New & Notable

Mysterious MHC--Mount Holyoke, and former English professor Marjorie Greenbie, figure prominently in a new book by UMass professor emeritus Barrie Greenbie. The Hole in the Heartland, a "memoir-mystery," describes Mount Holyoke and South Hadley during the Roaring Twenties, when Greenbie's mother taught here, while describing his search for the origins of his grandparents.

In a word, "distinguished"--Religion professor Jane Crosthwaite recently received the Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater, Wake Forest University. She also served that school as assistant dean of women, as part of the Board of Visitors and the Ministerial Alumni Council, and as a philosophy instructor.

Change coming for soccer team--Ted Eskildsen, who coached soccer players at three colleges to seven playoff appearances in ten years, will become soccer coach starting with the fall 1997 season. He will replace Ferdie Adoboe, who recently resigned to pursue other interests. Eskildsen, a former coach at Hawthorne, Grinnell, and Bethany Colleges, has an outstanding soccer career record of 113-41-11, and has coached six All-Region players and two All-Americans.

Talking about technoart--Robert Herbert, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities, is having a busy fall. Last month he spoke on "The Arrival of the Machine" in modern art at the Saint Louis Museum of Art. This month, he will give a seminar in Yale University's Program in Agrarian Studies devoted to the ideas in Peasants and "Primitivism," the exhibition he organized last year for the MHC Art Museum. And in January, he will take part in the Technology and Modernity symposium at the New School for Social Research, delivering a paper on "Modern Art and Technology."

First place for her sense of place--Three MHC women, winners of a College-wide poetry contest, joined five professional poets at a reading organized in conjunction with the art museum's exhibition Painting Abstract. All the poems read at the November 13 event evoked a sense of place, which also inspired the exhibition's artists. Raluca Cernahoschi '99 captured first prize, and Kristin H. Jensen '99 and Kimiko Sera '97 received honorable mentions. Students read with local poets April Bernard, Linda Gregg, and Michael Pettit, and English professors Christopher Benfey and Robert Shaw.

Dedicated--The annual report of the Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium will be dedicated to MHC's late assistant business manager Bruce Keyes. He was an active participant in the multicollege buying group until his death in June.

Speech, speech--Kay Althoff, director of the Frances Perkins Program, gave the honors convocation address at Holyoke Community College this month. Many of our FP students previously attended Holyoke Community College.

Coffee break--Lowell Gudmundson, Latin American studies professor and expert on the development of the coffee industry in Central America, has published a study of the evolution of the coffee economy in two Latin American countries in a recent issue of the journal Mesoamerica. The study, "Common, Public, and Private Lands in the Origins of Coffee Culture in Guatemala and Costa Rica," looks at land policies in Latin America in the nineteenth century and their impact on the development of the caffeinated commodity so central to the region's economy. To understand agrarian development in Central America, Gudmundson has spent countless research hours poring over archival census and court documents in the region.

On the road--Chemistry professor Sheila Browne, a prime force in the mentoring of MHC minority students in the sciences, has been spreading the word about the effectiveness of mentoring programs. In October, Browne and seventeen MHC students of color went to MIT for the fifth annual meeting of the New England Board of Higher Education's Science and Engineering Academic Support Network, where Browne spoke on "Succeeding in Science in College." Browne also participated in the General Electric Foundation's Faculty for the Future Conference in Philadelphia, where she delivered a report on progress at the College for minorities. Finally, Browne delivered the keynote address at the national meeting of The Compact for Faculty Diversity, attended by minority graduate students and their mentors.

We want your news - Send items of interest to Emily Weir, Office of Communications, or email eweir@mtholyoke.edu.