Bethany Magazine — Fall 2018

FALL 201 8

BETHANY

Bethany and the Arts FRANCES McDORMAND ’79 WINS HER SECOND ACADEMY AWARD

’ 1 8 ONE OF THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE BETHANY COLLEGE ALUMNI A S S O C I AT I O N , M I C H A E L S P R I N G E R I N G R AM ’ 1 8 , A P SYCH O LOGY MA J O R FROM MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, RECEIVES HIS DIPLOMA AND A NOD OF A P P R OVA L F R O M B E T H A N Y P R E S I D E N T D R . TA M A R A N I C H O L S R O D E N B E R G AT BETHANY’S 178TH COMMENCEMENT E X E R C I S E S O N M AY 1 9 , 2 0 1 8 .

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“WHAT SETS BETHANY APART FROM OTHER SCHOOLS ARE THE LIFELONG RELATIONSHIPS STUDENTS HAVE WITH MENTORS.” PAGE 22

Rev. Dr. Tamara Nichols Rodenberg President Dr. Joseph Lane Provost and Dean of Faculty Sven de Jong ’95 Senior Vice President Robert J. Oltmanns Editor Director of Communications Hannah McNerney ’16 Director of Alumni Relations

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Rev. Dr. Tamara Nichols Rodenberg President

Thaddaeus Allen Elizabeth S. Athol George M. “Ken” Bado Marc B. Chernenko Richard G. Clancy W. Darwin Collins James F. Companion Marie E. de Paris Scarlett L. Foster Douglas Goin Fred M. Harris Logan Hassig Sy Holzer Patrick Hosey Joyce P. Jefferson Asa Johnson Gregory B. Jordan Arthur B. Keys, Jr. Linda D. Lewis Janet A. Long Gayle Connelly Manchin G. Daniel Martich Sean McBride Robert J. McCann John W. Mullen G. William Newton Gary M. Novak Georgiana Riley Jhamal Robinson Edward J. See Marsha Smith William E. Strickland, Jr. Craig Williams

Dr. Joseph Lane Provost & Dean of Faculty Professor of Political Science Sven de Jong ’95 Senior Vice President Karen Hunt Vice President for Enrollment Management

Contributing Lynne Glover Julia Huffman ’90 Emily Cowen Andrew Woodley

Gerald E. Stebbins Vice President and Dean of Students

Design Jim Bolander

Stephen P. Thompson Director of Athletics and Recreation

Photography Bethany College archives Fabian Bimmer Jim Brandenburg Emily Cowen Luis Gonzalez Todd Jones ’85 Pittsburgh Steelers / Karl Roser Martin Santek Photography Jeff Swenson

William R. Kiefer General Counsel

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John Lipinski ’81 Vice President of Operations

Stephanie Gordon Assistant to the President

BETHANY MAGA Z I N E | FALL 201 8

IN THIS ISSUE

16

It’s COMP-licated

IN EVERY ISSUE President’s Letter 6 Briefs 8 Faculty News 12 Books by Alumni 13

18

Voices: Heard on Campus 14 Alumni Game Changers 32

COVER STORY

Bethany Shorts 37

Bethany and the Arts

Alumni Profiles 38, 50 Bison Athletics 52 Students to Watch 57

26

Class Notes 58

All the World’s Her Stage: An Interview with Two-Time Oscar Winner Frances McDormand

Bethany Magazine is a biannual publication of Bethany College. For additional copies of this publication, or more information, call 304-829-7411.

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Issue Date: Fall 2018 Printed in the U.S.A. © Bethany College 2018

Hat Tricks

And get all the latest events, sports, updates, and much more at www.bethanywv.edu.

42 Witness to Humanity

Would you like to receive alumni news event notices via email? Please be sure to update your contact information with the Office of Alumni at 304-829-7411 or via email at alumni@bethanywv.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the editor. Bethany admits students of any race, color, sex, handicap, and national or ethnic origin.

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

Rapid Social Change Dear Alumni:

W

e are undoubtedly experiencing what scholars have aptly termed “rapid social change.” Driving this sense of accelerated reality, we have the information and entertainment highway at our fingertips or, in my case, strapped to our wrists. Naturally, in this context, we search for ways to interpret our experiences; moreover, we seek creative opportunities to express and establish meaning situating ourselves in relationship to one another and our world at large. In this issue, we celebrate the role that art plays in defining, valuing, shaping, and memorializing the experience of human community — a community of tremendous diversity. Defining our reality requires, dare I say, a symphony of instruments, each unique, but each a part of what makes humanity whole. Art is intrinsically multi-sensory and dramatically impactful. Art is past, present, and future commentary — beautiful and affirming while also at times equally vulgar and challenging. An article by Teghan Simonton published this summer in the Chronicle of Higher Education caught my attention. Simonton writes on the question of whether or not hip-hop culture and the development of rap is a legitimate form of art. Several leading scholars defend the role that rap plays in defining and valuing a distinct aspect of human experience. While writing this introduction, a current student came into my office. Animated at the prospect that I was writing about rap as a form of art, he quickly stated, “Kendrick Lamar offers an impressive anthology of his experience growing up in Compton, California.” Interestingly, according to Simonton, Harvard and Cornell, among others, house archives dedicated precisely to the premise that hip-hop and rap provide significant cultural commentary through collected anthologies. My purpose here is not to argue a position for a particular expression; rather, it is to recognize and value the cultural–political role that all forms of art play in what Frances McDormand terms our “powerful collective community.”

Art, in all forms, becomes an influential life-shaping tool assisting us with interpreting and reflecting on our human reality… As a college dedicated to the breadth of liberal arts, visual and performing arts remain an integral part of our educational commitment. Art, in all forms, becomes an influential life-shaping tool assisting us with interpreting and reflecting on our human reality; art captures a time-slice of history as it is unfolding or as it is remembered. As others will share throughout this issue, art is transforming, capturing, and necessary. As a college dedicated to the breadth of liberal arts, visual and performing arts remain an integral part of our educational commitment. Moreover, they play, for us, the full symphony of the sciences and the humanities, giving us tools with which we can begin to internalize aspects of our lived and shared history — embracing culture and diversity, politics and religion, science and technology. As you read about our faculty, staff, and students and their unique contribution to the arts at Bethany, you will see that we remain dedicated to teaching about the depth and value of art—grounding our students in skills they will need to interpret and respond to the changing world around them. Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Tamara Nichols Rodenberg President

Simonton, Teghan. “Rap Is Art, but Some Academics Feel They Must Defend Its Study.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 3, 2018, Volume LXIV, Number 39, p.A24.

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BRIEFS

Bethanians in Belfast A seven-hour flight and a two-hour bus ride led to a life-changing experience for seven Bethany students who journeyed to Belfast, Northern Ireland, during Spring Break with expectations of Irish accents and local cuisine. Sponsored by the Student Activities Council, the trip aimed to encourage cultural immersion and community service through Amizade, an international Fair Trade Learning nonprofit based in Pittsburgh. Students split their time between serving, learning, and sightseeing. Watching the students engage with at-risk children at YouthWorks centers was the most rewarding part for Director of Student Activities Sam Goodge, who accompanied the students to Belfast. Every trip reveals one theme to Goodge — students go for the exotic location, but they return to campus with more stories about the children than the sights. Goodge compared Belfast to Bethany, in that it preserves history through architecture. Amid a visit to Giant’s Causeway, with its breathtaking rock formations lining the Atlantic, and other scenic destinations, the group learned about the country’s

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political strife from ex-members of the Irish Republic Army and the Ulster Defense Association. The week made a lasting impression on junior theatre and psychology dual major Kerry Kerr, from Lawrenceville, Georgia. “The trip, to me, had a huge mirroring aspect,” he said of his first trip outside the U.S. “Hearing the issues that the citizens of Belfast face and how things are in ‘their world’ made me realize that we are not any better as humans, and we have issues of our own too. We just call them by different names. “People are people, regardless of our borders.” This marks SAC’s fifth year sponsoring international trips with the hopes of broadening students’ worldviews. “From meeting with government officials to speaking with children in their communities, this trip offered our students a chance to open their minds and challenge their personal views,” said Goodge.

NEW DIRECTOR O F AT H L E T I C S Steve Thompson was named Bethany’s new athletic director in June. Previously, Thompson was the AD at Eureka College in Illinois, where he recently completed a $3 million fundraising campaign to renovate the school’s historic Reagan Gymnasium and McKinzie Football Field. During his tenure at Eureka, Thompson administered a competitive athletic program in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Eureka’s women’s basketball team, which Thompson coached, took both the conference regular season and the tournament championships in 2017 to advance to their first-ever NCAA tournament. In recognition of his achievements that year, Thompson was named the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association College Coach of the Year, the SLIAC Coach of the Year, and the Hero Sports National Coach of the Year.

Additionally, the Eureka Red Devils football program won eight games to clinch its first conference title since 1995 and go to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in school history. Prior to his appointment as Eureka’s athletic director, Thompson served as the

assistant athletic director for Facilities and Operations at Case Western Reserve University and later at Kent State University. Thompson holds a bachelor of arts degree in history from the College of Wooster and a master of science in sports administration from Kent State University.

HUNT NAMED NEW VP OF ENROLLMENT

DOLCH ROOM D E D I C AT E D I N OLD MAIN Congratulations to Norman Dolch ’69 and his wife, Cindy, on their 50th wedding anniversary! As a gift, Norman dedicated a room in Old Main to his wife, a former teacher at Bethany School.

Karen Hunt, an admissions executive with 25 years of higher education experience, is Bethany’s new vice president of Enrollment and Student Success. Previously, she was the executive director of admissions at Wittenberg University in Ohio, where she was responsible for recruitment, admission, scholarships, new student financial aid, admission marketing, and communications for a campus of 1,900 students. At Wittenberg, Hunt served on several committees, including its Innovation Task Force in which she co-created The Wittenberg Commitment, a series of six programs and promises that together offer a 21st-century value proposition for a liberal arts education. She was also a member of the University Planning Commission, which created the institutional strategic plan, Renewing the Promise: Wittenberg 2020; and served as the president’s senior staff liaison to the Enrollment and Marketing

Committee of the Wittenberg Board of Directors. Ms. Hunt earned her B.A. in communications from Wilmington College and her M.S. in college student personnel service from Miami University of Ohio.

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BRIEFS

Bethany Receives Federal Financing Bethany College announced this spring that it has received a total of $39.6 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These loans are part of the USDA’s Rural Development program and will be used for a variety of campus, facility, and programmatic improvements at Bethany. “These federal loans will have significant benefits to our entire campus community for many years to come,” said Bethany College President Rev. Dr. Tamara Nichols Rodenberg. “They will enable Bethany to realize substantial savings in the service of its prior debt obligations. Consequently, they will provide us with the financial flexibility to aggressively pursue long-range strategic objectives and accelerate our pace of advancement and growth.” Included in the loan total is a $5 million Rural Development Community Facilities loan guarantee for use in the planning, development, and construction of new or renovated facilities on campus.

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This federal funding comes at a time of much anticipated growth and development at Bethany. The college has recently created several new academic majors, including cybersecurity and international business. A major expansion to Bethany’s athletic center will be named the Georgiana and Bob Riley Athletic Center. A renovated campus dining hall was opened in September 2017. Abandoned property is being acquired for redevelopment in support of the College’s longterm strategic goals. In addition, new academic and office spaces are being planned. “Federal funding of this magnitude is a game-changer for an institution of our size,” added Rodenberg. “This USDA support provides us with exciting options that will enrich the Bethany experience not just for our current students, but for all of our future students.” Bethany College began working on its USDA loan application in 2016. Over the course of the past 18 months, Rep. David McKinley (W V-1st) and U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Capito assisted Bethany officials in the application process and were instrumental in helping to secure the USDA funding.

NEW TRUSTEES ANNOUNCED

RILEY SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCED Avella Area High School seniors seeking to enroll in Bethany College next year now have the opportunity for a full tuition scholarship, thanks to the generosity of two Bethany alumni. The Georgiana and Robert F. Riley, Jr. Scholarship is open annually to one qualified student graduating from the Avella area who has been accepted to matriculate as a freshman at Bethany. This scholarship is available through the generosity of Robert and Georgiana Riley who met in 1970 while attending Bethany. As distinguished alumni of Bethany College, they hope to provide a deserving Avella Area graduate with the kind of opportunities made possible by a great education. “We felt this scholarship was a great way to help a deserving student, but also help Bethany at the same time by enrolling outstanding students at full tuition,” said Mrs. Riley.

Bethany College President Rev. Dr. Tamara Nichols Rodenberg has announced the addition of four new members to the College’s board of trustees. They are: PAT R I C K H O S E Y ’ 8 0

has worked in the field of information technology, holding sales and sales management positions at IBM from 1981 to 2000 and at Mainline Information Systems since 2000. SEAN McBRIDE ’86

is a senior executive in the consumer goods and trade association sectors. He founded DSM Strategic Communications, a full-service public relations agency that develops and executes innovative communications campaigns for companies, trade associations, and not-for-profit organizations. GEORGIANA RILEY ’71

is the former president and owner of TIGG Corporation, a manufacturing company that designs and fabricates equipment and systems for the purification of water, air, and industrial gases and liquids. She has served on the boards of Adagio Health, Catalyst Connection, and the Pittsburgh branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. CRAIG WILLIAMS, PH.D. ’96

BETHANY RECEIVES ITS S E C O N D - L A R G E S T E S TAT E G I F T Remembering John Pennington ’69 Bethany College remembers alumnus John C. Pennington, Class of 1969, who passed away on October 5, 2017. Mr. Pennington’s name will be familiar to many Bethanians, as the Pennington Quadrangle outside Old Main bears his name and is a permanent memorial to his family. With his passing, Mr. Pennington has bequeathed to Bethany College the second-largest estate gift in its 179-year history. John’s love and passion for Bethany were evident by the many Bethany photographs and artifacts that adorned his home. He was a longtime member of the Order of the Bronze Bison by having included Bethany in his estate. John Pennington was 70.

serves as Vice President, Health Care Innovation and Management Solutions, at Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC, and is special advisor to the president of Johns Hopkins University for Regional Economic Development Strategy. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Mr. Williams was chief of staff to Maryland Governor Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr.

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FA C U LT Y N E W S

N E W FA C U LT Y AT B E T H A N Y Welcome to eight new faculty members who have joined Bethany for the 2018–19 academic year. They are: Dr. David M. DeIuliis Assistant Professor of Communications and Media Arts Dr. Anna Edlund Associate Professor of Biology William Fletcher Assistant Professor of Business Dr. Debra Hull Professor of Psychology Dr. Eileen St. John Assistant Professor of Education Dr. Katrina McNally Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Kayce Mobley Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Satoshi Takahashi Associate Professor of Mathematics

P R O F E S S I O N A L LY SPEAKING Dr. Aaron Honsowetz, assistant professor of economics at Bethany, took part in two professional conferences during the summer. He helped organize “Mapping Communication Access with Crowdsourcing” at the University of Chicago and also gave two presentations. At the World Economic History Congress, “Weaving Webs of Connections: The Roles of Information and Communication Services During Waves of Globalisation,” in Boston, Dr. Honsowetz gave a presentation on his work to construct a historical database of U.S. telegraph office locations in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 12 | FA L L 2 0 1 8 • B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E

S T U DY I N G T H E B H A G AVA D G I TA Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Dr. Holly Hillgardner took part in a summer seminar, “The Bhagavad Gita: Ancient Poem, Modern Readers,” sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Religious education scholars from across the country engaged in an intensive, three-week study of the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita at Yale University. Written in the early centuries, the Bhagavad Gita offered a profound reflection on moral, philosophical, and religious issues and is a foundation for the study of Hinduism. From its first English translation in 1785, the Gita has circulated widely throughout the world and has served as a key work for authors, religious thinkers, and political leaders such as Henry David Thoreau, T. S. Eliot, J. Robert

R E M E M B E R I N G D - D AY In observance of the 74th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, Bethany College Professor of History Dr. Gary Kappel was a featured lecturer at the Ohio County Public Library’s popular People’s University in conjunction with the “We Can Do It! WWII” traveling exhibit from the Sen. John Heinz History Center. Dr. Kappel’s lectures were entitled, “Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo: The Prelude to War” and “Blitzkrieg, Bombs and Battles: The Road to D-Day.”

Oppenheimer, Aldous Huxley, Swami Vivekananda, and Mahatma Gandhi. Dr. Hillgardner is currently on sabbatical, where she steps out of the classroom and onto the trail as a participant–observer of pilgrimage. She hopes to expand comparative theology’s traditional methodology of studying written texts to a more embodied, multifaceted approach. Her book, Longing and Letting Go (Oxford 2016), compared the texts of Mirabai, a Hindu bhakta, and Hadewijch, a Christian Beguine. This project will begin not with reading, but with walking in community with other pilgrims. Her journey begins with a Christian pilgrimage in the Camino de Santiago in Spain and then to a Hindu/Buddhist/Bon pilgrimage in Mt. Kailash, Tibet.

BOOKS BY ALUMNI

A M A N O F M A N Y H AT S E U G E N E M I L L E R ’47 I S A M A N FOR ALL SEASONS

H O G W I L D : T H E B AT T L E F O R W O R K E R S ’ R I G H T S AT T H E W O R L D ’ S LARGEST SLAUGHTERHOUSE Lynn Waltz ’78 has spent the past twelve years investigating working conditions in the meat packing industry. The findings of her research have gone into her first book, Hog Wild: The Battle for Workers’ Rights at the World’s Largest Slaughterhouse. Waltz, a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, graduated from Bethany College in 1978 and for more than 25 years has been a journalist, a writer, and, most recently, an assistant professor of journalism at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. In 2005, Waltz began writing a profile of Smithfield Foods for Virginia Business magazine. While reporting, she began discovering dark anecdotes about how the company was breaking national labor laws and was in the throes of investigations and legal battles with the National Labor Relations Board, specifically over unsafe working conditions, labor disputes, and union busting at Smithfield’s Tar Heel, North Carolina, processing plant. The University of Iowa Press compares Hog Wild with Upton Sinclair’s classic novel The Jungle and Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. Wilson J. Warren, the author of Tied to the Great Packing Machine: The Midwest and Meatpacking, calls Waltz’s book “…vivid and haunting… a compelling insight into the fate of the modern American labor movement and, crucially, evidence for why the United States is increasingly divided between rich and poor.” “I’m very excited,” says Waltz. “It’s been a big transition from writing news and magazine articles to completing a book. The research for a book is more expansive and more intensive. “This is the first time the entire story has been told from beginning to end,” Waltz said. “This is the first look inside the court cases and the first time the whole story has been put together.” Hog Wild: The Battle for Workers’ Rights at the World’s Largest Slaughterhouse is available from Amazon, University of Iowa Press, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebooks.

In the course of Eugene Miller’s distinguished career, he served 23 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring at the rank of Commander. He was a corporate officer at five different companies, including a stint as CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. He’s taught business management at no fewer than six prestigious universities. He’s been a reporter and associate managing editor for BusinessWeek, a speech­ writer for President Dwight Eisenhower, and, closest to home, a trustee of Bethany College. Oh, and let’s not forget his time as a member of Alpha Sigma Pi at Bethany College. A look back at his wide range of experiences and observations on the world are chronicled in his autobiography, Eugene Miller: A Man of Many Hats (TriMark Press). Miller enrolled at Bethany in 1942 at the very young age of just 16. “Back in 1942,” he writes, “drinking was prohibited at Bethany College, as was having a car. Often the men and women students would congregate in the lounges at Phillips Hall, the main women’s dormitory, to listen to the radio or dance to some records.” He earned his degree in business and went off to join the Navy. He’d later return to Bethany, this time as a member of the board of trustees, where he would serve for more than 40 years. Bethany also bestowed on Miller an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1969. Today, the boardroom in Old Main bears his name. Eugene Miller’s lifetime of diverse experiences reads like a true renaissance story from a man whose zeal for achievement has taken him around the world and to the far corners of human endeavor. Bethanians the world over will enjoy this autobiography from one of their own and relate to the sense of adventure and optimism he acquired in his college days, which guided him throughout his storied lifetime.

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VOICES: HEARD ON CAMPUS

“ Expect greatness from yourself and everyone around you.”

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First and foremost, expect greatness. If you don’t expect to win in life, I guarantee you never will. Expect greatness from yourself and everyone around you. There will be some people that will tell you not to, but don’t listen to them. Dreams are nothing more than plans awaiting action, and sometimes you’re the only one who can see your vision. When I was a seven-year-old kid, I dreamed of playing in the NFL. When I started sharing that dream with others, one man told me, “Greatness doesn’t live here.” Greatness doesn’t live here? Just because of where I was from and who I was, he had already determined that basically my dreams were over before they’ve even begun. I should just face the fact that my big dreams were out of reach, but I didn’t believe it. So, I continued to not only dream big, but to expect those dreams would come true, and they did. So never expect anything less than greatness in your life. Charlie Batch Doctor of Philanthropy, Honoris Causa

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It’s COMP-licated Bethany’s Time-Honored Right of Passage Leaves a Lasting Imprint on All Who Survive It

D

uring the final week of any semester on the Bethany campus, it can feel like everyone is walking around on eggshells… speaking in whispered tones… and glancing in the direction of designated classroom buildings with a look of sympathy. “Did someone die?” you might ask. “No,” they mutter. “It’s Comps Week.” That phrase may not mean anything to most people. But it can strike fear in anyone who has spent more than 20 minutes at Bethany College, usually associated with an immediate and dramatic increase in blood pressure, a split second of panic, and a déjà vu reaction that leads to shortness of breath and uncontrolled sweating. Some even cry. And they passed with distinction. “The comprehensive exams can be highly emotional,” says history professor Dr. Gary Kappel, “because, indeed, your graduation depends upon it.”

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Bethany’s comprehensive exam is a time-honored requirement for graduation that dates back to 1933, and it’s an academic experience that relatively few U.S. colleges or universities of any size practice. “The purpose of the comprehensive examination at Bethany is to test what we’ve taught,” says Kappel, “rather than to teach to a test. The comprehensive is, specifically, designed to cover what the student has done over their four years here.” On average, about 95% of students pass their comps. But that shouldn’t give students a false sense of complacency about the importance of the exam. “Some students freeze, just freeze,” says Kappel. “They just clam up. Or, they become very emotional… in tears. “There are always going to be a couple of kids who think, ‘I got this,’ blow it off, and fail,” he warns. “And it’s not at all uncommon for a very bright student to flunk their comps the first time because he or she simply didn’t take it seriously enough.”

All of this begs the question that most students ask themselves at some point during their years at Bethany: “Why?” “Because,” says Kappel, “they have not had that experience as an undergraduate. And the same is true when you do a dissertation defense in graduate school. From a business perspective, it demonstrates that you have mastered these materials. As for Mom and Dad, it tells them that we’re not playing around here… that we will guarantee, when your son or daughter leaves here, that they have reached a level of competency that is going to serve them well as they move out into the real world.” Every Bethany student has their own comps story to tell, which they usually recall with a combination of drama, embellishment, and at least a hint of reverence. It’s no coincidence that they can usually remember the smallest details from their own comps experience, years or even decades later.

Since the 1970s, the Comps Week tradition has grown to include the postexam celebration, where friends, family, classmates, pets, teammates, significant others, and even casual passers-by gather to congratulate and welcome you back to a normal life, much like the astronauts’ families welcomed them back to Earth after a trip to the moon. Of all the comprehensive exam candidates he’s seen in his 35 years on the Bethany College faculty, one stands out for Kappel. “At the end of the oral exam, we always say, ‘Well, what are you going to do now?’ And this fellow who had struggled through his four years here said, ‘I don’t know, because I never thought that I would get this far. My brothers and sisters all graduated from college, but nobody ever expected me to do that.’” Quite an ac- COMP-lishment. — Bethany Magazine

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Arts Bethany and the

Revealing the artist that lives within all of us By Lynne Glover

In ancient Greece, Muses served the gods as sources of inspiration in the arts. After all, even the most gifted Greek sculptor could use a little help stimulating their creative energies now and then.

For those whose creative expression leads them in pursuit of the arts —be it visual, music, or performing —Bethany College has shown itself to be the ideal springboard to launch careers across a broad spectrum of disciplines informed by artistic impulse. l To be sure, Bethany inspires creativity. Maybe it’s the pastoral location. Or the absence of distractions competing for attention. More intrinsically, it’s a place where collaborative creativity and lifelong relationships are formed between professors and students. l For whatever reason, the arts have flourished at Bethany in ways uncommon to many small colleges. l So how does a liberal arts college in West Virginia without a conservatory curriculum earn a reputation in the fine and performing arts?

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THE ARTS H AV E F L O U R I S H E D AT B E T H A N Y I N WAY S UNCOMMON TO MANY SMALL COLLEGES.

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THE LIBERAL ARTS CORE

T Aaron Anslow ’06

ake Aaron Anslow ’06. On his first visit, he became enamored with Bethany’s small, beautiful campus where he planned to study history and become a football coach. Then, Anslow watched as a man threw a pot on a potters’ wheel — and became fascinated. “It was almost like watching a snake charmer,” he recalls. Anslow signed up for a clay class and fell in love with art. “That’s the advantage of a liberal arts core — it lets you try other things,” says Anslow. “I never would have taken that class, if it were not for the arts core,” he claims of the requirement for receiving a bachelor’s degree from Bethany. Now, after coming full circle as associate professor of fine arts, Anslow intends to inspire other Bethanians as well. His Earthsmith Pottery Studio in an old post office on Main Street in Bethany opens this fall, where the Army veteran will offer pottery classes and provide a great little place for visitors to shop. “This place changed my life,” says Anslow about Bethany College. “When I was young, I didn’t know I was capable of anything. When I came here, I felt empowered.” He firmly believes that no matter what individuals who graduate in the arts end up doing professionally, they ultimately use their creativity— however they use their degree.

B E D R AW N TO T H E V I S UA L A R T S F O R I T C A N E X PA N D YO U R I M AG I N AT I O N . — AMERICAN FUSION ARTIST

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B A R B A R A JA N U S Z K I E W I C Z

The blend of Bethany’s liberal arts core with a focus on the arts gives students a platform on which to pursue a career in the art form of their choice or in something altogether different. Dr. Joe Lane, provost and dean of faculty, sums it up this way: “What you learn in college enriches your life, even if it’s not what you do every day,” he says. In short, Bethany students become well prepared for the next steps in their careers. Lane contends that one of Bethany’s biggest advantages is that it enables young minds to explore many elements across a broad spectrum rather than staying singularly focused. He thinks some students may sell themselves short by concentrating strictly on one area of study. “Some professional arts schools scoff at the idea of learning biology or business or reading Shakespeare,” says Lane, noting that the ability to see beyond a narrow understanding of one particular field is advantageous in any career — and also in the bigger picture of life. And size matters, too. “Being small is an advantage for us,” notes Lane. With an 11 to 1 student-to-faculty ratio, departments are inherently small. And students have tremendous opportunities to be part of a variety of art-related processes.

McDormand credits Dr. David Judy, head of the theatre department at the time, and the late Professor John Taylor, her English professor, for making a difference in her education— and her life.

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

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aid off from the Follansbee, W. Va., coke plant where he worked, Luke Hardt ’84, thought he’d “buy [him]self a semester at Bethany” and be a philosophy major. “Next thing you know,” he says, “I was on a whole new path.” That path wasn’t at the expense of Hardt’s love for philosophy, however. “The plays we were having fun doing addressed these deep thoughts.” This philosophy of “we-do-plays-thatshould-be-done-and-don’t-care-if-it’s-popular-or-not” came directly from his mentor, Dr. David Judy — the same mentor of recent Oscar winner and Bethany alumna, Frances McDormand ’79. Hardt, associate professor of theatre and director of Bethany College Theatre, recalls meeting McDormand as an undergrad. “She was in David Judy’s office — now my office — as a recent graduate of Yale [School of Drama], and I shook her hand. She was on her way to Texas to shoot her first film [Blood Simple]. It was the only time I met her, but I thought that it was really cool that her mentor was my mentor, too, and I always paid extra attention to her career.”

McDormand credits Dr. David Judy, head of the theatre department at the time, and the late Professor John Taylor, her English professor, for making a difference in her education — and her life. “Dr. Judy heard that there was another person applying for the directing program at Yale from Morgantown,” recalls McDormand. “So he got in touch with him and he drove me and another student from Bethany who was just getting a ride home to New Haven, Connecticut. We started out on the highway very early in the morning in an ice storm, hit a patch of black ice, and ended up getting into an accident. The car was totaled, and we missed the audition. So, Dr. Judy and Mr. Taylor bought me a plane ticket for the final call-back at Yale. Had it not been for them — and having the story that everyone at the audition remembered of the girl who was in the car accident, that’s probably why I got into the Yale School of Drama. “But they also gave me really great advice on my choice of audition pieces. Everyone else was going in with Juliet or Romeo or a scene from a movie, and they advised me to use a scene from a fairly obscure one-act play, which perked up their ears.”

Dr. David Judy

Luke Hardt ’84 Associate Professor of Theatre and Director of Bethany College Theatre

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A S A G U I TA R I S T, M cCOY DE SCRIB E S HERSELF AS A STUDIO MUSICIAN WHO HAS BEEN LIVING THE PROVERBIAL DREAM SINCE MOVING TO NASHVILLE AFTER G R A D U AT I N G .

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Pandel Collaros, Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts

“They both realized my aptitude for performing and found a way to have me build my curriculum towards that,” she recalls. “For instance, at the time I was there, I was the only theatre major in my class, but I was able to take Acting I and II, Directing I and II, and then in my senior year, I assisted Dr. Judy in the classes.” It was sheer coincidence that when Hardt was making his performance selections in May 2017, for Bethany’s next theatre season, he selected The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh—the same screenwriter who wrote Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, for which McDormand won her second Oscar. A SPECIAL PL ACE

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or Amanda McCoy ’09, being a part of the Bethany College Studio Ensemble was what prepared her the most for being a professional musician. It jump-started her songwriting career, taught her the practical ins and outs of equipment as well as how to set up and tear down, and how to show up splendidly prepared for auditions. As a guitarist, McCoy describes herself as a studio musician who has been living the proverbial dream since moving to Nashville after graduating. Her musical chops have had her share the bill with the likes of Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, and Molly Hatchett, to name just a few, and she recently performed at historic Ryman Auditorium, predecessor to the Grand Ole Opry where Johnny Cash met June Carter. McCoy plays frequently as a “hired gun” and regularly tours Europe to play sold-out shows with 1970s progressive rock band Pavlov’s Dog. “My experience at Bethany put me a step ahead of everyone because I know what

to expect,” says McCoy, who notes that she’s never lost an audition thanks to her experiences with Pandel Collaros, associate professor of music and chair of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts. “What sets Bethany apart from other schools are the lifelong relationships students have with mentors,” says McCoy, noting that although she lives in Nashville, she prefers to record all her music at the studio in Steinman Hall on the Bethany campus with Collaros as producer. “His mentorship has grown into a whole other level and he’s a very trusted advisor. “You get to know professors as people, and they get to know you, too,” says McCoy of her time as an undergrad. “This is the type of relationship that Bethany offers; and I’ve never seen it at any other place. It’s very special.” Collaros, who has been teaching music full time at Bethany for 15 years, explains that students enter at a variety of levels. “Some come in and don’t play anything. Some come to life in the studio,” he says. Others may get involved on the audio recording side and receive a degree in music technology—an interdisciplinary major between music and communications. “That’s liberal arts,” says Collaros. “Kids finding different things to do here in an environment where they’re not crowded with too many people.” Collaros notes that even if students who major in the arts aren’t the one in a million who make it professionally as a Hollywood star like McDormand — or even the one in a thousand like Amanda McCoy— many Bethany alumni stay involved with their artistic passions to continue enhancing their lives.

An example is Dr. Laura Sanders ’02. “My poor husband,” says Sanders about the schedule she keeps: rehearsing for two choral ensembles she belongs to, along with her busy professional practice as a psychologist. As a music major, Sanders debated between graduate programs in voice and school counseling. She applied to graduate programs in both, but counseling won out. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in school neuropsychology and opened her own private practice in 2015 to provide psychological assessments and evaluations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “Even though music was my major, I felt really well prepared to go into whatever. It was a really nice education to launch any type of career,” says Sanders about her Bethany experience. She echoes the frequently heard refrain from alumni about faculty accessibility and relationships. “They invited you over to their house. You got to know their families or partner. That makes a student feel like people are invested in them.” To be sure, one of those interested professors is Kenn Morgan, professor of fine arts. Just shy of spending three decades at Bethany, the teacher of art history and studio classes receives scores of Christmas cards each year from former students with photos of their families. And, it’s not just Christmas cards either. “I get postcards from all over the world from students of whatever gallery they’re visiting,” says Morgan. “They’re thanking me for how they appreciate art. That touches my heart.” B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 1 8 | 23

FROM THE AIR FORCE TO MAKING JEWELRY

Morgan says that art majors frequently enter graduate school, noting that formerstudent-turned-professor-turned-entrepreneur Aaron Anslow and he are now colleagues. Being an art major—or minor—is a wonderful thing, Morgan contends, as it “complements anything” in any field because it uses a different part of the brain. Over the years, Morgan’s students have gone on to become art teachers and museum curators, as well as social workers, occupational therapists, doctors, nurses, attorneys, coaches, entrepreneurs, ministers, and even a successful Harley-Davidson salesperson. Bethany, Morgan says, is a “great place for people to get a very fine education.”

TO M E , M AT H E M AT I C S , CO M P U T E R S C I E N C E , A N D T H E A R T S A R E I N S A N E LY R E L AT E D . T H E Y ’ R E A L L C R E AT I V E E X P R E S S I O N S .

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he Rev. Heather Hicks ’03, director of Youth and Family Ministries for First Presbyterian Church of Westerville, Ohio, always intended on going to seminary. She majored in music and minored in theatre at Bethany, so she would have it in her “back pocket” to use in her ministry, she says. Ordained in 2009, Hicks today says she applies all the “tricks of the trade” of her Bethany education, as she sings in the church choir, plays flute, and has written and directed performances for church Christmas pageants and Easter plays. A relatively new trade for Hicks is Olive Tree Designs, the handmade Celtic design and Victorian-era jewelry-making business that she started recently. “Jewelry is an out-of-left-field kind of thing,” says Hicks. “But my sister-in-law said that it’s so beautiful and that I should make it into a business.” Then there’s Heather Grinkley, a communications media and production major and music minor from Woodbridge, Va. Today, the 2016 graduate works as a property management leasing consultant, but she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and will be shipping out to boot camp at the end of the summer. Ultimately, she’ll use her degree to become an officer, working in public affairs or journalism. After graduation, Grinkley did a brief stint as a teacher for a small company, School of Rock, where she taught six- and seven-year-olds how to sing, along with stage presence.

“It’s very important to always keep an open mind,” says Grinkley about job opportunities. “When you come out of college, you’re not always going to get that job you have in mind. But Bethany got us ready to be adults in this world, and they prepared us.” Part of that open mind has Grinkley looking forward to auditioning for musicals and plays in the Washington, D.C., area after she finishes her Reserves training. While not her vocation, music remains an integral part of life for Kari Jo Tiede ’08, who today works as a budget analyst for the Department of Defense after graduating Bethany as an education major and music minor. “I work with spreadsheets and numbers all day. I love getting back to music as my stress release,” says Tiede, who sings with a community chorus outside of Huntsville, Ala. Tiede’s take on education for arts majors is that it makes for better problem solvers and an inherent ability to work with others. “Whether you sing or play an instrument in a band, you listen to the conductor, and you know where your part fits in—and that translates to any job.”

— GERMAN ENTREPRENEUR

SEBASTIAN THRUN

Kenn Morgan ’71, Professor of Fine Arts

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BEING AN ART MAJOR—OR MINOR— IS A WONDERFUL THING, MORGAN CONTENDS, AS IT “COMPLEMENTS ANYTHING.”

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Stage Frances McDormand is a Two-Time Oscar Winner and the Toast of Hollywood.

Any short list of Bethany College’s most famous and accomplished alumni has to include Frances McDormand. McDormand ’79 has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, but in an odd twist has actually been presented with Hollywood’s most prized trophy a total of three times. That’s because a star-crazed party crasher made off with her Oscar at this year’s Governor’s Ball. Fortunately, quick-thinking Best Actor winner Gary Oldman recovered it and had the honor of presenting it to McDormand for the second time that same evening. A native of Monessen, Pennsylvania, Frances McDormand arrived on the Bethany campus in the fall of 1975, eager to follow her dream of becoming an actress, a calling she heard even as a young teenager. In the years that have followed, she’s won the “Triple Crown of Acting”—two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and two Academy Awards, one for her lead role in the 1996 film Fargo, and her most recent Best Actress performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. In between, she’s picked up the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award, and others. She took time out from her busy schedule just a few days after receiving her second Oscar to talk to Bethany Magazine and reflect on her journey from Bethany, West Virginia, to international motion picture acclaim.

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All The World’s Her Stage: Q&A With Frances McDormand

BETHANY MAGAZINE:

B M : So coming from Monessen, Pennsylvania, why did you

Can you remember when you first tried your hand at acting?

choose Bethany?

FRANCES McDORMAND:

F M : My father was a Disciples of Christ minister, and we had gone

Yes. It was when I was 14, in high school. Our English teacher had us read Macbeth, and then we put together scenes after school for our parents and friends. I did a scene with Bancquo and Macbeth. And that was it. It was also a combination of a few things, one being that I was always an avid reader. I love to read, it’s a very private adventure for me. And once I realized that it could be a kind of collective community proposition, it opened up a new and different part of reading for me. Dramatic literature was to be feared in a collective experience, and it took me outside of my shy, nerdy self. And I loved the feeling of power that I had on stage. People leaned towards me, rather than away.

to Bethany during my sophomore year in high school for a church event. We saw a play there, and it was the first time I realized that there was culture, theatre, and a professional training program that you could aspire to. So I began working with my high school guidance counselor and told him that I wanted to be an actor. They didn’t really know what to do with me. At that point, they had put me in a stenography program in high school, which was good in the end, because I learned how to type and one of my first jobs out of graduate school was in word processing. I answered fan mail for AC/DC for one job, and then one of my first jobs in New York City was doing word processing at Playwrights Horizons, putting in names and addresses of their subscription members. Like I say to a lot of young actors now, have a skill outside of acting because you always have to work. You’re going to not work as an actor more than you’re going to work, so you have to be prepared, not only practically, but also psychologically and emotionally, to define yourself in a different way.

B M : Was that an immediate experience, or did it take a while

for you to warm to it? F M : It was really significant the very first time. Then subsequently

doing school plays, I began to realize that I just innately took it much more seriously than my classmates. There used to be these horrible plays written for high school students called The Girlfriend and No Boys Allowed, and they would basically be structured the same way every time. There would be a role for the most popular girl and a role for the most popular boy and then there would be a character role that I would always get cast in. And in our senior year in high school, our drama teacher gave me the option to play either the lead role, which was the popular girl, or the character role, and the character role at that time got to scream and sing songs with a guitar, so I chose that one. So that pretty much set me on a path to become a character actor, knowing that you get more longevity out of character roles than being the popular girl. B M : So when did you begin to realize that you were good enough to

do this for a living? F M : When I was at Bethany, between my freshman and sophomore

years, I stayed on campus and did a summer theatre program. I don’t know if I was paid or not, but it was so-called professional theatre because it wasn’t just a student production. We did As You Like It in the amphitheatre at Bethany. Then, between my junior and senior years, I went down to West Virginia University in Morgantown and got a summer theatre job. I made $50, which they paid me in cash, and that was my first paying gig.

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B M : Can you recall any moments from your time here at

Bethany that you still think about or draw upon today? F M : Yes! I have great memories of Bethany, some that are pub-

lishable and some that are not. I would have to say that my time with Dr. [David] Judy, the head of the theatre department at the time, and Professor [John] Taylor, who was my English professor, both of whom were my mentors, was invaluable. As was the oral and written [comprehensive exam] requirement for graduation because I was not a great student when it came to my grade point average, but I’m a really, really good learner. And they made a difference because they both realized my aptitude for performing and found a way to have me build my curriculum towards that. For instance, at the time I was there, I was the only theatre major in my class, but I was able to take Acting I and II, Directing I and II, and then in my senior year, I assisted Dr. Judy in the classes. They helped me find a way to get as much education about my field of interest out of what was available. I went with Professor Taylor on his Oxford program in my sophomore year. They normally didn’t allow sophomores to go at that time, but he allowed me and my best friend to go with him for a semester and that was seminal in my life. It was the first time that I had ever been out of the country. It was so mind-expanding and it was fantastic. I took an independent study where I saw plays and Shakespeare, and saw professional theatre for the first time in my life. They [Judy and Taylor] were the ones who advised me about going to graduate school. But socially, I came from a very small town in America, so having the incubation time at Bethany from 17 to 21 and to believe that I was an artist and thought of as such was significant.

M c D O R M A N D O N T H E AC A D E M Y AWA R D S

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he good part of it is that I come into contact with so many actors that I either hadn’t met or had contact with. I got to spend a lot of time with the casts of Get Out and Black Panther, which was a total thrill for me. Plus a lot of the younger actresses that I know I can mentor in some way… not just about acting but about the way you have to present at those kind of events… that you can make it individual and comfortable. You don’t have to wear a lot of makeup and horrible shoes to get through those things.

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All The World’s Her Stage: Q&A With Frances McDormand

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’ve been so fortunate, and any actor would be lucky to have the career I’ve had because I’ve been able to craft it myself within the rules that were already written, and to break as many as I could and still pursue it.

B M : You’ve said that you found your freedom here at Bethany.

What did you mean by that?

with the population of the school. It was a beautiful environment and kept me connected to nature in a way that is profoundly important to me now. It was a beautiful place to live for four years.

F M : Well, that’s closer to the unpublishable part. I was really well

raised, and when you’re a preacher’s kid, you’re not only responsible to your family, but you’re also responsible to the congregation. So my mother’s job was making sure we were good examples of how to raise children. I wasn’t a horrible child, but I certainly had a list of things I was interested in trying once I left home. And what was really great for me about Bethany was that it was a very safe place to move through my list of “extracurricular activities.” And even though it was associated with the Disciples of Christ church, it was still a college campus full of young people who had at their disposal the tools to test their individuality and their freedom, and I felt fortunate that I got to do that in such a safe place, and in a small town. Also, there were many fraternities and sororities at Bethany, and your housing had a lot to do with that. I was an independent woman in more ways than one, and I really learned my social life there. To this day, how I choose my friends and how I depend on my friends came out of independent living. To Bethany’s credit, they recognized that not everybody is sorority or fraternity material and you have to acknowledge that people have to craft their own rules within a legal and safe environment. I still stay in touch with a lot of my female college friends. They’re very important to me, even more so as we get older.

B M : What’s the most difficult thing for you as an actor?

B M : How do you think Bethany prepared you for graduate

F M : I was at a dinner party that my agency threw in my honor to

study at the Yale School of Drama?

celebrate my nomination for the Academy Award (which I like to call “the Convention” because the Academy Awards are like a car show, after all… they polish you up and then send you back to the garage!). I was sitting with another agent from the agency and she asked me if I had ever heard of the “inclusion rider.” It was something that had been available to everyone in the industry in their negotiation, but hardly anyone knows about it. The most important part is the crew, the support team of making a movie because that’s the larger community of filmmaking. So often, it’s very difficult to break into unions, and a lot of young people who live a more diverse life than I do have a very difficult time

F M : Bethany was based on the educational paradigm of written

and oral exams. The acting program at Yale is a conservatory, it’s not academic. I only had two lecture courses at Yale — most of the courses were practical in the training of being an actress. Thank goodness because I never would have been accepted at Yale University with my grade point average in high school. But like I said before, there was much more emphasis placed on knowing what you wanted to do when I was at Bethany. I always wanted a liberal arts education, not a technical school. And it was small enough so I wasn’t so overwhelmed 30 | FA L L 2 0 1 8 • B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E

Is there anything you still struggle with? F M : No, and that’s the great gift of age. I don’t struggle anymore.

As a younger actor, it was the rejection. So much a part of our life is about constantly being told whether or not we’re good enough to get a job. My husband, who is a writer/director and on the other side of the table at an audition, once said to me, “When somebody walks into a room, we’re hoping you’re the one. Whenever someone walks into a room, you have to have something to offer them and we’re auditioning them as much as they’re auditioning you because you have the right to say no. That’s the most power an actor has, to say ‘no, this isn’t right for me even if you offer it to me.’” I’ve been so fortunate, and any actor would be lucky to have the career I’ve had because I’ve been able to craft it myself within the rules that were already written, and to break as many as I could and still pursue it. B M : Speaking of breaking rules, at the Academy Awards you

took an inside-Hollywood term like “ inclusion rider” and made it the top Google search.

bringing a definitive part of their world into their professional lives. And that’s because getting into a union involves a lot of nepotism, and young people don’t have a chance to break into it. So that’s the most important thing… so we want to see a female cinematographer get the job. And not just get the job, it’s important that we get a chance to fail at the job as well as succeed, which has been a problem for minority groups and women. It’s not just “give us $100 million and we’ll make a great movie that makes you $200 million,” it’s “give us $100 million even if we fail once, and then give it to us again so that we get better at it.” That’s the point. Not just getting the job, but getting to fail and succeed at the job. B M : Has there been much activity surrounding this idea since you

gave it such a high profile at the Academy Awards? F M : There have been some announcements by different production

companies run by men. A couple of larger agencies and studios are “in discussions.” I think it’s the kind of thing where you wait and see. It’s partly about the production companies, but it’s also about individuals. Right now, all Hollywood wants are stories about female protagonists, but they also have to understand they’re going to have to pay us in a way they’ve never paid us before. So everyone is between a rock and a hard place about how to move forward. It’s the same thing with the inclusion rider. It’s going to be just as much about me saying,

“I’m not going to do that job unless we discuss this” and we put it in writing, and be willing to walk away if it’s not effected or there’s not a discussion about it. B M : For those of us who don’t work in the motion picture industry,

how do you hope inclusion riders will bring about change that we can all see and recognize? F M : The film industry is a very small industry. It’s possible to effect

change because we’re such a small industry, but it’s also a propaganda machine. Movies never reflect present-day society. Documentaries, maybe, but movies never do. They’re always at least three years behind what’s happening. But movies are a way of saying “this is a part of our culture.” And I think that’s what information about the AIDS crisis did, and what television shows about the transgender movement did, and I think the most important thing that comes out of the #MeToo movement, besides a legal defense fund, is that we are reflecting that in the stories we’re telling and that we change the industry by them seeing that there’s a financial gain to tell stories about women and people of color and transgender issues so that they can see that it’s not just a trend, but a reflection on our culture. It’s a business, so it has to show financial gain by being caught up with the times, and audiences have to demand it. n

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ALUMNI GAME CHANGERS

The Healing Power of

Wolves Man’s best friend is a close descendant of wolves. So why are we so afraid of them? This Bethany filmmaker hopes to change that.

J U L I A H U F F M A N , C O M M U N I C AT I O N S ’ 9 0 DIRECTOR, MEDICINE OF THE WOLF PRODUCTIONS

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

was born in Los Angeles, California, and after much internal wrestling, my very young birth mother decided to place me for adoption, praying that I would find my way into the home that she just couldn’t provide for me at the time. I was a healthy baby, but the transition was challenging. I cried incessantly and even suffered from night terrors. And although my adoptive parents tried everything that they could to sooth me, it wasn’t until my second birthday that my pacifier finally did arrive. And he came in an interesting form; he was white and black and furry… and he had four legs… and I named him Bozo… after Bozo the Clown of course. Bozo and I were inseparable, and I loved him. Bozo helped heal something in me that no one else could. In fact, he showed me the complete and unconditional love that I had been longing for. I think it’s fair to say that Bozo and I, well… we adopted each other. Searching for a simpler way of life, my family soon moved from Los Angeles to rural West Virginia where it was a magical time for me as I thrived in the outdoors and Bozo and I roamed the wilderness together.

He was my partner, my best friend, and the world was our oyster. It was a blissful time in the country. But Bozo, being a boy dog, liked to take off alone, as boys do... and one day he didn’t come back. My father told me later that Bozo had been killed, shot by a farmer. I asked why, and he replied that that is what happens when dogs chase sheep. I was devastated. But I had to grow up and move on. I went off to college at Bethany, where I majored in communications and broadcast journalism. While I was at Bethany, a Hollywood production came to campus to shoot a film about Alexander Campbell called Wrestling with God, by director Jerry Jackson. I saw on one of the bulletin boards that they were looking for interns. I was an assistant to sound and assistant to everything else. But it was my first film, actually working in Bethany College. If it wasn’t for that, I have no idea which direction I would have gone in. After graduation, I worked in local television news at WSAZ in Huntington, West Virginia. But I realized that I really wanted to explore other avenues — bigger picture storytelling — so I left news and moved back to California. I think that I am still a journalist at heart and, hopefully,

that comes through in my documentary filmmaking because my point is investigating, researching, and then finding a way to tell a story in a way that compels people to think about a subject in a way they never had before. I guess you could say that I’m a person who likes to bring a voice to the voiceless, perhaps inspired by some of my own early struggles. But living in the city, I had lost my connection to nature and to the wild. There was something missing, and I was feeling a great disconnect. And through it all, I never forgot Bozo. In 2011, shortly after wolves were removed from the endangered species list, wolf states pushed through the first sport wolf-hunting bill in 40 years. “Why hunt the wolf now?” I asked myself. We had come so far to protect them, why destroy what we had spent so much time trying to restore? I felt an ache so great that I knew I needed to make a film about wolves. The bond that Bozo and I had developed left a large imprint in my soul. And it wasn’t until years later that it came to me that my beloved Bozo was a catalyst, inspiring me to want to learn more about his wild ancestor the wolf. And eventually to speak for them.

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The wolf that later became the dog was our first true partner. — Julia Huffman

THE CALL OF THE WILD

Think for a moment of the millions of dogs in the world — that is the wolf. At the top of every dog’s genealogy chart is the wolf, and dog’s DNA is 98 percent derived from wolves. Scientists confirm that the wolf is one branch of a dog’s family tree. You’ve heard the term “the wolf is in your living room”? Well Bozo was my wolf… and my connection to the wolf. Wolves once ranged across most of North America, a vital part of many varied ecosystems. But by the mid-1900s, an unremitting slaughter by humans had brought wolves to the brink of extinction. Red wolves and Mexican gray wolves survived only in captivity, their wildness caged. And the lands where wolves once roamed were diminished, as was our own relationship to the wilderness. It seems that in our journey through human evolution on the planet, the wolf that later became the dog was our first true partner. In 2003, two scientists, Dr. Wolfgang Schleidt and Michael D. Shalter, wrote a highly circulated essay called “The Co-Evolution of Humans and Canids.” In it, they propose that about 100,000 years ago wolves and humans first met and eventually found a mutually rewarding partnership. Each of them were skilled hunters in their own way. One provided skills that the other didn’t. Humans used sharp weapons for hunting large predators but they didn’t have the highly advanced sense of smell, night vision, supreme cooperative teamwork, and tracking and navigating skills that wolves had.

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Julia Huffman and her dog Bozo

Once the wild canines that would eventually become dogs were attracted to human settlements, our ancestors noticed a value that went beyond that of a living garbage disposal. Early humans lived in dangerous times, with large animals around that saw humans as potential prey. There were often other bands of humans with hostile intentions. Dogs hovering near the village looked on that settlement as their territory, which meant that whenever a stranger or some wild beast approached, they created a loud clamor, alerting the residents in time to rally a defense. Since the dogs were always vigilant, human guards did not need to be posted throughout the night, thus allowing for more rest and a better lifestyle. It takes only a short mental leap to get from the concept of wolves guarding the edge of the village to the idea

of a watchdog for the family home. The dog’s bark served the benign purpose of alerting the family to the arrival of visitors (a sort of canine doorbell) and warned when potential thieves were approaching (a canine burglar alarm). This alerting function was clearly one of the main motivations for domesticating dogs in the first place. Here is where the first human genetic engineering comes into play. Once dogs were domesticated enough that humans could handle them and control their breeding, we could start to tinker with and modify the species. Obviously, for personal and community security, the most effective dog is one with a loud, persistent bark. Thus, early humans began a selective breeding program to create such dogs. A dog that barked loudly was kept, nurtured, and bred with others that also barked. One that did not bark was

simply disposed of as being useless. Thus the “barking genes” were strengthened in dogs to the degree that now one of the distinctions between wild canines and domestic dogs is the fact that our domestic dogs bark a lot, while wild dogs seldom do. Schleidt and Shalter suggest that through generations of humans observing these most impressive skills, we learned to hunt like wolves, listen and read the land like wolves, and create homes like wolves by living in caves. In part because of this partnership with wolves, humans evolved and eventually would dominate the world landscape. Aldo Leopold, American author and environmentalist who grew up in a hunting culture, was taught that wolves were evil and needed to be exterminated. But after seeing a wolf that he had shot slowly die, Aldo was transformed. He realized that wolves carried with them an intrinsic rhythm and a divine order that humans had lost touch with. “To look into the eyes of a wolf,” he said, “is to see your own soul.”

states across the country. Just barely off of the endangered species list, and with no science behind it, wolves were sport-hunted, trapped, clubbed to death, and their hides displayed on Facebook as some kind of bragging right. But why would we be killing these animals that have been some of our greatest teachers and companions? Why the disconnect? The reason is that the wolf hunt is being driven by politics and not by the best scientific evidence. I was utterly dismayed when I heard the news that the wolf was not only delisted, but that politicians had enacted legislation to resume their sport hunting. The legislation was attached to a rider and voted on in closed-door sessions and without the best available science as a guide. Politics had hung wolves out to dry.

N AT U R E A N D P O L I T I C S

It doesn’t take much research or understanding to see how important wolves are to the natural balance of things. Scientists call the wolf “the great balancer of nature,” and we can see an example of this in Yellowstone National Park. When wolves were reintroduced into the park after an absence of over 70 years, it was as if a crucial missing piece of a puzzle was put back in place. Wolves, although small in numbers, transformed the geography of Yellowstone. There was another driving force behind my desire to make this film, and that was to raise public awareness about wolf hunting. We went from protecting the wolf for 40 years under the Endangered Species Act to delisting them in 2009 (in the west) and then 2011 (in the Great Lakes region) with less than 15 percent of their original roaming territory. Suddenly and legally, pack members of wolves were decimated, as there were open hunting seasons on borders surrounding Yellowstone National Park and in wolf

Scientists call the wolf “the great balancer of nature…”

Photographs courtesy of Jim Brandenberg

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There have been only two wolfrelated deaths in U.S. history.

Julia Huffman speaks at a TEDx Fargo.

Consider the facts: First, let’s consider the widely held perception that wolves are dangerous. The facts, however, are that there have been only two wolf-related deaths in U.S. history. In fact, both deer and cows kill more people than wolves. According to Dr. John Vucetich, a professor at the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Technological University who heads the longest running wolf and moose study of Isle Royale, you are much more likely to get struck by lightning than to be attacked or killed by a wolf. Another common misperception is that wolves kill livestock, mainly cows and sheep. But the truth is that wolves are responsible for less than one percent of all livestock losses in U.S. wolf country. THE WOLF AS MEDICINE

So how do we heal our broken relationship with the wolf? We need to learn to honor wolves for their innate transformative and healing qualities, ditch the outdated and inaccurate “Little Red Riding Hood” concept, and replace it with an understanding based in reality. And we can also look to indigenous cultures around the world who see the sacred significance of the wolf for reverence. 36 | FA L L 2 0 1 8 • B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E

For my film, I interviewed Chi ­ a’iingan, an elder from the Red Lake M Nation, whose name means “Big Wolf.” To the Ojibwe people, there is no separation between them and the wolf; the wolf is like a totem. It holds the medicine that teaches humility, and in the Ojibwe’s creation story, wolf and man walked the earth naming everything, the plants and the animals, and when they were through, the creator said, “Now you will go your separate path but take heed: whatever happens to you happens to the wolf and whatever happens to the wolf happens to you.” We can look to indigenous cultures for the wisdom needed now. They never hated, competed with, or feared the wolf, but instead they talk about the wolf as being a teacher, a reflection of our selves — a symbol of great healing, as a medicine. But despite the fact that the majority of Americans are against the hunting and trapping of this iconic animal, efforts are currently underway once again to delist the wolf in the Great Lakes region. In the American West and with very minimal numbers left, wolves who step out of the Yellowstone National Park boundaries can be hunted, baited, and trapped. It is clear that the wolf deserves a place in the North American landscape not only to

exist, but to thrive. And as Dr. Jane Goodall, who was featured in Medicine of the Wolf, recently said, “We could change the world tomorrow if all of the millions of people around the world acted the way they believe.” The frontier for wolves has always been the hearts and minds of humans. Can we learn to value America’s most polarizing predator? Today, with the support of the American public and the safety net of the Endangered Species Act, efforts have begun to right this horrible wrong: to restore these essential creatures to their rightful places in our landscapes, in our hearts, and in our culture. After all, the wolf is in your living room. n

Julia Huffman ’90 is an award-winning filmmaker in Los Angeles whose film credits include Medicine of the Wolf (2015) and Wolf Spirit (2018). In addition to her film work, Julia is currently in development with BoBCat Studios for the production of The Rainbow Murders, a multi-part television docu-series. Julia is also finishing her first screenplay and teaches acting classes with her partner, veteran actor Peter Looney, at For the Actor Studio in Burbank, California.

BETHANY SHORTS

Bethany at the Grammys received a Grammy Award for co-producing an album that went on to win Best Children’s Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards earlier this year. Jacques worked with singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb to produce the winning album, Feel What U Feel. A producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, Jacques is known for creating soundtracks for movies and television shows, including “Grey’s Anatomy,” Supernatural, and The Break-Up. RICH JACQUES ’93

Were You There When History Was Made? If you’re a Bethanian of a certain age, you have no doubt heard the 1973 hit “Tequila Sunrise,” by the Eagles. You may even break out in a little karaoke when you hear it on the radio. But did you know that there may be a Bethany connection to this song? According to SongFacts.com, “Tequila Sunrise” is one of the first two songs written by performers Don Henley and Glenn Frey.

An urban legend associated with the song goes something like this: The Eagles, a fledgling young band stepping out on their own, were performing a concert at Bethany College in 1973. After the concert, the group retired to their room at the Gresham Inn. The story goes that they were sitting outside their room when someone produced a bottle of tequila. As they passed around the tequila, Frey came up with a guitar riff he described

as “kinda Roy Orbison, kinda Mexican.” He played it for Henley and said, “Maybe we should write something to this.” A few hours later, as dawn broke over Bethany and the bottle ran dry, “Tequila Sunrise” had been born. It soon became a hit and shot up to #64 on the Billboard Hot 100. Is the legend true? Were you there? Drop us an email at alumni@bethanywv.edu and tell us about it!

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Gone  to  “A friend at Bethany who was German introduced me to my first foreign film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God by Werner Herzog. It changed my life.”

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ALUMNI PROFILE

the Movies Karen Arikian ’77 is a champion for American independent films KAREN ARIKIAN CLASS OF 1977 P SYCH O LOGY

Karen Arikian discovered her love for filmmaking quite by accident. Soon after graduating from Bethany College in 1977, she landed her first job at an institution for handicapped children in Boston. After stumbling across a closet full of dusty equipment used for producing training films, her creative energy got the better of her and she made her first short film — a takeoff on the sci-fi hit Alien—as a gag gift for her boss. She had been bitten by the filmmaking bug. So she left her job and moved to New York. “I always had a love for the arts,” says Arikian. “And most of my friends at Bethany between ’73 and ’77 were in the theatre company.” The Brooklyn native quickly found a job as an assistant producer at a New York public television station, but her attraction to filmmaking wouldn’t quit. “A friend at Bethany who was German introduced me to my first foreign film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, by Werner Herzog. It changed my life. So I applied for a scholarship to study documentary filmmaking in Germany. I headed to Munich where I first learned about the “American Independents,” who were featured at the Munich Film Festival. I was captivated by what I saw—first films by the Coen Brothers, Alexander Rockwell, and other soon-to-be ‘stars’ of the indie film movement.” Arikian studied documentary film in Munich for a year and met a number of American independent filmmakers. When she returned home to New York, she was shocked to discover that the organization at the center of the developing American independent film movement was literally across the street from her Manhattan apartment. “It was an organization associated with film festivals, film markets, and supporting American indies called the

Independent Feature Project (IFP). So I started volunteering there and met all these incredible people,” she says, “and within maybe two years I was the executive director.” Through the IFP, Arikian re-connected with the European film scene, moved to Germany, produced a few films, and began consulting for the Berlin International Film Festival, called the Berlinale. “It’s very dear to my heart,” she says. She then spent five years as the executive director of the Hamptons International Film Festival before starting her own company. Today, she divides her time between Germany and New York, consulting for international organizations with programs bridging Europe and the U.S. “I also teach at the Hamburg Media School and run workshops for NYU Berlin. This part of my life —working with young directors, producers, and entrepreneurs— is the most satisfying part of the work I do now”. So what does the executive director of an international film festival do, exactly? “I’m always tracking films,” she says. “I’m looking for up-and-coming talent and keeping on top of industry trends. As a programmer in Berlin, we’re looking at films from all over the world, but I’m there because of what I know about American independent films. And I keep saying ‘independent’ because I’m really no expert about Hollywood films. So I’m seeing films about a year before they’re out in theatres.” And Arikian’s favorite movies? “It’s simply too hard to choose,” she says. “Foreign, independent, and even big-budget studio films capture my enthusiasm. “But my heart is really in documentaries.” —Bethany Magazine B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 1 8 | 39

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HOW TWO MEN CAME TO BETHANY AFTER ESCAPING NAZI TYRANNY by Bob Oltmanns

The road to Bethany College is anything but straight. For most, it’s a journey marked by serpentine roads and mid-American values. But for two Bethany graduates, the road that brought them safely to the threshold of Old Main began in the crucible of Nazi occupation, unimaginable atrocities, and the specter of certain death. Only out of sheer luck— and a few unexpected moments of humanity — were their lives miraculously spared. And while World War II took the lives of more than 56 million people, these two men had reason to fear for their lives more than most for no other reason than that they were Jewish.

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ROBERT LEVINE

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T

T H O M A S B U E R G E N T H A L’ S STORY

homas Buergenthal ’57 and Robert Levine ’49 never knew each other. And, until this story was written, hadn’t even heard of one another. Yet these two Bethany alums share a life experience that relatively few surviving souls can claim —to be young and helpless against the greatest evil the world has ever known and escape a fate millions of others could not. For Buergenthal, it was surviving the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz at age ten. For Levine, it was enduring capture by the German army in northern

France following the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, lying helpless and wounded… just days before his 20th birthday. World War II served as a reminder that humanity, compassion, and

decency do endure, even in the midst of horror, darkness, and despair. Buergenthal and Levine were witnesses to such humanity and have lived long, meaningful lives because of the benevolence they were shown by complete strangers… and their enemies. Their good fortunes eventually led them each to Bethany College, from which they laid the cornerstone of their own American dream. Their stories of survival and humanity have been shared in intimate talks in VFW halls, lectures at major universities, and an address in the United Nations General Assembly. The range of emotions one would expect to find in men burdened by the nightmares they carry are remarkably absent, replaced by the gentility of age and the grace of reflection. These are their stories, of how their paths led them separately from Utah Beach and Auschwitz to Bethany, West Virginia, in the aftermath of World War II.

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om Buergenthal was born in Lubochna, Czechoslovakia, in what is now Slovakia. It was 1934, the Nazi party had just seized power in Germany, and the Third Reich was on course to conquer Europe. As he describes in his book, A Lucky Child: A Memory of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy, Buergenthal recalls his boyhood home as “an idyllic place… Lubochna was truly the beautiful place my parents frequently talked about.” But as Adolf Hitler was invading Czechoslovakia and later Poland, the Buergenthals were on the run to escape Nazi persecution. Tom Buergenthal and his family relied on their wits and luck to stay one step ahead of the advancing German army. “A whole country, it seemed, had declared war on a family of three whose only crime was that they were Jews,” writes Buergenthal. Like so many other eastern European Jews in the 1940s, eight-year-old Thomas Buergenthal; his mother, Gerda; and his father, Mundek, were eventually rounded up by the Nazis in the evacuation of the Ghetto of Kielce, Poland. Only by a masterstroke of good luck were they sent to the labor camp of Arbeitslager, where they would remain for the next two years. Others taken in the evacuation were not so lucky. They were sent to Treblinka, one of the most notorious Nazi death camps, where they were almost immediately exterminated as part of Hitler’s “final solution.” The Buergenthals were split up; young Thomas and his father were taken to Auschwitz while his mother was sent to a neighboring women’s camp. Although just a boy, Thomas recalls the panic that ensued as Jewish refugees were herded onto trains by the hundreds. “People began to cry and pray,” he recounts in his book. “Others huddled together in whispered conversations. Two men in our car started to pry open some floorboards. As it got dark, machine-gun

Buergenthal with his mother

Young Tom Buergenthal with a soldier fire, coming from the last car, exploded all around us. Our guards must have spotted those trying to escape by sliding through the floorboards and lying flat between the rails. “The rest of us resigned ourselves to the fact that we would soon be arriving in Auschwitz.” In a ghastly twist of fate, Buergenthal considered himself “lucky” to have been left at Auschwitz. Normally, when the trains arrived at the camps, there was a “selection” process where some of the Jews were sent to the Birkenau extermination camp. There, they would be ushered directly from the train into the gas chambers. Others were sent to Auschwitz. “Our group was spared the selection process,” he recalls. “The SS officers must not have ordered it. Had there been a selection, I would have been killed before ever making it into the camp.” For the next six long, arduous months, Buergenthal relied on the survival skills his father had taught him during their exile from Czechoslovakia to stay alive during his confinement at Auschwitz, using whatever

tricks and instincts he could marshal to remain out of the path of Nazi brutality, and never abandoning hope that he would ultimately survive. The lessons from his father kept young Buergenthal alive long enough to face the most trying test of all: the Auschwitz death march. With Russian soldiers closing in on the German forces in Poland, the Nazis evacuated their Jewish prisoners in the winter of 1945. Desperate to conceal any evidence of their crimes against humanity, the Nazis forced weak, sick, and starved Jews to march 40 miles in frigid temperatures and snow. Those who could not keep up were simply shot or left to die along the roadside. It was during this mass exodus that young Thomas Buergenthal nearly succumbed. Frozen and weak, he would lose two of his toes to frostbite but managed to find shelter in an abandoned German infirmary barracks as the Nazis eventually broke ranks and fled. For Thomas Buergenthal, the war was over. Immediately, he began searching for

his parents, unsure of their fate, but hopeful that he would find them alive. He ended up in an orphanage, like so many other Jewish children who had survived the ravages of war and the concentration camps. It took two more years before the orphanage and a welfare worker miraculously reunited Buergenthal with his mother. “I spotted my mother even before the train came to a stop,” he writes. “As I try to describe the emotions of that moment, I realize that I am unable of putting into words what I felt. And even now, so many years later, tears well up in my eyes as I see her standing there, nervously scanning the slowing railroad cars for a glimpse of me.” Sadly, Buergenthal’s father died of pneumonia in Auschwitz. His grandparents went missing in the evacuation of Kielce, and he never heard of them again. By the end of the war, six million Jews, or about two-thirds of the entire Jewish population of Europe and 80 percent of the Czech Jewish population, had been systematically exterminated by the Nazis between 1941 and 1945. B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 1 8 | 45

“I said, ‘Well, I see Bethany is a Christian college, and I assumed you wouldn’t want me,’ and he said, ‘Young man, you’re in America. We’ll give you a scholarship and we’ll get you work and everything else, so just apply.’ And so I applied and I had a full tuition scholarship, everything that I really needed.”

— Thomas Buergenthal ’57

B U E R G E N T H A L’ S R O A D TO BETHANY

Buergenthal and his mother settled in Germany, but the war had taken its toll on the country, so he emigrated to America to live with an aunt and uncle in New Jersey. “When I came to the United States,” he says, “I had two years of high school in Germany, and one year of private tutoring before that. “One day, I got called to the office of the college advisor and she introduced me to the assistant dean of Bethany College. He asked me why I didn’t apply, and I said, ‘Well, I see Bethany is a Christian college, and I assumed you wouldn’t want me,’ and he said, ‘Young man, you’re in America. Don’t worry about it. We’ll give you a scholarship and we’ll get you work and everything else, so just apply.’ And so I applied and I had a full tuition scholarship, everything that I really needed. “I took the train to Pittsburgh in those days, and the bus to Wheeling, and then a bus to Wellsburg, at which point I expected to see Indians [laughing]. I was totally ignorant of the area, or what it was, and of course, getting to Bethany, that was even more complicated. 46 | FA L L 2 0 1 8 • B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E

“I had a wonderful time in Bethany,” says Buergenthal. “Some wonderful professors, and I think the professors were as good as I would have found anyplace. And one reason was many of them went to Bethany as professors during the Depression and stayed there. I had wonderful history and political science people and language people, and it was exciting. Of course, it was easy to study hard, because there wasn’t very much to do.” And study hard, he did. Buergenthal graduated from Bethany College in 1949, summa cum laude. He went on to the New York University Law School and Harvard Law School. He’s been a professor of law, a judge, and the only immigrant-American ever appointed to the International Court of Justice. The example of his life has earned him a global reputation as a distinguished human rights advocate and jurist. He’s received numerous honors as a champion of human rights and has authored more than a dozen books and numerous essays on human rights and international justice.

“Bethany was really my introduction to America,” says Buergenthal. But still, almost 75 years later, the scars of Auschwitz remain. The horrors of the atrocities he witnessed still manifest themselves in his heart, his head… and on his arm. “I cannot see movies about it, about the camp. I cannot read other books [about the camps]. People are always surprised when they ask me to review a book and I have to send it back and say, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t read these types of books. I can’t.’ But at the same time, I can speak about it and I can write about it myself.” “The nightmares have stopped,” he says. “I had nightmares continuously in Auschwitz and afterwards for a while. They were in the context of dreaming about being executed, and I said, ‘Well, this is just a nightmare.’” And every morning as he prepares for a new day, Buergenthal can’t avoid the tattooed number on his forearm—a permanent reminder of his daily existence during some of the darkest days in human history.

ROBERT LEVINE’S STORY

B

ob Levine’s brand of luck was decidedly different from Buergenthal’s. Levine grew up in the Bronx, not far from Yankee Stadium. World War II was a call to arms for most young men in 1943, and Levine had signed up for the Army Specialized Training Program to become a combat mortar specialist. Shortly after he enlisted, the program was canceled and Levine was shipped overseas in early 1944. “That was my first unfortunate experience,” he recalls. There were soon to be many others. By the time Levine arrived in England, planning was already underway for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. “Nobody really knew what was going on,” he says. “We just didn’t know. We saw the refugees flowing into London from Germany, so we were well aware of what was happening to the Jewish community, and that’s about it. We knew we were part of the invasion force, and that’s about it.” Levine was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division—the “Tough ’Ombres”— that landed on Utah Beach in northern France just a few days after the D-Day invasion to serve as replacements to the initial strike force. They no sooner hit the beach when Levine was on his way to the front lines, now several miles inland. The 90th Infantry was part of an assault on Hill 122 near the German stronghold of Foret de Mont-Castre. Hill 122 was pivotal to securing German military supremacy in Normandy, so fighting for its control was fierce. “We took the hill, but you had to go down the other side, and they were waiting for us,” he recalls. “They surrounded us, and I was wounded.” In a battle of grenade fire, Levine took a piece of shrapnel in his right leg but could still walk. “I was in a foxhole with a buddy of mine, a young guy next to me. Suddenly, this German stood up and had this gun on us.

My buddy panicked and took off and ran, and the German shot him. At that point, I just put my hands up and surrendered. This is how I got captured.” The following day, while in captivity, Levine was wounded again, this time severely, when his own unit, the 90th Infantry Division, shelled the German front lines with artillery fire. He was taken to a German field hospital that had been set up in a nearby farmhouse. They laid him on a kitchen table where he was approached by a German army doctor. The doctor looked at Levine, and reached to examine the dog tags around his neck. “On the tag with your name and everything else was your religion. ‘P’ for Protestant, ‘C’ for Catholic, and ‘H’ for Hebrew. And here I was with an ‘H’ on my dog tag.” “’Was ist ‘H’?!” barked the doctor. “You can imagine how I felt then,” says Levine. “I said to myself, ‘Well, there goes my 20th birthday,’” he recalls. “I really never expected to survive. But when I woke up, I looked down, and my leg was gone… and the dog tag was gone.” Levine’s right leg had been amputated below the right knee. In his pocket was a

“At that point, my whole life really did change... It’s almost like being born again. It affected my personality, because I’ve always had that perspective of having gotten that close and survived.”

— Robert Levine ’49

note, handwritten in German by the doctor, explaining why the surgery had been necessary. “Believe it or not,” says Levine, “he had taken the dog tag and removed it. There was a special guy. “At that point, my whole life really did change, because it’s almost like being born again.” His German captors moved Levine to a POW hospital in another farmhouse in the city of Rennes, where he remained for a month before U.S. forces liberated the town, freed the POWs, and sent Levine home. His first stop was Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he would recuperate for a year. B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 1 8 | 47

“I said to myself, ‘Well, there goes my 20th birthday.’ I really never expected to survive. But when I woke up, I looked down, and my leg was gone... and the dog tag was gone. Believe it or not, he had taken the dog tag and removed it. There was a special guy, and I was very, very lucky.”

— Robert Levine ’49

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LEVINE ’S ROAD TO

RETURN TO

BETHANY

N O R MAN DY

“I was at Walter Reed so long,” recalls Levine, “that I took a class at George Washington University for a few months. I really got my first start, my first three credits, in Washington. I was writing to various schools, and my parents had a friend who was a teacher in New York who suggested Bethany.” Other than his military time spent in Europe during the war and basic training in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Levine had never been outside of New York City, but Bethany College offered him a way to get back into civilian life. He majored in economics, graduated from Bethany in 1949, and became an ­entrepreneur, operating several Arby’s Roast Beef franchises. “I thank Bethany for giving me all of the expertise that I needed,” he says.

Bob Levine is now 93 and has been married to his wife, Edith, for 67 years. “I always wanted at some point in my life to meet that doctor,” says a grateful Levine. “I did make a trip several years later back to France on a tour, where I met this French man, and I told him the story. His village had been liberated by my division. “He was very anxious to help. He learned about the card, and he said, ‘I know a German who might be able to help us.’ Sure enough, the guy checked it out and found out where he lived—Saarbrücken, Germany. “Unfortunately, the doctor had died, but the family on learning about this were so interested that a Jewish soldier had been helped that they invited us to visit them. My French friend drove me and my wife, Edith, to Germany, and we visited with this German family. That’s where we learned that his name was Dr. Woll. “He was a doctor, just a local doctor that had been recruited like our doctors. He was a human being… a humanitarian… and I just lucked out. “His family took us to the cemetery, and I was able to put a flower on his grave. I really, really felt very close. It was a very interesting experience, and the families have just kept together.”

RETURN TO AUSCHWITZ

“Here was a guy who, after that, gave orders to kill 30 children with hand grenades. I often wondered what was it that made him decide. What was it, when he looked at me? Was it that I spoke the same German that his ­children spoke? I don’t know. But there was a moment where we suddenly became human.”

— Thomas Buergenthal ’57

For Tom Buergenthal, the decision to go back to Auschwitz was understandably difficult. But the conflict within him proved too much to keep him away. “I was asked whether I wanted to go to Auschwitz,” he says. “I had an opportunity, and I said I didn’t want to go because I was alone and I didn’t have my wife with me. And I was afraid that I just wouldn’t be able to take it. “So finally I went with my wife,” he recalls, “and it looked so different, because there was grass growing and birds flying, and none of that existed, because of the terrible stench coming out of the crematorium. And it didn’t affect me very much at all, and it wasn’t the Auschwitz I knew. The second time, it was in January, the same time when the death march started, and that hit me again. “You can’t survive what I survived and not think about these things often,” Buergenthal says with reflection. His thoughts drift back to the moments when his life was in greatest danger. “The captain who saved me, who let me live in Poland, I often wondered what was it that made him decide? What was it that made him...?” His voice trails off as he ponders the fine line between life and death.

“Here was a guy who, after that, gave orders to kill 30 children with hand grenades. What was it, when he looked at me? Was it that I spoke the same German that his children spoke? I don’t know. But there was a moment where he suddenly became human. “What has struck me in the work I’ve done,” Buergenthal adds, “is that man’s cruelty to man is not very creative. It’s a terrible sort of criminality towards people who are different. Then you come to America, and despite all of the problems we have, it’s a wonderful laboratory for how people can get along with each other even though they’re so different.” Levine’s stance is equally sanguine. My favorite word in the dictionary is ‘perspective,’” he says. “Every day, I’m so aware how fortunate I was to survive and have this beautiful family, a beautiful wife and two daughters and three grandchildren. To me, you couldn’t ask for more than that.” Was it simply luck? Or did the better angels of humanity guide these two Bethanians safely out of the iron grip of Nazi brutality? Beneath the surface of their stories, Buergenthal and Levine are quick to admit it was a little of both. And for these two Bethanians who confronted death at a young age, the bright light of humanity has been an undeniable truth, even when it’s overshadowed by darkness and despair. n B E T H A N Y M AG A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 1 8 | 49

ALUMNI PROFILE

Making a

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Big Splash

“It always gives me a thrill to beat a couple of men,” Caves says, “because they were ­younger than me by about ten years.”

J U D Y F LY N N C AV E S ’ 8 2 S W I M S A R O U N D M A N H AT TA N

T

he pool on the Bethany College campus measures 25 yards long. So a typical daily workout for Judy Flynn Caves ’82 would equal about 200 laps. Six days a week. Twice that in the weeks leading up to one of her masters distance rowing competitions. The last competition she took part in measured 28.5 miles. Yes, we said miles. That’s a round-trip from Bethany to Wheeling and back. Caves was one of the few women on the Bethany swimming team from 1979 to 1982. Back then, there was no women’s team, so she had to swim “coed” with the men. She was one of the team captains for three years and was voted the MVP as a senior. “I was fair,” she says modestly. “I always tell people that my real story is I’m a very, very diligent, hard worker. If I have any swimming talent whatsoever, it’s minimal, but it’s through showing up every day and working hard.” Caves was introduced to masters swimming in 2007 and met a group of people who did long-distance open water swims in the Pittsburgh area. Her first event was a two-mile swim. “I remember being so scared, thinking it was so far,” she recalls. But when she finished, she began to wonder about going longer distances. So she swam the length of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, four-and-a-half miles from one end to the other. Then came a 12-mile swim around Key West. This summer, Caves put herself to her greatest test yet — New York Open Water’s

20 Bridges swim, a 28.5-mile course around Manhattan. She finished in eight hours, four minutes, 42 seconds. Of 15 entries in her group, she finished tenth. At 58, the competitive drive she displayed as a Bethany swimmer is still very much alive. “It always gives me a thrill to beat a couple of men,” she says, “because they were younger than me by about ten years.” Caves begins her day at 5:00 a.m. with a 5,000-yard swim in a high school pool near her home in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Then it’s off to work at Seton LaSalle Catholic High School, where she works as a guidance counselor. When she’s in training for a competition, she then returns to the pool after work for another 5,000 yards. As the date nears for the event, she adds a long-distance Saturday swim of 10,000 to 14,000 yards, roughly eight miles. “I just keep pushing how far can I go,” she says. Caves credits hard work, a healthy lifestyle, and a positive attitude as the

foundations of her accomplishments in the water. “I try to always ‘swim happy,’” she says. “I can either keep thinking about the pain in my shoulder, or I can concentrate on all the positive things that are happening. The weather was good. It wasn’t stormy, it wasn’t raining. I tried to think of all the happy things instead of concentrating on any negative things that are happening.” So now that she’s conquered New York’s marathon swim, part of the “Triple Crown” of distance swimming, Caves is contemplating the other two events in the triad—the English Channel, and Catalina Channel in California. Only 145 people worldwide have ever completed all three events. But for now, Caves is content to take pride in her latest achievement and enjoy the moment. “I’m just glad to be back on terra firma,” she says. ­— Bethany Magazine

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BISON ATHLETICS SUMMER 2018

JONES HELPS LEAD MEN’S BASKETBALL TO CHAMPIONSHIP GAME After a slow start to the season, the Bison persevered to reach the PAC Tournament Championship Game for the first time since 2012. Bethany senior guard Calique Jones led the team with 22 points in the championship game, but Thomas More in the end would come away with a 78-72 win on its home court. Jones was named First Team All-PAC after he scored 574 points during the season, which is the fifthhighest single-season total in Bethany College history. The Pittsburgh native wrapped up his career sixth all-time in school history with 1,523 points and tied former Bison Joe Testa (2006–10) for most career games played with 113.

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DAUGHERTY ETCHES HER NAME INTO WOMEN’S BASKETBALL RECORD BOOKS The Bison posted their second consecutive 12-win season for the first time since 2013 and notched a PAC Tournament win for the first time since 2012 in Head Coach Brian Sansom’s second season at the helm. Senior forward Kelsea Daugherty closed out one of the most prolific careers in Bethany women’s basketball history. She finished third all-time with 1,731 points and second all-time with 968 rebounds. Daugherty is also one of only two players in school history with 1,500 points and 900 rebounds, joining former Bison Kelley Richardson (2000–04).

RAY, BERLIN QUALIFY FOR MEN’S TENNIS CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS The Bethany men’s tennis team’s overall record was not reflective of the effort put forth by its top two players, senior Chris Ray and junior Drake Berlin. The duo combined to go 8-7 at the No. 1 doubles position to earn the sixth seed at the PAC Championships. Individually, Berlin posted the best record on the team and went 10-5 at No. 2 singles to claim the fourth seed at the league championships.

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SOFTBALL QUALIFIES FOR PAC TOURNAMENT; WEISS BREAKS SCHOOL STRIKEOUT RECORD After a one-year hiatus from postseason play, the softball team secured the fourth and final bid into the PAC Tournament with a 9-8 mark in conference play. Earlier in the season, senior Cassie Weiss broke the school’s all-time strikeout record and went on to finish with 514 career strikeouts. Fellow senior pitcher Sam Binkley will leave her name in the record books as well. She moved into sixth place all-time with 257 strikeouts.

STRESKY BECOMES FIRST PAC CHAMPION SWIMMER IN OVER A DECADE Junior Cheyne Stresky became the first Bethany swimmer since 2003 to win a PAC Championship when he broke the school record in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 51.13 seconds at the PAC Championships in February. Stresky also took second place and broke another school record in the 100-yard backstroke to earn First Team All-PAC recognition.

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SALLAH-MOHAMMAED JUMPS INTO MEN’S TRACK & FIELD RECORD BOOK Sophomore Baboucar Sallah-Mohammed won both the triple and the long jumps at the PAC Outdoor Championships and was named the Most Outstanding Field Athlete of the meet. Earlier in the season, he broke the school, stadium, and meet record in the triple jump with a mark of 14.68 meters at the annual Bethany Invitational. His distance in the triple jump qualified him for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships, making him the first Bethany student–athlete to qualify for the event since 2015.

FRAZIER BREAKS 32-YEAR-OLD JAVELIN SCHOOL RECORD Junior Patience Frazier broke the school record in the javelin, which had stood for 32 years. She established a distance of 38.92 meters at Bethany’s Mini-Meet to break former Bison Barbara Kushner’s 1986 record throw of 36.26 meters. Frazier went on to win the league title in the event at the PAC Outdoor Championships.

MEN’S LACROSSE POSTS MOST WINS IN A SINGLESEASON SINCE 2015 The Bethany men’s lacrosse team won four games, its most since 2015, in the final year of the Ohio River Lacrosse Conference. The PAC will sponsor both the men’s and the women’s lacrosse for the first time in 2019. Next year will also mark the first varsity season for women’s lacrosse at Bethany. On the field, senior Bryan Uth wrapped up his career as the Bethany all-time leader in both faceoffs won and groundballs, while senior goalie Sean Rhodes moved into second all-time in school history with 664 career saves.

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JAN FORSTY ANNOUNCES HER RETIREMENT FROM THE DUGOUT After 31 seasons of leading the Bethany College softball program, Jan Forsty announced her plans to retire from coaching this year. Forsty will continue to serve as a professor and chair of the Physical Education and Sports Studies Department. Since arriving on campus in 1987 as the head coach of both the softball and field hockey teams, Forsty has led the Bison softball program to unparalleled success with 687 wins during that stretch. She is also one of only 15 coaches in NCAA Division III history to post 750 career wins in multiple sports.

DESPITE MOTHER NATURE’S BEST EFFORT, BASEBALL PLAYED IN BETHANY The toughest opponent for 29th-year Head Coach Rick Carver’s baseball team this season wasn’t a team at all. Significant rainfall and storms in early March caused nearby Buffalo Creek to flood into Bethany Park, resulting in massive amounts of damage to the facility. The Bison were forced to play 21 straight road games to start the season, but thanks to the tireless work of the Bethany College Physical Plant workers, game number 22 was played at Bethany Park. The Bison went on to win both games of the opening day doubleheader against Geneva. The team scored a season-high 16 runs in the second game of the series to the delight of the home faithful who had waited long enough to see baseball played in Bethany.

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S T U D E N T S T O WAT C H

CHEMISTRY IS HER BEST PITCH Meet Samantha Binkley ’18, Bethany’s Female Athlete of the Year

Sam Binkley’s teammates on the Bethany softball team considered her to be such a nerd that they selected as her walk-up music the theme song from the TV sitcom “Big Bang Theory.” Binkley ’18, a native of Arthur, Ontario, received her B.S. summa cum laude in May and will be attending graduate school at the University of Guelph in Ontario to pursue her Ph.D. in physical chemistry. She plans to pursue her research interest in amide compounds and their reactions in high-pressure, hightemperature conditions to see if they would be a good material for use in nuclear reactors. “I’m really interested in the betterment of the environment and society,” she says. “In the case of nuclear energy, if that can be made less toxic and more sustainable, that would help mitigate CO2 emissions from coal burning.” Binkley was Bethany’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and led the Bison softball team to the PAC Tournament this year by winning 11 games as a pitcher, while holding up a 3.97 GPA in the chemistry lab. So what does she think of her reputation as a nerd? “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” says Binkley. “I’m actually pretty proud of it, because there’s a lot of really impressive women in science to look up to who defined nerd as not a bad term, but actually something that’s really cool, and something to be proud of.”

— Bethany Magazine

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Class Notes

Block Communications Inc. has promoted KURT G. FRANCK ’78 to vice president of newspaper operations, where he will oversee both the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Toledo Blade. Franck joined The Blade in September 2000, as managing editor of the newspaper. Previously, he was deputy managing editor/executive news editor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

RICHARD E. DORAN ’78

has been appointed by Florida governor Rick Scott to serve as a member of the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission. Doran previously served as Florida’s attorney general and as general counsel to the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. He is a shareholder with the law firm of Ausley & McMullen, P.A. in Tallahassee. Governor Paul R. LePage of Maine has nominated MATTHEW G. TICE ’85 of Scarborough for District Court Judge. Tice has served in the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office since 1997. Prior to moving to Maine from New York state, Tice worked in private practice and in the Dutchess County and Ulster County district attorney’s offices.

WE WANT TO H E AR FRO M YO U ! Send us your professional news, achievements, and honors, as well as marriages and birth announcements. Your Class Notes submission should include your name, address, class year, and major. High-resolution photos up to 1 MB in size are welcome and must include the alumnus. Email to alumni@bethanywv.edu or send to: Bethany College Office of Alumni Relations 31 E. Campus Drive Bethany, WV 26032

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CLASS NOTES

MARK A. BADO ’87, General Manager

of Myers Park Country Club, was installed as the Secretary–Treasurer of the Club Managers Association of America Board of Directors. In his new capacity, Bado will work with members, allied associations, and partners to further the profession of club management.

CHRISTINE LEMLEY ’93, the Data Privacy

PATRICIA ROLLINS ’01,

and Protection Lead at Volkswagen Group of America in Washington, D.C., has received the Women in Technology Leadership Award. Women in Technology (WIT) promotes the advancement of women in technology—from the classroom to the boardroom—by providing advocacy, leadership development, networking, mentoring, and technology education. She holds a bachelor of arts in economics from Bethany and serves on the board of directors of the Bethany College Alumni Council.

a teacher at Lincoln Street School in Northboro, Massachusetts, has been recognized as the 2018 Massachusetts Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Massachusetts Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Rollins has been teaching at Lincoln Street School since 2005.

AEP Texas has announced the appointment of LEIGH ANNE STRAHLER ’95 as vice president of Regulatory and Finance. In her new role, she will have ultimate responsibility for direction of regulatory and financial activities of the company, which delivers electric service to over one million meters in south and west Texas. She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Bethany and an MBA from The Ohio State University. The Baltimore Orioles have named JENNIFER GRONDAHL ’97

BILL BURR ’91, a reporter and news anchor

for WCIV-TV in Charleston, South Carolina, was one of the only television news reporters in the state to be granted an interview with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. The interview took place on Friday, January 26, at the United Nations in New York City. Office Depot, Inc. has announced the appointment of SCOTT KRISS ’91 as senior vice president and chief accounting officer. Kriss most recently served as SVP, chief accounting and tax officer for The Wendy’s Company. He has also held positions at Bacardi-Martini, Inc.; Tween Brands, Inc.; Limited Brands, Inc.; and Arthur Andersen & Co.

as the club’s Director of Corporate & Community Partnerships for Florida Operations. Grondahl will be responsible for corporate sponsorship and community partnership integration for the Orioles in Sarasota, Fla. Most recently, she served as the president of the YMCA Foundation of Sarasota, Inc. Grondahl was also named to the “40 Under 40” list by Gulf Coast Business Review in 2014.

DANIELLE LANIEWSKI ’02

married Robert J. Nesbitt on June 24, 2017, in a traditional Polish/Irish Catholic ceremony in Dallas, Texas. Bethanian attendants included Danielle’s sister, ROBIN LANIEWSKI HOFFMAN ’97.

JAMES KINSER ’97 has been named

Senior Associate of Digital Communications at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, Ill. As part of the Communications team, James is responsible for managing online content, maintenance and ongoing development of website features, and application/system integration with the website. He also manages formatting, distribution, and strategic guidance on email communications.

CHELSEA BENSON MILLER ’14 and NICHOLAS MILLER ’14

were married this summer in Pittsburgh. Bethanians in the wedding included JORDAN DI BUCCI ’11

and PETER FRANKLIN ’14.

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Bethany needs you. The time is now. N O W B E T H A N Y N E E D S YO U R H E L P TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE . Small colleges everywhere are facing significant financial challenges, and Bethany College is no exception. Your alma mater is on the threshold of great opportunities, but we need your help to ensure that we realize them. If you’ve never made a gift to Bethany College, we need your help now. And if you’ve given before, we continue to need your support now more than ever. Will you help?

To make a donation, visit bethanywv.edu/give

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AUTUMN IN THE AIR A S S U M M E R G I V E S WAY T O A U T U M N A N D THE 2018 –19 ACADEMIC YEAR BEGINS, S H O R T S A N D T- S H I R T S G I V E WAY T O S W E AT S H I R T S A N D C H I L LY M O R N I N G S WH I LE A PALE T TE O F N E W CO LO R S D E C O R AT E S T H E B E T H A N Y C A M P U S .

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Bethany College Bethany, West Virginia 26032

Women and Leadership Weekend 2018 Lt. Commander Dr. Cara Halldin ’06, an epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, was one of 50 alumnae who came to campus to take part in the 2018 Women and Leadership Weekend March 23–24. This annual event features prominent Bethany alumnae from the worlds of business, government, academia, and institutions, and gives current female students the opportunity to network and further their leadership aspirations. Bethany alums led a two-day agenda of panel discussions and presentations by women from a variety of majors, career paths, and ages, as well as their personal lessons in leadership and the role Bethany played in their paths to success. The Women and Leadership weekend is made possible by the leadership and generosity of Bethany College Trustee and alumna Scarlett Foster ’79, retired corporate officer and vice president of investor relations at Monsanto Company.