Change of Climate
Al Werner, associate professor of geology, spent October 12–20 giving lectures
far away from his usual haunts in Clapp Lab. At the invitation of Norway’s University
Courses on Svalbard (UNIS), a private foundation established by the Norwegian
government and owned by Norway’s four universities, Werner spent the week in
the city of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen presenting six hours of
lectures on the climate change history of Alaska to graduate students from countries
that included Denmark, Norway, Iceland, France, Russia, and Australia. Other
scholars, including Werner’s graduate adviser and two former graduate student
colleagues, were invited to discuss the Russian Arctic, the Canadian Arctic,
Iceland, and the Barrents Sea, among other topics. Werner was no stranger to
the area, having undertaken his doctoral research there between 1984 and 1986.
He was particularly excited to return to the area, because he is interested
in developing an REU site (Research Experience for Undergraduates, a National
Science Foundation-sponsored program) there. UNIS was so pleased with Werner’s
contributions that they have already invited him back to teach next fall.
Author Author
On November 17, Corinne Demas, MHC English professor and accomplished children’s
book author, was featured as an “Author Snapshot” on WGBY Reads, local public
television station Channel 57’s on-air literacy fair. Demas was shown in her
study talking about her writing and reading from her book The Disappearing Island
(Simon & Schuster, 2000).
Lyons Roar
The Lyons have started the winter season off strong; highlights of competitions
held this month include outstanding performances by a number of teams. For the
first time, the basketball team placed first at the MHC tip-off tournament,
which was held November 16 and 17. That weekend, the swimming and diving team
captured first place at the Regis Invitational for the sixth consecutive year,
while the squash team also won its season opener against Smith November 15,
with a near sweep of the match.
In Memoriam
Marleen Boudreau Flory ’65, an award-winning teacher and a scholar who specialized
in Roman social history, died June 22. She served MHC as a lecturer in classics
and assistant academic dean from 1970 to 1973. After earning a Ph.D. at Yale
University in 1975, she returned to the College as an assistant professor for
one year (1976–1977). She then taught briefly at Salem College before joining
the faculty of Gustavus Adolphus College in 1978, where she won the Outstanding
Scholar Award in 1989 and the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching
in 1991. Considered instrumental in founding Gustavus’s classics program, Flory
was widely published in scholarly journals and the popular press. She is survived
by her husband, Stewart Gilman Flory; two sisters; two nieces; and a nephew.
