-
Identifier
-
Eng
Newsletter_198605.pdf
-
Title
-
Eng
The Evergreen State College Newsletter (May 1, 1986)
-
Date
-
1 May 1986
-
extracted text
-
Next Newsletter—June 6
Photos by Photo Service?
Office of Information Services
Library 3114
Newsletter
The Evergreen State College
GREENER PAST(YOURS)
III
MES CELEBRATES SECOND YEAR OF CLASSES WITH FIRST GRADUATES
Here it is—this year's last installment of strange and
wonderful doings of Geoducks, B.E. (Before Evergreen).
How many Greeners pictured at left can you correctly
match with their pre-Evergreen occupations? Answers in
WALTER NIEMIEC JUDITH BAYARD the next Newsletter.
ALICE PATIENCE JOHN MCGEE
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
May 27, 1986
Burial Vault Builder
High School English Teacher
Tavern Bouncer
Dancer and Choreographer
Hoed Sugar Beets
Scone-hawker
Concierge at the Hotel Lutece
Heart Surgeon's Assistant
COMPUTER DIRECTOR SEARCH TO RE-^QPEN
Vice President Sue Washburn announced this week that
Evergreen's computer director position will be re-asses^
' j/j£ and then re-opened. In the interim, the role of Acting
GAIL MARTIN JOYCE WESTON Director will be assumed by Jim Johnson.
CROWE AND KNAPP RECEIVE FACULTY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Congratulations to Faculty Members Beryl Crowe and Rob
Knapp selected for Burlington Northern Faculty
Achievement Awards. The two were chosen by the Faculty
Awards DTF chaired by Academic Dean Rita Pougiales.
MARGARITA MENDOZA JON COLLIER
Crowe, who has taught at Evergreen since 1970 and is
DE SUGIYAMA
teaching in "The Human Condition" program this year, is
cited by the DTF for his "intellectual leadership in
program planning, challenging presentation of material, exacting standards," and
"substantive involvement with students." Knapp, who joined the Evergreen faculty
in 1972, is teaching the "Advanced Physical Sciences" group contract this year.
The DTF describes the contract as "distinguished by its interdisciplinary breadth
and thematic innovation and coherence."
The Burlington Northern Award carries a cash prize of $1500 and will be
awarded to two faculty members each year for the next two years. Crowe and Knapp
will receive their awards at the graduation ceremonies on June 8.
—OTHER FACULTY NEWS—Faculty Members Terry Setter and Doranne Crable participated in a workshop for gifted high school students in Port Townsend. Setter
taught electronic music synthesis and audio recording techniques, while Crable
taught movement and acting skills.
'
About ten graduate students will become the first recipients of a degree from
Evergreen's Masters of Environmental Studies program this year. Current Director
Oscar Soule reports that degree candidates are hard at work on theses that typify
the program's emphasis on applicability.
"The program places a high priority on the interrelationship of science and
policy," says Soule, pointing out that most of the candidates have targeted an
agency to be the recipient of their thesis. Hugh O'Neill's thesis on "Landfill
Liability Release," for example, will be submitted to the state Department of
Energy, while Ginny Stern's paper on the impact of introducing fish into the Upper
White Salmon River Basin will go to the National Forest Service.
"Master's theses," says Soule, "are often esoteric works that sit on library
shelves. While esoteric works can serve an important function, we want our students to have the benefit of providing real public service on critical issues."
Another difference between Evergreen's master's program
and those of other schools, explains Soule, "is the core component that places students together for 9-12 months where
they become a team, and, hopefully, form a long-term
professional network.
The makeup of that team, reports MES Faculty Member Greg
Weeks, is diverse and exciting. "Our students come from
everywhere—they've been bus drivers, they've worked in state
agencies, they've been consultants and environmental
activists, and range in age from the 20s to the 50s." Although
career advancement is one of their primary goals, Weeks
points out that, "our students really value an academic
approach to the material. They're all very good students."
Soule agrees. "The material that the students produce is OSCAR SOULE
first rate. It's on a par with the most up-to-date environmental textbooks. Their presentations at scientific meetings have been
well-received." Short-term research conducted by MES students has included papers
on the Mima Mounds Development Complex, Deschutes River siltification, asbestos in
school buildings and other local and regional issues.
Soule, who has been involved with the program since the MES planning committee began its work six years ago, will step down this spring as the program's
director—a position he's greatly enjoyed. Academic Dean John Perkins reports that
the MES Director Selection DTF will begin interviews of candidates this week and
hopes to forward its recommendation to Provost Patrick Hill early next month.
In th,e meantime, we applaud the MES students who will receive their welldeserved degrees on Graduation Day, June 8.
EVERGREEN'S PRINT SHOP—MAKING GREAT IMPRESSIONS
"I like to see that blank piece of paper turn into something meaningful to
people," says Doug Shanafelt of his job as offset duplicator in the college's
Print Shop. On the average, that satisfaction is duplicated 20,000 times daily for
Shanafelt and Press Operator Bill Gilbreath as they turn out approximately 30
printing jobs each workday.
Gilbreath, who's worked at Evergreen since 1979, takes pride in the shop's
improved delivery. "Our turnaround time used to be anywhere from three days to a
week. Now, it's between 15 minutes to three days," he says, attributing the
increased productivity to the teamwork of student aides, Shanafelt and himself.
"The Print Shop," says Director of General Services Jim Duncan, "is one of the
true success stories on campus. They run a very efficient service with minimal
customer complaints. They're super guys who really strive to help their customers."
Although they consider their facilities a "small shop operation," Gilbreath
and Shanafelt enjoy handling a variety of jobs that range from poetry flyers and
Jimmy Hendrix posters to textbooks. "I'm quantity and Bill's quality," jokes
Shanafelt, adding that, "The main difference between our jobs is that people in
Bill's position don't have paper jams. Well, no, that's not true. I saw Bill have
a jam once. Must've been in the winter of 19..."
On a more serious note, Shanafelt points out that the work isn't as simple
as it may appear. "Someone said all we do is load up the paper and stand around,
but there's a lot more to it. These machines are sensitive. There's an adjustment
for just about every motion. It takes experience to know what you're doing."
Gilbreath stresses the importance of communication. "Usually we can solve
any printing problem you might have if you take the time to talk it over with us
as soon as you know what your job is going to be." He also encourages Evergreeners
to allow three days for turnaround, and a 1/ti-inch margin at the top of the page.
The Newsletter thanks the Print Shop crew for its excellent service, patience,
and humor, including Shanafelt's parting remark: "We never take our work home with
us—the machines are too heavy."
(
BILL GILBREATH (above) inspects a
freshly-minted edition of a familiar
publication, while Doug Shanafelt
(right) is ready to roll.
BEUG APPOINTMENT TOPS BOARD NEWS
In addition to acting on items that concerned budgeting,
contracting and the hiring of faculty, Evergreen's Board
of Trustees confirmed the appointment of a new dean
during their monthly meeting on May 14.
Approved were the $566,000 supplemental budget for
1986 ($266,000 of which will fund Evergreen's enrollment
increase to 2,600 FTE for 1986-8?); a new selection process for minor projects contractors; and the renewal of
three-year and one-year contracts for 42 faculty, new
three-year contracts for six faculty and one new faculty
appointment. Coincidentally, one of the faculty members
whose three-year contract was up for renewal was Michael
Beug, whom the Board also approved for a four-year term
as the college's new Senior Academic Dean.
"I'll try my best to spend a lot more time with academic staff so they can feel more at home," Beug says as he outlines some of his
goals as Academic Dean. Staff members with whom he'll be working often include
program secretaries and other support staff in the Lab Buildings, Communication
Building, Math Lab and Key-Special Services.
"I want to draw a lot of staff into the development of the 1987-89 biennial
budget," he says, referring to the most important of his major desk assignments,
academic budgeting. Other responsibilities will include space utilization, Summer
School and, probably, the Student Advising Center. At the suggestion of his
current students, Beug plans to make himself available to students—either at a
forum or over coffee in the CAB—about their concerns. "I want to be open to
them so they can ask how and why we make decisions about budget and space."
Beug, who will be busy with his regular teaching load until he takes over as
Academic Dean on September 1, is already hard at work on another part of the academic budget. He's helping current Senior Dean John Perkins on the capital budget
for 1987-89 and at the same time finishing this quarter's teaching in the "Ecological Agriculture" program. After that, Beug will teach through the summer in the
program, "Down on the Farm," offering students more learning and fun at the
Organic Farm.
One of his main activities over the past five years has been helping to nurture
the Farm, Evergreen's experimental agricultural outpost. Beug has collaborated
with Farm Manager Susan Moser; Walter Niemiec, who manages lab facilities; Faculty
Member Pat Labine and many others, in "bringing the Farm along," as he puts it. As
a result of their work, the Farm has increased academically from two quarters to a
full-year program, doubled its area of cultivation and expanded its orchards and
other plantings.
A Seattle native who received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of
Washington, Beug came to Evergreen in 1972 after one year as an assistant professor of chemistry at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. He has since
taught in science programs such as "Ecological Agriculture" (twice), "Matter and
Motion" and "Energy Systems," as well as his popular courses on mushrooms of the
Pacific Northwest. He also traded places with Pete Steilberg for two quarters as
assistant director of Recreation and Athletics.
"I've been spending roDre time than ever before dropping in on people old and
new," says Beug. "I want to get an idea how they feel and how they perceive Evergreen. I want to see how we can make life more pleasant here."
Information Services
Library 3114
Next Newsletter—May 23
Photos by Photo Services
unless noted.
CARLIN NAMED "GREENER OF THE M3NTH"
The Committee to Honor Great Geoducks has named
Admissions Secretary III Sally Carlin as May's
"Greener of the Month." The committee's nomination
was accompanied by a note that read, in part,
"Sally is an Evergreen rock. You can count on her
dependability, friendliness and calmness no matter
how hectic the situation. Also, she always picks up
the phone by the second ring."
"I'm glad people appreciate that," says
Carlin, "I find it so frustrating to hear the phone
ring and ring." Her philosophy of a prompt and
friendly response benefits over 300 callers a day,
while she answers the questions of another 30-60
drop-in clients a day.
Visiting Carlin is witnessing efficiency in
action. In-between calls, she inputs data on
prospective students, trains student tour-guides,
processes fees, types for the Admissions counselors, mails catalogs, and compiles files. The
rapid-fire transitions between one job and another
are never herky-jerky, but accomplished in smooth glides of her swivel chair from
typewriter to phone to student and back again for another call, giving her total
concentration to the task at hand.
Carlin first heard of Evergreen from the faculty of a San Diego community
college where she worked before moving to Olympia. "When they heard we were moving
up here, they said, 'You've got to check into Evergreen.' They knew more about it
than most of the Olympia community." Following their advice, she visited the
college in May of 1979 and was hired by Admissions in August.
When asked how she maintains her sanity in the face of a mountainous
workload, Carlin replies, "I love what I do. I have a great belief in youth and
how Evergreen encourages them to be energetic and creative." She also credits
Admissions' team effort as a sanity-saver. She feels that the Greener of the Month
Award "is really a joint award for everybody in this office, including our student
aides who are just great!"
Carlin's off-campus passions include gardening ("Veggies are my specialty"),
playing bridge, refinishing furniture and reading—especially humor by Jack Paar
and Alan King. Camping is also a top priority for the Carlin family. "I love it,"
she reports, "when a prospective student will say, 'I'm from Heber City, Utah. Bet
you never heard of it,' and I'll say, 'Oh yes, I have. We camped there one night."
As much as she loves Evergreen, Carlin confesses her big goal after retirement is to move back to where the sun shines in southern California. We hope that
day is far off, and we join the Secret Quackers in thanking Sally for her caring,
professionalism and good humor that have helped us through many a rainy day.
Newsletter
The Evergreen State College
May 9, 1986
TOELKEN GIVES CAMPUS NEW CROSS CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES; PLANS RETURN NEXT FALL
by Mark Clemens, director of Information Services
Last Monday Evergreen was visited by Dr. Barre Toelken, a leading expert in cross
cultural communication. A professor of English and history at Utah State University,
Toelken is also director of that institution's graduate program in American Studies
and director of its Folklore Program. For the past 30 years he's studied the
folklore and folk life of cultures around the world, most notably Native American
culture and the Navajo tribe.
Toelken came to Evergreen at the invitation of Margarita Mendoza de Sugiyama,
special assistant to the president for affirmative action, who hoped he would
serve as a catalyst for people on campus to be more accepting of cultural differences. "Since I came here last year," she says, "I've felt something had to be
done on campus to address cultural literacy and cross cultural communication."
Toelken made five stops on campus, including morning meetings with Facilities
staff members and the "Counseling the Culturally Different" program, lunch with
faculty members, and afternoon meetings with the programs,
"Perspectives in American Culture" and "Life Composition."
Mendoza de Sugiyama is also planning to bring Toelken back
for two or three days next fall to meet with various campus
constituencies, and conduct intensive workshops and an open
college forum.
"I was excited about bringing Barre here because he's a \
people person and he's non-threatening," she says. "He's also
authentic in that he acknowledges his own German and Scandinavian roots and doesn't hide the fact that he's speaking as a
white male. What he's learned about different cultures has
come, in part, from living on reservations and in other
ethnic communities."
What follows are some of the impressions of staff and
faculty members after they heard Toelken talk.
Dr. Barre Toelken
"Some of the cultural habits (Toelken talked about) had never occurred to me,"
says Charles Wadsworth, maintenance mechanic lead. "I think Toelken was enjoining
everyone to have tolerance for cultural differences, even if they don't understand
them."
"It was interesting, you know; especially what the guy had to say about attitudes on the job," says Walter Jefferson, custodian. Known as Sonny to his friends
and co-workers at Evergreen, Jefferson remembers one example of a communications
problem caused by cultural differences that confirmed his own experience. As Toelken told it to the group of Facilities employees: "If there's a problem that needs
to be solved, whites tend to say let's do it later, while Blacks want the air cleared
now...The guy made his point; he hit the nail on the head."
Continued on page 2
5
Memories and mementos will be in abundant supply on Wednesday, June 4, from 3-5
p.m. when Evergreen staff and faculty gather to honor five-, ten- and fifteen-year
Greener veterans at the annual Dreamers and Schemers Awards Celebration.
The planning committee requests all Greeners to come to Library 4300 wearing
shirts or blouses of the following colors: grey for employees working one-five
years at the college; white for 6-10 year veterans, and green for 11-16 year
veterans. A special seating arrangement will place each Geoduck with fellow
employees who came to the college in the same year.
Planned festivities include answers to the "Remembering 1975, A Take-Home
Quiz," featured in the April 11 Newsletter, awards to the Dreamer and Schemer of
the class of 1975 and a special, surprise memento for all attendees. Food and
music will be provided. We'll see you there!
"He's a wonderful
person," says Faculty
Member Terry Tafoya of
Toelken, whom he has
known for more than
ten years. "Our students ' feedback was
all positive; he
pulled into focus what
we've already been
studying. He doesn't
say he's an expert,
but he talks from his
own experience about
what it's like to be a
minority in a majority
situation," Tafoya
says. "If I talk about
my experiences like
TOELKEN IN "COUNSELING THE CULTURALLY DIFFERENT" PROGRAM
that, people tend to
say 'That's what happens to anybody,' but when Toelken as a white male talks about
his experiences, he's automatically given validity."
"What's important about what Barre has to say is that he knows how to respect
the differences in cultures," says Gail Tremblay, faculty member. "Western culture
has a history of looking at different cultures as primitive and inferior. Just
calling those values into question, helps people to...be able to see what's right
and interesting and creative and sophisticated about other cultures...There's a
tendency in America to want everything to be equal, the same, and to 'disappear'
the differences between people...but there can be an equality of differences...The
students loved it—how could you not love someone who tells such good stories?"
"Toelken mainly dealt with how different cultures use humor to deal with things
they don't deal with very well otherwise," says David Whitener, faculty member. "He
told how it took him ten years to understand one Indian joke. He said now he's smart
enough not to ask direct questions and to learn instead by experience." Toelken also
re-emphasized the importance of respecting cultural differences for faculty and students in Whitener's program, "Life Composition." "Even the tribes across the country have differences in language, in culture, and in the way they interpret their
connection with the land," says Whitener, "and we have to respect and be aware of
that...Extending hospitality is risky. Indians have been willing to do that for
centuries because the eventual outcome is positive."
DREAMER/SCHEMER FEST SET FOR JUNE 4
Cont'd from front page
"I was impressed by the nature of the questions at Evergreen," says Barre Toelken,
reflecting on his day in Olympia from his home in Logan, Utah. "We opened a conversation about some of the ways we can utilize intercultural perspectives. What
do we gain? It's not just so we can be more charitable towards other cultures, but
so that we can learn and discover more about our world."
"Barre is effective because he says things people may not want to hear, but
his delivery, and who he is, make it possible for him to be heard," says
Mendoza de Sugiyama. "His sensitivity and demeanor are good and comfortable. He
doesn't scare people."
"He didn't pick on one people," says Walter Jefferson, making the same point
in a different way, "he picked on everybody."
SUPER SATURDAY UPDATE—VOLUNTEER NOW!
"Rip-roaring razzle-dazzle" is the way Super Saturday Committee members describe
plans for the Eighth Annual festival scheduled for June 7 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Old favorites will include entertainers George Earner, the Olympia Kitchen
Band, and Evergreen's own Pointless Sisters, while new Super Saturday acts such as
"Moss-a-Peel," "GO!" and Silly Kids Tricks (in Kids Country) will perform for the
expected 25,000 attendees. Over 80 artists and craftspeople will display their
wares, while more than 50 chefs will stave off the crowd's hunger with such fare
as Polish sausages, chicken yakitori, Danish waffle cones, "flying pizza burgers,"
and chocolate pretzels. Meanwhile, the bargains of a lifetime can be picked up at
the Recreation Center's Grand Olde Auction.
Super Saturday Programs, featuring complete details on the free celebration,
will be available later this month. In the meantime, you, too, can be a part of
the fun. Super Saturday Volunteer Coordinator Vern Quinton urges all Greeners, onand off-campus, to volunteer for the big day. He reports that more than 90 volunteers, ranging from sign-installers and greeters to costumed critters and Beer
Garden attendants, are needed. Check your mailboxes for the green Super Saturday
sign-up sheet, or call Quinton at ext. 6357. Only 29 days to go!
LET'S DO IT AGAIN—CAMPUS CLEAN-UP SET FOR JUNE 2
Spring cleaning comes to Evergreen just in time for Super
Saturday and Graduation. The second annual Campus Clean-up
is set for Monday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m.
Staff, students and faculty are invited to help spiff up the
campus—inside and out.
Clean-up Day committee member Susie 0'Carroll reports
that over 200 Greeners participated in last year's effort
that included weeding, picking up litter, washing motor
pool vehicles, and cleaning benches and bulletin boards.
The afternoon's work was followed by a knock-out volleyball game and water balloon-toss with refreshments in
the Pavilion. This year's committee is keeping mum on
the particulars, but promises an even better party.
Further information on the clean-up is available by
calling Motor Pool Coordinator Jodi Woodall at ext.
6352. Get your grubbies ready!
Newsletter_198605.pdf