Campus

Around the Green in sixty seconds

March Sadness
The departure of Chris Wielgus as women’s basketball coach after nearly three decades in Hanover may have surprised even her former players, but it hasn’t diminished their appreciation of her legacy. That extends well beyond the 12 Ivy titles and 393 victories amassed in stints of eight and 20 years dating back to 1976. “Chris Wielgus is Dartmouth basketball,” says Gail Koziara Boudreaux ’82, a three-time All-Ivy Player of the Year. “She was a true pioneer in the early days of women’s sports and built one of the most successful sports programs in the history of the College. She was a brilliant coach, a tremendous mentor and role model, and a great friend and advisor to all who played for her.” Princeton women’s basketball coach Courtney Banghart ’00, an assistant to Wielgus after her own All-Ivy playing days, is another big fan. “Twenty-eight years and 12 championships is a great career by any measure—not to mention the hundreds of student-athletes she recruited and developed. I am honored to have been one.

My relationship with Chris represents many facets of the impact coaches have on the ones they lead: mentor, coach, friend, colleague and competitor. I speak on behalf of so many when I say a heartfelt thank you.”

Early Start
Phil Hanlon ’77 will move into his Parkhurst office earlier than expected. The new president plans to start work June 10, the day after Commencement. Hanlon will be on campus for reunion season, which runs through June 16, allowing for plenty of meeting and greeting of alums as he begins his job as Dartmouth’s 18th president.

Farm Aid
When the organic farm needed to replace its 75-year-old barn, which had become structurally unsound, College officials decided to build a new one that would stand the test of time. The $145,000 replacement—completed in the fall—has been wired to support solar power in the future. It will house the farm’s sugaring and planting operations. “This is a great example of how we can build meaningful connections between academic principles in engineering, architecture and other sciences,” says sustainability program manager Jenna Musco ’11.

No Sweat
Hockey and basketball victories aside, one of the biggest student wins of the winter was that achieved by student activists who lobbied the administration to join the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC)—a labor rights organization headed by Scott Nova ’87 (see Jan/Feb DAM) that monitors apparel-manufacturing factory conditions in Third World nations. Student advocates took the idea to College Senior V.P. David Spalding ’76. He quickly convened a study group to determine if the College should work with WRC, which already had all other Ivies but Yale among its affiliates. “The administration was less oppositional than some students,” says Janet Kim ’13. “Libertarians on campus have defended sweatshops on the grounds they create jobs.” The group—including Kim, Allison Puglisi ’15, Nariah Broadus from the president’s office and licensing officer Karen Mongeon—proposed WRC affiliation to Spalding and general counsel Robert Donin, who agreed to it in addition to the College’s longstanding membership in the manufacturers-supported Fair Labor Association. “We have agreed to disclose our list of licensees and to request from them their factories and suppliers,” says Mongeon. “We are required to include in our licenses a code of conduct. They cover all College purchases of athletes’ uniforms and officially licensed fan wear.”

The Art of the Sale
During the last decade Dartmouth Winter Carnival posters have become collectors’ items. A 1938 poster in “B” condition (due to over-painting and some deterioration) created by artist T.N. Joanethis sold at New York City’s Swann Auction Galleries for $2,000 last February. Another copy of the poster sold for $7,800 in 2008. Who is paying those prices and why? Swann’s Nicholas Lowry says that Dartmouth alumni buy 90 percent of the Winter Carnival posters, but there is a subculture of people who collect a variety of ski posters for their vacation homes. They pay high prices for a couple of reasons. First, vintage posters in good condition are rare because they were not designed to last. Second, some posters are early works by artists who went on to greater fame. For example, Dwight Shepler designed the 1936 carnival poster, which sold in 2010 for $7,200. Shepler later designed iconic ski posters for the Union Pacific Railroad and Sun Valley that sell in the same price range. He went on to cover the invasion of Normandy during World War II as part of the U.S. Navy’s officer-artist program.

Super Site
The College’s most famous murals just got more acclaim: José Clemente Orozco’s The Epic of American Civilization is now a national historic landmark. The massive work in Baker-Berry Library was completed in 1934. “This is a big deal, no doubt about it,” says National Park spokesman Mike Litterst. “This is the highest distinction that a site can get from the secretary of the interior.”

Fine Fellows
Actor Alan Alda, New York University archaeologist Daniel Potts and Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, will be joining photographer Joel Sternfeld ’65 (see "Let There Be Color") as Montgomery fellows on campus this year. Alda’s focus will be on science communication. Reagon, Sternfeld and Potts will each teach a class while in Hanover.

What Might Have Been
Football coach Buddy Teevens ’79 says a few years ago an assistant showed him some tape of a promising young player out of California. Impressed with the footage, Teevens called up the rising senior and talked recruitment. “He was a very good guy, good grades, I really liked him,” recalls Teevens. Alas, other schools showed similar interest, and in no time the recruit was off to the University of Nevada. Fast-forward a few years: The almost-Big Green player was an NFL quarterback, and he was starting in the Super Bowl. His name? Colin Kaepernick. “He’s a hard worker,” says Teevens. “Humble. It’s been fun to watch the success he’s had.” Teevens sees the San Francisco 49ers star on occasion: Both participate in the Manning Passing Academy camps in Louisiana.

Night Light
A green glow emanating from the tower of Baker Library signals there’s something noteworthy happening on campus. Here’s a calendar of some upcoming 2013 dates when Baker Tower will be lit.

 

Portfolio

Alumni Books
New titles from Dartmouth writers (November/December 2023)
Fresh Takes
Blogger Ray Padgett ’09 covers the covers.
The Secret Life of the Brain

Michael Gazzaniga ’61 divulges the inner workings of the human mind. 

Gail Koziara Boudreaux ’82
A CEO on the state of the nation’s healthcare

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