Wells College announces 1997 Alumnae Award recipients

Ms. Dieckmann is being recognized for her work as an author and scholar in diverse areas including literature, history, music, and art. In 1995, her major academic work in French was published - the introduction to and critical text of Denis Diderot's Paradoxe sur le comedien, which appeared in volume xx of the author's Oeuvres Complètes.

She has written numerous reviews and feature articles on music and literature as well as five popular cookbooks. She is also the author of Wells College: A History, the first full-length narrative of the college, published in 1995 by the Wells College Press.

At Wells, Ms. Dieckmann received her bachelor of arts degree summa cum laude with distinction in French. She was the first Wells student to receive a Fulbright grant for graduate study abroad. After spending a year at the Sorbonne in Paris, she entered graduate school at Harvard University where she earned her master's degree and doctorate in Romance languages and literatures.

Martha Mavon Friday is being honored by Wells this year for her pioneering work in the area of women's and children's advocacy. She is the executive director of the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, one of the first organizations in the United States to provide assistance to the victims of family violence.

She has become a national consultant and spokesperson on the subject of family abuse, and in that role, has helped to bring the problem of family abuse into the light of public scrutiny. She has become an expert witness before state and national committees investigating domestic violence and services for victims. Based largely on the success of her work with the shelter, the State of Pennsylvania has been recognized as a national leader in the area of treatment services for victims of abuse.

At Wells, Ms. Friday majored in English. She is a member of the Pittsburgh Wells Club and has volunteered in several fund raising initiatives for the college.

Ms. Dieckmann and Ms. Friday will be honored at a campus ceremony in May that will be attended by alumnae from across the nation as part of Reunion 1997.

The Alumnae Award was established in 1968 by the Wells College Alumnae Association in honor of the Centennial of the college. The award is presented annually and honors those alumnae who have given outstanding service to their alma mater, either directly or by service and accomplishment in a field of endeavor that reflects distinction on Wells College.

February, 1997

Leadership Week at Wells College: Educating women for life

Leadership Week emphasizes career and life skills training. Workshops are offered that teach resume writing, public speaking, how to successfully apply to graduate school, computer skills (including the Internet), and financial management, among other topics. This year, the students had an opportunity to prepare for entry into the professional world by participating in mock job interviews.

Alumnae involvement is part of the Leadership Week tradition. Wells women working in many different fields return to campus to participate in panel discussions and meet with students. Alumnae who majored in English, foreign languages, the sciences, social sciences, and the arts visited Wells for this year's session.

Leadership Week is also a community-building activity. All students had a chance to learn about women's history through a visit to The Women's Rights National Historical Park, The National Women's Hall of Fame, and The Urban Cultural Park, located in nearby Seneca Falls, New York. A series of ethnic dinners were offered to increase multi-cultural understanding.

All Wells students who are not completing internships or engaged in off-campus study participate in Leadership Week.

February, 1997

Littlefields' $1.2 million challenge gives a boost to Wells' technology initiative

"This gift benefits students who are with us now and who will be arriving in the years to come. Wells prepares women for the role they will play in the new century, and hands-on use of technology is an important part of that education," said President Lisa Marsh Ryerson.

The funds will enable the college to network academic buildings and residence halls for Internet access and to install a new high tech, state-of-the-art language laboratory in Cleveland Hall, the college's foreign language building. Plans are also in place to computerize the catalogue for the library and purchase additional hardware and software.

The Littlefields are honorary Wells trustees. Mrs. Littlefield was born in France and prior to World War II attended the International School in Geneva, Switzerland, where her father worked for the League of Nations. She attended the Sorbonne before completing her education in the United States where she spent her senior year at Wells and received her degree in 1941.

Mr. Littlefield was general manager of Utah International and later, for many years, director of General Electric. He earned his master of business administration degree from Stanford, and that university's graduate management center is named for him.

The Littlefields' gift will provide $400,000 per year to Wells for three years, under the condition that the college raise an equal amount each year. "Improving instruction with technology is a high priority at Wells. We know our supporters are aware of this, and we are very confident that the matching funds can be raised," said Professor of Religion Arthur J. Bellinzoni, who is also director of planned and leadership giving.

February, 1997

Wells announces board of trustees appointment

Upon completion of his studies at the University of Paris, Seznec began his teaching career at Harvard University in 1953. He joined the Cornell faculty as an assistant professor of French in 1958, was promoted to associate professor in 1963, and became a full professor in 1969.

Seznec has published numerous articles on French literature and two critical editions: La Princesse de Clèves and Diderot and Pope's Essay on Man. He has received a French National Fellowship and The Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching.

In addition to writing and teaching, Seznec has held many administrative positions at Cornell. His appointments include director of undergraduate studies in Romance literature (1960-65), associate dean of the college of arts and sciences (1969-73), chairman of the department of Romance studies (1976-78), and dean of the college of arts and sciences (1978-86).

Since 1986, he has served as the Carl A. Kroch University librarian in Olin Library; and he plans to resume teaching during the fall 1997 semester.

Seznec has been chairman of Cornell's Council for the Performing Arts, the University Commission on Residential Colleges, and the Museum Board. He has also served on the President's Commission on Undergraduate Studies and the President's Ad Hoc Committee on University Budget at Cornell.

February, 1997

Women's sports columnist and author is leader-in-residence

Nelson is the author of The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football: Sexism and the American Culture of Sports. Her first book, Are We Winning Yet? How Women are Changing Sports and Sports are Changing Women, received the Amateur Athletic Foundation's Book Award.

A former columnist for the Washington Post, and editor of Women's Sports and Fitness magazine, Nelson has written for the New York Times, USA Today, Ms. Magazine, Glamour, Shape, Fitness, and Cosmopolitan magazines. Her syndicated women's sports column for Knight Ridder/Tribune, was distributed to 320 newspapers across the United States.

In 1996, she received the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports' Guiding Woman in Sport Award and was inducted into the National Girls and Women in Sports Symposium Hall of Fame. In 1995, she was presented the National Organization for Women's award for excellence in sports writing.

Currently, Nelson competes in masters swimming events, specializing in the 1500 meter free-style; her time is in the top five nationally for her age group.

She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she averaged 19 points per game on the basketball team and was captain and leading scorer and rebounder her last three years. One of her rebounding records is still unbroken. She played for pro teams in France and the United States and later received her master's degree in public health from San Jose State University.

Nelson's family has strong ties to Wells. Her mother Sarah Burton Nelson graduated from Wells in 1946; and her grandmother, Mary Pew Burton, graduated from the college in 1922.

Mariah Burton Nelson is visiting Wells as a leader-in residence. Sponsored by the college's Leadership Connection group, the leader-in-residence program brings outstanding women who are recognized leaders in their fields to campus each semester to teach, meet with students informally, and present public lectures.

February, 1997

Martinez will expand conference services and leadership programs

Martinez will expand conference services at the college, building on the success of summer leadership camps and conferences for girls offered in the last two years.

The Wells Conference Center offers its programs and facilities to diverse groups in addition to providing leadership training for young women. "I will be responsible for getting businesses and organizations to use our facilities, and I will develop programs for groups. I hope to do some teaching myself," she says.

Conferences at Wells, which have been viewed primarily as a summer enterprise, will now become a year-round part of college services, she says.

President Lisa Marsh Ryerson says, "Terry's experience developing leadership programs, her ability to work closely with students, and her managerial skills make her the ideal candidate for this important position."

Martinez joined the Wells student affairs staff in 1991 as director of residence life. In 1995, she was promoted to associate dean of students. In addition to counseling students and overseeing residence life, she was responsible for supervision of the transportation office, security office, and the community service office.

At Wells, she also coordinated the 21st & Wells Program, a regional minority recruitment workshop and program for high school girls; and she developed the Rainbow Connection, a multicultural education series.

Before coming to Wells, she worked as interim director of counseling and career services at St. Joseph's College and residence hall director at the SUNY College at Old Westbury.

She earned her bachelor's degree in social work from the SUNY College at Buffalo and her master's degree in counseling and applied psychology from New York University.

February, 1997

Chanting workshop featured at Wells Women's History Month symposium

Included on the program are presentations on women in literature, history, and the social sciences as well as workshops on expression and a screening of the documentary Hillary's Class. Gentile's chant workshop, "Singing the Songs of Hildegard von Bingen," will be held from 2:45 to 4:00 pm in Alice Barler Recital Hall. To close the day Gentile, Alex Raykof, and the early music group Elizabethan Conversation will perform "Hildegard's Spirit, A Medieval Concert."

Norma Gentile earned her master's degree in voice performance from the University of Michigan. As a soloist, she has sung with Cuadro Musical in Europe and Oriana in the United States, making appearances at the Stravinsky Festival (Spain) and the Boston Early Music Festival.

Also at ease with the operatic repertoire of the Baroque and Classical eras, Gentile has sung roles such as Poppea from Monteverdi's "Coronation of Poppea," and the Sorceress from Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas." She has recorded for Radio Espana, and her American concerts have been broadcast regularly by National Public Radio stations since 1983.

Gentile's focus since 1990 has been on the music of Hildegard von Bingen. Hildegard was founder and abbess of two monasteries for women in 12th century Europe. She composed chants, wrote poetry, and authored nine books on theology and medicine.

Gentile has given numerous workshops and concerts from California to Colorado to Michigan featuring the chants written by Hildegard. Her first solo CD, Meditation Chants, is a live recording of a Candlelight Meditation Concert using Hildegard's music.

An Attunement Practitioner for many years, Gentile explores healing as a process of aligning emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of ourselves. She studied Attunement extensively through the International Emissary program, and supplements it with studies in Alexander Technique, the MerKaBa, overtone chant, and psychic perception.

Advance registration is recommended. The cost of the symposium is $10 for students, and $15 for all others, and includes dinner. There is an additional $10 charge for non-student participation in the chants workshop. Send checks payable to Wells College to Career Services, Wells College, Aurora, New York 13026. For more information, contact 315/364-3225, or e-mail careers@wells.edu.

February, 1997

U.S. Retirement Communities vice president named to Wells College Board of Trustees

Woolford is a registered architect who has more than 16 years of experience with Continuing Care Retirement Communities. He was previously a senior project manager and senior living specialist with Ewing Cole Cherry Brott Architects in Philadelphia.

He has been responsible for the design and construction oversight of senior living projects nationally and has worked closely with both development and marketing groups. He has extensive experience in land planning and zoning, as well as the management and design of large complex projects.

Woolford attended Middlebury College and received his bachelor's degree in architecture from Cornell University. He also studied in Staufen, Germany and the Technische Hogeschool in Delft, Holland. He is NCARB-certified and a member of the AIA/Aging Network.

U.S. Retirement Communities, Inc. is a full-service retirement housing management and consulting firm providing a spectrum of support services for sponsors and owners of housing and services for the elderly, including: adult communities, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living residences, long-term care facilities, and subacute facilities.

U.S. Retirement Communities, Inc. projects include The Arizona Senior Academy in Tucson, Arizona; Peconic Landing in Southold, New York; and Laurelwood in Galloway Township, New Jersey.

February, 1997

Professors form AAUP Chapter

The chapter, to be known as the Wells College AAUP Chapter, has been officially recognized by the association's national office in Washington, D.C. The Wells Chapter will be formally inaugurated at a public ceremony to be held at the college during February and currently has 14 members, according to campus AAUP officers. The college has 45 full-time faculty members.

Scott Heinekamp, associate professor of physics, has been elected the Wells AAUP Chapter's President. He says, "AAUP is our national professional organization, one that fearlessly supports the spirit and meaning of academic freedom in the United States. We hope that this new professional connection will enhance the prestige and public image of Wells College. We sincerely believe that a stable and well-informed faculty is any administration's best hope for institutional growth and constructive change. The Wells College AAUP Chapter looks forward to working with the faculty, the administration, and the Board in ways that will benefit the college and the entire community."

Wells' Vice President for Academic Affairs Ellen W. Hall says, "For more than 80 years, the AAUP has been involved with colleges and universities to help faculty and administrators establish sound academic practices in their institutions. AAUP policy statements and documents often serve as procedural guides for the academic community nationwide."

In a congratulatory letter, Mary A. Burgan, AAUP General Secretary, wrote to the Chapter: "Faculty have advanced the standards and practices of the academic profession through the AAUP for more than 75 years.... The 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure prevails as the vital and enduring expression of the values and practices of the profession. Today, the statement is endorsed by more than 150 disciplinary associations and educational organizations and the number continues to grow."

The American Association of University Professors was founded in 1915 in order to promote academic freedom for faculty members, a new idea at the time. The AAUP remains the leading organization primarily dedicated to protecting the academic freedom of professors.

February, 1997

Other Articles in Wells College News:

September, 2002	September, 2000. - May.,2001	May,1998	May - June,1997
August, 2002	September, 1999 - August, 2000	April,1998	March - April,1997
September, 2001. - May.,2002	August,1999	March,1998	February,1997
	May,1999	February,1998	November - December,1996
	April,1999	January,1998	October,1996
	February -March, 1999	December,1997	September,1996
	January,1999	November,1997	June - Aug.,1996
	Fall,1998	October,1997	May,1996
	August,1998	September,1997	April,1996
	June -July, 1998	July - August, 1997	February - March, 1996