Women’s Experimental Cinema by Robin Blaetz

Alumna Robin Blaetz visited campus last week to deliver the second HTC Ellery Golos Lecture. Her talk, “Women’s Experimental Cinema: Saving the Past and Engaging the Future,” went really well — Robin’s topic was fascinating, and we had a good crowd for an audience. We even had a group of international students who were attending the lecture in order to practice understanding their English!

Robin Blaetz, '79 HTC Alumna

Robin talked about the history of experimental film in the U.S. with a particular eye on women filmmakers. She also discussed the difficulties of preserving these films, which are in danger of being lost forever unless concerted efforts are made to digitize and/or preserve the original film.

One of the highlights of her talk was her use of Marie Menken‘s “Glimpse of the Garden” (1957) as an example of this genre:

I think audience members enjoyed Robin’s analysis of the film — I certainly appreciated her guidance on how to watch this kind of movie, which is not a genre with which I was previously familiar.

As part of her discussion of the history of experimental film, Robin also mentioned another film, “Rose Hobart” (1936), by Joseph Cornell. Her description of the film — Cornell took all of the scenes that featured actress Rose Hobart from a Hollywood film, East of Borneo, and re-edited them into a 19-minute experimental film — was so fascinating that I rushed to my office after the lecture so that I could watch it on YouTube. It just sounded so creepy to me! It’s definitely an interesting film:

It was a great visit, and the students, staff, and faculty that had the chance to meet Robin learned a lot about women’s experimental cinema, Athens in the 1970′s, and the early days of the Honors Tutorial College.

You can also hear Robin’s interview with WOUB Executive Director Tom Hodson here.

Save the Date: HTC’s 40th Anniversary Reunion is April 13-14, 2012

Planning for the Honors Tutorial College’s 2012 40th Anniversary Reunion, which will take place on April 13 and 14, 2012, is in full swing! The Board of Visitors has approved the general outline of events, we’re forming a local alumni committee to fill in some of the details, and the HTC staff is working to make sure this is a fun and enjoyable event.

This will be our first reunion in ten years. On the plus side, I hope this means that our alumni are ready to return to Athens and catch up with one another and the college. On the slightly less positive side, this means that it feels like we’re starting from scratch in planning this event.

So to get us started in filling the details I’ve been reading through files and sorting through pictures of previous HTC reunions. Today I found and scanned the program for the 2002 30th Anniversary Reunion dinner:

 

Rediscovering a Bit of our HTC History

Members of our Board of Visitors were in town over the weekend (or called in for a conference call) to discuss the college’s upcoming reunion April 13-14, 2012. As part of the meeting, we were discussing our college’s historical documents, specifically the proposal that led to our founding in 1972.

I thought that I had the proposal in a box of materials in my office, but I couldn’t lay my hands on it while everyone was still here. So, I spent some time today digging through the box to find it. While excavating the proposal, I also came across a series of pictures from the early to mid-1990s. I thought that I would post a few here.

Dean Peg Cohn with the first four BOV presidents: Elizabeth Abele, Mark Shotwell, Bruce Umbaugh, and John Susany in August 1993.

Dean Peg Cohn flanked by Assistant Dean Ann Brown and Mark Shotwell at a BOV meeting in 1995.

Research University, Inc. by Philip Zecher

Yesterday, 1990 HTC Physics alum Philip Zecher was here to deliver the first HTC Ellery Golos Lecture of the new school year. This lecture series brings alumni back to campus to lecture on topics of wide interest to the university community and about which the alum is passionate.

Phil’s talk, entitled “Research University, Inc.”was about how university budget cuts have affected the way in which university’s fund research. In particular, Phil talked about the dangers and pitfalls of prioritizing research than can generate revenue through licensing fees and patents. As the description of his talk on our flier reads,

The recent financial crisis has only worsened the long erosion of state support for higher education across the country. Faced with diminishing support from governments and legislatures often hostile to their historical mission, research universities are looking for new ways to raise revenue to ensure their long-term survival. The intellectual property generated in their laboratories, which had long been considered a common good to be shared freely as part of their core mission, is increasingly viewed as an asset to be exploited for commercial opportunities. This is driving a major cultural shift in both how society uses research establishments and, most importantly, how science itself is performed.

The talk was excellent. Phil’s extemporaneous delivery style was particularly effective in conveying his points while adapting to the wide range of knowledge levels in his audience: everything from first-year students in a variety of majors to retirement-aged Physics professors.

This was the first Golos Lecture that we held in the new common room. Due to the large number of our freshmen students who attended, the room was packed! If we continue to have larger and larger numbers as the series matures, we’ll soon have to move outside of 35 Park Place again. But for the time being, we’re going to continue to house them here.

As part of his visit, Phil participated in an interview with WOUB, which can be heard here. The next Golos Lecture, which will be delivered by Robin Blaetz, will take place on Thursday, October 20.

Best All-College Supper EVER!

On Friday, we hosted the All-College Supper in the new Common Room and backyard of 35 Park Place. First I have to say how wonderful it is to have the new common room for these kinds of events! Second, it was the best All-College Supper ever! We had at least 160 people, including 140 students, the HTC staff, and several Directors of Studies.

The theme was “Let the Games Begin!” and did they ever! We had board games, Wii, cornholing, Non-Beer Pong, and card games — the only thing we forgot was duck-duck-goose! In keeping with the theme, everyone was asked to dress as their favorite game-related character or item. The HTC staff came dressed as the characters from Clue:

Kathy as Mrs. White, Cary as Mr. Green, Jan as Mrs. Peacock, Me as Prof. Plum, Beth as Miss Scarlet, and Margie as Col. Mustard

Jan and I learned how to play the two most quintessential OHIO college games: cornholing and beer pong (without the beer, of course)! The only down side was not quite having enough food for this big of a turn out. Next year, we’ll have to order chicken, pizza, and something else to go along with all of the side dishes and desserts the students bring.

It was a great kick-off to the school year!

HTC Introduction Ceremony

Last night, we inducted the new freshmen and transfer students into the Honors Tutorial College. This tradition was started by my predecessor, Dean Fidler, and it’s become one of my favorite HTC activities. The ceremony is held in Galbreath Chapel, and upperclassmen are invited to attend to welcome our new members.

Since so few people get to attend the ceremony, I thought that I would share the text of my speech here. I hope it lays out what I think the Honors Tutorial College is all about!

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Tonight marks our freshmen and transfer students’ formal entrance into the Honors Tutorial College. The sources of inspiration for our college, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, often mark the entry of new members with a ceremony.  The point of the those ceremonies, and this one as well, is to draw the attention of new members to distinguishing traditions, to provide some substantive message to take away, and to ask new members to join the College publicly.

Our new students have already learned a lot about our college. You applied last year. You participated in interviews with your directors of studies. You accepted our offer that you matriculate into the Honors Tutorial College. Those of you who are freshmen attended Precollege Orientation over the summer and the Go Green orientation session yesterday. And many of you who are transfer students have already taken tutorials and your first-year seminar. These experiences began to teach you the nuts and bolts of being an Honors Tutorial student. Tonight I will reiterate what it means to be an Honors Tutorial student in a larger sense and will call on you accept the challenges and rewards of joining our college. Many of our juniors and seniors are here tonight to witness your acceptance of our values, goals, and aspirations and to welcome you into our community of scholars.

Let me begin by telling you a little about the college you are entering. The Honors Tutorial College was created in 1972.  It has been fortunate to have had exceptional leadership in its first director Professor and mathematician Ellery Golos and in its deans, Botanist Margaret Cohn, Telecommunications specialist Joseph Berman, historian Ann Fidler, and political scientist Spike Molineau. I am honored to be following in their footsteps.

The college is also fortunate to have more than a thousand living alumni, many of whom have made lasting contributions in education, law, journalism, technology and science, medicine, the arts, government, and business. Let me give you just a small handful of examples.

Advising the Advisors for Nationally Competitive Awards

The Faculty Commons in Alden Library, ONCA's current home

On Friday, a small delegation from the National Association of Fellowships Advisors (NAFA) visited with me, the Director of U.S. Fulbright Programs (OUSFP), and the Faculty Fellow for the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards (ONCA). Ann Brown, the Director Emerita of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards, had arranged the visit with the goal of giving us a chance to learn from these experts in the field.

Ours guests were among the most prominent and influential fellowships advisors in the country: Jane Morris, the Director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at Villanova University; Betsy Vardaman, the Associate Dean for Special Programs for the College of Arts and Sciences at Baylor University; Mary Hale Tolar, Director of the School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University; and Suzanne McCray, the Vice Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions at the University of Arkansas. Morris is the current president of NAFA, and the other three members of the group were members of NAFA’s founding Board of Directors.

This visit, which lasted about 2 hours, was incredibly helpful. These women know what they’re talking about, so it was especially gratifying to hear them a) praise our awards staff for their success and dedication to advising students applying for nationally competitive scholarships and b) affirm my plans for reorganizing our awards offices over the next couple of months. They also gave us helpful advice about networking with other units on campus and about helping the university’s leadership take ownership of the awards programs. Their advice ranged from the specific to the general, and all of it will help us serve our students better.

Since its creation, the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has been housed administratively in the Honors Tutorial College. Until August 2009, it was also literally housed in the college and 35 Park Place. Since then, it and the Office of U.S. Fulbright Programs, which officially became a part of the Honors Tutorial College in July 2009, have resided in the Faculty Commons of Alden Library. Thus, when I became dean I also became the administrative supervisor for these offices and their staff.