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January/February 2008Welcome to the January 2008 issue of the Harvard Extension Alumni Association (HEAA) e-newsletter, the Extension Chord. In this issue, you will find a profile of T. Rose Holdcraft CSS ’95, news on upcoming events, links to useful Harvard University and Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) websites, and news from the Extension School. As always, we welcome your ideas and suggestions for the Chord and the HEAA. Questions and comments may be sent to Grace Scheibner, HEAA president, at grace_scheibner@harvard.edu. We look forward to hearing from you! Grace Scheibner, ALB ’90 Karen Droisen, Coordinator, In This Issue
Profile: T. Rose Holdcraft CSS ’95I met recently with T. Rose Holdcraft, CSS ’95, conservator and administrative head of the conservation department at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum. She described her position at the museum and the path she had taken to arrive at this point in her professional career. In her articulate, soft-spoken voice, she related the impact her experience at Harvard Extension has had on her personal and professional life.
Would you please describe your position as Conservator and Administrative Head of the Conservation Department at the Peabody Museum? I think that I am very fortunate to be working in a dynamic environment at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology here at Harvard University. The museum is steward to large holdings of rare and important material culture from around the world, and especially from the Americas. I serve as an administrator for the care of objects and associated documentation, which involves consulting with a broad array of Harvard professionals on methods and approaches to collections care. As a conservator, I perform and supervise analyses and conservation treatments of textiles and objects. These activities support research, teaching, and public access. The museum is increasingly partnering with other Harvard entities and with communities well outside Harvard, fostering cultural exchanges. A recent community collaboration was the fall term Harvard Yard archaeological excavation, part of a formal undergraduate anthropology course exploring the seventeenth century Harvard Indian College. This effort was supported by the Harvard University Native American Program with local Wampanoag tribal members. How did your course work at the Harvard Extension School help you build your career? I started in the field as a conservation technician with no managerial responsibilities. Later at Harvard, as my position evolved to include supervisory and administrative responsibilities, taking Extension School courses helped me to gain confidence in myself and in my ability to solve management issues. I selected courses that looked challenging, and they helped me to improve my planning and negotiating skills and my ability to implement technical projects and larger programs. One of the first Extension courses directly applicable at an early stage to this work, and of equal interest to me personally, was Writing Grant Proposals. This course provided a focused time for intensive writing, critical thinking, and constructive evaluation. The instructor in this course was a committed and engaging teacher with a positive and energetic presence. Finding external funds through private foundations and federal agencies became a successful way to support a conservation internship training program and to implement specific high-priority environmental improvement and conservation treatment projects at the museum. At the same time, I was informally serving as a co-editor of a women’s group newsletter, and my work there also benefited from the intensive writing experience of the course. What were some of your favorite courses at Extension? What was your field of study? I decided to pursue a graduate Certificate in Special Studies in Administration and Management [now Certificate in Management] at the Extension School for several reasons. The wide array of Harvard Extension courses was of immediate relevance and interest to me in my role as a preservation administrator. I was interested in expanding my understanding and awareness of communication and management styles as a way to implement my approach to consensus-building and collaborative problem-solving. The “case studies” teaching approach used in several courses also appealed to me. The Ethical Action in Business course, for example, involved almost every student in fruitful exchanges of ideas, both in small groups and as part of class discussions. The Leadership and Power in Organization course included formal case studies from non-profit and "for profit" business perspectives. It also offered useful opportunities to discuss students’ real-life situations. The courses I took outside of my concentration were very enjoyable as well. I especially enjoyed a history of jazz course; it was fun and informative, as was a course on indoor air pollution. Shortly after I finished the CSS Program in 1995, my husband joined an Italian-owned company. With opportunities to join him on his increasingly frequent trips to Italy, I decided to take an Italian language course. In 2002, I had the good fortune to stay in Rome for a month-long international exchange seminar on decision-making strategies for the conservation of cultural property. What impact has your Harvard Extension experience had on your personal and professional life? Taking typically one course a term over about a three-year period was a realistic way for me to complete the CSS graduate program while I worked at the museum. Participation in the evening along with the courses’ preparatory work took considerable time, yet I clearly remember the experience was more often energizing than not. I used my professional environment to experiment with implementing some of the theory and ideas from the courses. As I look back now, the time and the concentrated energy that I had for this exploration into new areas seemed to have just happened naturally: the timing was right for me. What did you enjoy most about your experience at Harvard Extension? I found that the exchange of ideas and perspectives and the variety of people I met in the courses—many of whom came from professional and cultural backgrounds different from mine—affected me in subtle ways throughout each week. The small working groups that formed during classes also met from time to time in informal settings afterwards in ways that I enjoyed very much—one of the unexpected benefits of my experience. I personally appreciated the openness and support of other class participants. The opportunities that Harvard and the Extension School have made possible through a collaborative teaching and learning environment are certainly unique, and I recognize the overall experience as special. Alumni NewsPhotographer Emily G. Kahn, ALB ’89, joined more than 80 other artists exhibiting at the 20th Annual Brickbottom Open Studios event on November 17 and 18, 2007. After earning her degree at the Extension School, Emily went on to earn a graduate certificate at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ Museum School. She has exhibited her photographs in the museum’s highly selective fifth-year program, and has since shown her work at galleries throughout the United States and Russia. Her work has been published in Art New England, DoubleTake, the Boston Globe, the Boston Phoenix, and Stuff Magazine. Her work has also been published in Israel: Metropolis, Boston, written in Hebrew. Under the mentorship of Robert Coles, she has led several undergraduate sections on documentary work at Harvard University. Jill Abruzese, ALB ’06, has been hired as a career events/employer relations manager to support both the Extension students enrolled in degree and certificate programs and the Extension alumni. The central function of this new position is to forge and foster connections between potential employers and our students and alumni. Welcome back, Jill! Steve Gallagan, CSS ’00, and HEAA chair of alumni events, received Branson Ultrasonics Corporation’s Region of the Year award at Branson’s annual awards dinner held on December 7th at the Rio Mar resort in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Branson, a division of Emerson Industrial Automation, presents this award for top sales achievement among North American regions at the conclusion of each fiscal year. Steve is Branson’s northeast regional sales manager. Separate honors bestowed this year upon individuals under Steve’s direction included Rookie of the Year (for top first year sales achievement), Salesperson of the Year, and Competitive Spirit awards. Emerson EMR, based in St. Louis, is a global leader in bringing technology and engineering together to provide innovative solutions to customers through its network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and appliance and tools businesses. Sales in fiscal 2007 were $22.6 billion. Congratulations, Steve! Joyce Keller Walsh, ALM ’85, has published Bog Men, the third book of her Pittsley County Chronicles, a popular mystery-thriller series set in southeastern Massachusetts. Bog Men follows the same core characters that appeared in the first two books of the series, Juckets and Swamp Yankees. Bog Men is available at local bookstores, as well as online through Amazon.com or PublishAmerica.com. Additional information may be found at her website, joycewalsh.com.News from 51 Brattle StreetJames Conway, ALB ’85, and Patricia Conway, ALB ’92, renewed their support for Harvard Extension School with a generous pledge to create the James and Patricia Conway Faculty Aide Program Fund. Each semester, the program enables members of the Harvard Extension School faculty to employ undergraduate and graduate degree candidates as short-term research aides. It offers faculty invaluable help in their research projects and opportunities for outstanding degree candidates to obtain the research skills they need to become future scholars. "I'm thrilled that such distinguished Extension School graduates have chosen to support the faculty aide program," says Suzanne Spreadbury, associate dean for undergraduate degree programs at the Harvard Extension School and administrator of the program. "Students want and deserve the opportunity to work more closely with faculty on original research for it prepares them for graduate school. Instructors welcome the research support and the chance to mentor promising students. It is a win-win program." In 1991, James and Patricia established the Conway Prize for excellence in the teaching of writing at Harvard Extension School. In 2006, the Conways contributed generously again, dedicating the reception lobby at 51 Brattle Street in memory of Patricia’s father and uncle. John Spengler, Harvard School of Public Health professor and Harvard Extension instructor, worked with a group of Extension students including Ruma Neogy and B. Layne Corrigan, to test the air at Boston’s Back Bay station. Among the findings: Back Bay rail platform air is almost four times worse than a busy intersection choked with traffic. Read the Boston Now article, Choking on pollution at Back Bay, and watch the related video. Paul Sally, the driving force behind the creation of the Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Mathematics for Teaching Program at the Harvard Extension School, was recently featured in the Boston Globe after giving a talk at MIT. Professor Sally, a Boston native who is currently a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, traveled to Boston on weekends to lead the first several courses in the Mathematics for Teaching Program. The first group of seven graduates from the program received their master’s degrees from the Harvard Extension School this past June. Read the Boston Globe article, The powerhouse ‘pirate’ of the math classroom.
Distance Education. In 2007–08, 24 Harvard College courses were open to Harvard Extension students via distance education. In MemoriamMary Fasano, AA ’93, ALB ’97
Mary Fasano, the oldest person to earn an undergraduate degree at Harvard, passed away on October 12, 2007. Mary was born in Natick, Rhode Island, of Italian immigrant parents and left school when she was 14 years old to work in a cotton mill to help support her family. She made a promise to herself to go back to school and kept that promise when, after raising a family of five children and helping to run a restaurant and catering business, she earned her high school equivalency diploma from Braintree High School. She was 71. That same year Mary enrolled in her first Extension School course, studying Spanish. Eighteen years and 43 courses later, she received her Bachelor of Liberal Arts in 1997 at age 89. Mary was chosen to give the Commencement address at the Extension School diploma awarding ceremony that year. In her speech, she reflected on the importance of lifetime learning: “I may have started late, but I will continue to learn as long as I am able . . . I have found that the world is a final exam you can never be prepared enough for. So I will continue to take classes and tell my story.”Alumni Speaker Events — New!Frederica Dimmick, ALM ’87, gave a presentation on November 30 to Harvard Extension students and alumni on her career as an archeologist and park ranger for the Cape Cod National Seashore. Her husband, David Dimmick, an avid conservationist active in many local groups near Boston and on the Cape, joined her at the podium. The attentive audience was captivated by their presentation, “Evolving Interests in Conservation: A Conversation.” The presentation was part of an ongoing series sponsored by HEAA that features alumni speakers. The following alumni speaker events are planned for 2008. Each event will be held in the Grossman Common Room from 5:30–8 pm. Refreshments will be served. No registration or ticket is required.
The HEAA would like to thank Clay Stewart, CSS ’99, Payal Loungani, ALB ’05, and Bruce Wenning, ALM ’05, for their participation in past alumni speaker events. Extension alumni interested in sharing their experiences with current students are invited to contact Karen Droisen at karen_droisen@harvard.edu or (617) 496–5159. Upcoming HEAA EventsWe have many exciting events planned for spring 2008. Please join us! You will receive postcard and broadcast e–mail invitations to each event about three weeks before its scheduled date. You can also watch slideshows of past alumni events on our website. New this year: Alumni from the classes of 2006, 2007, and 2008 may purchase tickets at reduced rates. Please see event pages for more information. Boston Landmarks Orchestra Conducted by Charles Ansbacher: Bountiful BrahmsFriday, February 1 Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn Harvard’s historic Sanders Theatre will host this evening of exceptional music. The concert is free and open to all on a space–available basis. No tickets are required. A Valentine’s CabaretThursday, February 14 Bring your valentine and join us for an elegant, romantic evening of fine food, drink, and cabaret songs.Attendance is limited, and due to space constraints, no tickets will be sold at the door. Extension Uncorked: Wine Tasting at Loeb HouseFriday, March 14 Taste, compare, and enjoy an exciting array of European and Californian wines paired with a complementary selection of fine cheeses chosen expressly for us. Upcoming HAA EventsAll Harvard Extension School alumni are also members of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), the umbrella organization for all university graduates. You can browse other Harvard alumni events on the master alumni event calendar. For more information, contact HAA Alumni Education at (617) 495-1920 or haa_alumnieducation@harvard.edu. Gallery Socials: An Evening at the Harvard Museum of Natural HistoryWednesday, February 135:30–7:30 pm 26 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA Enjoy one of the museum’s most famous treasures, the internationally acclaimed Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, the Glass Flowers and visit the most recent Henry Horenstein photography exhibit, which includes incredible images of creatures from land and sea. His photographs offer new ways to see and think about animals, inviting us to look closer and examine details we might have never noticed before. Horenstein will offer short gallery talks in Looking at Animals during the evening. Purchase tickets at Harvard’s Online Community. Space Exploration II: “The Search for New Earths”Wednesday, March 19 “Are we alone in the universe?” Many believe there must be others like us “out there.” However, so far, there is no scientific proof that life—let alone intelligent life—exists elsewhere. The stakes are enormous. Imagine the implications of finding a planet where life is in its earliest stages or one inhabited by beings technologically ahead of us. Harvard scientists—including Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astronomy and director of the University’s Origins of Life initiative—are involved in the hunt for extrasolar planets and will update participants on one of the most exciting scientific quests of our time. Purchase tickets at Harvard's Online Community. HAA TravelsThe HAA Travel Program offers about 50 unique trips each year to all seven continents. Accompanied by Harvard academics, trips range from five days in Miami exploring the connection between design and food, to two weeks in China following in Marco Polo’s footsteps. Below is a selection of upcoming programs. Read about other programs at the HAA Travels website.
Travel to China and East Asia in the company of former President George H.W. Bush, Kennedy School of Government Professor Roger Porter, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and historian Jonathan Spence for an in-depth exploration of political events and economic changes in the region. Aboard the luxury ship Silver Whisper, engage in conversations with a group of distinguished leaders whose decisions influenced international relations and the course of history.
Spend 13 days—including four nights on the Nile aboard the Sonesta Star Goddess—exploring Egypt’s monumental architecture and dynamic contemporary life. Private tours and lectures connect the tombs and mosques of antiquity and the Middle Ages with the atmosphere and issues of today’s Egypt.
Join us in Kentucky as three-time Masters winner Nick Faldo captains Europe into battle against Paul Azinger and his American team. Watch the Saturday foursome matches and four ball matches, take in the final day singles matches, enjoy exclusive access to the International Pavilion, and celebrate victory at the closing ceremony before reliving the highlights over a nightcap and cigar. Afterwards, head for the fairways to play the finest championship course in the heart of Bluegrass country. Return to HEAA Publications or HEAA Home. | ||||
