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Harpur Students Win Prestigious Awards

Four Harpur College students received prestigious awards last week. Ravi Gupta `05 won a Truman Foundation Scholarship, making him the second Harpur student in nearly 20 years to win this very selective award. Alina Tourkova `04 was named a Junior Fellow for 2004 - 2005 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Matthew Gervais `06 and Elisa Pueschel `05 both learned they will receive Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships in recognition of their achievements in scientific research.

"We're extremely proud that these Harpur College students have received these nationally competitive awards," said Jean-Pierre Mileur, Dean of Harpur College of Arts and Sciences. "That our students are winning such honors is a testament to the quality of our students and the education they receive."

Harpur Junior Chosen to Win Prestigious Truman Scholarship

Gupta plans to earn both an M.D. and M.P.H. (Master's of Public Health) and serve people in inner cities where medical care is scarce. Gupta hopes to eventually run for Congress so he can work for policy changes related to HIV infections among drug users.

Harpur College's Ravi Gupta `05, a double major in science and public policy and philosophy from Staten Island, has been selected to receive a $26,000 scholarship from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

Gupta is one of 77 winners from 212 finalists from across the country selected for his academic credentials, leadership skill, commitment to public service, and likelihood for "making a difference." He is the second Harpur College student to win a Truman Scholarship since 1985.

Last summer, Gupta taught English and science to children in Ghana while raising money to build a school there. When he returned, he founded Binghamton Students for Students International, an SA-chartered group which raises awareness and funds for students in Third-World countries, and Atuu International, a New York state registered charity which raises scholarship funds for students in Ghana.

Gupta is an R.A. in Cayuga Hall.  He volunteers at Red Cross blood drives and was a student volunteer for Howard Dean's presidential campaign. He is a member of BU's College Democrats and serves as a project leader for NYPIRG.  He tutors his classmates at the Center for Academic Excellence and donates all of his wages to Atuu International.

"Getting the scholarship shows how great Binghamton really is," said Gupta, "I was up against some great people from some of the best schools in the country. I spent a lot of my interview talking about the future of this school and how much I identified with it."

In a congratulatory letter, President Lois B. DeFleur, told Gupta, "Students with your talent and success are the lifeblood of our vital campus, and we are proud, as a University community, to share with you the honor and distinction of this esteemed award."

The third week of May, Gupta will participate in Truman Scholars Leadership Week at William Jewell College, followed by an awards ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, MO.

Harpur Senior Named Carnegie Junior Fellow

Tourkova hopes to either go to graduate school for international studies or law school. However, her career goals are not set in stone. "This is very important for exposure to different fields and learning about what I can do with my life," she said.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has named Alina Tourkova `04 a Junior Fellow for the 2004 - 2005 year. She is one of 8 - 10 students selected from a pool of 305 applicants across America.

Tourkova, who is expected to graduate in May with a double major in political science and Russian studies and a minor in economics, will work in Washington D.C. at the Carnegie Endowment's Russian and Eurasian program as a research assistant to senior associates - academics, former government officials, lawyers and journalists from around the world - who study the non-proliferation of weapons of mass distruction and the United States' role in the world.

Currently president of BU's Russian Club, which she established in 2000, Tourkova has tutored students in political science and Russian at Harpur College and also mentored local middle school children who recently emigrated from Russia and the Ukraine, helping them adjust to their new society. She spent the Summer of 2003 studying in St. Petersburg, Russia, for which she received the Dr. Israel J. Rosefsky Language and Culture Scholarship.

"I think this is a great opportunity and will open a lot of doors, as well as allow me to learn so much about international relations."

Two Harpur Students Win Goldwater Scholarships

Two Harpur College students have won the 2004 – 2005 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the premier national award for undergraduate science, mathematics and engineering students.

Gervais plans to earn a Ph.D. in psychobiology, work in academia, and study human and animal intelligence and behavior.

Matthew Gervais , a sophomore double majoring in psychobiology and philosophy and minoring in anthropology from Liverpool, NY, and Elisa Pueschel , a junior majoring in physics from Vestal are among the 310 winners from 1,113 nominees nationwide. Eleven BU students have won Goldwater Scholarships since 1990.

Gervais received an Undergraduate Research Award in last Fall to study the evolution and causes of laughter by synthesizing existing theories and research from across several disciplines. His work continues as an independent study with Prof. David Sloan Wilson. Gervais is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Golden Key National Honor Society and has made the Dean's List every semester.

"I think this is proof on a national level of the unique and tremendous work that Prof. David Wilson and Binghamton University are doing with the Evolutionary Studies program," Gervais said, adding that BU is a "special place" for studying evolutionary approaches to human behavior.

Pueschel would like to earn a Ph.D. in physics and become a professor.

Pueschel is a Binghamton Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She won first place in the Fall 2002 undergraduate poster competition at the American Physical Society Symposium. Last Spring she received an Undergraduate Research Award so she could study the relationship between a metal particle's size and its melting temperature with Prof. Eric Cotts. Pueschel is now working with Prof. Charles Nelson to develop new ways of studying the top quark, a mercurial variety of one of the two elementary building blocks of matter, at the particle collider at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago. She would like to earn a Ph.D. in physics and become a professor.

"I was really happy to receive the scholarship," said Pueschel. "I blame my good luck on the nurturing learning environment that is available at Binghamton and the fact that much of the faculty is deeply committed to teaching."

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, endowed in 1986 to honor the late senator, fosters and encourages outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, science and engineering. Each scholarship covers eligible expenses for tuition, fees, books, and room and board, up to a maximum of $7,500 annually. Sophomore recipients are eligible for two years of financial support and junior recipients are eligible for one year of financial support.

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Harpur Professor Endows Study Abroad Scholarship

O'Connor said he is so keen on helping students study abroad because he never had the opportunity himself.

Thomas O'Connor, professor of romance languages, and his wife, Rae, have created a scholarship in memory of his parents to support students who choose to study in Spain.

Through his generous gift which created the James and Catherine O'Connor Scholarship, one or two student recipients will receive awards to help cover the expenses of studying in Spain through our own or another SUNY program. Right now, the scholarship is intended for the summer semester. "This is one small way of helping defray the costs of studying abroad," O'Connor said.

"My parents came from Ireland and encouraged us to study and go as far as we possibly could," said O'Connor, whose mother died in November 2002, predeceased by his father in 1976. "They saw education as the key to success."

"It is especially gratifying to get this kind of support from our own faculty," said Jean-Pierre Mileur, Dean of Harpur College, "Tom O'Connor has given generously of himself in 16 years of scholarship and teaching and now he is giving this special vote of confidence in the potential of our students."

Studying abroad dramatically helps students achieve fluency and confidence in a foreign language because they are living within the culture and are immersed in the language. "Today it's absolutely necessary for anyone who's a major, minor, or really wants to develop their ability to speak a foreign language to spend some time in a foreign country," he said.

Binghamton University offers a summer program in Madrid, Spain and several SUNY schools have programs in other cities. "Cortland has one in Salamanca, which my daughter recently went on, and Oswego has one in Barcelona," O'Connor said. "There are quite a few that students can take advantage of."

Outside the classroom, O'Connor is a book review editor for the international organization, Bulletin of the Comediantes, a journal on 16th and 17th-century Spanish and Latin American drama . He is also publishing the complete works of 17th-century Spanish playwright, Salazar Y Torres. O'Connor has taught at Harpur College since 1988.

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Ancient House Provides Gateway to the Past
By Daniel Richards `04

Kellum, shown giving her lecture, is currently completing a book on the visually complex monuments commissioned by wealthy, upwardly mobile former slaves in the roman world.
The House of Vettii might have been the most elabo- rately decorated house in the city of Pompeii, which was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79 AD.

But, art historian Barbara Kellum said what remains preserved tells us little about the owners of the house, other than that they were former slaves who became very wealthy — owning many slaves themselves.

Inside, paintings adorn almost every surface of the house, showing gods, people, animals, objects and other various mythological scenes, which seem to revolve around the reoccurring theme of slavery.

Why would wealthy former slaves decorate their luxurious house with images of enslavement? That was the question that Kellum, a professor of art history at Smith College, shared with an audience of nearly 100 faculty, students and members of the community during the 2004 Mario and Antoinette Romano Lecture last week.

Kellum's lecture, "The Stuff of Which Dreams Are Made: The Phantasmagoric Imagery of the House of the Vettii, Pompeii," provided a glimpse into one of the most sumptuously decorated houses in Pompeii and presented an interpretation of its seemingly bewildering myriad of imagery.

By way of various theories of dream interpretations, Kellum revealed meanings from the house's kaleidoscope of images.

Harpur College Dean Jean-Pierre Mileur, Professor Kellum, and Art History Chair John Tagg.
"The structure of the whole comes into notice if we look at the house through dreams, which capture the consciousness of many levels of Roman society," Kellum said. Images of enslavement, domination and cruelty would all seem to the modern viewer to be uncomfortable reminders of the owner's former status as slaves.

Kellum interprets these images as not being painful reminders but as instances of celebration of the Vettii's victory, capable of multiple meanings that reflect the contradictions of slaves becoming owners of slaves. "From things to owners of things, their dreams had come true," Kellum said. Kellum's scholarly expertise is the visual culture of the ancient Roman world and her publications focus on everything from imperial building complexes to the shop signs and graffiti of Pompeii. Most recently, as a recipient of an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship, she has been completing a book on the visually complex monuments commissioned by wealthy, upwardly mobile former slaves in the ancient Roman world.

The Romano Lecture series was endowed in 1984 by the Romanos as a tribute to Mario Romano's years as a Harpur College student. Each year, their endowment sponsors a lecture given by noted speakers in history, economics, art history or medicine. Send this article to a friend Top

Harpur Alumni Prove the Worth of Liberal Arts Degrees
By Scott Bennett, Counselor, BU Career Development Center


Above: Don Blake, Harpur College Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, spoke extensively about the many practical uses of a liberal arts degree. Below: The audience broke into small groups so they could ask alumni career related questions.

The program, "What Can I Do With A Major In...?" on March 23rd, sponsored by the Career Development Center, Discovery Program, The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, and Phi Sigma Iota foreign language honor society, helped liberal arts students understand how their academic majors fit into career decisions.

Students typically begin to explore careers by asking, "what can I do with my major?" They often make assumptions about what fields their major will or will not lead them to. Rather than focusing exclusively on their major, students should consider other aspects of who they are, including values, interests and skills as they consider satisfying and rewarding career options. The best way to illustrate the varied career paths that are available to liberal arts majors is for students to hear directly from Binghamton alumni who have been in their shoes.

Donald Blake, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for Harpur College, served as the keynote speaker and discussed what he deems the four key aspects of participating in and receiving a liberal arts education: education for citizenship, preparation for a productive life, preparation for lifelong learning, and preparation for the realization of self.

Students also heard from ten Harpur alumni who provided a brief description of their career path since graduating from Binghamton, as well as how their specific major helped prepare them for endeavors after college. Following the panel, alumni facilitated round table discussions with students.

Here is some of the advice that was offered to students:

Alyssa Barreiro '89 - Cinema Major - Currently a lawyer. One of the most beneficial experiences she had was working on PipeDream as the production manager. She honed her writing and time management skills and learned how to be flexible. All of these have helped her in her professional field.

Jon Layish '91 - Philosophy Major. Owner of Red Barn Computers in Vestal. He said a liberal arts degree is neither specific nor limiting.

Jennifer Redmore '93 - Classical Civilization Major - Currently a dentist. Liberal Arts helped her develop excellent communication skills which is great for dentistry since she has to communicate with patients who hate her! Also, her theatre experience helped her be a "decent" public speaker, especially for such a shy person.

Carissa Bracero '00 - Spanish/French Major - Currently an English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher. She was terrified to study abroad, but she did it and credits that experience with helping her be a great ESL teacher - she relates well to her students.

Jim Fowler '96 - English/Theatre Major. Currently a recruiter for Wilson Memorial Hospital. He uses many of the skills he learned at Harpur including public speaking, web writing, marketing. He advises students to get involved in outside activities because they will lead you to a career field.

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Calling all alumni to donate Harpur College and BU memorabilia

Whether you graduated from Harpur College in the 1950's or from Binghamton University last year, sharing your old college items will help us keep our memories strong.

As part of Homecoming 2004, the Alumni Association, in cooperation with the University Libraries and the Harpur College Dean's Office, will host our first "Thanks For The Memories" Roadshow . The University Libraries plan to display memorabilia from the anniversary classes 1954, 1979, 1994, and 1999.

Now is the time to clean out those closets, look in those drawers and under the beds and send us the items that represent your time at Harpur College or Binghamton University. Your donation will become part of the University Archives and may appear in future exhibits. The following are types of records that are being sought by the University Archives to document the history of Harpur College and Binghamton University:

* Photographs
* Printed publications
* Sound recordings
* Committee records (reports, correspondence, publications, and other items that represent the work done for Harpur College or BU)
* Memorabilia that is related to Harpur College or BU

Please include a note with each item describing the event or activity, including the year, and your full name and class year. For photographs, please identify the individuals included. Please do not write anything on the item or photograph. If you have questions, please feel free to contact Yvonne Deligato, University Archivist, at 607-777-6459 or at deligato@binghamton.edu .

Items should be sent to the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000. Items must be received by August 1, 2004 to be included in the Homecoming '04 display.

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Harpur Friends & Family

In response to your much-appreciated feedback, the Harpur Hotline has developed a regular feature of alumni news. Please send us anything you want: publications, promotions, marriages, babies, graduations, retirements, etc. Many thanks to everyone who shared their stories! Here's what some of your fellow Harpur alumni and friends are doing:

Several alumni returned to campus last week to give a panel discussion about teaching careers at local community colleges. Thirty students attended this session to learn about the rigors and rewards in helping community college students succeed. Pictured right are Suzanne Shepard, Ph.D. `95, professor of English and coordinator of the freshman composition program at Broome Community College, Jeanne Cameron, Ph.D. `98, associate professor of sociology and assessment coordinator for academic programs at Tompkins Cortland Community College, Bruce Sonner, M.A. `89, professor of English at Corning Community College, and Linda Mapes, M.A. `89, staff associate at Broome Community College.

1968: Do you want to learn fly-fishing? Art Nudell invites you to learn on a 7-day NYC to Bermuda cruise aboard the Norwegian Crown, July 18 – 25. The cruise is designed with both fishermen and families in mind. Art Nudell is a Planetarium / American Express Representative, an avid saltwater fisherman, and a supporter of the Coastal Conservation Association and Trout Unlimited. For more information, please call Art at 800-435-8776 or e-mail him at arthur@gofishin.net.

1976: When Frank Weaver (M.A. `79) was a student at Harpur College majoring in English, he studied James Joyce extensively. Now Weaver has created a new website that examines the role of music in the works of James Joyce: http://www.james-joyce-music.com/. Weaver remembers studying under Prof. Zack Bowen, who taught English at the time and was one of the world's foremost Joyce scholars. A professional designer, writer, and editor, Weaver has devoted a good part of his career to creating advertising copy and marketing communications for businesses. He spent some time in Hollywood writing screenplays for Paramount Studios; and Dragon's Teeth Press published a book of his poetry, Posy of a Ring , in 1986. Also an actor, Weaver has appeared in leading roles in amateur productions of Never Too Late, Fiddler on the Roof, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Odd Couple, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Wait Until Dark, and other plays.

1985: David Manuta, Ph.D. is the president of Manuta Chemical Consulting, Inc. in Waverly, OH, which seeks to "solve problems that aren't in any book." He frequently serves as as an expert in litigation about chemical exposure, the cause of fires, and environmental issues. Manuta also raises money for the Ruth Manuta Foundation, in memory of his late wife, which supports a scholarship in ner name at Upper Iowa University.

1997: Lisa Mercury and Justin Rea were married August 2, 2003 in Irondequoit, NY. Maid of Honor was Lisa Nappi `97. The bride graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in San Jose, CA and is a self-employed chiropractor in San Francisco. Her husband is a network engineer at Electronics for Imaging in Foster City, CA. Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

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Join BU's New Alumni Online Community

The Binghamton University Alumni Association is pleased to announce its new Alumni Online Community.

The Alumni Online Community is password-protected in a secure environment and only Binghamton University alumni will have access to it. Students will have access to the Alumni Career Network, a mentoring program that brings you together with students or other alumni who are interested in your field of work.

Please take a minute to review and update your profile in the directory portion of the community. You can also sign up to volunteer for the Alumni Career Network. Search for long-lost classmates, network with others for career advice and make your annual gift on line all from the comfort of your own home or office via the Online Community. So B-Connected! Visit www.bconnectalumni.binghamton.edu today!

Questions related to the Online Community? Call 607-777-GRAD (4723)

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Shop Harpur Online

Harpur students Hye Jin Oh `05, Erica Weinstein `07 and Stephina Dansoh `06 kick back in Harpur gear.

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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Mark `81 and Cathy Deutsch `79 and the Binghamton University School of Management are pleased to invite you and your guests to the

Sixth Annual Dean's Metro New York SOM Alumni Golf Challenge

Thursday, May 20, 2004
Shotgun start at 8:30a.m.
Scarsdale Golf Club
Hartsdale, New York
914-723-2840

$225 includes greens fee, cart, range balls, luncheon reception and open bar.
$50 includes luncheon reception and open bar only.
Credit card payments gladly accepted

Click here for more information...

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Miss an issue? Want to read more? Check out: http://harpur.binghamton.edu/hotline

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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