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THE MAGAZINE OF EARLHAM COLLEGE

Earlhamite

ANSWERING THE CALL

CONTENTS

Building the next generation of Earlhamites A growing network of alumni and friends is helping the College remove barriers, expand access, and introduce more students to the transformative power of an Earlham education.

f e at u r e s

d e pa r tm e n t s

Friends across continents A sabbatical activity for professor Ben Brazil became a lasting exchange of ideas, stories, and ministry between Earlham School of Religion and Bolivia’s vibrant Quaker community.

22 The art of being with everybody

For author, illustrator, and muralist Katie Yamasaki ’99, creativity isn't about making art for its own sake. It's about building community, amplifying overlooked voices, and creating spaces where everyone can be seen.

28 The difference Earlham makes in healthcare

The College's nationally recognized pre-med advising and liberal arts education prepare graduates to lead, serve, and innovate across the health professions.

34 All the world's a stage

What began as an ambitious creative experiment nearly a decade ago, has become a signature Epic Experience, with students and professors working side by side to build original theatrical productions and share them with audiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

01 President’s Message 02 New & Notable 40 Athletics 44 Commencement Highlights 46 Class Notes & In Memoriam 47 Looking Back 60 Final Word

Cover illustration by Katie Yamasaki '99

Earlhamite

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENROLLMENT

“No man is an island, entire of itself.”

The magazine of Earlham College

MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, AND COMMUNICATIONS

Jeffrey Perkins ‘94 EDITOR

Brian Zimmerman DESIGNERS

Liz Johnson Sara Misak CLASS NOTES EDITOR

Cooper Cox Read the latest alumni profiles, submit class notes, check out upcoming events, and more at earlham.edu/alumni. Earlhamite magazine is the oldest college alumni magazine in continuous publication in the United States. Today it is published twice yearly and continues to follow the statement of purpose that has guided it since its 1873 founding: “a regular messenger going out and bearing tidings of prosperity and vicissitudes of Earlham to its friends and supporters, and bringing all associated here into communication with one another.” Opinions expressed in the magazine are those of its contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the official position of Earlham College. Send story ideas to earlhamite@earlham.edu Send class notes, obituaries, and address changes to alums@earlham.edu Please recycle after reading. Paper for the Earlhamite is printed from 10% recycled fiber and is FSC and PEFC certified. ©2026 Earlham College.

— John Donne, Meditation XVII, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624) United States culture has a long obsession with the solitary individualist. Such figures — usually male — populate our literature, films, and television shows and perpetuate a toxic myth of self-sufficiency. I confess to falling for this myth myself as a young person and failing to see that the greatest strength and happiness come from togetherness — from community. Early in college, after reading Sartre’s play No Exit, I quoted Sartre to my father, a Notre Dame English professor and devoted teacher: “Hell is other people.” Dad, never at a loss for a literary retort, shot back a line from Milton’s Paradise Lost: “myself am Hell.” Touché. None of us is an island, different as we may be. At our best, we find common cause and work together to help each other without demanding that we have identical views and experiences. For Quakers, the belief that there is that of God in everyone resonates with this vision of community. This past year, Earlham’s faculty, staff, students, and alumni have come together as a community around the common cause of finding new directions for Earlham as we develop a strategic plan to guide us through the next several years. Our discussions have been wide-ranging and inspired and have reflected this community’s unity as well as its diversity. At a time when national support for higher education is eroding, and following closely on a year in which we took on the heartbreaking task of reducing

SUSANNA TANNER

our budget deficit, coming together as a community has enabled us to look ahead with hope. In this issue of Earlhamite magazine, we celebrate that spirit of community by sharing just a few of the many ways Earlham students, faculty, alumni and friends are helping shape the College's next chapter. You'll meet acclaimed author and muralist Katie Yamasaki ’99, whose work demonstrates the power of art and education to strengthen communities, and you'll hear from my colleagues Jeff Perkins ’94 and Kim Tanner ’90 about the extraordinary ways alumni and friends are investing in the future of Earlham by expanding access and opportunity for the next generation of students. These stories — and many others — remind us that Earlham has always been at its best when we move forward together.

Paul Sniegowski President, Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion

EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

NEW&NOTABLE

R E V I TA L I Z E R I C H M O N D

Downtown, gorge transformations taking shape Nearly three years after Earlham College secured a $25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to lead Revitalize Richmond, the initiative is becoming increasingly visible across the city. Combined with local matching investments and community partnerships, the five-year effort is expected to generate more than $100 million in projects that strengthen housing, recreation, entrepreneurship, and quality of life throughout Richmond. Perhaps nowhere is that progress more apparent than downtown, where construction of 6Main, a new luxury apartment complex by Flaherty and Collins, is reimagining the residential experience on Main Street. Historic preservation is also reshaping the corridor. Urban revitalization company AP Development is restoring several underused and deteriorating buildings, creating upper-floor apartments with commercial space at street level. One of the most talked-about projects is a building long known locally as the “cheese grater building.” After workers removed the building's distinctive metal façade, an elegant historic exterior — complete with original columns and architectural details hidden for decades — was revealed.

“Ultimately, the plan for the building is to create a self-sustaining community hub where experts can teach, beginners can fail safely, and the residents of Richmond can reclaim their sense of agency by making something real with their own hands.” – Eric Dimick Eastman '96,

Founder of The Hive

The Whitewater Gorge south entrance renovation includes expanded parking, a picnic area, and a kayak launch.

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6Main apartment building nearing completion.

The Hive, a makerspace in development by Eric ’96 and Becky Dimick Eastman ’97, is also new to downtown. Designed as a community workshop, classroom, and entrepreneurial hub, the building is envisioned to be a new way that residents can develop businesses and connect with fellow makers. “We want to help everyone in town take their next step — whether you're a total beginner or a pro ready to turn a hobby into a business. Ultimately, the plan for the building is to create a self-sustaining community hub where experts can teach, beginners can fail safely, and the residents of Richmond can reclaim their sense of agency by making something real with their own hands,” Eric says. Additional projects are beginning to move forward in the Whitewater Gorge, where plans include a new trailhead on the city's south side, a riverwalk, ziplining and other outdoor recreation amenities. A new walkable and bikeable trail connecting downtown and the city’s west side near the Earlham campus is also planned. ■ Story by Brian Zimmerman. Photos by Josh Smith.

EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

NEW&NOTABLE

N E W 3 + 1 PAT H WAY S I N E D U C AT I O N

QUAKER CONNECTIONS

New partnership with John Carroll University

New direct admissions pathways with Friends schools

A new partnership with John Carroll University, a private Jesuit institution in the Cleveland, Ohio area, will result in a new accelerated pathway for students pursuing careers in education. The articulation agreement allows qualified Earlham students to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Education with teaching licensure in just four years. The partnership connects Earlham’s undergraduate programs with John Carroll’s School-Based Master of Education program. Students can complete three years of undergraduate study at Earlham before beginning John Carroll’s online graduate coursework during their fourth year. Because some graduate credits count toward both degrees simultaneously, students can reduce overall tuition costs while accelerating their path into the teaching profession. The flexible online structure also allows students to complete student teaching and field placements in schools near their homes rather than remaining on campus for a fourth year, helping many students avoid additional room-and-board expenses while gaining practical classroom experience in their own communities. John Carroll’s partnership with Earlham offers licensure pathways in primary education (Pre-K through grade 5), middle childhood education (grades 4–9), and adolescent/young adult education (grades 7–12). ■

TSI TSI MAKUFA

Earlham is building a growing network of partnerships with Friends schools across the country and around the world. These partnerships are designed to make the transition to college more accessible and affordable for students educated in the Quaker tradition. Earlham now has direct admissions pathway agreements with seven Friends schools: Friends School of Baltimore; Tandem Friends School in Charlottesville, Virginia; Tokyo Friends School in Tokyo, Japan; Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia; Delaware Valley Friends School in Paoli, Pa.; Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; and New Garden Friends School in Greensboro, N.C. Each partnership reflects a shared commitment to the values of Quaker education while creating a clearer path for students to continue that experience at Earlham. The partnership with Tokyo Friends School was particularly special, with the agreement signed in person on campus. Additional agreements are expected to be reached later this year. ■

Photo courtesy of John Carroll University.

EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

President Paul Sniegowski, left, with Tokyo Friends School Principal Naoto Aoki.

FA C U T LY A C C O M P L I S H M E N T S

JOSH S MIT H

Debanjali Banerjee awarded national AI fellowship The Computing Research Association (CRA) has selected Debanjali Banerjee, Earlham College assistant professor in computer science, to the inaugural cohort of 25 National Science Foundation National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NSF NAIRR) AI Education Fellows. They have been selected to serve as national ambassadors for advancing AI education through the NAIRR Pilot Classroom and the NAIRR Pilot Classroom Expansion AI EDU Research Coordination Network (RCN). Representing 23 states across the nation, this cohort reflects a broad geographic and institutional reach — spanning public and private colleges and universities, community colleges, and a wide range of higher education settings. Funded by the NSF, the NSF NAIRR AI Education Fellowship brings together faculty champions committed to strengthening undergraduate AI education. Fellows will pilot and adapt courses utilizing NAIRR Pilot Classroom resources, support faculty nationwide in integrating these materials into courses, and help shape the strategic direction of the NAIRR AI EDU RCN. The fellowship term runs from March 2026 – February 2027 and includes a $5,000 stipend and national visibility as leaders in AI education. Fellows will lead monthly seminars, participate in strategic working meetings, and champion the adoption of AI education resources on their campuses and beyond. ■

Mike Deibel recognized by national health advisor association for leadership, service Mike Deibel was presented the Frank Whitehouse Jr. Award during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Biennial National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions National Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, in July. The award recognizes extraordinary dedication and sustained service to the organization and is presented to members whose leadership and advocacy have made lasting contributions to the organization. At Earlham, Deibel serves as senior associate vice president of strategic financial research, professor of chemistry, and pre-health adviser. For decades, he has helped hundreds of Earlham students

navigate the path to careers in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and other health professions, while also contributing to NAAHP’s national leadership on prehealth advising best practices. Deibel's service to NAAHP spans nearly two decades and includes many of the organization's most significant leadership positions. He served as immediate past president (2022–24), president (2020–22), president-elect (2018–20), treasurer (2014–18) and assistant treasurer (2010–14). From 2010 to 2024, he also served on the NAAHP Board of Directors and its Finance and Executive, Governance, and Technology committees. ■ 5

Mike Deibel, left, with Joon Kim. Photo courtesy of NAAHP.

EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

NEW&NOTABLE

YO U N G A LUM P R O F I L E

Building bridges through education For much of his life, Andrei Borokhovich ’19 has found himself moving between worlds. Raised in a small Russian village surrounded by forest, Borokhovich later attended a boarding school outside Moscow before finishing his high school studies at the United World Colleges Atlantic campus in Wales. From there, he crossed another border to attend Earlham College, where he double majored in business and nonprofit management and international studies while minoring in music. Along the way, he learned firsthand how challenging — and transformative — it can be to navigate unfamiliar cultures, languages, and communities. Those experiences have shaped a career dedicated to helping young people do the same. Today, Borokhovich serves as accelerator program lead at Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow (MEET), a non-profit founded in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2024. MEET brings together Israeli and Palestinian high school students to study computer science, entrepreneurship, and leadership, while engaging in dialogue that builds relationships across some of the region’s deep differences in identity, experience, and perspective. “A lot of my life was based on luck,” Borokhovich said on a visit back to campus last spring. “My life changed because people created opportunities for me. I wanted to help others find those opportunities for themselves.” That commitment emerged from his own educational journey. Moving from a small village to a boarding school — and later to the United Kingdom — was not always easy. “I didn’t speak a lot of English at all my first year,” he says. “There wasn’t really anyone to help me adjust or understand how the system worked.” While at Earlham, Borokhovich worked as a student admissions ambassador, helping prospective students navigate the same questions and uncertainties he had faced. The experience reinforced an interest that had been growing since his undergraduate years: education. After graduation, Borokhovich returned to Russia

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briefly before repatriating to Israel, where his father lived. He initially began a career in the diamond industry, working at the Israel Diamond Exchange and earning promotions quickly. Yet the corporate environment left him unfulfilled. “My heart wasn’t there,” he says. “I wanted to work in education and do something that had a broader impact.” He found that opportunity at MEET. Founded on the belief that meaningful change begins with relationships, the non-governmental organization brings together equal numbers of Israeli and Palestinian students for a three-year program. Students learn technical and entrepreneurial skills while engaging in difficult dialogue. By their final year, they work in bi-national teams on developing solutions to social challenges in their communities and pitching projects for possible implementation. The work is not without challenges. Following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, the beginnings of the latest HamasIsrael war, recruiting students became more difficult, but the scope of MEET’s work isn’t one-sided. “What we are doing is political in the sense that we bring people together,” he says. “But we are not taking sides. We’re creating opportunities for young people from different sides of the conflict to engage with each other, work together, and solve problems.” The greatest source of motivation remains with the students themselves. Borokhovich recalls one participant who entered the program with limited English skills before confidently presenting a major project to an audience. “I saw a little bit of myself in her,” he says. “When students discover what they’re capable of, especially after facing difficult circumstances, it gives you hope. That’s what keeps me doing this work.” ■ Story by Brian Zimmerman. Photo by Josh Smith.

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

2026 grads awarded Fulbright scholarships Recent graduates Reba McGloughlin ’26 and Dera Driscoll ’26 have each been selected for prestigious Fulbright awards for the 2026-27 academic year. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is a nationally competitive fellowship that supports graduates pursuing research, graduate study, or English teaching abroad while fostering cross-cultural exchange. McGloughlin and Driscoll are the College’s 43rd and 44th recipient of the Fulbright since 1991. Recent graduate Jacob Gurt ’25 was also named a Fulbright semifinalist this year. ■ Story by Brian Zimmerman. Photos by Tsitsi Makufa.

Reba McGloughlin

Dera Driscoll

McGloughlin is pursuing a Master of Science in World Heritage Management and Conservation at University College Dublin during the 2026-27 academic year. The interdisciplinary program blends cultural and natural preservation with conflict resolution and site-based conservation practice, aligning with her interest in how communities, governments, and conservationists collaborate to protect historic and religious minority heritage sites. A fourth-generation Irish American with academic foundations in peace and global studies and religion, she has also shaped her perspective through travel experiences including a study-abroad trip to Jordan. She plans to pursue a career in archival and cultural preservation.

Driscoll will serve as an English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan through the Fulbright program, building on prior teaching experience in Japan through Earlham’s Studies in Cross-Cultural Education program. A Japanese studies and mathematics double major, Driscoll also brings Mandarin language study and experience mentoring middle school students through extracurricular programs. They plan to pursue a career in higher education, with Fulbright offering an opportunity to deepen classroom practice while living and teaching abroad.

EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

NEW&NOTABLE

B R E A K I N G I N TO S O L A R

Powering Earlham's future Long before they became students at Earlham College, Doug Elmore ’74 and Karen Godsey Elmore ’74 were already part of the Earlham community. Both grew up in Richmond with deep family ties to the College. Karen's mother, Lavona Godsey Bane ’52, served as Earlham's registrar for 27 years, while her father, Robert, served briefly as the College’s associate business manager. Doug's father, Joe Elmore, was a long-time faculty member and administrator who served as academic dean, vice president for academic affairs, provost, and even acting president during his career at Earlham. “I'm an administrative brat,” Karen says with a laugh, “and Doug is an administrative and teaching faculty brat. Earlham has always been part of our lives.” Now, more than 50 years after graduating, the couple is helping write a new chapter in the College's history through a major gift of $500,000 over the next four years that will fund Earlham's first solar energy installation. Planned for the roof of the Center for Visual and Performing Arts later this fall, the array is expected to generate approximately 138,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, offsetting about 18 percent of the building's electrical consumption. The system is projected to reduce carbon emissions by roughly 122 metric tons each year — the equivalent of removing 28 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road or the amount of carbon captured

annually by 122 acres of forest. The project builds on Earlham's longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship. The College's Center for Science and Technology is heated and cooled almost entirely through geothermal energy. Miller Farm operates as a certified USDA organic farm, while prairies and pollinator habitats flourish across campus and in Earlham's nature reserves. A new electric vehicle charging station also supports both campus and community members who drive electric vehicles. Still, solar energy remained a missing piece. “We've had a feeling for a number of years that if any place should have solar, it should be Earlham,” Doug says. “It's long overdue.” After a year of undergraduate study at Kalamazoo College, Doug transferred to Earlham and discovered a passion for geology through courses and undergraduate research opportunities that shaped his future career. He went on to earn graduate degrees from Duke University and the University of Michigan before spending four decades as a professor, researcher, and academic leader at the University of Oklahoma. “My connection was always to that department on the third floor of Dennis Hall,” Doug says. “It set me up for my entire career.”

“We've had a feeling for a number of years that if any place should have solar, it should be Earlham” – Doug Elmore '74

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Karen's path was equally influenced by Earlham. A double major in German and music, she credits study abroad experiences and close faculty mentorship with launching a career in international education, including leadership roles supporting study abroad and international students at the University of Oklahoma. “What I valued most was the personal contact with professors and the quality of instruction,” Karen says. “There was an interest in shaping students and helping them understand the world.” Those experiences — and their shared belief in the value of a liberal arts education — help explain why the couple reached out directly to Earlham President Paul Sniegowski with an idea for a solar project. “We weren't sure what kind of response we'd get,” Karen says. “I was pleasantly surprised when the answer was, ‘yes!’” The project also became a family collaboration. Doug and Karen's son, Matthew Elmore, a senior vice president with Denver-based renewable energy company Pivot Energy, lent his expertise throughout the planning process,

helping evaluate proposals and navigate technical details. Doug's brother, Mick Elmore, also supported the effort. Together, the family worked with campus leaders and the solar developer to refine the project. “Matthew was a big help,” Doug says. “He understands the industry and helped us think through the details. It really became a family project.” For Jamey Pavey, director of Earlham's Environmental Leadership Program, the gift represents both a milestone and a beginning. “This project is an important step,” Pavey says. “The goal is that we can continue to raise money and build momentum for future renewable energy projects.” Pavey sees the solar array as an important addition to the College's climate action goals and hopes it will inspire additional investment in renewable energy infrastructure in the years ahead. Doug and Karen share that hope. “We're believers in solar,” Doug says. “The costs have come down, the technology works, and it makes sense.” More importantly, they hope the project encourages future generations of Earlhamites to continue investing in the College they have loved for a lifetime. After all, Earlham has been part of their story from the very beginning. ■ Story by Brian Zimmerman.

EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

NEW&NOTABLE

G AT E S C A M B R I D G E S C H O L A R S H I P

Earlham’s 1st Gates Cambridge scholar Rose León-Alvarado ’24 has been awarded the Gates Cambridge Scholarship for the 2026-27 academic year, becoming the first Earlham College graduate — and the first person from Honduras — to receive the honor. The full scholarship is supporting LeónAlvarado as she pursues a Master of Philosophy in Basic and Translational Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge in England, beginning this fall. A neuroscience major with minors in public health and chemistry, León-Alvarado built extensive research experience at Earlham and in post-graduate work as a research technician in the Asher Albertson Lab at Washington University in St. Louis. “I would have not gotten this far without Earlham,” León-Alvarado said. “Earlham allowed me to pursue all of my passions, and not in a moment did it come at the expense of my academics. “I had strong mentors inside and outside the classroom who helped me navigate my academic

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responsibilities and make the connections I needed,” she said. “I learned how to manage my time while exploring my passions and finding what I want to do.” León-Alvarado initially planned to major in biochemistry but discovered a new academic direction through the College’s liberal arts curriculum and faculty mentorship. Encouraged to explore broadly in her first year, she enrolled in an introductory psychology course. That experience helped her recognize the scientific foundations behind mental health conditions and sparked a new curiosity about the brain and behavior. The Gates Cambridge Scholarship program awards approximately 80 full-cost scholarships each year to outstanding applicants from countries outside the United Kingdom to pursue postgraduate study at Cambridge. The scholarships cover all costs related to tuition and housing, plus airfare at the beginning and end of the program. León-Alvarado’s selection continues Earlham’s strong tradition of firsts in earning internationally recognized fellowships and scholarships. Recent examples include Summia Tora ’20, the first woman from Afghanistan to become a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford; Hashem Abushama ’17, among the first two Rhodes recipients from Palestine following the program’s expansion to students from Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon; and Cyrus Buckman ’18, the first Knight-Hennessy Scholar from Ghana to study at Stanford University. After Cambridge, León-Alvarado plans to pursue a Ph.D. and a career as a scientist, educator, and advocate focused on expanding public health. ■ Story by Brian Zimmerman. Photos by Tsitsi Makufa.

“I had strong mentors inside and outside the classroom who helped me navigate my academic responsibilities and make the connections I needed.” — ROSE LEÓN-ALVARADO ’24

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October 15–18 This fall, come back to Earlham to reconnect with friends, relive favorite memories, and see what’s new on campus. • Take a stroll down memory lane with student-led tours and mini-classes taught by our talented faculty. • Hear from President Paul Sniegowski where he will share the latest news, priorities, and plans shaping Earlham’s future. • Cheer on the Quakers in spirited athletic matchups. • Reconnect and celebrate at the Alumni Awards Ceremony, explore student achievements at the Epic Expo, enjoy a special Q&A and documentary screening with Liza Donnelly ’77, and celebrate milestone reunions for classes ending in "1" and "6". • Party at the Bash — featuring a DJ, food truck favorites, Earlham-themed cocktails, and all the good vibes!

Start planning today Visit the Homecoming website to make your plans for this fall. earlham.edu/homecoming

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Congratulations to our 2026 Alumni Award winners and Hall of Fame inductees! Distinguished Service Award

Earlham College Athletics Hall of Fame

Brent Smith and Nancy Taylor

James E. Barber ’94 | Football

Earlham College Athletics Hall of Fame Anton Bartashevich ’14 | Tennis

Outstanding Young Alumni Award Sally Abed ’15

Earlham College Athletics Hall of Fame JoBeth Buckley ’11 (posthumous) | Soccer

Outstanding Alumni Award Mary “Shorty” Friedman Birenbaum ’61 and Georges Birenbaum ’63

Earlham College Athletics Hall of Fame Megan Holthaus Withrow ’11 | Soccer

Read their biographies online Visit earlham.edu/alumni/alumni-awards

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F r i e n d s ac r o s s co n t i n e n t s A sabbatical activity for professor Ben Brazil became a lasting exchange of ideas, stories, and ministry between Earlham School of Religion and Bolivia’s vibrant Quaker community. By Ray Mark Rinaldi

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Earlham School of Religion professor Ben Brazil’s work in Bolivia did not start with a formal proposal the way many academic projects begin. Instead, it emerged from a casual conversation. Brazil had a lifelong love of the Andean region and had studied for some time in Ecuador and picked up Spanish along the way. So he mentioned to a dean that he might be interested in teaching a class that explored the different Quaker practices in Bolivia and the United States — if the opportunity ever came up. That was Ben Brazil shortly before he headed off for a 2023 sabbatical with other projects on his agenda. But then came a surprise: an email from thenAssociate Academic Dean Jim Higginbotham, who retired in June, saying, “You’re approved for Bolivia.” And that is where his journey kicked off. It led to multiple trips to the South American country, where he visited rural farms, urban prisons, and remote schools to understand programs shepherded by local Quakers; where he brought students on a three-week learning trip; where he found himself part of a film crew making a documentary on current-day Quaker justice work; and where, Brazil is quick to say, he forged deep friendships.

At ESR, he is an associate professor and serves as director of the Ministry of Writing Program. He previously worked for a time as a news reporter before earning his Ph.D. in religious studies, so telling other people’s stories came naturally. And as a lifelong student of religion, he had a curiosity to explore the nuances of Quakerism in other places, and Bolivia was the right fit. Due to the efforts of American missionaries who began traveling there in the early 20th century, Bolivia has the third largest number of Quakers on the planet, behind Kenya and the U.S. The faith’s stronghold extends from the capital, La Paz, through the Lake Titicaca basin, which is populated largely by Indigenous Aymara people. Still, he was starting from scratch. “I didn’t know anyone in Bolivia or any Quakers there,” he said. “But I knew we had one alumna there, and her name was Emma Condori.” Turns out, she was just what he needed.

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An inside view Condori, a lifelong Quaker and member of ESR’s Board of Advisors, grew up in a small village not far from La Paz. Her family had very limited means and many mouths to feed. Condori has three older brothers and three older sisters. She had a passion to learn, she said, but girls in her culture were dissuaded from such pursuits, including her own sisters who never went beyond elementary school. But Condori’s mother saw her promise and backed her all the way through high school, where she shined as a student. She learned English and dreamed of going to college one day in the U.S. — and particularly to Earlham — even though she could not possibly afford it. Just emailing her application to the school “cost nearly an entire month’s salary” from the job she was working, she said. Fortunately, Earlham saw promise, too, and she was accepted to the School of Religion. The nonprofit Bolivian Quaker Education Fund offered to cover tuition but not the expensive airplane ticket that would get her to Indiana. “But then there was a group of Quakers in New York who heard about my situation, and they supported buying the airplane ticket,” she said . That enabled her to spend five years studying in Richmond, where she graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 2013. That generosity shaped her conviction, she said, that education should be available to other young Bolivians who face similar barriers. When she returned home, she began teaching English in language schools and eventually helped found the Friends International Bilingual Center, an inclusive language school where she is now the director. Condori introduced Brazil to her world on that first trip to Bolivia, connecting him to Quaker ministries and organizing meetings throughout the country. She arranged for him to visit a remote area where she runs a program helping farmers whose crop-growing has been destroyed by drought and extreme heat caused by climate change. There, she guides a corps of young Quakers who distribute potatoes for food to the community and for seeds, enabling them to replenish potato crops. Chief among her goals: making sure young girls, who have limited leadership opportunities, play a central role in everything she does to help ease a dire situation — something she is constantly searching for funds to support. “For us here, climate change is not a theory,” she said. “It’s something we can see, and we can experience as well.” Brazil has become a staunch advocate for Condori’s work, using Earlham's Quaker networks to fundraise and tell the story of Condori's work for girls' education and food security." EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

Ben Brazil and Colleen Wessel-McCoy outside ESR.

He has found other ways, within his role as an Earlham professor, to share the story meaningfully. In 2024, Brazil, along with Colleen Wessel-McCoy, ESR's assistant professor of peace and justice studies, director of the Master of Arts in Peace and Social Transformation program, and newly appointed as associate dean, led nine students on a three-week trip that retraced his own experiences in Bolivia and served as an on-the-ground course on contextual theology. “The travel course was challenging spiritually, academically, and physically,” Wessel-McCoy said. “Students engaged with theologies different from their own. We were welcomed in Quaker meetings and visited a range of social care ministries." Guiding lights Brazil sought out other connections when he was researching Bolivia. Through Barbara Flynn, a longtime supporter of Quaker education initiatives in Bolivia, he met Magaly Quispe, who runs Bolivia’s chapter of the global Alternatives to Violence Project. She took Brazil to San Pedro Prison in La Paz, “a medieval fortress,” as he describes it, where Quispe has earned deep respect from inmates while running AVP workshops that train incarcerated men in conflict resolution and restorative justice. Like other prisons in Bolivia, the jail is overcrowded, prone to violence, and lacks adequate food, but Brazil grew comfortable enough there to return for a second visit — even bringing along his two teenage children who accompanied him to the country, including a stop at Cantumarca Prison. 16

“My kids actually played soccer with the men in the But there are similarities at the core. The Aymara, in prison,” he said. their own way, prioritize fairness and social justice and At Cantumarca Prison, in the mining town of Potosi, a sense that everything in the world is connected on a guards monitor who comes and goes at the gate, leaving spiritual level. prisoners to largely govern themselves inside. They For the Aymara, “everything has life, including the have enough autonomy to create their own commercial clothing, the house, the cars, computers, and tools,” Hilari ecosystem of buying and selling goods and — with said in an interview. “Quakers also say that everything is funding from an AVP program — have set up a working sacred, that all creation is sacred.” greenhouse, growing crops to supplement their rations. On the flip side of taking students to Bolivia, Brazil has "There are things that the Bolivian prison system does brought parts of that country to Earlham. After getting to much better than the American prison system,” he said. know Quispe, he invited her to make a visit to the College, Brazil traveled to another program Quispe guides, helping to raise money and arrange speaking engagements the Study Home in the small town of Sorata, north of La so she could share her story when she arrived. Paz. The region is mountainous and sparsely populated, He has introduced Earlham to prospective students in making it impossible for many children to attend La Paz, including Myron Guachalla, a Bolivian Quaker who secondary school. entered the School of Religion in 2024. The Study Home serves as their residence Monday In addition to studying, Guachalla has immersed through Friday. The children are able to sleep and eat himself in the greater Richmond area, organizing meetings there for free. They get help with homework, take part and offering English classes, primarily for the immigrant in AVP workshops, and receive coaching on pursuing Latino community. For him, it is a form of ministry, though higher education. it also serves as an example of how the Bolivia-Earlham "Most of our graduates have been accepted to connection has become a two-way street. university and are fulfilling their “We learn from each other,” “Most of our graduates have Guachalla said in an interview. dreams,” Quispe explained in a recent interview. “Their been accepted to university professional careers may lift and are fulfilling their dreams. Moving forward them, their parents, and future Their professional careers may generations out of poverty." Brazil made a third trip to Bolivia in

lift them, their parents, and future generations out of poverty.”

2025, this time tapping the journalist A two-way relationship part of his background. He traveled the country with filmmaker Michael For Brazil, connecting what Candelori to produce a documentary he learned in Bolivia to Earlham about the work of Bolivian Friends. – MAGALY QUISPE has been a priority. Part of that The trip was sponsored by the Waljok involved taking those students on the trip. They visited Foundation, an organization founded by Barbara Flynn to San Pedro Prison and saw how the workshops and food raise money for AVP-Bolivia. programs work. They traveled to communities impacted His goal was to tell the story of AVP-Bolivia's work, by climate change and attended meetings with local spreading awareness, and hopefully raising money. Quakers to see how the faith functions there. Quakerism They interviewed Condori about her work with Friends operates as “a pretty conservative Christian world” in International Bilingual Center, helping farmers and Bolivia, according to Brazil, but students also saw how coaching young women. Bolivia’s culture and history gave that faith a distinctive They interviewed Quispe about her work in prisons and shape. collected first-person testimony from inmates who have Crucial to that exercise were interactions between been helped by the anti-violence initiatives. the students and Ruben Hilari, an Aymara Quaker They interviewed Hilari who provided on-camera and historian who served as an adviser on their trip. context of Aymara and Bolivian history. Quakerism is unique in Bolivia because it is influenced Brazil and Candelori are now in the editing stage, by local Indigenous traditions and Bolivia’s long looking for ways to tell the story that will resonate history of colonialism. It is impossible to understand widely. The film, Brazil hopes, will teach about Bolivian present-day Quakerism, he said in an interview, without Quakerism, but it will also reflect Brazil’s own educational recognizing how it has been driven by everything from journey, and the results of how a casual conversation with a local languages to the natural environment, politics, and dean turned into something rich and long-lasting. spirituality. "I did not go to Bolivia to teach,” he said. “I went to learn.” ■ Photos by Josh Smith and Michael Candelori. 17

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The landscape for college recruitment is changing rapidly. Demographic shifts, increasing competition for students, rising costs, and new challenges affecting international enrollment are forcing institutions across the country to rethink how they connect with prospective students and families. At Earlham, alumni and friends are helping lead the way forward. In this Q&A,Vice President for Institutional Advancement Kim Tanner ’90 and Vice President for Enrollment Management, Marketing, and Communications Jeff Perkins ’94 discuss how philanthropy and volunteer engagement are helping strengthen Earlham's recruitment efforts.

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Earlham has long attracted students from across the United States and around the world. What does it take to maintain and grow that reach in today's enrollment environment?

JP: Earlham has always been a national liberal arts college. After the pandemic, there was some reticence for some students to go further away for college. During this period, Earlham focused more on the 150-mile radius to campus. Ironically, we also had a name recognition problem in this more regional area. While we did attract more Indiana and Ohio students, we lost some of our strong feeder regions. We have been working to build back those connections we had nationally over the last year through additional name purchases of college-bound students, and we’re taking a data-informed approach to our travel planning. We should attract the best students regionally and nationally. We’re doing this work while there is steeper competition with larger publics, attacks on liberal arts education, and the decline of the number of college-aged students. KT: Jeff is exactly right that rebuilding and expanding Earlham's reach takes intentional investment, and I would add that one of our greatest advantages is our alumni network. We have Earlhamites living and working across the country and around the world, serving as some of our effective ambassadors. More than 250 alumni currently volunteer to support recruitment by writing to prospective students, sharing their Earlham stories, and making meaningful connections. We also encourage alumni to refer promising students in their networks through our Alumni Referral Scholarship. It might be a neighbor, a student they've mentored, someone from their faith community, or another young person they've come to know. Those personal recommendations help introduce Earlham to students who may never have considered us otherwise. College search is incredibly personal, and hearing from someone who has experienced Earlham firsthand carries tremendous credibility. Our alumni open doors in communities we could never reach on our own, and that's one of the most powerful ways we continue to grow Earlham's national and international presence.

This year, the pre-summer immersion program Earlham Summer welcomed a record of 130 students from high schools across the country. Why has this program become such an important part of the College's recruitment strategy? KT: Many alumni will remember Explore-a-College, and Earlham Summer is really its next evolution. It builds on the same idea of inviting talented high school students to experience Earlham before they begin their college search, but today the program is made possible through philanthropy. Support from Lilly Endowment Inc.'s Indiana Youth Programs on Campus Initiative allowed us to bring Earlham Summer back after years when the College couldn't sustain it financially, and we're grateful to have been approved for a three-year extension so even more students can participate. A generous gift from Nancy Dickinson Newlin ’56 and her late husband Tom ’57 expanded the program's reach nationally, opening the experience to students from well beyond Indiana. We're also seeing alumni create opportunities for students from communities that shaped their own lives. Hal Espo ’75, for example, established a scholarship for students from his alma mater, Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, giving them the same chance to discover Earlham and learn more about an institution that changed his life. Earlham Summer tuition is $2,000 before scholarships, making donor support essential to ensuring talented students can participate regardless of financial circumstances. Hal and I hope more alumni will think about the communities that helped shape them. Whether it's your high school, your hometown or another place that's meaningful to you, creating an Earlham Summer scholarship is a wonderful way to introduce the next generation of students to Earlham and open a door that might otherwise remain closed. JP: I am thrilled with the success of Earlham Summer. It provides a great introduction to an Earlham education through a one-week residential experience. Having students attend Earlham Summer gives them a real taste of college life and of Earlham. In our polarized times, some students from the east and west coasts may be hesitant to look at a college in Indiana. Earlham Summer helps to break down stereotypes. The more students we can have join us for a week of Earlham Summer, the more students we will have apply to Earlham and come join us as students.

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JP: We survey our visitors after they visit campus and a recent comment summed up the importance of a campus visit. I think it’s worth quoting here: “I had done some research before and learned some facts about Earlham but visiting made me realize the diversity and inclusivity around campus. If I had never visited, I would be missing out on all the knowledge around the campus and beauty.” We can only hope that what we share about Earlham when we’re speaking with prospective students will get them to visit. Unfortunately, Earlham is not a very accessible place to visit. KT: Like many small colleges in the Midwest, we're not located next to a major airport, and the cost of traveling to campus can be enough to keep some students from ever experiencing Earlham in person. That is a barrier that we don't want to stand between a talented student and the right college fit. That's why we are so grateful to the alumni and friends who have stepped forward to help. Georges ’63 and Shorty Friedman Birenbaum ’61 have generously supported our student fly-in program, while the Fallers, Alexa Shea Colin ’04 , and other donors have supported our student fly-in, counselor fly-in, and drive-in visit programs. Their philanthropy removes financial barriers so students, parents, and the school counselors who help guide college decisions can experience Earlham firsthand. How is Earlham engaging with Quaker high schools and Friends organizations? JP: Quaker institutions are incredibly important to us and we have a long history with many of them. We reported new agreements with several Friends Schools across the U.S. and in Japan in this issue of Earlhamite magazine. We’re working on additional agreements with other Quaker schools that are in various states of completion. We have also designed a new Quaker scholarship from endowed funds which will provide some real support to Quaker students who apply to Earlham in one of our early admissions rounds. These scholarships range from full tuition, housing, and meals to $5,000 scholarships. The music department will also be stopping by the Evanston Friends Meeting in October as part of their fall choir and percussion tour. A representative from Admissions will be there. As the college landscape becomes more competitive, how is Earlham investing in marketing to ensure more students discover what makes the College distinctive? JP: This year we utilized a lot of tools to make sure we’re getting in front of students who will thrive at Earlham. This is to ensure that our marketing resources are reaching the right students. This includes working with Niche, a site dedicated to providing students with college information. We implemented advertising

Follow Hal Espo’s lead

Many talented students discover Earlham because someone believed they should have the opportunity to experience campus firsthand. You can follow Hal Espo’s ’75 lead by establishing an Earlham Summer scholarship for high school students from your alma mater, hometown, or community. Your support can remove financial barriers, open doors to possibility, and introduce promising students to the transformative experience of an Earlham education. A single opportunity to visit campus can change a student's future. Your scholarship can help make that opportunity possible. Interested in creating an Earlham Summer scholarship? Contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at alums@earlham.edu.

From an admissions perspective, one of the biggest challenges is reaching talented students who may never consider applying to a place like Earlham because of financial barriers. Why is closing that gap so important, and how can philanthropic partnerships help the College do it? JP: We recently completed our survey to students who did not commit to Earlham after their acceptance. The top reason cited was financial aid. At this point, Earlham does not meet 100% of need. This means that there is often a gap between what a family can pay and the cost of attendance after aid. Other institutions are closing these gaps for students and if Earlham is going to grow, it will need to take this gap seriously through looking to alumni and friends of the College for help. KT: Keith and Sarah Faller are a wonderful example of that. Their daughter, Meredith Faller ’11, is an alumna, and Sarah serves on the Board of Trustees. Together they have expanded access to an Earlham education by establishing a scholarship for Pell-eligible students from Indianapolisarea schools that covers tuition, and housing and meals for four years, paired with the wraparound support of the INspire Earlham program, which provides free tuition to Indiana students in families earning $100,000 or less per year. Each year, two new students will receive this opportunity, creating a growing community of scholars on campus. College visits remain one of the strongest predictors of enrollment. Why does visiting campus make such a difference in a student's decision-making process? How is Earlham getting students to visit?

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campaigns with connected TV (CTV) which delivers video ads via internet-connected televisions, including smart TVs, streaming devices like Apple TV and Fire TV, and gaming consoles, to students who we were actively recruiting and those who share similar attributes. We’re now working with a partner to help us examine our presence on Large Multimodal Models since more students are using AI to do their college research. KT: Jeff has talked about the importance of making sure our message reaches the right students, but it’s equally important that we have the resources to tell Earlham’s story in a competitive marketplace. Alan ’74 and Peg Kral Scantland ’74 have been extraordinary partners in that work for many years. They have helped us increase awareness of Earlham through strategic marketing investments, including billboards, and have generously shared their time and expertise, helping us better position Earlham for prospective students and families. Their support illustrates how alumni can help advance the College in ways that extend beyond financial support alone. They understand that students and families need to know what makes Earlham distinctive before they can choose us. The Scantlands also made a foundational gift in 2017 that helped launch what was then known as the Epic Advantage, something we now refer to as Epic Experience. Through that program, every Earlham student has access to up to $5,000 to support an internship, research opportunity, or other career-focused experience before graduation. This investment has grown into one of Earlham's signature programs and become a defining part of our story, demonstrating our commitment to preparing students for meaningful lives and careers. Many alumni support recruitment through philanthropy, but others write letters, host events, meet with prospective students, or make connections in their communities. What are some of the most meaningful ways alumni can help Earlham welcome the next generation of students? What is your biggest future need? JP: Alumni are one of Earlham's greatest assets in recruitment because they can tell our story in a way that no advertisement ever can. A personal connection can be the reason a student decides to learn more, visit campus, or ultimately enroll. We need alumni to continue serving as ambassadors — whether that's referring a student from their community, writing a letter to a prospective student, hosting an event or simply sharing their Earlham experience with others. One of our biggest opportunities moving forward is continuing to build awareness. There are students who would thrive at Earlham who simply don't know us yet. Every

conversation an alum has, every connection they make, and every story they share helps close that awareness gap. KT: Alumni engagement is evolving in exciting ways, and we're creating more opportunities for Earlhamites to share their experiences and expertise with the next generation. The Earlham Educator Network, launched last spring, brings together Earlham alumni educators who are uniquely positioned to introduce talented students to Earlham and encourage them to consider the College they know so well. We also recently launched Ask an Earlhamite, a platform that will make it easier for students to connect with alumni and for alumni to connect with one another. It will support career preparation, professional networking, and mentorship while strengthening the lifelong Earlham community. Over time, we envision similar connections through communities of alumni in areas such as healthcare, law, and other fields. Of course, philanthropy remains essential, but alumni involvement goes far beyond financial support. Whether you're referring a student, wearing Earlham gear in your community, sharing your story, or helping a student explore a career path, you are helping the next generation discover what an Earlham education makes possible. ■ Josh Smith, Kate Young, and Gaylor Photography

Refer a future Earlhamite Do you know a student who would thrive at Earlham? Nominate them for the Alumni Referral Scholarship, and if they enroll at Earlham, they will receive a renewable $1,000 annual scholarship for up to four years. Students can be nominated as early as seventh grade through their senior year of high school. For graduating seniors, nominations are due by November 15. Your recommendation could be the first step in helping a future student discover the Earlham experience.

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earlham.edu/alumni/referral-scholarship

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The art of being with everybody For author, illustrator, and muralist Katie Yamasaki ’99, creativity isn't about making art for its own sake. It's about building community, amplifying overlooked voices, and creating spaces where everyone can be seen. By Jake Stepansky Katie Yamasaki ’99 inhabits a vast and varied creative universe that is perhaps best understood and examined like one might understand and examine a massive mural. Like Yamasaki’s community-centered muralmaking practice, a mural is sprawling and generous and colorful and intricate. Like Yamasaki’s catalog of deftly illustrated children’s books, a mural tells a wall’s-worth of stories that might otherwise go unseen and unheard. Like Yamasaki’s interwoven life and creative practice, a mural is a world unto itself — teeming with love, light, and possibility. “What a mural can do is a little bit different than what fine art or other kinds of art can do because it exists in this world with the rest of us — with everybody,” Yamasaki notes. This sense of being in and of the world radiates from Yamasaki, who self-describes as a children's book author and illustrator, muralist, art teacher (14 years in public schools), and co-facilitator of arts programs in women's prisons. Yamasaki lends support to Earlham in myriad ways to this day (her recent talk at the College's 2026 Admitted Student Event was a profound and moving hit; her illustration can be found on the cover of this issue of Earlhamite Magazine). Born to back-to-the-land hippies and raised in a factory town north of Detroit, Yamasaki was regularly awestruck by the Detroit Industry Murals, a series of large frescoes by the Mexican artist Diego Rivera, on

display at the Detroit Institute of Arts. In high school, Yamasaki discovered a mural on a small wall on a Detroit street corner created to honor the memory of Malice Green, who had been killed by two police officers.

Katie Yamasaki speaks to the Earlham community during Admitted Student Day.

“I remember being blown away that you could do that — that you could honor somebody's life, and tell the story of a violent tragedy in this small space. You didn't have to be Diego Rivera. You could just be somebody with paint — somebody who wanted to take that space and do something important with it.”

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In that moment, the seed of what would become Yamasaki’s personal and professional M.O. was planted: she would be a person who used art to, in her words, to “shine light on parts of society and people who've been pushed out to the margins.” “Everybody has a voice, but they may not have a platform,” Yamasaki emphasizes.

“Everybody has a voice, but they may not have a platform.” — KATIE YAMASAKI ’99

That seed would be tended by her professors, courses, and community at Earlham and would bloom into a lifelong creative practice. To date, Yamasaki has created over 90 murals, including one for Earlham that hangs in Landrum Bolling Center, published 10 children's books, and worked in countless countries around the world. Yamasaki arrived at Earlham with a great love for art, virtually no art-making experience, and aspirations toward a career in social work — until an “Intro to Drawing” course changed everything. “I remember all of a sudden feeling like everything I saw I was seeing with a different eye,” Yamasaki reflects. “Where I would usually just see a table, all of a sudden I was seeing shape and shadow.” This new appreciation for the visual world and the power that Yamasaki had to shape and share it was one that Yamasaki would cultivate over the next four years in rooms that she remembers as gentle and generous. “What I appreciated about Earlham was that it wasn't a cutthroat, comparative, competitive place,” she shares. “Earlham met me at the exact right moment when I felt really open, and provided spaces to walk into where I was constantly amazed by how little I knew and how big the world was.” Throughout her time at Earlham, Yamasaki continued to thread the needle between building her artistic practice and trying to make an impact beyond the traditional art-world path.

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“I felt like Earlham, for all its academic rigor and great reputation, is also a place where you can go and be useful in the world as it is right now,” she said. “They're not trying to get you to be above anybody or beneath anybody. They want you to be with everybody.” This idea of “usefulness” in artistic practice would inform her work immensely — and today, Yamasaki’s practice largely sits in the creation of community-cocreated or participatory murals (markedly different in function and process than the mural-as-advertising or more traditionally solo-self-expressive street art). One of her most impactful projects, a collaborative mural in East Harlem titled “If Walls Could Talk,” empowered a group of mothers incarcerated at Rikers Island to design a mural for their kids to paint under Yamasaki’s mentorship and vice versa.

“On the first day, one of the moms placed her hand on drawing paper and traced it, and then wrote: ‘When you feel lonely, place your hand here.’ She gave it to me and asked: ‘Can you take this to my sons so that when they miss me, they can place their hand on top of my hand and we can be connected?’ “I remember thinking: ‘What an incredibly useful thing for a drawing to do.’” The mural and that particular story became the inspiration for “Place Hand Here,” Yamasaki’s awardwinning children’s book about a young boy who observes the impact that a mural of a traced hand has on his neighborhood. Yamasaki’s book-making practice is inextricably intertwined with her community arts practice; “Place Hand Here” and the multi-award-winning “Dad Bakes” draw directly from her experiences working with

incarcerated and formerly incarcerated folks, while the acclaimed “Mural Island” tells the story of Kengi, a young artist whose travels to Mural Island to teach them about “art, expression, and the communities that cherish both.” Community-centric arts practice guides Yamasaki’s work as the artist-in-residence at the Women & Justice Project (WJP), an organization whose mission is to work in deep partnership to advance the leadership and build the power of women who are currently and formerly incarcerated. In 2016, WJP engaged Yamasaki to carry out a mural in collaboration with Hour Children, a service provider for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women in Queens.

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“That mural was a testament to the values that guide Katie’s work — integrity, community, love, and the centering of directly impacted people,” said Tamar Kraft-Stolar, Organizational Strategist at WJP. “She works with partnership at the fore of her mind, and the necessity of her approach is magnified in the prison context, where the system is one of dehumanization and punishment,” she said. “It's a gift for the participants who she partners with in the programs, it’s a gift for the facilitators, and it’s a gift for us at WJP.” Yamasaki’s gift for partnership was nurtured at Earlham, with its culture of deep collaboration between professors and students. In fact, she was drawn most to Earlham for what she calls its “community feel” — and the sense of responsibility to be in and of that community, and the many communities that have filled her life since then. “I live with a lot of privilege, and with that privilege, I feel like I have to use whatever tools I can to make things more even in any way that I can.” Yamasaki pauses and considers before sharing a reflection that is decidedly Earlham-in-ethos: “It is not for me to give up on anybody else's possibility.”■ Illustrations courtesy of Katie Yamasaki. Photo by Josh Smith.

“It is not for me to give up on anybody else's possibility.” — KATIE YAMASAKI ’99

Moon Beholders, 2013, Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles

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The difference Earlham makes in healthcare The College's nationally recognized pre-med advising and liberal arts education prepare graduates to lead, serve, and innovate across the health professions. By Laura Leavitt

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Healthcare is often understood through a narrow lens of hospitals, clinics, and direct patient care. But for Earlham alumni, the path into medicine and health-related fields takes many forms — shaped as much by curiosity, collaboration, and lived experience as by coursework or clinical training. Across disciplines and decades, these Earlhamites are building careers as physicians, researchers, educators, administrators, and public health leaders who approach healing as a deeply human enterprise. Their work spans molecular medicine labs and community health centers, academic hospitals and retirement communities, global research initiatives, and interdisciplinary teaching programs. What connects these diverse trajectories is not a single professional script, but a shared foundation in Earlham’s liberal arts education — one that encourages students to cross boundaries, integrate perspectives, and understand health in its fullest context.

Combining passions for global impact Jessica Castleberry Nicholson ’05 knew that she wanted to be a teacher from a young age, but it was her journey through Earlham and life after graduation that brought her to healthcare, in particular, community-based healthcare research and teaching about preventative medicine. Today she is the director of public health, community outreach, and preventative medicine at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) in Blacksburg, Va. Nicholson’s Earlham experiences — studying and researching with faculty like Professor Emeritus of Biology John Iverson, learning about teaching excellence in the College’s former Master of Arts in Teaching program, and studying abroad in Tanzania — shaped her to be a perfect fit for her role down the road. Nicholson’s role, located in her hometown where she has many organic connections, includes organizing opportunities for medical students to conduct original research that is needed for and with local community organizations, building both research skills and the data that small organizations often cannot gather otherwise.

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Nicholson and her colleagues also conduct research that benefits the global community, such as a recent program studying and working to reduce malnutrition in Ghana, which included an exciting partnership with Whitney Blackburn-Lynch, Earlham’s assistant professor of engineering. Through this connection, Earlham students helped design and create a key tool, a mobile, lightweight stadiometer that could rapidly assess the height of a child. These tools were easy to carry when the team needed to take measurements quickly on the ground in Ghana, assessing almost 800 children in just two and a half days. They flagged children whose health measurements indicated malnutrition and connected them to treatment. A lifelong learner, Nicholson is pursuing her own Master of Public Health at the University of California Berkeley. She is getting to align her interests in research, teaching, and public health, all working toward important values for herself and her students. “I hope that VCOM students are trained to recognize that every patient’s health story is shaped by lived experience — by culture, community, identity, and the social and economic conditions that influence health long before a patient enters the clinic,” says Nicholson.

Shaping community through administrative leadership Healthcare encompasses more than just purely clinical settings, a truth that Sydney McBride ’15 understands well. Her work in healthcare administration has involved working for a variety of senior living and retirement communities, where creating strong community, communication, and leadership are front and center even as providing strong health and wellness care is a core part of the work. McBride was drawn to the people-centered side of healthcare leadership: “Building relationships, supporting teams, solving problems thoughtfully, and ensuring residents, families, and staff feel heard and valued.” She’s worked with mission-aligned non-profits and currently serves as the President of St. Luke's Bishop Spencer Place, a retirement community in Kansas City, Mo. with 150 teammates and over 200 residents. She’s seen Earlham’s influence throughout her career: from her pre-health advisor Mike Deibel helping her connect to volunteer service at Reid Health and the Wayne County Health Clinic, to the influential “Cradle to Grave” course taught by Professor of Psychology Vince Punzo, introducing her to the opportunity to volunteer with hospice, she saw many opportunities beyond clinical roles and graduated with a well-rounded understanding of where she could use her gifts. “Earlham is truly what you make of it,” says McBride. “A liberal arts education develops the transferable skills needed to lead people, solve complex problems, and navigate the human side of healthcare. I believe consensus-building and thoughtful communication are critical to success when navigating competing priorities.”

Research science in service of human healing Irving Barrera ’20 is currently a medical student at Harvard Medical School and has a strong background working in scientific laboratories like the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard for years before medical school; he’s named as a coauthor in over 25 research publications in Cell, Science, and many other top-tier scholarly journals. Barrera’s undergraduate years at Earlham were a catalyst toward this career path. He had the opportunity to work with a variety of scientists studying key challenges in medicine and biology, and his professors and pre-health advisors Peter Blair and Mike Deibel were influential. “Earlham was very important,” Barrera said. “I didn’t know that I was able to apply for medical school and be a research scientist as well. Peter and Mike told me about the career, an M.D.-Ph.D. as a physician scientist.” His work over the years has revolved around the brain, making neurology a particularly good fit as a specialization in medical school. He learned about harm reduction and addiction from a neurological perspective from the Wayne County Health Department when he was in undergrad. He visited Germany and conducted molecular medicine research, as well as traveling to Japan and Pennsylvania for research. Earlham’s interdisciplinary approach to education makes the combination of clinical understanding and scientific research a natural one for Barrera. “I love the way scientists think, but sometimes they don’t have the context for some of the diseases they are studying, such as how it presents or progresses in patients. I’m glad I have exposure to both perspectives,” says Barrera.

“A liberal arts education develops the transferable skills needed to lead people, solve complex problems, and navigate the human side of healthcare.” — SYDNEY MCBRIDE ’15 31

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Building a holistic view of healthcare Jasmine Carter ’20 dreamed of being a physician, and her time at Earlham shaped that goal’s potential. She worked with advisors from the College’s Center for Global Health and participated in the externship program and other funded handson learning experiences to expand what she learned in the classroom. Along the way, she developed skills and experiences that made her an unusually strong fit for providing compassionate clinical care. After graduating into the COVID-19 pandemic, Carter chose to pursue a variety of experiences that prepared her for her future enrollment in 2025 at Marian University’s Tom and Julie Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine. Between graduation and medical school, she worked as a clinic informatics specialist and medical scribe, as well as pursuing a post-baccalaureate program while working as a medical assistant. Throughout, Earlham’s focus on communication, service, and empathy served her both in the moment and toward her next goals. “I think a liberal arts education is an excellent foundation for healthcare because medicine is ultimately about people, not just science,” says Carter. “It encourages students to reflect on their values and the impact they want to have on their communities, which is especially important in healthcare.” Now, having finished her first year of medical school, she’s continuing to combine classroom learning about the sciences with her wider

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experiences in jobs and volunteer roles, a synergy she learned well while at Earlham. “My experiences working directly with patients, volunteering with children and underserved communities, and overcoming personal adversity have all aligned with osteopathic medicine’s emphasis on holistic, patient-centered care,” she says. “I believe my strengths in empathy, communication, and resilience will continue to guide me as I grow into a physician throughout my medical school education.”

“I think a liberal arts education is an excellent foundation for healthcare because medicine is ultimately about people, not just science.” — JASMINE CARTER ’20

Converging paths to service and care Kevin ’12 and Clair Palmarini Tanager ’14 are both physicians and Earlham graduates; their paths into medicine showcase how a liberal arts education can lead to exciting careers in medicine. Kevin was interested in Japanese language study, the possibility of research science, and a pre-health track when choosing a college. Earlham had all three opportunities, drawing Kevin to the school. In his first two years, he found himself narrowing in toward a premed path that led him to attend University of Michigan Medical School and become a GI/liver pathologist. Recently, he began serving as an assistant professor in Gastrointestinal Pathology and Liver Pathology at Duke University School of Medicine. His work allows him to use a strong background in visual recognition and identification that makes a great pathologist, while also serving the healthcare community by teaching the next generation of physicians. Claire, on the other hand, found Earlham because of a family connection to Quakerism and her grandmother having attended the school. She arrived interested in studying the arts or majoring in the College’s peace and global studies program, but in true liberal arts fashion, she took coursework widely and discovered interests and skill sets she’d never before explored.

“I took an astronomy class with Ray Hively,” she said referencing the now retired professor emeritus of physics and astronomy. “The next semester, I was a TA for that class, and for someone that smart in a STEM field to believe in me and be so supportive, it built my confidence in myself and my interest in the natural world.” She took more science classes and realized that her interest in service that drew her to peace and global studies could also be applied in a science or healthcare career. She also had a friend at Earlham, a couple years older, who was planning on going to medical school — a young man named Kevin. Despite different timelines and specializations, Claire and Kevin developed a friendship, and eventually fell in love and got married, cementing a connection that started at Earlham. With further discernment, Claire brought her many skills and interests to her future work as a pediatrician, now working as a hospitalist at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, N.C. Her work builds on Earlham-driven skills every day. “Consensus is an uncommon way to make decisions, but it’s how we make a lot of decisions with a large, interdisciplinary team in pediatrics,” says Claire. “I consider myself as a guide and a leader of the team, and I learned a lot of leadership skills at Earlham. I try to make final decisions in a consensus-based format.” ■

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All the world's a stage What began as an ambitious creative experiment nearly a decade ago, has become one of Earlham’s signature Epic Experiences, with students and professors working side by side to build original theatrical productions and share them with audiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. By Abigail Curtis

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t Earlham, students are no strangers to finding unique ways to learn about the world around them. Still, for nearly a decade, the College's Department of Theatre Arts has set itself apart by asking students to build a dramatic world from scratch, then perform it at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. This particular created world is centered around a steampunk fantasy trilogy by Richmond author Kathryn Clare Glen. Her first book, 2016’s The Misadventures of Martin Hathaway, fired the imagination of Professor of Theatre Arts Lynne Perkins Socey, who wondered what would happen if Earlham students brought Martin Hathaway to life on stage. The answer, it turns out, is a decade of transformative theater. The process of bringing the trilogy to the world’s largest arts and performance festival, made possible through the College’s Epic Experience initiative, has given students the kind of hands-on opportunities many never dreamed possible as undergraduates. With the first two shows, The Misadventures of Martin Hathaway in 2019 and The Further Misadventures of Martin Hathaway: Shipwrecked off Heramathea’s Cove in 2023, students figured out how to create an imaginative world using just what they could pack in their luggage (to this end, umbrellas did yeoman’s work). They’ve had to solve problems on the fly, gotten to perform before international audiences, and been captivated by seeing dozens of other shows at the festival. In August 2026, students brought the third and final original play inspired by the Martin Hathaway trilogy, Captain McNamara’s Revenge, to Edinburgh. When the show wrapped this summer, so did the story about a small, bold band of young people who overcame obstacles to show the world they could do something extraordinary. It’s a tale that could be lifted from the pages of a steampunk fantasy — but in this instance, it’s not fiction at all, but pure Earlham magic. “It was such a special experience,” said Brianna Miller ’21, who starred in 2019 as Captain Daisy Fitzgerald McNamara in the first production. “It was my first time ever leaving the country, and it was just so awesome to be able to see so many different kinds of theater once we got to Edinburgh. And it really helped me expand my understanding of what theater is.” 35

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2019

2023

the initiative was the green light they had been waiting for. But what play would they do? In the spirit of the festival and to avoid copyright issues, Perkins Socey and Slayton were interested in staging a devised play rather than a scripted one. In devised theater, performers, directors, designers, and others collaborate to build a show from the ground up using improvisation, movement, and more. “We presented students with all kinds of different ideas to choose from,” Slayton said. “And they were just really excited about this novel, The Misadventures of Martin Hathaway. So we went with that.”

Dreaming of the Fringe Long before Perkins Socey had ever heard about The Misadventures of Martin Hathaway, she and Mia Slayton, associate professor of theatre arts and associate dean of the visual and performing arts, had dreamed of taking students to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The performing arts festival was established in 1947 as an unofficial offshoot of the Edinburgh International Festival (on the festival’s fringe), and takes place every August. The festival is a global celebration of arts and culture on a massive scale, and in 2025 featured more than 50,000 performances across nearly 4,000 shows. There’s theater, comedy, dance, circus, cabaret, children's shows, musicals, opera, music, spoken word, and more, and for students who are interested in the performing arts, it is a true feast, the professors said. “Just to see so many stories, and so many people who want to see the stories, it feels like ‘I’m valid. It’s possible to do the things I really care about,’” Perkins Socey said. “That’s the essence of what I hope people come away with.” But the dream of taking students to the festival seemed likely to remain just that until 2017, when Earlham launched the Epic Advantage — now known across the College as Epic Experience, which guarantees every student funding of up to $5,000 to participate in a careerfocused experience. For the professors,

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Enter Martin and Daisy, stage right Glen’s trilogy begins with a hapless history teacher from Earth, Martin Hathaway, who gets drunk at his bachelor party with his friends and falls off a cliff and lands with a crash in another world, called Arnica. Specifically, he crashes through the skylight of Captain Daisy Fitzgerald McNamara’s library. Daisy is a steampunk pirate captain with a bold attitude who cruises on an airship with her crew, called the Unpredictables. There are adventures aplenty, and also powerful lessons about community and the kind of friends who become a chosen family. Those are ideas that resonate strongly with college students, Perkins Socey said. “It is a found family. It’s us. It’s a collection of weirdos, right, who were like, ‘You be you, boo. How do I support you in being you?’” Perkins Socey and Glen are friends, and when the

2026

Richmond Civic Theatre did a radio adaptation of her first novel, the die was cast. “They had so much fun, and were so into it, that Lynne was like, ‘I want to know what this is about,’” said Glen, who also co-owns a local bookstore and recently began working on campus as an executive assistant for the Office of Academic Affairs. “Lynne really saw a spark then where the Earlham students could get behind this, too,” Glen said. “She reached out and told me about her vision for all three books. At that time, I had only written one, so it was a very ambitious vision.” Perkins Socey adapted the radio play into an original script, which became the starting point for the first play. “The students at Earlham really added to it quite a lot, and that was really just a fun, exciting experience,” Glen said. “Watching them work collaboratively has been really cool.” For Glen, it has been wonderful to see her work come alive on the stage. She even went to Edinburgh as a crew member on the production of the first play, getting a front-row seat to stagecraft that brought Arnica to life. In the books, the Unpredictables travel on an airship hoisted by a giant red balloon. “What they do in the production to make that happen, which is very steampunk and fun and visually beautiful, is they use umbrellas a lot,” Glen said. “You can pack these and take them on an airplane, and carry them down the street, and it’s wonderfully practical. They’ll have these big red umbrellas, and they’ve got the ship’s steering wheel painted on them, and they twirl them when the ship is flying.” The actors also used their bodies to evoke the set. Miller, from the first Martin Hathaway, recalls a scene in

which the actors needed to enter a cave. “All these people were just creating this kind of shape with their bodies, and creating a tunnel effect, as a few of us went through the tunnel,” Miller said. “It created this almost domino-like thing where the people at the beginning would have to go all the way to the end and help create that shape. It was really fun and playful, and I was responsible for specifically researching a lot of the movement. That was probably the most research-heavy theatrical thing that I had ever done at that point.” Each play has been different because each is a collaborative endeavor. “They’ve had different visual elements that have been just so fantastic. And seeing the students’ interpretations of the characters has been amazing,” Glen said. “It’s also amazing to see the audience respond to the jokes, because as a book author, you don’t get that. People read it, and maybe later they’ll tell you that it was funny, but in real time, seeing people react to it is just fantastic.”

The power of theater Creating this kind of theater can be powerful, Miller said. Though she had dreamed of acting since childhood, she was intensely shy until finding her footing in high school and college theater. By the time she was a sophomore at Earlham, she knew she wanted to pursue the craft professionally. In Edinburgh, she got a peek at what that would look like, performing on stage and taking in as many other shows as she could. She and the other actors also donned their costumes, which in her case included high-heeled boots and goggles, and walked around the steep cobbled streets of Edinburgh, singing pirate crew air shanties to

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passersby to entice them to come to the show. Walking in the boots hurt. But the crowd's reactions made it worthwhile. “It was just so special to perform such a strong woman, such a vulnerable woman, a woman that everyone on stage immediately respected,” Miller said. In the years since graduating, she has earned her MFA in acting from Case Western Reserve University and performed this summer at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah. Throughout, she has brought lessons from Martin Hathaway and her theater studies at Earlham: the importance of ensemble work, research and leadership skills, learning how directors think, and understanding other sides of theater. “All of that is really useful as a performer, in order to be well-rounded,” she said.

at the end of the spring semester, was very rewarding, Miles said. “It’s a completely devised piece, so this show didn’t exist until we made it,” she said. “We came up with how the world works and how the characters work. What can we do to communicate certain things because we have a limited amount of time, a limited amount of space, and a limited amount of props because we have to fly them all to a different country? There was a lot of freedom to develop things that hadn’t existed in other plays.” Two whole weeks of rehearsals were devoted to reviewing old props from other shows and brainstorming ways to use them for the third Martin Hathaway. Umbrellas once again made the cut. “Umbrellas were snowstorms, they were ship gears, they were trees, they were railings. They were everything,” Building the world Miles said. As assistant director, Miles “Just being able to be Jordan Wolfe ’20 hadn’t helped actors remember their done much devised theater work lines, worked as a backstage hand in a place where there’s before portraying the first Martin during costume changes, and ran Hathaway in the 2019 production. props. She also worked on the “It was pretty much how do marketing team, helping create so much art all the we communicate these different social media posts, the physical locations, and different story beats boards advertising the show time was life-changing, with things that we can fit in a outside the theater, and more. suitcase,” he said. “So really, it was “I think there’s a lot of buzz honestly.” very much a period of discovery, and excitement about getting to and learning about everyone, and perform somewhere that’s not — JORDAN WOLFE ’28 learning how to navigate this script our own theater, that’s literally in such a unique way.” across the world,” Miles said. In addition to acting, he did the “That’s a very exciting thought sound design for the first Martin, for a lot of people,” she said. writing transition music and “And that there are going to be soundtracks that would give richness and ambiance people from all over the world who are passionate about to the world of Arnica. As a young college student, the theater, that they’re going to get to meet and talk to. opportunity made available through the theatre arts That’s also very exciting.” department was dazzling. He also had never flown or As the last applause faded from Edinburgh, a decade visited Europe before that trip. At the festival, he saw of Earlham ingenuity and twirling red umbrellas will traditional Chinese theater, new plays in development, come to an end. But for the alumni and students who musicals, and much more. found their theatrical voices in The Misadventures of “Just being able to be in a place where there’s so much Martin Hathaway, the magic of that small, bold band of art all the time was life-changing, honestly,” said Wolfe, young people will live on. With enough imagination, who is a working actor in the Midwest. they know, a world can be built from scratch. ■ Syd Miles ’28, a current student majoring in theatre Photos by Josh Smith, Dan Oetting, and the Department of arts, was the assistant director of the third installment of Theatre Arts. the trilogy, Captain McNamara’s Revenge. She was unable to go to Scotland with the rest of the cast and crew because of a prior commitment. Still, the experience of working on the show, which was performed at Earlham

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First place Quakers by Aubrey Everett

A landmark spring for Earlham athletics saw baseball and softball capture conference championships, powered by a rising culture of collaboration, coaching leadership, and facilities that continue to reshape the Quakers’ success.

Spring proved to be fertile ground for Quaker athletics. By the conclusion of the 2025-26 year, both Earlham softball and baseball teams were on top. After dedicated yearlong training by coaches and players, facility upgrades, and strategic changes in the offseason, the two teams exceeded expectations and continued to raise the caliber of Earlham Athletics. Baseball ended the season as co-regular season champions, while softball won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) post-season tournament championship. Coupled with women’s volleyball last fall, Earlham currently holds three first-place finishes. Athletic leadership hopes these programs serve as examples of what Earlham student-athletes can accomplish. Softball Head Coach Stacey Goyette said the season had its peaks and valleys, which ultimately culminated in an NCAA Tournament appearance. Coming off a successful previous season, and returning nearly the same lineup, Goyette increased the team’s strength of schedule even further, and said it took the squad time to adjust to a tougher level of competition. Coupled with key injuries, the players had to find ways to adjust.

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“Each time, the players worked through the adversity and collectively improved,” said Goyette. “This resulted in the team peaking right as we were going into the last couple of conference games and into the conference tournament.” The team finished the season with an overall record of 26-19, and 13-5 in conference play. Catcher Shelby Hill ’27 said they went into the season with confidence and a plan to make strategic improvements. “We set goals at the beginning of the year and worked toward them all season,” said Hill. “One of our main goals was to win the conference, and we focused on that by making small adjustments along the way.” Hill went on to say that she sensed a growing culture of collaboration between the players and coaches throughout the season, which helped build confidence and a belief in their abilities. Baseball defied expectations, achieving co-regular season champs, after being slated to finish seventh in preseason polls. Head Coach Steve Sakosits said that despite sub-.500 finishes the last two seasons, the team believed they had the ability to compete at a higher level. They rounded out the year with a 27-13 overall record, and 18-4 in conference play. “Our program motto of ‘Earned Not Given’ means that you create your own breaks and work hard for any goal or achievement you want,” said Sakosits. “This team believed that and had the outcomes we did because of it.” In addition to the team’s success, Sakosits was named HCAC baseball coach of the year. This honor comes in his 40

ATHLETICS The Lab also gives coaches from both squads a place for discussion and collaboration. When the softball team headed to the NCAA regional in Angola, Indiana, Coach Sakosits tagged along. Goyette said it was helpful to have another coach on board to help with team logistics and navigate new tournament territory. This spirit of collaboration among the coaching staff has set a positive example for student athletes. “The coaching atmosphere has created a winning culture that pushes us to push ourselves,” said Hill, who was named to the Academic All-HCAC Team. “We created a new culture throughout the year that allowed us to grow, not only in ourselves and our skills, but alongside our coaches.” Both coaches said many valuable lessons were learned throughout the spring season. An inflection point came when the baseball team was competing in a spring break tournament in Fort Pierce, Fla. After losing five in a row, the team got together and decided how to move forward. After finding strategies to focus on the present and not concern themselves with what was to come, the team won their next 15 of 17 games. Softball had a similar turnaround after an unlikely loss to a conference opponent midseason. Goyette said the loss provided the team with a wakeup call that allowed them to refocus and not become complacent. Both teams are heading into the offseason with a huge amount of confidence and momentum. At the conclusion of the season, the team did not have any departing seniors, so the team's leaders will all return for another shot at glory. “We know what to expect now and what it takes,” said Hill. “It will be important for us to stay focused and continue getting better all year. We all have one year left together, which will make it even more rewarding to do it all again.” •

16th season as the Quaker’s head coach, making his mark as the program’s all-time winningest coach. Sakosits gives most of the credit to his players and coaching staff. “I am blessed to work with outstanding student-athletes and coaches that push me and each other to be our best,” said Sakosits. “It is labeled as ‘Coach of the Year’ but it should really be ‘Coaching Staff of the Year’.” Both programs worked hard to make the 2026 spring season a memorable one that would help elevate the caliber and reputation of Earlham Athletics. In only its third year, the softball program has leapfrogged its way to the top of Earlham success stories. Baseball, the more venerable program, has had eras of success over the last few decades. In 2025 both programs benefitted from the opening of a new indoor hitting and pitching complex situated between the two outdoor turf fields. The Bud McCollum-Earlham College Baseball Hitting and Pitching Lab, affectionately referred to as “The Lab,” gives student-athletes a dedicated place to practice despite weather, academic schedules, or other hurdles. The facility offers new technology such as bat sensors to measure swings, and a specialized ball that tracks pitching metrics. The devices give players instant feedback, allowing them to adjust accordingly. Sakosits, who also serves as Earlham’s senior associate athletics director, said the facilities are some of the best among NCAA DIII programs. “The Lab has been such an important addition,” said Hill. “Being able to have a space to work on hitting drills while hitting off our pitchers during the cold winter months, has allowed our skills to stay ready.” 41

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Women’s golf program rewrites record book The women’s golf program rewrote the record book at the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championships in Anderson, Indiana. The Quakers posted a three-day score of 1110, shattering the previous school record by 56 strokes and recording the program’s best HCAC finish since 2018. Izzy Flint ’29 led Earlham with an eighth-place individual finish, while Brileigh Quillen-Popejoy ’29, Macky Laughlin ’26, Erin Wright ’29, and Mary Kaitlyn Bauer ’29 all contributed to the historic performance. “Seeing the growth of this squad over the last three years has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life,” said Head Coach Matt Brown. “With two sophomores and two first-years in the starting line-up, we are ready to raise the bar higher.”

Mary Kaitlyn Bauer

Macky Laughlin EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

ASK AN

EARLHAMITE ASK.EARLHAM.EDU

Launched this summer, Ask an Earlhamite is a new resource designed to strengthen connections across the Earlham community by making it easy for alumni and students to share advice, insights, and professional expertise. The platform creates opportunities for meaningful one-on-one conversations, whether the topic is career exploration, graduate school, navigating a new industry, or simply learning from the experiences of fellow Earlhamites. The service is free to use and requires no app, registration, or login. When a student or alum submits a question, AI-powered matching technology identifies alumni whose backgrounds, experiences, or interests align with the topic and invites them to respond. Alumni can choose the communication method that works best for them, including email, a phone call, or a virtual or in-person meeting.

With more than 17,000 living alumni around the world, Ask an Earlhamite helps make the collective knowledge of the Earlham network more accessible than ever. Questions are only shared when there is a strong match, so you may receive invitations to help occasionally rather than on a regular schedule. For more information about Ask an Earlhamite, visit ask.earlham.edu. To update your contact information, email the Office of Alumni Engagement at alums@earlham.edu.

Connect with alumni and students ask.earlham.edu 43

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Earlham celebrates 179th Commencement On Saturday, May 16, 2026, Earlham College celebrated its 179th Commencement in the Druley Performance Gymnasium, located in the Athletics and Wellness Center. The ceremony honored the achievements of the Class of 2026 with joy, tradition, and inspiration. more online

Find more commencement photos at earlham.edu/commencement.

Photos by Tsitsi Makufa and Josh Smith

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4 years, 1 roommate Christine Deena John ’26 and Ashley Jennings ’26 grew up worlds apart, but Earlham brought them together. John discovered Earlham while attending United World College Japan, drawn by its peace and global studies program and close-knit international community. Jennings, from Winchester, Indiana, chose Earlham for its strong academics, intimate size and preparation for medical school. Matched as first-year roommates, the two bonded over singer-songwriter and global pop superstar Taylor Swift and quickly became best friends — and roommates all four years. “You hope to find a good roommate, but very rarely does that turn into finding a best friend,” says John. “We’ve navigated four years of life together.” Despite never sharing a class, they immersed themselves in campus life through a wide range of organizations, from student government and performing arts to global health and community engagement. “Between the two of us, we’ve done almost everything,” Jennings jokes. After commencement, Jennings plans to take a gap year before medical school with the goal of serving rural communities, while John hopes to pursue graduate study in Japan and continue her work advancing peacebuilding and opportunities for young women. — Story by Laura Leavitt. Photo by Tsitsi Makufa.

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CLASS NOTES Send us your news > The deadline to submit entries for the next issue is December 1, 2026. Go to earlham.edu/classnotes to submit yours, or write to alums@earlham.edu. Submissions may be edited for length of other editorial considerations. This issue of Earlhamite magazine includes notes and obituaries received by May of 2026.

2025 Arson Smith: Since graduating Earlham, I got to see my friends graduate as well. I took an amazing trip to Pennsylvania to spend time with a beloved friend and explore the east coast. Recently, I've met the love of my life. I've moved to Indianapolis with my best friend, and I'm about to start my first full-time job working for a blood donation center and helping keep blood on the shelves. As things have started to hike up, I've become even more grateful and appreciative to Earlham and the time I got to spend there. It helped me grow so much as a person, and helped me find purpose and a passion for life.

2022 Jacob Donahue: I recently accepted a position teaching English in rural Indonesia as a Peace Corps volunteer, and it’s thanks to the efforts of Tom Hamm, Womai Song, and the fantastic humanities department at Earlham who instilled the values of peace and social justice to enable me to go this far. I haven’t forgotten my time at this incredible school and am wishing new students all the best! Adla Burza: Since graduating from Earlham, I've somehow managed to combine two worlds that don't usually overlap – data analytics and music. I'm currently based in Malta, where I work as a BI analyst, performer, music educator and singer-songwriter. This

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month, I released "Catch Feelings," which is the first single from a new original music project inspired by the people, places and experiences that have shaped my journey from Bosnia to the United States and now Malta. It's exciting to finally share this next chapter with the world!

2019

John Jeremiah Edminster: Earlham School of Religion alumni, as a whole, have different demographics than Earlham college alums — but when I think seriously about “us” and “them,” those differences vanish to almost nothing. Most EC alumni leave their alma mater in their twenties; I left ESR in my mid-seventies, my wage-earning and child-raising years behind me, to devote the closing years of my earthly life to advancing what Quakers of the late 1600s called “the Everlasting Gospel” — that “Christ was come to teach His people Himself!” But in both cases, we alums are leaving our years of preparatory training in hopes of doing something for a living that we believe the world needs us to do, and that suits our natural gifts and inclinations. In my case, I already knew that my life didn’t belong to me. I’d consciously surrendered ownership of it to God at age 45, and was now following an agenda set for me, perhaps before the beginning of time, by my Creator. And what was that agenda? To “turn people from darkness to light,” as George Fox, founder of Quakerism, said of his own mission, borrowing words he’d found in Scripture, the 46

very words that the Apostle Paul had used to describe his own calling (Acts 26:18). Yes, I, who’d been raised in California to be a freethinking bohemian atheist intellectual, was being loosed on the world, in my withered old age, to serve it as a Christian evangelist in the heart of the Midwest! Don’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor! But when you hear the word “evangelist,” it may conjure up, in your mind, a picture of someone (usually a “he”) who wants to replace your worldview with his. No, I’m not that kind of evangelist. If you’re a Unitarian, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Wiccan, or a plain unbeliever, remain what you are! But ask yourself: Do you consistently obey your conscience? My own answer to that question was “No,” even three years after I’d gotten my M. Div. from ESR! For that was when I got a diagnosis of cancer of the tongue — and the news that I’d have to have the tumor cut out, and the site burned clean with radiation therapy! At once, thanks in part to my theological education, I thought of the prophet Isaiah’s realization that he’d have to have his own mouth cauterized by fire, “for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips!” (Isa 6:5). It wasn’t that I told outright lies, or knowingly passed on slanted news. It was that I cursed people in my heart, people whom God loved enough to create and Christ loved enough to die for. So my evangelistic message to the world is: Obey your conscience, love your enemies, forgive those who hurt you, and be prepared for a judgment

1991 LOO K I NG B ACK

Jim Fowler and Friends, October 1991

Jim Fowler '52 with friends holding a large snake in Stout Meetinghouse. Jim was a former student of Jim Cope and majored in zoology and geology. He received the Outstanding Alumni award in 1991 and was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. He co-hosted the television show, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

after the death of the body! And to ESR I say, Heartfelt thanks!

2019 Lydia Harvey: Padgett and I welcomed our first son, Finn, at the end of March. We are both still coaching the women's soccer team at Earlham and are eager to rebuild connections with other alums from the women's soccer program who may have come before us. If anyone is ever on campus, please stop by the stadium offices and introduce yourself or send us an email!

2012

Alma Raymer: Hi fellow hammies! A couple years ago I moved down to Galveston (barrier island south of Houston, Texas) after the loss of my partner John to cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) in late 2022, and have professionally transitioned into the world of greentech as a data analyst and portfolio lead in the past year+. If you're ever on the Texas Gulf Coast or in the greater Houston area and want to connect, please get in touch! I also got to visit recently with some fellow Earlhamites during the beautiful, impactful and joyous celebration of Ana

De Leon's '15 marriage to her wonderful spouse Drew this past November outside of Mexico City. I so enjoyed time with Sarah Fox '13 and her partner Spencer, Noor Balbaky '13, and her partner Silas, and Daniel Vargas Cambronero '15. It was an honor and joy to spend time with each of them and celebrate this beautiful union.

2011

Donnie Smith: I hope the Class of 2011 is doing well. I'm currently living in Vermont and about to make a move to Newtown, Pennsylvania, to work at George School as Director of Enrollment as of July 1, 2026. I'm very

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CLASS NOTES excited about this move and working at an institution rooted in Quaker values as the work continues to change. I would love to reconnect with classmates who might be in the Philly, D.C., New York, or New Jersey area anytime. I will be traveling a decent amount for my job and would welcome any chance to meet up. I hope to see many of you at reunion in October. Ruth Carter: Sometime after graduation, I found my new home in St Louis, Missouri, and have continued to enjoy it, alongside my long-term partner and the several hundred dogs I've met since starting work with the local doggy daycare. The well-established contra dancing community is where I find most of my connections. More recently, I'm learning to cook wholefood plant-based recipes and the local library's community jigsaw puzzle grants me sanity.

2010 Max Crumley-Effinger: I have been living in Boston, Massachusetts, for close to four years with my wife, dog, and daughter, and I work in international higher education doing immigration advising, research, and more. I really enjoy connecting with Earlhamites who are visiting, so please feel free to reach out if you're in the area. Mandi Rice: The last 5 years have been a beautiful and unexpected ride! I got married in 2022. This year we welcomed a daughter, Audre. In between, I have been working as a pediatric chaplain and was ordained as an Episcopal priest. Spirituality, healing, and kinship are core themes in my vocation. When things are stressful, I just imagine that I’m walking in the woods back campus, and that brings me joy.

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2007

2003

Donna Vincent Storch: Donna was awarded the 2025 William E. Gladstone Award. The William E. Gladstone Award recognizes Florida judges and magistrates for outstanding work in protecting abused, neglected, and abandoned children, honoring the legacy of the late Judge Gladstone and his dedication to vulnerable youth. Donna serves as a General Magistrate in the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida (Jacksonville), presiding over traditional dependency court cases and two problem-solving courts – Early Childhood Court and Family Treatment Court.

Emilie Smith: Excited to share that I'm completing my Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Houston in May 2026!

2005 Sandy Hartmannsgruber: In 2023 I joyously welcomed a baby into this crazy world. Exchanging the mountains for the sea, we bid Asheville, North Carolina, goodbye and now reside near family in Dover, Delaware. Brandy Lee Bennett: Hello Friends! After 21 years living in New York, where I worked on malaria for grad school (thanks Peter!) and then 14 years in biotech, my husband and I have crossed the pond over to the U.K. We now have a lovely B&B called "Dorset House" (doresethouselyme. com) in the town of Lyme Regis on the Jurassic Coast. I have only been here a few months so far, but it is a beautiful place, and I am committed to finding more birds than just seagulls. We are renovating a bit now and will be fully open later this summer. I'd absolutely love to welcome some Earlhamites, so please reach out if you're ever heading out this way!

Michael McCully: I graduated from Earlham College with a major in Classical Studies and a minor in Religious Studies. Afterward, I spent several years at the Earlham School of Religion, studying reconstructive postmodernism, peace and justice issues, and spiritual direction. I left to pursue my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from Indiana Wesleyan University, where I met my beloved wife. Since 2011, I have worked with individuals, couples, and families — as a counselor at a substance use hospital, as an outpatient therapist in community mental health, as a home-based therapist helping to reunify families, and as a counselor using EMDR to help heal survivors of crimes, such as domestic violence. I’ve been in my own private practice since 2019, where I particularly enjoy helping individuals and couples heal from anxiety and depression and to improve their relationships. I'm a Clinical Fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and a board member of the state division, the Indiana Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (IAMFT). I've been a guest lecturer on Marriage and Family Therapy theory in several classes at Butler University and would like to work also as an adjunct professor. In my spare time, I enjoy finding new ways to avoid washing dishes, debating whether to get a doctorate, pining to play Dungeons & Dragons, and very occasionally jogging (plodding, really) around my neighborhood, where I live with my beloved wife and our fur-baby — a 70-pound pit-mix named Dover.

Carl Rhinehart: Currently living in Richmond, Indiana, where I have been since 2004. I work as a Business teacher at Richmond High School, run the youth serving non-profit Future Achievers (futureachievers.org) and am active in my church and the community. I am married and have 3 children ages 8, 7, and 4. My wife owns and operates Doll House Salon in Richmond. I wish we could all be back on campus one more time. Julie Terrell Arias: I'm the founder of Today's Table, a woman-owned food business in Dayton, Ohio, specializing in catering, community meals and wholesale products inspired by Latin flavors and nutritious foods. It's been a labor of love and I'm proud of what we're building. If you're hosting an event or need food to bring community together, please reach out! On the personal front, I'm newly separated and embracing this season with gratitude and excitement. Most exciting of all — my daughter Clara will be an Earlham student this fall. The circle is complete! Both of my daughters have spent the past four years deeply connected to Camp Celo in North Carolina — working there and attending — so they've both grown up with that wonderful sense of intentional community that I know Earlham folks appreciate and nurture in so many ways and places. I'd love to hear what my fellow Earlhamites are up to. Reach me at julie@ordertodaystable.com or connect on Facebook or LinkedIn.

2001 Allison Budschalow: This year marks 26 years that Jonathan Barnes '02 and I have been together after meeting at EC. We have been married for 20 years and continue to live in Philly where I grew up, and soon Jonathan will celebrate the hard-won title of Philadelphian. We have two amazing kids, one

of whom attended Earlham Summer, yay! We are not holding our breath that she'll decide to attend EC, but are hopeful. We gratefully get to spend quality time with other Earlhamites who we call family, like Brie Radis '01, Leila Parand '01, and Kymberlie Quong Charles '02 and their beautiful fams. If you're interested in therapy, come find Jonathan next year when he finishes his graduate studies. And, if you're interested in fundraising for social justice check out Allison's work here: buzzsprout.com/2456220/contributors/98422-allison-budschalow.

1995

2000

Jeanne Mattison: Since EC, I have worked at a pottery studio, been a union organizer, worked at a progressive foundation, dressed women at the top of their game and now I am in DC government working with neighbors and building community. Basically, I love solving problems with laughter and kindness. Peace Studies served me very well in every career I have had! I still love creating and feasting on great food and spending as much time as possible in Castine, Maine, with my 19-year-old daughter, Liliana, and husband, Matteo. I highly recommend anyone moving to Washington, D.C. to look up FreeDC.org!

Shai Wise: I will finally be starting Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College in August 2026. The program I am part of will allow me and my family to remain in Milwaukee while completing a mix of cohort intensives in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York, and online coursework as well as work within my local community. In other news, Victoria and I are looking at colleges with our older two children (have yet to be able to convince either of them to look at Earlham). One wants to study aviation, and the other is looking at nursing or possibly pre-med (to be 17 again with the world ahead of you). Our younger two are in 6th grade and 3rd grade so at least we have some time before they are looking at schools.

1999 Emily Mason: Hello from New Hampshire! No recent changes to report but feel free to say hello if you're ever in the Keene area. You can also find me behind the screens or making content @badgerbalm (organic/cruelty-free/B Corp body care), singing with a community rock chorus, Rock Voices (there are several locations!), or settling into silence with the Orchard Hill Quakers on Sunday mornings.

Meera Collier: Meera Collier continues to work as a technical writer, now in manufacturing for Joby Aviation in Santa Cruz, being a liaison between the engineers who design the aircraft and the technicians who put the thing together. It's her dream job! She and her wife, Luisa, just celebrated their 10-year anniversary. Meera is always on the lookout for Earlham events in northern or central California! Drop her a line at colliermeera@gmail.com

1994

Rebecca Graff: I have been elected President of the Reference User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, for the 2026–2027 term. It is both an honor and a responsibility to serve in this leadership role for one of the profession's leading organizations. I look forward to working with colleagues across the country to advance RUSA's mission. I am excited about the opportunities and challenges ahead as I lead the association over the coming year. I appreciate being mentored by Evan Farber and encouraged by Nancy Taylor while at Earlham. They helped shape my experience and career.

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CLASS NOTES

1994 Sunu Chandy: Sunu, Leah Fried '94, and Cristen Chapman '94 gathered in Chicago to celebrate the publication of "they/she/he: ritual to forget your (un) becoming," the debut poetry collection by Earlham Assistant Professor Dez Brown (publishing as dezireé a. brown). The alumni gathered for Brown's reading at City Lit Books as part of the store's July Poetry Salon. Sunu also had an opportunity to visit with Jeffrey Perkins '94, retired professor Barb Caruso, and others on campus in May 2026 while attending the Celebration of Life of Mary Garman. Sunu sends condolences to all in the EC community who are grieving this loss. Sunu currently lives in Washington, D.C., with family and is busy with civil rights law, poetry and parenting a teen. Sunu encourages alumni to follow the work of her colleagues at Democracy Forward. She is a senior advisor at this nonprofit organization that focuses on litigation and other strategies to slow down and stop the harms created by this federal administration. Amy Buchholz Dudas: I recently moved to White Plains, New York, to accept a position at a boutique matrimonial/family law firm there. Despite a pretty successful 25-year career

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practicing law in Richmond, Indiana, I was feeling stagnant. Having served as the president of the Indiana State Bar Association and knowing that, in Indiana, I would be highly unlikely to be elected as a trial court judge or appointed to the appellate bench (wrong flavor), I felt like the remainder of my career there would just be more of the same. The community was really good to me, and I invested a lot of myself in it, but I was yearning for new challenges. Since husband Andy and I just adore New York, we made the decision to make the move. So far, so good! We're looking forward to connecting with New York Earlhamites in the near future.

1993 Gabe Fankhauser: Gabe continues to enjoy teaching music at the University of North Georgia, spending time with family and playing in a local rock band. In 2025, the Society for Music Theory awarded him the Outstanding Publication Award for his article, "Displaced Cadential Six-Four Chords."

1991 Star Ford: I'm restoring historic stone and adobe buildings in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and doing lots of volunteer work. Scott Ansevin-Allen: Living in New Hampshire and looking forward to the next phase in life. Andrea '91 retired from government service last year as part of DOGE2, so I have a couple more years. All 3 kids will be in college next year and aging parent support is keeping us busy. In late February we visited the Seychelles Islands to see our

Peace Corps Homestay Family after 30 years. Enroute, we spent 3 days in Abu Dhabi UAE playing tourist, and the day after departing, the war started. Fortunately we were safe in the Seychelles, but the planes stopped flying. Alas it was an extra-long reunion until we found a means of getting home. Quite the adventure for our youngest child on her senior trip. Needless to say, we swam in the Indian Ocean a lot, had great seafood, which is the only choice, and had to suffer an unplanned layover in Paris to get back. If you are in New Hampshire or Vermont, look us up.

1990 Karen Colombo Poulin: After 30 years as a special educator in Vermont (plus a couple extra in Oregon), I am retiring from public school education this June. This is a bit earlier than we had planned, but life has a way of happening. My husband John and I have two young adult kids who are back with us for the summer, and although we came to appreciate our empty nest over the past year, it is wonderful to have all of us back together for a while. I'd be happy to hear other alums' retirement advice and suggestions! Derek Bluestone: Delighted to have attended our 35th reunion this past October and see so many Class of '90 folks in Richmond. Very proud that our class exceeded our goal of funding the Class of '90 Epic Advantage Endowed Scholarship ($51K and growing)! Props to my reunion committee teammates — what a wonderful group! I'm still based in the greater Philly area with my wife (Leslie) and our new puppy (Milo). Our kids (Sam and Zoe) are long out of the house and my oldest (Sam) is getting married in September 2027! I've been working for a Toronto-based software company for a little under a year and am enjoying the

Canadian culture —– though I'd rather be birding or fishing! Be well everyone!

1989 Don Billen: Don Billen and LuAnn Wangsness recently moved to scenic Wenatchee, Washington, where Don is the CEO of Link Transit. They are greatly enjoying the slower pace of life and the easy access to the outdoors.

1988 Mark Wenzel: After six years leading international schools in Singapore and Vietnam, I've returned to Washington state to serve as superintendent of the 4,500-student Enumclaw School District. The district sits near Mt Rainier and offers splendid full-mountain views on clear days (which we have in summer)! Earlham definitely shaped my views on global education and equity leadership, characteristics for which I remain grateful. Looking forward to reconnecting with everyone at a future reunion. Philip Wingeier-Rayo: I’ve enjoyed living in Silver Spring, Maryland, the past eight years where there are several Earlhamites. I’ve attended some events organized by the alumni office and a couple more informal gatherings with folks who live in the DMV. Starting July 1 I move to Greensboro, North Carolina, to be closer to our daughter. She is a Guilford College alum. After 25 years in academia, I switched employers last year and now work for an agency of the United Methodist Church that supports education institutions and development projects in the U.S. and abroad. The advantage is that it is remote, so I can work from anywhere. This year I published my fifth book and probably my magnum opus entitled "John Wesley and the Origins of Methodist Missions” (Abingdon Press). I continue to enjoy

research and writing, as well as adjunct teaching. If you are passing through Greensboro look me up. It’s always good to see another Earlhamite. Sarah Hernandez: I remain in Florida, teaching Sociology, serving my labor union, supporting the efforts to protect academic freedom, supporting local community organizations, participating in the Sarasota Quaker meeting, living with my spouse and happy to see my daughter attain her BA this year.

1987 George Swain: After a long and satisfying career working in schools as a teacher, department chair, and principal, I now serve as the Chief Operating Officer for the New York State Association of Independent Schools, which supports and advocates for over 200 non-public schools (including three Quaker schools) in the Empire State and beyond. My wife Jessie Levey (sister of Brooke Levey '88) and I enjoy empty-nesting, traveling, and spending time with our two fabulous grown children and their partners. Recently, I earned an executive coaching certification, and I welcome all Earlham alums interested in coaching at any stage along their career journey to reach out to me at georgeswaincoaching.com. Who said that a degree in sociology and anthropology wasn’t going to be useful? I’m happy to report that I use what I learned at Earlham College every single day. Looking forward to seeing everyone from the Class of '87 at our upcoming (gasp!) 40th reunion! Saul Rosenthal: I have just started my term as president of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, an international organization for practitioners of biofeedback, neurofeedback, and other types of biomodulation. My first forays into psychophysiology were as a 51

psychology major at Earlham, where I worked with Kathy Milar to get some old Grass EKGs and skin conductance units working. Since then, I eventually made my way to clinical health psychology, working with people experiencing significant and chronic medical issues. I'm also doing a fair amount of mentoring, writing, and editing. I even have a podcast (of course), where I get to use the audio engineering skills I developed at WECI. If you're in the Boston area, look me up!

1984 Andrew Gingery: As I contemplate sending the older of my two kids to University of Chicago this autumn, it takes me aback to realize that my class came to campus 46 years ago. I also realize that whatever I happen to remember from that time that I might have deemed important to know then is likely irrelevant. If having two teenagers has taught me anything, it’s that most of what I thought I knew about the world has a sell-by date. I just tell him to be prepared to make lifelong friends and to take advantage of every opportunity to explore the world. Marcia Haines Winters: Marcia recently published a book called “With Good Reasons: My Heartfelt Journey: From Co-dependency to a Self-Nurturing Life." It is a creative memoir. Surprises abound in this true story: some transformative and others tragic. You are invited to join in observing the healing beauty of nature, experiencing the miraculous, and uncovering some of the sad truths that we often blindly participate in. After all, opening our eyes to realities gives us the knowledge to make better choices. Charlie Peck: I have been teaching at Earlham for about 30 years now, first as a part-time adjunct and more lately as a professor of computer science and engineering. Karlye Teders '87 and I live on a farm in Boston Township not

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CLASS NOTES far from campus. Stop by the CST if you are on campus, it would be nice to catch-up.

1983 Michael Frisch: I have been elected to the 2026 class of College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. This honor recognizes "individual efforts that produced demonstrably significant and transformational improvements to the field of urban planning and the communities served." Apart from directing the Urban Planning + Design program at UMKC, I have also been serving as Clerk of Penn Valley Friends Meeting here in Kansas City. Margaret Seidenberg-Ellis: It was delightful to spend time with Candace Roper '83 and Jane Broadbent '03 on Earlham Day at the Mean Cup in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We learned about each other's experiences at Earlham and beyond. Earlham is a special place and the people who have gone there are pretty special too! I have been enjoying the Earlham College Class of '83 book club organized by Neil Levine '83. I feel like this is in some ways an extension of my education at Earlham — I am exposed to some really good books that I would otherwise not know about (or in some cases be tempted to read). It is a bonus that I get to spend some virtual time with classmates, including an old roommate! On the artistic side of things, I am back in the ceramic studio after fracturing my pelvis in a bike accident last fall. I love to fire my work with wood and I recently had a wood-fired tea bowl accepted into the show In Hand III at the Art School at Old Church in Demarest, New Jersey, this past summer. I wish I could include a photograph of our Golden Retriever puppy, Molly. We recently completed

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our fourth class together. It was very challenging but all our hard work came together in the last class where she was the star.

1982 Barry Morgan: I retired in 2025 after 15 years running my Agile project management practice. Currently, I'm volunteering at the Cincinnati Zoo and the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament. I loved recently meeting up with Ultimate player legend Raoul Rubin '83. I would love to catch up with Earlham grads in Cincinnati or Ocala, Florida (winters).

1981 Kirk Wright: We were told during new student week we would forge lifelong friendships with classmates. We couldn’t know then how important those friends would be and how it would feel 50 years later. In celebration of those friendships and other things Earlham, 19 of us traveled from 11 states to meet up for a weekend on beautiful Mount Desert Island, 52

Maine. Our exploration of Acadia National Park was informed by an amazing diversity of Earlham-born knowledge: geology (impressively, we had three EC geology majors from class of ‘80 with us), botany, ornithology, and art. One of our excursions was by ferry to Winter Harbor. There we had a delightful visit with Earlhamite artist Wendilee Heath O’Brien at her gallery “Whopaints”. We also explored the coastal geology of the Schoodic Peninsula, explored plant life along forest trails, walked and talked along carriage paths, identified bird song, and visited botanical gardens on Mount Desert Island. Saturday night, after a beachside sauna and cold Atlantic plunge, Toni and Bruce treated us to a lobster bake on the beach and we shared heartfelt words. Six of us are veterans of Earlham’s first Kenya study-abroad program. The leader of that program, Bill Buskirk, has remained an important person to us and to many others. A video call with him and Maryanne allowed us to share sentiments of his

influence upon us, stories of our lives, and memories of our time in Kenya. We had a wonderful celebration of the power of an Earlham education and the enduring friendships forged there. Many of our conversations explored how our Earlham experience has informed and guided our personal and professional development over the past 50 years. We laughed until our faces hurt remembering and reliving. Attendees included: Peter Moulton ’80, Tina Santoni ’80, Kirk Wright ’81, Allison Lew ’80, Jan Eckert ’80, Nancy Putnam ’80, Hannah Levine ’80, Will Lamb ’80, Ken Hurst ’80, David Bryant ’80, Amy Lamborg ’80, Elizabeth Dale ’80, Roger Edes ’80, Toni Evans ’79, Bruce Evans ’79, Rebecca Evans Marvil ’80, Laura Katz ’80, Joel Katz ‘80, and Jens Braun ’80.

1980 Carol Gilbert: I was at Earlham two years in the class of 1980, transferred out so didn't graduate from Earlham. I retired a year ago after about three careers: engineer, statistician, then public health statistician and professor. I'm enjoying raising a teenage grandson, Quakering, protesting and gardening.

1979 Julie Cadwallader Staub: My third collection of poetry, “Bloodroot,” has recently been accepted by Kelsay Books. It is a collection of 60 poems that tell the story of my father’s family’s escape from Nazi Germany in the 1940’s. It is still a relevant story for our times! Last year, I left my beloved Vermont and moved to Minnesota to be closer to my family. It’s been a good change. My three children and my grandchildren are well and spread around the country, so being in the middle of the country is a good place to be. My website is juliecspoetry.com.

You can sample some of my poems there. I still love Earlham!

1979 Sally Witzler Whitbeck: I just published a book called “Pass the Kava, Reflections of a Sailing Circumnavigator.” It's a fun tale of adventure about the first year of a nearly five-year voyage around the world with my husband on a 37-foot sailboat. We travel from Annapolis, Maryland, to New Zealand, overcoming obstacles and doubts, and developing friendships as we weave our way through beautiful diverse cultures. It's a story about finding meaning and community while changing the course of your life. If you love travel and adventure, you might find it an enjoyable read. You can read the synopsis and early reviews on my website, sallywhitbeck.com. "Pass the Kava” can be found at most online booksellers, or you can buy it directly from my website. Anne Wolf Fraley: A variety of transitions are taking place (we're that age, right?): marking 31 years of ordained ministry (my former bishop dubbed me a Quakopalian!), moving to a local 55+ community (Connecticut), and training our labradoodle mix to be a service dog for my husband, who struggles with mobility issues, dizziness and heart disease. Eying retirement this fall will add an additional adjustment, but I'm all in! Elaine Hoffman: I am two years into retirement from being a Hospice Chaplain and I am loving it! Every day is a Saturday after working in some form since I was 15 years old! I am traveling with my partner of eight years, Fernando Silva, and we just returned from an amazing sailing trip in Croatia and an exploration of the country itself. I keep busy with four grandsons, ages 4-13, and a granddaughter excitedly expected in late July. I watch with 53

admiration my friends Dotty '79 and Jonathan Doherty '80 as they raise funds for Earlham through birding. I missed our 45th due to my mother's death but fully expect to be there for our 50th! Let's have a great turnout!

1977 Carol Moskowitz: My happiest news is that our grandson, Ezra Daniel, turned 3 years old in mid-June. Our son, Ben, and Kelly moved from downtown D.C. to my neighborhood in North Bethesda, Maryland, so they are all close by now. Ben is now the Assistant Deputy Attorney General for Washington, D.C. Kelly works for the Library of Congress. Our younger son, Adam '14, received his Ph.D. at the School of Public Health in Minneapolis in 2024, works virtually for the University of Iowa and also plays in a band. His wife, Cecelia Capanna '15, is a nurse in Minneapolis. I have many musician friends here and support (and volunteer for) lots of live local music!!

1976 Rick Williams: In January 2026, I was inducted into the New England Disc Golf Hall of Fame. I was one of six inductees. The ceremony took place at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The ceremony was recorded by Gatekeeper Media and is on YouTube. In the video, I was the third inductee to give an acceptation speech. I'm still active in disc sports and have been enjoying retirement for the last sixteen years. Hope to see lots of '76 graduates in October at our 50th reunion. Continued on the next page

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CLASS NOTES

1976 Patricia Moss Roeser: Patricia and sister, Carolyn Moss '77, visited Japan with their husbands in November 2025 primarily to attend an art exhibit at the Matsumoto City Art Museum featuring their grandfather’s artwork. Hakutei Ishii was a nationally known painter who studied Impressionistic art and helped introduce Western art to Japan. Over 100 of his paintings were on exhibit. They also visited family members and hiked in the Nagano area. Nancy and Rich Sinex: We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on June 4, 2026. Some classmates might remember that we were married on campus two days before our graduation. It was a busy weekend! We look forward to the Class’ 50th reunion in October. Jacqueline Dale Broder: From March 3-14, 2026, intrepid Lynn Fowler ’76, naturalist guide extraordinaire, gathered a group of Earlham alumni to explore Baja California Sur and observe whales, birds, and desert vegetation. After flying into La Paz, BCS Mexico, the group divided to go bird watching in the desert, snorkeling with whale sharks, and touring local museums. Four hours north in Loreto, we boated into the Gulf of California to see the EARLHAMITE MAGAZINE

massive blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) including several of their tails! Traveling across the Baja peninsula to the Pacific, we “glamped” at Kuyima Cabañas and boated on the very windy San Ignacio Lagoon in search of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus). We were lucky to find a mother whale with her young calf and several single whales. We had bonus sightings of sea lions, sea turtles, two species of loons and other birds (gulls, terns, herons etc.) Additional adventures included a walk in the mangroves, a tour of an oyster ranch, tortilla-making classes and a visit to the Mission of San Francisco Javier, which was founded in 1699. Desert botany identification was led by Noel Pavlovic ’78, and bird identification was led by Peter Trueblood (husband of Cindy Evans Trueblood ’78, who finally saw a new bird for his eBird list on our last outing — a Xantus’s hummingbird (Basilinna xantusii). The fish for our farewell dinner was caught by Mia Hay Long ’76 and Steve Long on their deep-sea fishing outing; a highly prized yellowtail (Seriola lalandi), a black skipjack tuna (Euthynnus lineatus), and an orangeside triggerfish (Sufflamen verres). Baja California was lovely, the Mexicans were friendly, their food was delicious (we had no Montezuma’s revenge), the desert and mountains were awe inspiring, the day of rain was totally unexpected and the friendships and reconnecting with fellow Earlhamites were some of the many highlights of our trip. Trip participants included Susan Sweitzer ’73, Lynn Fowler, Mia Hay Long and husband Steve, Barbara Stark Gessert ’76, and husband Charles, Jacqueline Dale Broder ’76, and husband Michael, Noel Pavlovic,

and Sarah White Pavlovic ’78, Cindy Evans Trueblood and husband Peter, Hannah Cope Richter ’78, and Sandy Sweitzer ’83. Meira Rosenberg: My husband David Friedman and I welcomed our second grandson in March, and have gone from our home in Connecticut to D.C. to see him three times in three months. Instant joy! My other news is that my third middle grade novel, “Indiana Bamboo and the Not-Missing Mummy,” was released in June by All Things That Matter Press. It takes place in Manhattan and in River Creek, Indiana. I grew up in Richmond, and Earlhamites will enjoy figuring out which River Creek landmarks are not-so-disguised Richmond landmarks in Indiana Bamboo's second mystery.

1975 Katherine “Kay” Wenzel: I was delighted to see many classmates again at our 50th reunion! These days, I sample the cultural stimulations surrounding my New York City apartment, and I tutor community college students in psychology part-time. Friends are most welcome to email me at kay.wenzel21@gmail.com. Andrew Modrall: In September 2025, my wife and I walked 125 miles over 9 days, along the pilgrimage route in Spain known as The Camino de Santiago. It was a strenuous and spiritual journey along the path followed by hundreds of thousands of individuals dating back more than 1,000 years. The pilgrimage goes to Santiago de Compostela, considered among the 3 holiest cities in the world, and we joined in the Pilgrims' Mass at the enormous cathedral there, dedicated to St. James the Apostle. The walk clears your mind of clutter and unites you with total strangers from all over the world. It was so uplifting that we

plan to repeat the pilgrimage in 2026. Faizullah Kakar: Suzette '73 and I were living in Dubai, UAE, this year until March 16, 2026. Having developed health conditions that required a specialized hospital, I decided to move to Virginia, USA. On April 1, 2026, we moved to Houston, Texas, to be treated at MD Anderson Hospital. I continue to be under treatment here in MD Anderson, Woodland branch. Thanks to the professional doctors here, my health is improving.

1974 John Albert Shiffert Jr.: In what may be a record for being a slow learner, one month short of 52 years since I earned a B.A. from Earlham, I earned an M.A. in History from Slippery Rock University (AKA, The Rock). My online SRU professors all turned out for the ceremony, because they were glad to get rid of me. Jay Harker: I went to Earlham for only two years, so not too many people know me. One of the great glories of my life was to perform a song there I wrote called 6:00 AM in 1970. About draft resistance. Seriously! At 22, I developed schizophrenia. I kind of "drifted" for a long time after that. I worked all kind of jobs and lived in all kinds of places. In 1990, I went out on disability. Sadly enough, I couldn't work anymore. I have had good treatment over the years, however, and have lived 76 years! I have had a great life. I have lived 32 years in the same apartment and done all kinds of things! Long live Earlham College.

1973 Deborah Cunningham: Deborah relished attending Reunion Weekend 2025, including 5 hours visiting her academic advisor, Bob Horn (Philosophy), and his wife in their home. She was excited that Bob Horn and

Ray Hively's study of the Newark Earthworks in Ohio finally brought international recognition to that ancient Native American astronomical observatory. Having come as a transfer student in September 1971, Deborah immensely enjoyed catching up with numerous Class of 1973 Earlhamites. She was overjoyed to witness Faizullah Kakar '75 being honored with the Distinguished Alumni Service Award; to see Suzette Graber Kakar '73 again; and meet Palwasha, their oldest child.

1972 Michael Seadle: My book “Information Science: History, Ideas, Applications,” is currently available from Facet Publishing or from the American Library Association. In November, Facet will also publish my book on "Plagiarism and AI." Facet Publishing is an arm of the British Library Association (CILIP). In theory I am retired, but my doctoral daughter often reminds me that I am good at saying "no."

1971 Michael Melampy: Michael and his wife, Nance Hikes, spent March of 2026 exploring Patagonia and Antarctica. They saw lots of wildlife, including thousands of King Penguins. Evidence for climate change, i.e. receding glaciers and reduced sea ice, was also apparent.

1970 Julianne Flagg Pittman: I'm undertaking a new adventure with a three-day weaving course near Boston, where I'm visiting son, Isaac. Also visiting is daughter, Hannah, from New Orleans. A 5-foot floor loom that's been in the attic for 35 years will finally be put to use. I continue teaching and taking Taekwondo three days a week, hearing as much live music as possible, and marveling at my husband David's

amazing woodworking skills. He just finished a lovely bannister for our spiral staircases in the house we built 40 years ago. Life is full and fun.

1969 Maribeth Wallio Smith: Since I retired 13 years ago, after 40 years as a clinical social worker, I have already learned how to use my time. But last year my vision became poor enough that I stopped driving. So the next step was a senior living facility. I moved in November to a top-notch center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, just 20 minutes north of my former home as well as the home of my son and his family. So I am calling it a new adventure! I am enjoying some very interesting people and some great food. Plus I still get to crow about my incredible grandkids who are 19 and 16. Julie McGregor: Turning 80 for the Class of 1969. Feeling that our 60th reunion in 2029 may be a stretch, we are wanting to celebrate our communal 80th birthdays with a gathering in the fall of 2027. Two concepts are afloat, first to meet at Earlham during homecoming weekend for an unofficial celebration. To that end, we could meet on campus during homecoming weekend, presumably Oct 14-17, 2027. We could designate a hotel for our accommodations and arrange for reservations at local restaurants each evening, attending any campus activities individually. Another possibility is to plan to meet off campus at some interesting location with a focus on meals together and recreational activities. Perhaps these would be regional meetings, not necessarily homecoming weekend. So we are asking for input in terms of how to celebrate our 80 years. Please contact any of the committees with your thoughts and suggestions. We will share your thoughts with each

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CLASS NOTES other. Dot Grazier: grazierd@gmail. com; Julie McGregor: juliamcg@ msn.com; Corinne Smith: f.corinne. smith@gmail.com; or Chris Meyer: cmeyerenergy@gmail.com.

1968 Linda Brown Faulkner: Clinton and I celebrated our 50-year anniversary on Dec. 20, 2025 by hosting a dinner for family and friends here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A wonderful menu was served followed by attendees sharing stories and tales about our life with each of them for the past 50 plus years. A wonderful time was had by all! Ann Harriet McCurdy: My college years gave me wings! When a 20year marriage ended, I returned to teaching. For many years I taught in international schools where I enjoyed working with biology students. I returned from Myanmar to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, over 10 years ago to care for my mother until her death. Since then, most of my time has been devoted to volunteer work, and there are plenty of opportunities here. I am fairly active with the West Knoxville Friends Meeting, and I value that place and those people. I was last at Earlham for my 50th class reunion, and my hope is that recent changes will assure that it continues to provide wings for others. Hermione Miles Gorney: My book of poetry, “Clothes on the Line and other poems of transformation,” has been published by Treffrey Publishing (headed by Anne Mathews-Younes '68, and is available on Amazon. My artist daughter, Kate did line drawings for the book. Richard Meade '68 and Suzie Zimmerman '68 came to a recent reading. I am in the the process of organizing a second book, short stories/memoirs, and poetry. After 58 years of horse companions, I buried my last one last summer. Rory joins

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Hasty and Beckett, who died aged 37 1/2. They are buried in my backyard. Many happy memories and adventures. My children are thriving though too far away: New York City (Kate) and Washington, D.C. (John). John is an amazing dad to my two young grandsons, Everett, 5, and Drew, 4. Visitors to Central Indiana, please give me a call (734-709-9087). I'm an hour east of Indianapolis and the same west of Earlham.

1967 Andy Sutton: I am now retired and living just south of Stockholm, Sweden. I worked as a social worker many years here after my degree in social work from the University of Stockholm. I’m now divorced but have 2 great children and 6 grandchildren. I think often of my old friends and experiences at Earlham. Those were very good years. I continued here singing in several chamber choirs. I am involved in my community and have had several courses in English and classical music for pensioners after retiring. If you visit Sweden and Stockholm, let’s meet. Barbara Wood Borne: In late May 2026, I met my Earlham roommate, Barbara Felts Horvath '67 on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas for a week at her daughter’s vacation house. Except for two reunions, we’d not been together for over 60 years. At Earlham we were great friends and studied and traveled together on the 1966 England Foreign Study Program with Bill Rogers. We reminisced about those years and caught up on our adventures and life stories since leaving Earlham, while exploring our beautiful island. Green Caribbean Sea, blue Atlantic Ocean, tropical birds, sweetest-ever pineapple, snorkeling, white sandy beaches, friendly people, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets — what a week! Close encounters with a ringed plover family and a great lizard cuckoo 56

just added to the adventure, as did harvesting mangoes for breakfast. We are so grateful to Earlham for fostering our friendship that is still going strong despite the years and distance. Sending a shoutout to Earlham and all our classmates! Peter Reuman: I just got this note, the same note each of you got from the Earlhamite. I read this note to be looking for answers, or at least something to add to class notes that might be of interest to others. This Earlhamite-arm-twisting allows me to reflect on my life and Earlham’s contribution. On thinking a bit about this, I will have to admit to you that I spend most of my retirement attempting to define "what it was all about." This is not saying that my end is eminent, but knowing that at 81, my life will be ending at some point soon (soon relative to the earth’s 4.5 billion years of existence). Let me explain from the start that I am a devout atheist. This may strike many of you as odd. But to me it was second nature. How did I come to this "end?" I recall at age 10, asking my father whether life had a purpose. He said it did not. I discarded religion of any sort in my teens because the religious stories I heard, did not fit with the stories that appeared to define the life around me. Earlham was a decision that was both naïve and excellent, for it allowed me to delve deeper into myself and my surroundings. As an example, I chose to major in chemistry. This choice was because I could not decide between physics and biology. Earlham gave me the basic physical and the mental aspects of my life, but not the social. That was a result of my personality and my drive. Feeling my lack of social understanding, I chose to do two years of extreme social interaction. This interaction allowed me to discover that I was more of a generalist. The rest of my life was education. I chose medicine and furthering my understanding

of every aspect of the sciences including the social sciences. I also continue to find that close relationships teach me a great deal more every day. My life’s route has been eye-opening and wonderful. With this, I am looking forward to our 60th reunion in 2027, if I make it. I spend most of my time in the basement of our home writing about how "it all fits together." I think I have had some success. Because of this, I would love to talk to those of you who will be able to make it to next year’s reunion. I want to hear each of your own stories. I honestly look forward to understanding how each of you have "put it all together."

1966 Mark Zorn: “I dream poetry!” is available from AuthorHouse. I'm still corresponding with Cathy Roth '66, my girlfriend for my last 2 years at Earlham. Stay high, everybody! Smash the state, like we said in '68!

1965 Jannie Miller Dusseau: In March, Jerry ’63 and Jannie Miller Dusseau traveled with retired Earlham professors Brent Smith and Nancy Taylor to Costa Rica on a Road Scholar nature focused trip. Highlights included having dinner with Esteban Arguedas ’15 and his wife and their 2-year-old son at their home near San Jose, then later staying at the totally amazing Rainforest Beehive Airbnb they built near the Eternal Children’s Rainforest and Arenal Volcano National Park. Pura vida! Arminal Hay Dare Bryan: Arminal has published her second novel, a powerful and timely work set against the backdrop of the American War for Independence. “What Price Freedom?” is a sweeping historical narrative that explores freedom in its many forms — personal, political and moral — while addressing themes that continue to

resonate in today’s world. Speaking about the novel, Arminal said: “I wanted to explore what freedom truly means when love, duty and morality collide. Although the story is set in the 18th century, the themes of power, prejudice and the cost of standing up for what is right still feel uncomfortably relevant today.” Rich in historical detail and emotional depth, “What Price Freedom?” offers an imaginative portrayal of a life shaped by war, forbidden love and the enduring struggle for equality, making it particularly resonant at a time of global tension and social reflection. Arminal currently lives in Dorset, U.K. Her first novel, “The Mayflower Marriage,” breathes life into the story of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620. Allan William Lohaus: When I reflect on and sometimes share the richness of my EC experience, I often include these experiences: As a freshman, I met with other Bundy guys on a Friday night and hesitantly told of my wish to go to medical school. An upper classman asked, “are you good in math?” I replied that with effort I was a B student. He advised, “Take non-calculus physics”, an unknown option to me that made my career possible. Following the summer of '62 when I had externed as an orderly at a rehabilitation hospital, I met with Bill Stephenson to share my idea of going to medical school. He thoughtfully listened, considered and replied, “You have what it takes.” My professional life trajectory began in his office. Exposed at EC to William James’ “The aim of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it,” I made this my life mission. Joe Elmore’s counseling helped me manage a personal crisis, giving me skills for my life’s journey. Classmates friendships have been lifelong treasures. Some Earlham gifts have lasted a lifetime.

1963 Caroline Klemperer Green: Caroline, a violinist, will this year be celebrating the 50th Summer Music Festival with the Chanticleer String Quartet. Check out the schedule of free performances at chanticleerquartet.com.

1962 Roger Bosley: After over 50 years as an OB-GYN physician mostly in Lafayette, Indiana, I am retired on a ski mountain in northern Idaho. I am widowed, have two great daughters and four grandchildren. I stay active with skiing, RV travel, mountain biking, motorcycle riding, boating and hiking. I spent two years in Ethiopia early in my career. I also had an athletic career, with over 50 marathons, 16 iron man finishes, and 16 ultra marathons (100 miles). I recently visited the campus and I am grateful for all that Earlham gave to my life. EC holds a special place in my heart.

1961 Thomas Rasmussen: After a teaching career at Alfred University, Margaret and I moved to Gainesville, Georgia, 20 years ago. We currently volunteer for the Redbud Project, a local environmental conservation group that urges people to install pollinator friendly native plant gardens.The Redbud Project helps to offset the destruction of ecosystems by the forces of economic growth in the Atlanta area, where rooftops and pavements are displacing native habitats. It's easy to transform a patch of biologically unproductive lawn into a native plant garden! Mary “Shorty” Birenbaum: We’ll be celebrating our 65th reunion at Homecoming in October! I’m planning to be on campus and really hope to see you

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CLASS NOTES there. You’ll receive reunion information soon. It will be a come-asyou-are event. Jan Kem: I now live in Newberg, Oregon, about 20 miles southwest of Portland, and about half the size of Richmond. I moved to Portland 30 years ago and retired 19 years ago. Since then I've kept busy biking, dragon boating and road-tripping to visit family, friends and to see all of the U.S. I don't get to see many EC friends but stay in touch with Janet Trueblood Kem '61and John Schattyn '61. I miss the other EC friends, so stop in if you are in the area. Donald Peck: Since I turned 70, I have had six books published. The most recent one released in June 2025 and is entitled “In Washington's Footsteps — The Power of Revolutionary Places and Spaces in Central New Jersey.” I wrote it for the U.S. Semi quincentennial we are celebrating in 2026! It was published by gardenstatelegacy.com.

1960

what’s happening to many small colleges such as Hampshire in my state of Massachusetts, I worry about Earlham surviving. It’s such a wonderful school and gave me such a good start in life and provided only happy memories. My occupations have always been in biology and/or in education. For 20 years, I taught marine biology here where I live in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Two of our kids attended Westtown, a Quaker high school. And my husband Richard Armstrong and I were married in the local Quaker church in west Falmouth, which we still attend. For 40 summers we have gone to a Quaker camp in Vermont for a week in late August.

1959 Frances Dowden Battin: Still living in the same house that saw us raise two children and set them off on their lives. They have given me four grands and now a growing number of greats. Life is good in central Ohio. Unfortunately, Allen '59 passed six years ago. Now I travel solo, many times with Road Scholar, and have enjoyed it tremendously. The world is an oyster that one just has to shuck to get to the pearls.

Brenda Wendy Bousfield: After 24 years as a reference librarian and subject bibliographer at the Syracuse University Library, I retired in 2007. Sadly, I lost my beloved husband, David Marcus in March. The brightest spot in my week is volunteering at the Amaus Dental Clinic, which provides free care for patients without insurance. I call patients with appointment reminders, schedule appointments, answer the phone and log calls. Another activity is the Second Wednesday Book Club, which meets monthly for lunch, a book report and discussion. I hear from the following Earlham friends: Edie Barnum '60, Jenny Stanton '60, Bernie Nebel '60, and Joseph Heyman '62.

Betsy Baker Wenny: After living for 48 years in Wilmington, Delaware, my husband and I moved to Kendal at Longwood 10 years ago. It is a life care community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. There are a number of residents in the past as well as the present who have connections to Earlham. It is a great place to live and we are grateful to be here, especially now that my husband of 65 years has been diagnosed with dementia (probably Alzheimer's). He is now residing in the health center. Of course that is a big change for us since I am still in our cottage as an independent living resident. I am glad he is getting the care he needs, which

Jane Prosser Ellie Armstrong: Hi fellow, Earlhamites! When we see

allows me to continue participating in as many activities as I feel I can man-

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age. Thankfully my health is holding up so far.

1958 Robert Ward: A sketch from long ago and far away. EC has been good for Rocky where he was given his nickname 70 years ago. Rocky married an EC girl, Judy Tice '62, from Richmond. He was a laborer in an open hearth for U.S. Steel in his hometown Gary, Indiana, a soil scientist for the USDA, and a cartographer for the Department of the Interior. He then completed a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, which led to 45-plus years as an usher at the football stadium and a 35-plus year career as a professor in Urban and Regional Planning at Eastern Michigan University. He thoroughly enjoyed each employment. Throughout his career, he backpacked annually in Europe and then traveled from New Zealand to Russia and much of Asia. While teaching at EMU he developed a China exchange program and visited the country for several years. Rocky retired to western rural Washtenaw County near Ann Arbor, Michigan. He looks forward to being with his son (Mike) who lives and works in Saudi Arabia for the Saudi government and Rini his wife who lives in east Malaysia and teaches at a Malaysian university. A real commuter marriage. All of us gather once a year for two weeks of vacation at a neutral site. My health is much above average as I will reach 90 in December 2026. Lance Longnecker: I/we moved from the Des Moines area to Carmel, Indiana, eight years ago. In early retirement I had many surgical procedures however my many medial problems are currently stable. I have lived alone since April 2025 with assistance from family and friends and plan to do so but with an interest in a Senior Living facility. Let all of us continue to support EC.

Jeanne Warren: My husband, Emlyn Warren, died in January. He was 86 and we had celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary the previous September. Our children, Ingrid and Gareth, live not far away. Neither has a family of their own so I have no grandchildren. I still live in the house in a village near Oxford (England), which we moved to from London in 1980. Since 1970, when I discovered the work of the philosopher John Macmurray, I have devoted a lot of time and energy to making his work better known. This and my continuing commitment to Oxford Quaker Meeting give me something to focus on in my old age.

1957 Judy Dowd Johnstone: Judy was retired due to Covid in 2021 at age

85. Her career covered editing and producing textbooks for most undergrad disciplines and, later, medical and nursing. As personal savings waned, she had a call this spring asking if she wanted to work again. She’s happily back at it as she approaches her 90th birthday in 2026.

1954 Peg Buell Tileston: Jules '54 and I just took our daughters, Nancy, Anna, and Gloria on a wonderful cruise up the Columbia River. We still live in Anchorage, Alaska, and are doing very well and keep busy. I distribute a weekly calendar of Alaska natural resource/ conservation event and deadlines to over 2,600 email addresses. It's a great way to keep people informed.

1950 John Nelson: Marianne '53 and I miss seeing notes from our classmates. This transition year we moved from our cohousing community of 28 years to a close-by assisted living facility. We have given up international travel but do manage to thaw out in Florida in February. Our family is scattered around; Paris, Taiwan, Oregon and New England. Despite the nuisances of old age, we manage to get in a swimming pool twice a week. Life is still good.

IN MEMORIAM

Alumni 2006 Rachel Lord

1985 Jeffery Woodcock

1972 Stephen Hinshaw

1971 Steven Eric Sweitzer Sara Penhale

1970 Eric Rumsey

1969 James Phillip Griffin

1966

George Edward Michael Barbara Tharp Thompson

1964

Karen “Kai” Lowen George Peter Miles

1963

Andrew Kilgore Annie Christine Robinson

1961

Sara Cox Paxton Barbara McDonald Napier

1960

Barbara Belser Spiecker Theodore Carter

1958

Barbara Stewart Gerald Wayne Rees Janet Torson Frances “Jeanne” Sipahigil

1957 Merrill Carrigan Margaret “Peg” Gordon Saupe-Nisbet

1956 Mary Mathiasen Yrizarry

1954 Ann Elliot Mood Lewis Helen Mesner Casper

1952 Philip Jenkins

1951 Samuel Weinbaum Margaret Healton Bakker

1949 Caroline Weis Panzer

1948 Howard Byron Cress Patricia Mayer

more online Obituaries are available online at earlham.edu/obits.

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FINAL WORD

“”

“Earlham taught me that communities get stronger when people listen and look for solutions together. I work in a hospital that serves a community facing much adversity. I have the opportunity to listen and think creatively about solutions to challenging problems. That is what I love about bringing Earlham students to visit or work as interns so they can better understand the challenges our families face. If they leave Philadelphia with a greater commitment to serving others — then I've helped pass on lessons I learned at Earlham.” — Hans Kersten ’86, MD

Hans Kersten is a pediatrician at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia and a professor at the Drexel University College of Medicine. A current member of the Earlham Alumni Council Executive Committee, Hans also annually supports students with internship placements and mentorship on the way to careers in healthcare. At St. Christopher’s, Hans is a founder of an annual basketball tournament that supports the hospital’s Reach Out and Read program, which provides books and literary resources to kids and families in North Philadelphia. Photo by Callum Bhatti, Drexel University Class of 2028

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Be part of what makes Earlham extraordinary Earlham has always been a place where curiosity is nurtured and creativity takes root. Your gift to the Earlham Fund sustains the life-changing experiences that help students discover, connect, and grow boldly — keeping Earlham the place we love and carrying its spirit of goodness into the world.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

BUILDING EARLHAM'S FUTURE ART & BELONGING FIRST PLACE QUAKERS FAITH ACROSS BORDERS HEALTHCARE, THE EARLHAM WAY