Jenna Venuto
Jennifer Cimmaruta
Jennifer Collins
Jennifer Cubides
Jennifer Levine
Jennifer Merritt
Jeremy Orenstein
Jessica Pires
Jessica Reynolds
Jillian Tolan
Jiwon Kim
John Karon
John-Koby Mitchell
Jonathan Mancini
Julia Bosco
Julia McGlew
Julia Pike
Julie Essick
February 2015
Julie Krzanowski
Julie O'Neill
Kaitlyn Feeney
Kaitlyn Side
Kaitlyn Theos
Karlee Vogel
Katey Carew
Katherine Perreault
Katheryn Russo
Kathleen Bernier
Kathleen Havican
Kathryn Fackina
Kathryn Vallis
Katiana Selens
Kayla Coleman
Kayla Daley
Kayla Teves
Kayla Turcotte
Kelly Correia
Kelly Reitz
Kelly Watt
Kelsey Hammond
Kelsey Little
Kelsey Lydon
Kelsey O'Mara
Kelsey Tucker
Kendall Butler
Kenzie Moniz
Kerry Norton
Kimberly Dulong
Kimberly Stanizzi
Kimberly Topping
Kristen Buccelli
Kristian Coderre
Kristin Wissler
Kristina Aiello
Kristina Arruda
Kristina McCue
Kristina Pombrio
Kyle Cohan
Kyra Pesso
Lana Sommers
Lane Russell
Laura Slor
Lauren Bachand
Lauren Carey
Leah Gray
Leanna Silvestrone
Lesley Herold
Lia Giber
Liel Zahavi-Asa
Ligia Alfonzo
Lindsay Ladue
MacKenzie Roderick
Madeleine Linschoten
Madeleine White
Madison McKeever
Maggie Hahn
Manli Nouri
Margaret Jenkins
Maria Ines Costa
Marisa Glynn
Marissa Murphy
Marissa O'Brien
Mark DiFilippo
Mary DiBenedetto
Matthew Hamilton
Matthias Griecci
Megan Kenyon
Meghan Keetley
Meghan McDonnell
Melanie Nelson
Melinda Robinson
Melinda Tetreault
Melissa Thomas
Meredith Bempkins
Meredith Patterson
Merina Zeller
Mia Broughton
Micaela O'Connor
Michael Slaby
Michaela Swift
Michelle D'Ovidio
Michelle Goldberg
Page 17
Dean’s List
Mimosa Nguyen-Ha
Miranda Maguire
Morgan Loor
Morgan Mead
Mykayla Marcelino
Nana Wen
Natalia Rosa
Nicholas Adams
Nicholas Tuccinardi
Nicole LeBlanc
Nicole Leonard
Nicole Mello
Nina Goodman
Nishat Khan
Olivia Borge
Olivia Cohen Milligan
Olivia Keighley
Page McManus
Paige Chaplin
Palace Shaw
Perrin DuMar
Phung Nguyen
Precilla Tuy
Rachel Burkholz
Rachel DiGangi
Rachel Grenier
Rachel Patchett
Rachel Smith
Ray Cohen
Rebecca Meyers
Rebecca Shea
Renee Conlin
Riley Curda
Riley Gately
Robert Mitropoulos
Rosemary Catlin
Ryan Garcia
Sairanny Rodriguez
Samantha Arnold
Samantha Blindt
Samantha Carpinella
Samantha Delosh
Page 18
Samantha Millette
Samantha Sheppard
Samantha Turnbull
Sara Blouin
Sara Carabbio
Sara Giordano
Sara Sussman
Sarah Hollis
Sarah Kinkade
Sarah Robinson
Sarah Situ
Sarah Widberg
Sasha Van Baars
Sean Smith
Shane Hibbert
Shanece Edwards
Shannon May
Shari Atamian
Shrija Sriram
Sondra Christenson
Sonya Root
Stacia Brezinski
Stefanie Lakin
Stephanie Reynolds
Sydni Camillo
Sylvie Flanagan
Tara Slysz
Taylor Casey
Taylor Gray
Taylor Krumscheid
Taylor Liljegren
Tess Renfro
Tessa Stuart
Tiffany Cammuso
Tiffany Strollo
Tyler Derouin
Tyler Wright
Vera Bednar
Veronica Meade
Victoria Gordon
Victoria Siddall
Victoria Wong
William Kubik
Yana Vertkin
Yesenia Pineda
Yoo-Ra Herlihy
News From 29 Mellen