December 2011 - Dartmouth Class of 1983

class of 1983
DARTMOUTH
Class Officers
Co-Presidents
Mac Gardner
Andre Hunter
Class Head Agents
Beth Winnick Falcone
Kathy Bachelder Coster
Treasurer
Jim Gregg
Communications
Becky Wolcott Ankeny
Class Project Manager
Peter Kilmarx
DAM Secretary
Maren Christensen
Reunion Co-Chairs
Sarah Reynolds Walton
Bill Huber
Alumni Council
Maren Christensen
Webmaster
Mac Gardner
foreverGREEN
notes
december 2011
Greetings ’83s!
Holiday Greetings! We enter the final
stretch of our 50th birthday year with
much to celebrate. Lots of well attended
and really fun mini-reunions were capped
off in Hanover over Homecoming weekend.
Those who attended got a great boost
of Dartmouth Spirit, as the weather was
awesome, and the company even better.
As the executive committee closes out this
calendar year, our attention shifts to gearing
up everyone’s attention and energy to our 30th
reunion in the Summer of 2013. With the date
just over 18 months away, we are looking for
more reunion committee members and class
agents. Speaking from personal experience,
it is one of the best ways we can think of to
reconnect with Dartmouth, our class and old
friends. Please reach out to Sarah Reynolds
Walton, Bill Huber or Mac Gardner to find out
more. You can find us on the revamped class
website at http://dartmouth.org/classes/83.
On the new website you can pay your class dues
by using Paypal or credit card, and as we get
to the point where it’s time to register for the
reunion, we hope to make it easy to do online.
Suggestions for improvements to the website
are welcome and should be forwarded to the
webmaster at the bottom of the website pages.
While we look towards our 30th, we don’t
want to dissuade you from reaching out
to fellow classmates in the interim, and
hope that if any of you have the desire, or
interest to host a mini-reunion that you’ll
contact Sarah or Bill, or any other member
of the Executive Committee. They are easy
to arrange, and it’s safe to say, that those
who attended last year, all had a great time.
Also, for those of you who are active social
media users, please “like” our class page on
Facebook and join our class group on LinkedIn
as it is the easiest way to keep up with
classmates, as well as class wide activities.
We hope that this year was healthy and
successful for all of you and we look forward
to serving you and the rest of the class
through the next reunion. Happy holidays,
wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.
Best,
Andre and Mac
Featured Current International Students
Name: Nejc Zupan ’14
Home address: Kamnik, Slovenia
by Becky Wolcott Ankeny
Henry David Thoreau once said that it is “not until we
are lost, that we begin to understand ourselves,” and
it was not until I came to Dartmouth,
that I fully began to understand these
words. Coming to Dartmouth as a
freshman, I had no idea what I was
getting myself into. I had never visited
Dartmouth or any other American
university before, and I had been
actively learning English for less then
four years. My family and friends back
at home thought I was crazy for doing
it, but I knew I had to go through with
it. After all, time defines space, and
moving is an essential part of living.
When I first arrived on campus, I
was thoroughly shocked. Coming
from Slovenia, a small European
country with 2 million people and an
alarmingly homogenous society, I
received an unexpected cultural shock that shuddered
the foundations of what constituted my identity and my
beliefs. Prior to coming to Dartmouth I had never spoken
to an Asian, African-American, or a homosexual person
and I have never in my life felt like an outcast. Suddenly,
however, everything changed. A whole new world was
dropped on my shoulders and it was my job to hold it up.
Fortunately, people at Dartmouth were very open and
friendly and it did not take me long to find some friends
on campus. I joined the swim team and became very
good friends with my teammates, I integrated well with
the people living on my floor, and I developed some
friendships within the international community on
campus. Eventually, despite all the social, cultural, and
language difficulties that I was facing, I began to put the
shattered pieces of my identity back together. My family
went through a lot of difficulties,
getting me to Dartmouth, and they
had a lot of faith in my success. I
knew I could not let them down.
I was working really hard, inside
and outside of the classroom and
despite the rough beginning my
freshman fall, everything came
around in the winter. I have
managed to get the highest grades
in all of my classes and I even
received a citation in my writing
class, which meant a lot to me
and to my family. Outside of the
classroom, the hard work paid
off as well as I became a 2-time
Ivy League Champion in 1650
and 1000 freestyle and broke 4 Dartmouth Swimming
and Diving records. I was also elected Freshman
of the year and Athlete of the year by the students
and other followers of Dartmouth Sports Network.
Going into my sophomore year, I feel much more
confident and comfortable about my situation here,
at Dartmouth. I have made some good friends and
I know that for as long as I keep working hard and
follow my goals, good things will happen to me.
I am excited to further explore all that Dartmouth
has to offer and I cannot wait to encounter the new
challenges of a foreign student studying at Dartmouth.
Class Dues for 2011/2012
by Jim Gregg
On the heels of our enormously successful mini-reunion in Hanover over Homecoming Weekend, I want
to reach out and remind all of you who have not done so to send in your annual class dues. In addition to
funding your subscription to the Alumni Magazine, our class dues help subsidize events like mini-reunions.
Class dues are $45 with a recommended contribution of $15 to our Class Scholarship Fund, and an additional
$15 towards our Class Gift. Visit our Class Website at http://dartmouth.org/classes/83 to pay your dues online or send a check to: James C. Gregg, Treasurer, Class of 1983, 11 Belfry Terrace, Lexington, MA 02421.
Thanks in advance for your support!
Featured Current International Students
by Becky Wolcott Ankeny
Name: Nicholas Peisch ’14
Home addres: Frankfort, Germany
Nicholas Peisch grew up in a small town outside
Frankfurt, Germany. When he was 15, he went to a
boarding school in Scotland where he spent 3 years
and obtained the IB Diploma. Coming to Dartmouth
College for Nicholas was not a big adjustment. He
was used to living by himself and being independent.
Both his father, who graduated in ’75, and his sister
’11 had told him many stories about Dartmouth.
Nicholas says that both his father and his sister had
a great time at Dartmouth, and both of them were
varsity athletes. His freshman fall he walked on to
the Varsity Lightweight Crew team. Freshman year
was great and crew was a huge part of his daily life.
approach to writing
essays than Germans
or British people.
Clothing styles are
very different in the US
than in Europe. People
in the US are generally
friendlier and more
outgoing with strangers
than people in Europe.
But besides these minor
cultural
differences,
Nicholas felt he was
pretty well prepared
Although Nicholas had come to the US many times coming into Dartmouth,
before college and had met many American people in having had his sister on campus his freshman year and
summer camp in New Hampshire, there were some also having lived independently before. Nicholas is also
cultural differences and adaptations he had to make bilingual, so language was not a major issue for him either.
coming into the College. Americans have a different
Name: Mathieu Bertrand ’14
Home address: Canada
Being Canadian and living merely three hours away from
campus, Mathieu did not expect to experience much of
a culture shock when he
came to Dartmouth. He
anticipated recognizing
the staples of North
American culture and
seeing very little contrast
with his lifestyle back
home. However, despite
many
similarities
between American and
Canadian culture, there
is a huge difference that
Mathieu has noticed
since his arrival at Dartmouth: the immense sense of
pride that students have for their Alma Mater. Having
such strong feelings of pride and belonging is simply
not a common aspect of student life in the majority
of Canadian universities. It is far more common for
Canadian students to create a divide between their
social lives and their linkage to school. Dartmouth
students are much more invested here, academically and
socially. Whether it is their apparent enthusiasm to learn,
upholding age-old
traditions, wearing
a
variety
of
Dartmouth apparel
around campus, or
being tremendously
involved in campus
activities, there are
countless aspects
of this college that
create an impressive
sense of community
he never expected
to encounter here. Despite college not being what he
expected, he couldn’t have imagined anything better.
The sense of pride and community that is ubiquitous
here at Dartmouth is definitely one of the major
differences from Canadian schools that has made him
appreciate his experience here, thus far, that much more.
Class Notes
Maren Christensen and Becky Wolcott Ankeny
Susi Seidl-Fox took us up on our request for
international news and sent the following: “Greetings
from Salzburg,
Austria, dear
Classmates, where
I have been living
since 1995, when
I took on a job
at the Salzburg
Global Seminar,
a non-profit
institution that
brings future and
current leaders
from around the
world together to
discuss issues of
global concern (www.salzburgglobal.org). I still work
at the Seminar, as program director for culture and the
arts. We are fortunate to be based in a beautiful castle
where parts of the Sound of Music were filmed (i.e.
the terrace by the lake where Maria and the kids all
fall into the water...). Every now and then Dartmouth
alums participate in our programs and several have
been interns, so I do get regular updates on the Big
Green. Stop by if you are ever in the area!
I married an Austrian photographer a few years
after I came to Salzburg and he runs a contemporary
art photography gallery (www.fotohof.at).
We
have a ten-year-old daughter, Emilia, who loves
to read, dance, and spend time with her friends.
What I love about living here most are the spectacular
alpine surroundings and the vicinity to wonderful
places to visit (Italy in 2.5 hours, a 2.5 hr flight to
Crete, etc.). What I miss most about the US is being
able to see old friends for a weekend... and going to a
bookstore at 10pm at night... Our favorite destinations
are Crete and Burgundy. I am attaching a picture of me
in Tlissos, one of my favorite Minoan ruins on Crete...
Again, I hope to be able to welcome some
classmates
to
Salzburg
in
the
future!”
=======================================
Gary Portugal also wrote in: “February will 15
years that I have been living and working in the UK.
I came to London in 1997, in theory for a year or two,
at the insistence of my employer, and ended up never
going back!! I trade emerging market currencies for
Gelber Group, which is a Chicago-based proprietary
trading company. I live in a suburb
about 30 miles east of London along
the Thames estuary, and thoroughly
enjoy it. In the time that I’ve been
in the UK, I have been coincidentally
lucky to see London become a much
more “European “ city and less of an
“English” one. Although London is
quite a bit bigger than San Francisco
or Seattle, it has a lot in common with
both, not the least of which is a healthy
dose of fog/rain, though nowhere near
as bad as myths suggest. You could live
here a hundred years and never see all
of London, which makes it great. Of
course London is also a convenient springboard to
go all over Europe-my family and I have had a host
of great trips both in the UK (Glasgow and Edinburgh
stand out) and across the continent (Stockholm,
Valencia, Bruges, and Lille apart from the more
“traditional “ headline destinations). Living in the UK
is that rare combination of having your cake and eating
it- living in a foreign country, yet speaking English.
=======================================
Also living in London is Stuart Grider with his
partner of 20 years, Nelson Castellanos. “I agreed with
my previous law firm to come to London in 1998 and
moved over to a UK-based int’l law firm in 2002. For
work, I travel to India, Russia, Ukraine, China/Hong
Kong quite a lot, as well as more exotic locations like
Mauritius. From 2007 to 2009 I was based in Hong Kong.
He and Nelson miss friends and family in the US
but the thing they like most about living abroad is
the variety of people and cultures, as well as food!
Recent interesting holiday travel has included
Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, as well as long weekends
in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and
Belgium centered on food, architecture, beer and/
or wine, as appropriate! The big trip this year is
northern Brazil based in Salvador and local beaches.
=======================================
London is a popular destination for expats. Mike Adams gave us a little education:
“Thanksgiving is not particularly celebrated in the UK,
but we had a turkey dinner last Saturday. He attended the
Class Notes
Maren Christensen and Becky Wolcott Ankeny
Thanksgiving Day church service at St Paul’s Cathedral
for the American community - about 2,000 people
attended. It is probably the single day of the year when
I most miss being in the US. Mike lives in London as
a result of work - he works for a construction company
called Bechtel, which is based in US. He first came to
London 21 years ago, and in total have lived here for 14
years, with 7 years in Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong)
in the middle. Mike particularly enjoys the multicultural experience of daily living outside the US. He
is endlessly fascinated by the wider world - its cultures,
politics, and business. Mike misses American sports
and not spending enough time with family and friends
in the US. Of course, he is now a big soccer, cricket and
rugby fan, so it isn’t all bad! “Living anywhere outside
of your own native culture/country teaches you humility
and respectfulness of other cultures and how people do
things differently, not necessarily better, just differently.”
and hasn’t really left.
Kurt’s favorite thing
about living abroad is
international people.
And easy to get to
places. Europe is sort
of right in the middle
of the known world
- halfway between
American, Asia and with very close
proximity to Africa
and the Middle East.
He most misses driving
across
America,
especially the small
roads like Route 66 and the small towns. But then, he
brought his Corvette back two years ago to England so he
Mike is married to an Englishwoman and has four sons, has a little bit ofAmerica everyday on the streets of London.
ranging in age from 11 to 3. They attend an English school,
so are very English in their sports, but his family has a One disadvantage of living abroad is standing in the
house in Vermont and they all love spending time in the US. foreigners queue at Heathrow Immigration! At the
moment, despite being a long-time British Resident,
Mike recently discovered that he lives in the next Kurt only has an American passport. He’s considering
village (about 20 miles south of London) to an ‘84, the idea of getting a European (German) one as his
Michelle Dorion, and they have enjoyed getting to family has German roots, but has yet to do this.
“Americans typically have a
know each other. He keeps in peripatetic contact with Kurt writes that
Peter Schoppert (just saw him and his wife Chor Lin in very parochial, self-centric view of the world (not
Singapore last month). Judson Reis and his wife Lisa and Dartmouth alums obviously!). Living outside the States
Bill Scully and his wife Mary spent a fun weekend with definitely helps to foster a great world perspective.”
Mike and Joanna at their house in Vermont in August.
======================================= Many years ago, Kurt was in investment banking. Now
Jay Alexander “loves living in London. Best time I’ve he has his own business - in hotels. He is the founder,
had since Dartmouth. But, I’m about to get on a plane creator and co-owner of The Hoxton Hotel in London’s
trendy Hoxton/
to go to Nigeria, and then The Hague, and then
Shoreditch
Moscow over the next 2 weeks.” We’ll get more
district.
The
information from Jay for our next newsletter!
hotel has been
===================================
a winner three
Last, but not least, for our responding London
years in a row
classmates is Kurt Bredenbeck. Kurt was “so
of the ‘Best
completely bored as a 22 year old (after graduating
UK
Hotel’
Dartmouth) doing an MBA at University of
from London’s
Chicago, that I signed up for their joint MBA - MA
Guardian
programme with LSE and jetted off to London for
Newspaper
a year. “ After returning for 6 months to finish his
Travel Awards.
MBA at Chicago, he came back to London to work,
Class Notes
Maren Christensen and Becky Wolcott Ankeny
Kurt has lived for many years in a famous 20th Century
modernist block - at the top of a 40 story tower with an amazing view of Central London, from the
dome of St Paul’s on his left to the Thames and Big
Ben straight ahead, around to the field of Hampstead
Heath on his right. On the weekends, Kurt goes to
his converted Georgian Barn on the outskirts of Bath.
=======================================
Marika
Olsen
had just landed in
Kurdistan when
she received my
email.
She is
currently living
in Baghdad. She
writes: “My job
title is (cue the
raised eyebrows)
“Chief of Party.”
Believe it or
not, that is a
normal title for
someone heading
up an NGO project out in the field. In my
case, the NGO is Internews and we are
helping develop media expertise in Iraq.
The disadvantage is a very high kidnapping
threat. Must have security. Can’t walk about
freely. Can’t get on a bike or go for a walk.
One of the cool things about living abroad is that it
forces you to question all your assumptions about
your own life and your own thinking. It also makes
you appreciate your country more, as well. There is
so much about America that is a blessing and so many
of us completely take it for granted.”
============================
Liz Mueller does a lot of traveling
internationally. Lucky girl! Her favorite
destination is Italy. She has a work
colleague who owns a villa in Tuscany
near Lucca. She visited him last summer
and then went to the Cinque Terre to
hike. The summer before, Liz hiked in
the Dolomites. Liz adds “I especially
enjoy a few days in Milan – I have a
friend who lives there who shows me
around – where else can you see women
getting off Vespas wearing haute couture
and high heels?” Liz actually wants to
move to Italy next summer and immerse herself in an
Italian language school in Tuscany. She’s already hired
a private tutor in San Diego and also bought at Vespa.
Living abroad is perfect for someone like me who wants
to nourish that childish sense of wonder, feeling a sense
of discovery even in the most ordinary moments or
with the most common objects. “Wow, so this is how
they serve tea,” “Wait, THIS is the bathroom?” or “This
is a wonderful festival. I wish we had this holiday.”
Living in Baghdad means adjusting to a world of brown
and beige. I long for lush greenery, fresh, clean air, public
art and not worrying about being kidnapped. As for what
I am missing about being in America, at this moment I’d
have to say Whole Foods and being able to go on a date.
The major advantage of being from the US
and residing in Baghdad is that I haven’t a
clue what or whom Kim Kardashian is doing.
But seriously, the advantage of being an America
in Baghdad is that the Kurdish Peshmerga
that guard my housing compound in Baghdad
genuinely like me because of my nationality.
=======================================
Laszlo Madaras hasn’t written in a while, but now
has some time on his hands while recovering from his
10th consecutive JFK 50 mile ultramarathon (that’s
how he celebrated his 50th birthday!) Laszlo has done
Class Notes
Maren Christensen and Becky Wolcott Ankeny
international
work
as a Peace Corps
volunteer in Congo/
Zaire, as a Pediatric
sub-intern at theAlbert
Schweitzer Hospital
in Lambarene, Gabon,
at a refugee camp
medical director in
Rwanda in 1994, and
as a physician with
Project Hope in Eastern Europe (Hungary) during the schedule
1995 tragedies in the former Yugoslavia. Over
the past 10 years, Laszlo and his colleagues have
taken Johns Hopkins 4th year medical students
on a 3-4 week international health elective to
Santa Lucia, Honduras where they work with
Honduran counterparts and learn to become
doctors. Periodically, he find himself speaking
other languages (for which he is very grateful
to Dartmouth), enjoying new foods that remind
me of green eggs and ham, and living without
air-conditioning and plumbing. He was able to
take his daughters and wife with him on the less
dangerous
assignments,
and the girls
grew up seeing
much more of
the world than
Laszlo ever did
before college.
His
older
daughter uses
some of her
international
experience
studying
at
M a c a l e s t e r,
and
his
younger one
is
college
shopping now. “It was so good to show her the
campus in September of this year. I wish I could have
returned again in October, but I could not swing it.”
I ran on my own on the beautiful trails at Dartmouth
and finished the 1983 Maine Coast
Marathon in 3:18:50 as part of Outward
Bound. I was usually in some biochem
lab otherwise, or hiking trails, but I
wish now that I had run for the school.
===============================
Paul DeVierno resides in Singapore although
his mailing address is in Johor, Malaysia.
Johor is the Malaysian state that borders
Singapore, and he and his family used to visit
their house there every weekend until the kids’
started making it too complicated a juggling
act to go.
Paul moved
to Singapore
in
1993
(previously
he lived in
the UK and
Switzerland).
Singapore
is a clean,
efficient,
m o d e r n
English speaking country. One doesn’t really need
to do much adapting to get used to the place. When
you’re living in a financial center, there is little
sense of foreignness. There was a time when living
overseas for a prolonged period of time meant
losing touch with American popular culture. That
ended when every place in the planet got cable TV.
“Dancing with the Stars” and the Republican primary
debates are just as available to Paul as they are to us.
The morning Paul wrote, he had gotten up early to
put his 16-year-old daughter, Ida Mariah, on a 6:00
am flight to Sarasota, Florida. Ida just finished her
“O-Levels” at the Singapore Sports School. She asked
if she could go with some of her friends to Sydney,
Australia to celebrate their graduation, and Paul
counter-offered a trip to visit her aunt in Florida. Ida
has done a fair bit travelling with her school swim
team, but this the first international journey by herself.
Paul and his son, Benjamin, are flying to Sumatra for
a father-son vacation. They are going to visit Lake
Class Notes
Maren Christensen and Becky Wolcott Ankeny
Toba (big lake caused by volcanic eruption) and
then travelling to surfing camp on Nias Island. Ben
is going to learn how to surf, and Paul is bringing a
biography of Otto Von Bismarck to read. While we are
away my wife Nor Arfah, will have our apartment to
herself. She intends to go to a lot of yoga classes.
=======================================
Peter Kilmarx and his wife are now in Harare,
Zimbabwe since July 2011. Peter is the CDC/Zimbabwe
country director. The CDC is implementing the U.S.
P r e s i d e n t ’s
Emergency
Plan
for
AIDS Relief
( P E P FA R )
as well as
a
general
health system
strengthening
a
n
d
addressing
other health
concerns.
Peter
likes
leading his office in working directly with Zimbabwean
counterparts in implementing health programs.
Zimbabwe is a beautiful, fascinating country. They
miss family and friends in the U.S. Skype and
Facebook are nice, but not the same as being there.
=======================================
Greg Curhan also receives a round
of snaps. His novel, Indomitable
Spirit (Max Singer Adventures),
is now available on amazon.com.
=======================================
Another round of snaps for Bill Robbins! He has coauthored the second edition of Seed-Stage Venture
Investing: An Insider’s Guide to Start-ups for
Scientists, Engineers and Investors. The book “takes
a fresh look at the world of start-ups, focusing on
life science and technology spin-outs from academic
and biomedical research
centers. This book provides
a substantial update to the
previous edition, explaining
the current challenges of
financing research-intensive
academic
spin-outs
and
offering new insights and
advice
about
evaluating
technology, navigating the
technology
transfer
process,
developing
intellectual property, and applying for grant
funding under the NIH SBIR Program. “
=================================
And in relatively local news, Gina Balkus has
been named the Chief Executive Officer of the
Home Care Association of New Hampshire.
The Association represents agencies licensed
to provide in-home health care and supportive
services to individuals living in New Hampshire.
A resident of Nashua, Balkus was most
recently Director of Government Relations at
Dartmouth-Hitchcock, where she was responsible
for developing and implementing strategy to
enhance public policy involvement for DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock
community practices throughout the state. Gina also
served as Vice President for Public Affairs at the
New Hampshire Hospital Association (NHHA) from
1990 through 1999, and Director of Public Relations
at NHHA from 1986 through 1989. Gina was a
Fulbright Scholar at the University of Warsaw, Poland.
“Gina is an accomplished healthcare leader,” states Gail
Tattan-Giampaolo, president of the Board of Directors
for the Home Care Association of New Hampshire.
“She has successfully led public policy initiatives and
understands the unique challenges that face the home care
industry in this rapidly changing healthcare environment
IF YOU ARE RECEIVING THIS NEWSLETTER,
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MESSAGES - YOUR IMMEDIATE ACTION
IS NEEDED. Please send your preferred e-mail
address to beckyankeny@gmail.com.
Class Project Update
Dartmouth Organic Farm
Michael Bush
Michael Bush went to the Dartmouth Organic Farm The more intensive part (and the element where our
on Saturday of homecoming to see the progress. His capital has been deployed) involves the greenhouse
report follows:
where Scott Stokoe is doing work in sustainable
aquaculture. Here the fish are in large tanks (our
I had a wonderful 90 minute tour with the folks there. money) along with some basil plants floating on the
top with oxygen being pumped in. But the most
The farm is really
fascinating part is the system to take all the fish
a two-part affair.
toxins out of the water and circulate them through
There
is
the
the soil and from the soil into earthworms and
organic “garden”
though the earthworms back into the fish. In this
element behind the
sense what we have really financed is a small scale,
barns and down by
mostly fully sustainable biosphere of transference
the river. While
from plants to water to fish to earth to worms to
this was once a
fish. It is all about creating the self-sustaining circle
couple of acres the
of needs and solutions. One critter’s “too much” is
project has now
another’s “not enough” and we pass along what we
been scaled back
cannot use to be used by the next link in the chain.
because production outpaced appetite demand and student
labor’s ability to deal with it all. Now it is really a very I cannot imagine what each fish costs to maintain —
large plot where each season students come and learn they are probably the only $1000 per pound tilapia
the
bio- in the world. But I am glad we are supporting a little
systems of corner of the world where someone is doing something.
the earth,
plants and
how food
is created
f r o m
both
an
ecological
perspective
and a labor
perspective. They are not farming there so much as “food
gardening” with great helpings of organic chemistry and
interesting
interpersonal
experiences.
Plus
the
fields
are
right along
the
lovely
Connecticut
River
--what could
be wrong?
Class Agents Report
Kathy Bachelder Coster and Beth Winnick Falcone
Please consider Dartmouth in your year end giving plans! Thanks to many
generous ’83s, we are coming off a record breaking year during which we
raised over $1 million for the Dartmouth College Fund. This year we hope
to bring more classmates into the effort as donors and volunteers. To help
out, first please make a pledge and/or gift. If your donation is received before
12/31 you can deduct it in this tax year. To use the on-line giving form, go to
http://giving.dartmouth.edu. Second, join our team!
We are already planning for our 30th Reunion and need all hands on deck.
Believe it or not, working as a Class Agent offers a great excuse to reconnect
with Dartmouth friends. You can contact members of your fraternity/
sorority, team, or club - or you can take on the ultimate challenge: the cold
case list of missing ’83s!!!! FMI or to sign on, contact Roger Baumann
at roger.baumann@jpmorgan.com. Thanks for your generous support of
Dartmouth and the great Class of ’83!!!!
Alumni Council Report
Maren Christensen
As you all may know, I’m your newest Alumni Council
representative. I attended the most recent council meeting in Hanover
December 1-3. The days were full of meetings. As we were told, this
isn’t like a reunion where you can relive your college days. In a few
weeks, you’ll get a more comprehensive report from me about what
went down, including the minutes of all the committee meetings.
But in a nutshell, we discussed strategic planning and the direction
of the college, how to keep the College “relevant” in a quickly
changing world. We met the three trustee candidates, who were all
remarkable people with great dedication to the college and their fields
of work, and had great senses of humor. President Kim handed out
the Alumni Awards to Sue Finnegan ’85, Kurt Weiling ’71 and David
Eichman ’82 for their dedication to the College, their communities and
their work. Very inspiring.
Maren and Kathy after a long day
of Alumni Council meetings!
I’m on the Athletic Committee and listening to Harry Sheehy, the athletic director, talk is really exciting. We’re
heading in a good direction.
Overall, I’d have to say the College is moving in a positive way. We have really good leaders in place who
are listening to what the faculty, the students, and the alums are saying and seem to be making wise decisions.
If you have any questions about anything, please let me know. And if you haven’t been getting class emails,
please, please, please update your email address with either me or Becky or the college. We want you to know
what’s going on and to be engaged with the College.
Maren
marenjc@yahoo.com