Harpur College and Binghamton Community Benefit Greatly From Extraordinary Gift to Bartle Library

Recently, the Bartle Library received an extraordinary gift to add to its growing collection of Asian literature: a vast collection of 19th-century and modern Chinese books from Professor Emeritus Yi-t'ung Wang of the University of Pittsburgh. This collection, known as the Yi-t'ung and An-Chi Lou Wang Research Collection on Chinese Culture, is comprised of 4,435 volumes and 1,558 titles, and is worth nearly $50,000

Binghamton University owes its new donation only to the donor, Wang, but also to Xiuying Zou, who has a joint appointment between Harpur College's Asian and Asian-American Studies Program (AAASP) and the Bartle Library as Asian Studies Librarian / Bibliographer-Cataloger. Zou learned from a former colleague at the University of Pittsburgh that Wang, a Chinese historian who earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1949, wished to donate his collection to an institution that would not only use, but also add to, the volumes that he collected during his career. Most of the books are about Chinese history, philosophy and literature.

According to Frank Mols, the library's associate director of technical services and budgeting, BU acquired the collection through a "bargain sale." In 2002, AAASP received a Freeman Foundation Grant to support its expansion. Using a portion of that grant money, AAASP, the library and the BU Foundation worked together to facilitate the purchase of Wang's collection. The difference between the value of the collection (almost $50,000) and the purchase price ($21,000), is a gift to the BU Foundation. In addition, Wang donated $20,000 cash to establish a permanent endowment which will fund the purchase of additional Chinese reference manuals.

Upon donating his collection to BU, Wang wrote an essay in Chinese about his family's tradition of love and respect for books (see essay here). Entitled "Studio of Silken Driving: Meditations on the Collection Donated to Binghamton University," the essay chronicles Wang's lifelong quest to build a library of his own after the Japanese burned his family's in China during World War II.

Wang also wrote in his essay that he chose BU as the recipient for his prized collection because of the university's strong reputation for academics and large number of students who are of Asian descent.

Most of the books are extremely rare and valuable, particularly those from the 19th-century. They are bound by thread-stitches, a technique that dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and some volumes are in ornate boxes bound with silk ribbons or ivory buttons.

Zou and her husband traveled to Pittsburgh so they could personally chronicle, box and arrange the transport of the entire collection back to BU. The books are now located in the special collections area of Bartle Library, where they await cataloging and bookplates.

The process of cataloging entails creating a record of all bibliographical information, researching subject headings from the Library of Congress, and assigning a Library of Congress call number. It will be a laborious task for Zou; she must repeat it for all 4,435 volumes. Fortunately, some of the books are already in other libraries and their catalog descriptions exist, saving Zou some research. Then, after they have been catalogued, the inside of each book's cover will receive a custom-designed bookplate emblazoned with Wang's family crest to recognize his generosity.

Because the books are mostly research materials, they will probe invaluable for faculty and students. Wang's donation therefore furthers the plans of Professor John Chaffee, director of AAASP, who wants BU to become a regional resource for scholars of Chinese history and language.

"The Wang collection gives us a well developed collection of essential works of traditional Chinese history and literature," Chaffee said. "The audience would be scholars of pre-modern Chinese society, culture and literature, of which we have several here The collection provides a wonderful base for developing more modern collections as well."

Wang's collection could not have arrived at a better time; AAASP is growing at Harpur College. According to Fran Goldman, acting associate director of the program, around 30 students are either majoring or minoring in AAASP. "That's an impressive number, considering the major was only approved last April," she said.

Because Wang has given his books to a university, parts of the collection will be available on Interlibrary Loan through OCLC, a network of nearly 7,000 colleges and universities around the world that loan and share books.

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Harpur Professor's Book Explores Love, Poetry and Science

Dana Stewart's new book, The Arrow of Love, offers readers an unusual mixture of love, poetry and cold science. It investigates common visual themes in medieval French and Italian love poetry through a unique lens: the science of optics. Stewart, associate professor of Italian, faculty director of the Women's Studies Program, and fellow of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Harpur College, examines the works of a number of poets who wrote from the late 12th through the early 14th centuries - 200 years' worth of poetry that is rife with images of lovers gazing into one another's eyes - and compares the writing to theories of optics that were popular during the same time period.

One example in the book is Sicilian Giacomo da Lentini's 13th-century poem, Amor e' un desio che ven DA core ("Love is a desire that comes from the heart"), which discusses the phenomenon of love at first sight, insisting that true love always begins with an image that enters the heart through the eyes. Stewart compares this romantic notion to the basic ideas of Aristotelian optical theory, which was popular during the middle ages, and held that the heart, not the brain, is the seat of perception.

Another example that Stewart uses is Pucciandone Martelli's poem, Tuttora agio di voi remembranza ("I still have memories of you"), in which the poet confides to his beloved how the first sight of her entered his heart with such pain and intensity that the vision ignited him with love. In fact, the notion of love causing physical pain is a constant theme in medieval poetry (and is still present in the poetry of today). Martelli also drew on Aristotelian optical theories when speaking of how the image of love entered his heart through the eyes.

"Optics was a popular subject in those days and would have been studied at universities," Stewart explained. "Sight was thought to be the most spiritual of the senses, a sort of gateway between the physical and spiritual realms."

In addition to exploring the relationship between the eyes and the heart, Stewart's book also examines the power of the beloved's glance and the heart's image of a lover. She compares poetic discussions of this concept to the reigning optical theories of the era, particularly the Platonic view, which postulated that the eyes project beams or spirits onto objects in the field of vision, and the Aristotelian view, which theorized the converse (i.e., that the eyes merely serve as gateways for entering images); indeed, on the cover of Stewart's book is Roman de la Rose, a portrait of Cupid, the God of Love, shooting his arrow at a lover. Stewart does note, however, that not everyone in medieval times blamed Cupid for their feelings. "Sometimes, people thought that the woman's eyes launched the arrow that would pierce the man's heart," she said.

Stewart became interested in the subject of her book by accident. While earning her Ph.D. in Italian at Stanford University, she wrote a paper on the theological theories of vision that were popular during medieval times. These theories even explained how people imagined the sight of God. Stewart's professors then suggested that she also study the time period's physiological theories of vision, and when she began researching it, she was stunned by the field's similarities to the love poetry she had been reading. The connection between medieval optical theory and love poetry was a topic that had not been explored in any comprehensive way. As Stewart said, "Before long, I had changed the focus of my research from divine love to human love."

Here at Harpur College, Stewart has also developed a course entitled, "Love, Science and Magic in the Middle Ages," which she has based on her research. She enjoys seeing her students read medieval love poetry, learn about the era's scientific theories, and then put the two disciplines together. Stewart is also organizing a conference entitled, "Science, Literature, and the Arts in the Medieval and Early Modern World." It will take place at Binghamton University in October 2004.

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New Opportunities Abound for Harpur Music Major
Harpur Student Spotlight: Talitha Philips `05
by William Duffy `05

Harpur College gave Talitha Phillips `05 plenty of learning opportunities, especially in music, and each one has offered a new adventure.

Phillips graduated from New York City's prestigious, competitive Hunter College High School in 2001. She chose to attend Harpur College because she felt it was the best deal for her money and BU offered her an academic scholarship.

When she arrived on campus as a freshman, Phillips, an experienced electric bass player, decided to live in the music module, a residence hall in Broome Hall. "I wanted to be with other musicians and jam in the hallways," she said. "I had a great time."

Through music, Phillips turned an opportunity into a learning experience. When she auditioned for the Harpur Jazz Ensemble, Michael Carbone, adjunct lecturer of music, asked if she would play double bass instead of electric. She accepted the challenge, rented a double bass from the music department, and took lessons from Stephen Stalker, adjunct lecturer of music. Phillips soon played the new instrument so well that the music department accepted her into the Bachelor of Music Performance program, even though she lacked the extensive experience others had.

Music has been more than an academic major for Phillips, though. She combined her musical talent with her spirituality when she joined the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship band as an electric bass player, which she deemed "a really great experience."

Phillips also joined the BF Harridans, a local Morris Dance troupe, which does a type of ritual English folk dance. "I've always loved dancing, particularly folk dancing," she said, "and I have a lot of energy."

As a sophomore, Phillips returned to the music module, which had tripled in size due to an advertisement campaign she and her roommate, Kira Slocum `05, had spearheaded. Phillips' hallmates elected her music module manager for the semester. She accepted the offer in addition to another leadership position: treasurer of the Harpur Jazz Project, which arranges concerts and co-sponsors guest performances for the Harpur Jazz Ensemble.

One of the perks of bringing professional musicians to BU was that Phillips could play double bass in workshops with them. Over the course of a year, she performed with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassists Dean Johnson and Ben Allison, and drummer Ron Vincent, all famed jazz artists. "I also took all of DIVA, an all-women's jazz band, out to lunch," Phillips recalls of the band's visit to campus.

As a junior, Phillips seized upon another new opportunity: a semester at the University of Prague, Czech Republic. She studied the Czech language, Czech music, European history, and economics. And never forgetting her love of jazz, she spent the semester searching for and finally finding what she calls a "wonderful, wonderful" double bass. "My mother teases me, saying that it's my boyfriend, because I spend four hours a day with it," said Phillips, who enjoys her new instrument so much that she's inspired to practice and improve more.

Phillips is back from Prague and has returned to performing with the Harpur Jazz Ensemble. She also plays in the first ever Binghamton Sinfonia, an orchestra organized and conducted entirely by students. Her biggest plan for the rest of her junior year is to practice for "a really rocking senior recital."

Eventually, Phillips hopes to return to Prague, visit Africa for the first time, and work as a professional double bass player with DIVA, the band that she helped bring to Binghamton.

Talitha Phillips will be performing with Sinfonia on February 7 and the Harpur Jazz Ensemble on April 27.

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Harpur Students Lead Debate Team to First National Title

Arguing for a ban on patenting DNA sequencing in order to prevent corporate ownership of human genetics, BU's Debate Team triumphed over Emporia State at the University of Texas at Dallas debate tournament last month, winning a national competition for the first time since 1960.

After earning a 5-1 record in pre-elimination rounds, Harpur College students Ron Klein `04 and Ravi Gupta `05, coached by Harpur alumnus Joe Schatz, `01, M.A. `03, Ph.D. `06, initially argued against the United States' complaint to the World Trade Organization opposing the European Union's restrictions of genetically modified organisms in preliminary arguments.

However, the team changed strategy against Emporia and argued that humans have reached a new phase in evolution where they have already become "homo technicus" and have gone beyond their physical limits through the advancement of science and technology that has allowed them to reconfigure their identities in both the physical and cybernetic world.

Klein and Gupta also said that if companies own patents on DNA sequences, then humans don't truly own their own bodies, and patenting DNA sequences impedes medical research because only the patent-holding company is permitted to study that particular sequence.

"The biggest challenge was that our topic was new to us," said Klein. "We'd spent the whole tournament debating against genetically modified foods, so the other team prepared to debate us on that."

Gupta and Klein's strategy of switching topics worked; BU won the final round on a 2-1 decision. The judges also ranked Klein 10th and Gupta 3rd best speakers at the tournament.

During the three-day competition leading up to the final round, BU debaters also defeated teams from Southeast Louisiana University, Southwest Missouri State University, the University of Central Oklahoma, and the University of Rochester.

Recent victories have come after a long line of successful events, which in the 2002-03 season culminated in BU being recognized as the top program with the best coach in the Northeast region, which includes both Cornell and Harvard. "After a lot of hard work for a few years now, we've had a lot of close calls, but now we're having a lot of successes," Gupta said.

Debaters enjoy the speed and excitement of competing. "Debate is very fast paced and you have to think on your feet," Klein said. "It's a lot of work, but when you finish, it's rewarding."

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Explore Ottawa With BU
Alumni, Employees and Friends Welcome

Continuing Education & Outreach at Binghamton University is sponsoring an art and history trip to Ottawa, Canada, May 13 - 16, 2004. Please join us and learn about this beautiful, historic city.

From the majestic Parliament Buildings (pictured left) to its many historic sights, houses and streets, Ottawa is a city entwined with the history of Canada. It proudly displays the best and brightest Canada has to offer: art, science, technology, and history. The capital of Canada, Ottawa is filled with elegance, nobility and beauty.

The trip will include visits to the Frederick Remington Museum in Ogdensburg, NY, the National Gallery of Canada, Byward Market, Laurier House (home of former Prime Minister King), Billings Estate Museum, the Canadian Parliament Buildings, Rideau Hall (home of the Governor-General), the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride Stables, and Fort Henry in Kingston, ON. Accommodations are at the Comfort Inn - Downtown, which includes a daily breakfast buffet.

The registration fee is $445/person and includes travel by luxury coach, driver tip, all site entrances and tours, three nights double occupancy at the Comfort Inn, three breakfasts, Sunday brunch at Fort Henry's Officer's Mess, and experienced travel leadership throughout the trip.

For more information, please call 607-777-6857 or go to http://continuinged.binghamton.edu. The registration deadline is April 16, 2004.

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1967: Jack Hudock has been installed as President-elect of the Public Lawyers Division of the Maricopa County (Arizona) Bar Association. He will assume the office of President in January 2005. Hudock is a consultant to the Arizona Superintendent of Banks and has recently completed the task of rewriting, in plain English, the portion of the Arizona Administrative Code enforced by that state's Banking Department. He works in a legal community graced by many distinguished Harpur College alumni, including Barry C. Schneider `64 and Robert L. Gottsfield `56. Hudock sends best regards to all his Baccacia brethren, track and swim team alumni, and especially his bandmates in Mighty Yascha and the Pearls, the popular legendary rockers and cutups of the mid-to-late 60's. The band included Andy Willinger `69, Bill Bender `66, Bill Crepet `69 and Jack's brother, George.

1968: George Shafer (MA `70) retired December 31, 2003 as Assistant Vice President of Corporate Communication at Trustmark Insurance Company. He currently lives in Libertyville, IL with his wife, Gwen, and daughter, Meg, but he is building a home near Southport, NC, where they play to move in June. Shafer expects to teach part time at the university level (his first career) and continue writing and consulting (his second career), albeit at a much less frenzied pace. Shafer holds a Master of Library Science and Ph.D. from Kent State University.

1973: Michael D. Brofman is pleased to announce that he became a member of Weiss, Zarett & Hirschfeld, P.C. in New Hyde Park, NY on January 5, 2004. He will continue to practice in the areas of creditor's rights, commercial bankruptcy and litigation, workouts and restructuring of debt, and general business law. Brofman says joining the firm also adds a new dimension of experienced practitioners in the fields of health care law, litigation, business law, and commercial real estate transactions to his practice areas.

1993: Kathie Cheng has been an adjunct instructor at Pace University for the last 6 1/2 years, teaching writing, literature and women's and gender studies. She has also been teaching at Hunter College and Beth Israel School of Nursing. She told the Hotline, "I'm also involved in a lot of activism work, mostly around police brutality, repression, and attacks on immigrants, especially the attacks on Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants after 9/11." Cheng earned an MA in teaching English from Teacher's College at Columbia University in 1997.

1994: The marriage of Tomasz Boruch and Alexandra Ruth `96 took place October 4, 2003 at Sacred Heart Church in Port Chester, NY, followed by a reception at The Fountainhead in New Rochelle, NY. Alexandra is an account executive for her family's commercial lighting company, R/L Lighting. Tom is territory manager for Amylin Pharmaceuticals. After a two week trip through Napa Valley and Northern CA, the Boruchs now reside in White Plains, NY. Their wedding party included Amy Roach Partridge , Carolyn Gore Horowitz , Robyn Karmiol, Erin Troust, Alison Switalski (all `96), PJ Cacioppo `94 and Timothy Lyons `93. Alumni who attended the wedding were RJ Tolan `93, Lisa Raymond-Tolan `94, John Partridge, Jason Horowitz, Alison Coiro Kegelman, Diane Haggerty, Michael Cavanaugh (all `96), and Nicholas Corsaro `97.

1997: John Federowicz (a.k.a. John Ed Bon Fed) is a self-employed caricature artist and the owner of Bon Fed's Caricatures ("Where the world is drawn together") in Binghamton. He draws caricatures of people, groups, and even pets at fundraisers, parties, meetings, or other special events. Among his clients are ABC-TV/NYC, Channel 10/Philadelphia, Harrah's Hotel & Casino, IBM, March of Dimes, NHL All Star Game/Philadelphia, Trump's Taj Mahal, the United Negro College Fund, and World Travel Market in London. Federowicz also teaches art to children at the Discovery Center in Binghamton. He hopes to eventually relocate to New York City. For more information, please e-mail bonfed@hotmail.com or call 607-237-4466.

1999: The January 14, 2004 New York Times gave Erika Person (M.M.) rave reviews for her portrayal of the title role in the opera Iolanthe, performed by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players at City Center, Jan. 9 - 11. Iolanthe also played at the McCarther Theatre in Princeton, NJ on Jan. 31. Offstage, Person is alto section leader for the Irvington Presbyterian Church Choir in Irvington, NY and works as an executive assistant at Kauff, McClain & McGuire LLP in New York City.

2003: Rachel Lauren Kamp married Michael Clark on December 20, 2003 in Cornell University's Sage Chapel. After a honeymoon in St. Lucia, the Clarks reside in Austell, GA. Rachel is a labor and delivery nurse and Michael is an elementary school teacher and baseball coach.

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Shop Harpur Online

Shop the campus bookstore from the comfort of your PC or Mac. Want to pick up a copy of the new Harpur history book The Cornerstone? Visit The Campus Bookstore.

For more Harpur College merchandise, such as hats, shirts and window stickers, contact the bookstore at 607-777-2745.

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Harpur College Development Team Mission Statement:

The Harpur College of Arts and Sciences Development Team encourages alumni, students, faculty and friends to identify with Harpur College's past, present and future by engaging them in events and programs that connect them to the college. We facilitate ways for our constituents to enrich Harpur College through their financial contributions and personal talents and resources.

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