Wired Up in Parkhurst
The president-elect is no technophobe. Phil Hanlon ’77, who assumes Dartmouth’s presidency July 1, says he plans to challenge the campus to step up to the opportunities offered by technology. Hanlon described several aspects of what he calls “learning technologies” in a recent interview with DAM. “When you talk about massive online learning, it’s really about audience,” he says. “You are saying, ‘We’re going to take our knowledge and share it with a tremendously broad audience across the world.’ That’s a great thing for any elite university to do, and I would love Dartmouth to be involved in that.” Hanlon also welcomes the data sifting that technology affords. “We gather so much data about students now. Using the data so that we better understand how students are learning is another huge opportunity,” he says. Hanlon notes the “amazing new collaborative tools” technologies offer, and wonders how the online world might alter what’s accomplished in the classroom. He’s called listening to lectures “moments of passive engagement” and wonders, if they were delivered online, whether there might be “more meaningful engagement with students” in the classroom. “I think it’s a must,” notes the mathematician, “that a leader such as Dartmouth be involved in taking advantage of the opportunities that technologies provide.”

Indicted
Alpha Delta has been indicted on two charges of providing alcohol to minors in October. Police say they had warned the fraternity several times over similar incidents. “There are some organizations taking their roles seriously, and there are others that systematically fail,” said Hanover police chief Nick Giaccone. “Alpha Delta is one of them.” The indictment could lead to fines of up to $100,000.

Powder Downer
By the end of the 2030s the Dartmouth Skiway could close for good. That’s the forecast of a climate change model developed by Dr. Daniel Scott of Ontario’s University of Waterloo. He predicts the Skiway's demise because “even with advanced snowmaking…it could not sustain more than a 100-day ski season on average and be open for the critical Christmas-New Year holiday period at least 75 percent of the time.”

Role of a Lifetime
You never know who might be watching a Dartmouth theater department production. After his performance in February 2011’s Eurydice, theater professor Jamie Horton was encouraged by his co-star’s friend—who worked in a New York City casting office—to submit an audition tape for Spielberg’s Lincoln. Late that spring Horton, who teaches acting and directing, was leaving Umpleby’s bakery on South Street when his agent called to tell him he’d been cast as Rep. Giles Stuart, a New York Democrat. “I was thrilled,” Horton says. The long-time actor and director spent about three weeks on set in Richmond, Virginia, where he says history came to life. Horton sat in the Virginia capitol building, modified to look like the U.S. House chamber in 1865, and watched Tommy Lee Jones play Thaddeus Stevens, class of 1814. “It was a real treat for me to be part of the democratic process even in a historical recreation,” Horton says. Despite Lincoln’s 12 nominations Horton doesn’t plan to attend the Oscars, but says he’ll be “watching with pride.” He will continue acting, directing and writing and plans to pursue a renewed interest in film. “Seeing this critical juncture in our history up close was to be reminded of where this country has come from and how long dysfunction has been present in our government.”     —Lauren Vespoli ’13

The Archivist Orchidist
Biochemistry professor Bernard Trumpower has an eye for orchids. Most Friday afternoons you’ll find him in the fourth-floor Murdough Greenhouses in the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center, camera at the ready as he shoots the Brout Orchid Collection. To date the photography buff has captured 7,000 images of 500 plants. He expects it’ll take two more years to complete his goal of photographing all 1,000 orchids in the collection. “I began by thinking about various photography projects that would be relatively long term and give an in-depth view of something that has artistic qualities,” Trumpower explains. “I thus began this project to explore the artistic possibilities of the orchids, knowing that there were many orchids in the collection and that there was a lot of variety.” Thirty-three of his images were displayed recently at Hanover’s Howe Library, leading one reviewer to write: “The plants are like something captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The prints bring the blooms to nearly human size, and they seem so alien, so alive that a viewer is forced to reckon with them.”  The orchid collection, a 1996 gift from Alan Brout ’51, is open to the public weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dig This
Newly retired classics professor Jeremy Rutter received the Archaeological Institute of America's Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement in January. The longtime teacher of Greek archaeology is considered an expert analyzer of potsherds recovered from a variety of digs. “I started digging holes in my back yard at the age of 6,” says Rutter. “I never had to get out of the sandbox.”

Gleeful
Dartmouth Aires member Clark Moore ’13 took the winter term off in search of acting work. He succeeded, landing a part on Glee for a January episode. “This is a dream come true. Glee is the No. 1 job I wanted,” says the history major.

Pioneers
The College is planning a celebration of coeducation on campus April 5-7. Called Greenways: Coming Home, the event features a lineup of alumnae speakers including Congresswomen Ann Kuster '78, former trustee Susan Dentzer '77 and WNBA president Laurel Richie '81. Speaking of women, here’s a partial list of female firsts at the College, where the glass ceiling has been slowly cracking for nearly 50 years.