On Campus
Vassar College

Funded by donations from Vassar College employees and students, the Community Works Campaign provides financial assistance to local not-for-profit organizations. Last year, the campaign raised $88,000 to donate to 14 area organizations. Our dollars go a long way. Consider this: a $30 donation to Dutchess Outreach provides nine meals for a family of four. Better yet, $50 purchases a whopping 417 pounds of food from the regional food bank to fill Poughkeepsie’s busiest food pantry and provide up to 300 hot meals a day for those who would otherwise go hungry.

"We’re very grateful for the significant contribution," says Dutchess Outreach executive director Brian Riddell. "Our funding isn’t as steady and there have been fairly significant cuts. To have the Community Works funds available makes a big difference." Dutchess Outreach has received funding since the program’s inception in 2001 and has used the donations for a number of things, including assisting HIV/AIDS patients with the purchase of medicine and to provide food for patients and their families. According to Riddell, support from Community Works was also one of the driving forces that helped the Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library get up and running and get books on its shelves.

Community Works has also supported New Horizons every year. "We became fast allies," says executive director Regis Obijiski. "Students volunteer here. We’re all neighbors, so for us to be named in Community Works is all the more gratifying." The funding helps people acquire expensive prosthetics or wheel chairs and also assists in programming for support staff.

This year’s campaign supports 10 organizations and will run through mid-December. "We’re trying to raise money for groups doing important and innovative work and also to create a great sense of community on campus and to meet the needs of our neighbors," explains Jeffrey Schneider, associate professor of German and this year’s director of Community Works. "Our goal is to increase the number of people on campus who have an opportunity to get to the know the agencies, particularly through our tours. Seeing is believing."

This year's Community Works recipients are...

Battered Women’s Services - Providing a 24-hour hotline, seven days a week, Battered Women’s Services also offers crisis intervention, advocacy services, and counseling, as well as a youth domestic violence prevention program.

Celebrating Community (John Flowers) - This grass roots organization sponsors voter education and community building events like an annual Easter Egg Hunt and Father’s Day Parade which attract over 3,000 people and serve to promote community pride.

Children’s Media Project - Focusing on media and technology, Children’s Media Project strives to create a positive teaching and learning environment. The award-winning programs teach youth how to create media, and how to critically evaluate it, along with the messages it carries. Children study and create public service announcements as well as their own short videos.

Circles of Planned Parenthood - Circles offers a number of programs to create a safer environment for LBGT youth, including social events and support groups, and provides training and assistance for health and human service workers and school districts.

Dutchess Outreach - Serving people facing food shortages, utility problems, or who lack essential medication or supplies, Dutchess Outreach also provides hot meals through the Food Pantry (last year, they provided 57,000 free meals to those in need, including over 1,650 children). The agency also runs the GIFTS program, which provides a nutritious meal to homebound HIV/AIDS patients and their dependent children, and offers resources, including help acquiring medication, for people with HIV/AIDS.

New Horizons - A resource for children and adults with disabilities, the center runs 19 community-based residences and assists people to live as independently as possible. The organization also operates Briggs Farm in Hyde Park.

River Haven - Assisting runaway and homeless youth for nearly 30 years, River Haven operates a crisis center and a shelter that provides short-term housing. Case managers and residential staff offer crisis intervention services and counseling, and help clients find employment, continue their education, and develop basic living skills. The agency also offers a transitional housing community for older youth (ages 16-21) capable of independent living.

Rural and Migrant Ministry - Through programs of youth empowerment and education, this multifaith organization has served rural and migrant people since 1981. The multifaith program works to overcome prejudice and poverty, while celebrating diversity and leadership development. The program also hosts youth arts groups and provides mentoring and scholarships.

Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library - Housing a collection of books, videos and programming for all kids, the library has built pride among African American children and will offer an adult research center in the future as well.

Sustainable Hudson Valley - Devoted to sustainable development, SHV’s goal is to foster economic and community development by promoting the use of renewable energy, integrating food sourcing, and implementing green building practices.

By   Mon, Nov 05, 2007

Three Liberties ©. The Saul Steinberg Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

In the eyes of Saul Steinberg, everything was illuminated. The famed cartoonist for the New Yorker, and also the subject of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center’s touring exhibition, had a knack for calling attention to life’s smallest details and for re-creating our own cultural icons and symbols, calling for us to examine them in a new light. In one cartoon, Three Liberties, he places three versions of Lady Liberty on a New York subway.

Saul Steinberg: Illuminations highlights the artist whose wit and eye for the absurd found a place in the pages and covers of the New Yorker magazine for nearly 60 years. Steinberg created nearly 90 covers, and over 1,200 drawings. Though his cartoons are widely recognized, Steinberg (who was born in Romania and later studied architecture in Milan) was also a muralist, illustrator, card designer, cartographer, and fashion and advertising artist. He also created sculpture, collages, and paper bag masks.

In his cartoons, he used a variety of media ranging from rubber stamps and charcoal to colored pencils and crayons. Techniques at a Party demonstrates this range (as well as his insightfulness and satire), as each partygoer is represented in a different drawing style. Some are crosshatched, others are pointillist and outlined, and the cartoon consists of ink, colored pencil, and watercolor. According to Joel Smith, curator and author of Steinberg at the New Yorker, "Saul Steinberg’s last American museum retrospective...reflected the priorities of a living artist who wanted to be sure the public saw his career as that of a focused, museum-worthy artist...To look at Steinberg’s career in its full duration, depth, and variety is to catch a close-up view of the energies and contradictions of the twentieth century. You might also find yourself smiling a lot."

Steinberg’s first major retrospective concludes its national tour at the FLLAC, where over 100 drawings, collages, and sculptural assemblages are on display through February.

By   Mon, Nov 05, 2007

In 1982, Vassar granted the world’s first undergraduate degree in cognitive science. Since then, over 200 graduates have earned the degree, taking courses in the field that explores the nature of thought, learning, and behavior by combining the tools of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, neuroscience, and computer science. On November 16-17, the department, including past and present faculty, students, and alums will come together to celebrate cognitive science’s 25th anniversary.

The weekend will kick off with a dinner and reception on Friday, followed by faculty presentations, a poster session, and discussions with graduates. The celebration concludes with a keynote address from noted cognitive science professor Paul Smolensky of Johns Hopkins University. There will also be lectures from four current faculty members of the department. "Vassar’s openness to multidisciplinary exploration made this a natural fit because that’s what cognitive science essentially is," says Ken Livingston professor of psychology and one of the program’s founding members. What started with two courses in cognitive science, turned into a fully developed curriculum following a Mellon Foundation grant in 1989-90. In addition to the basic requirements, majors take an array of electives in departments like art, music, religion, and anthropology. Over the years, graduates have gone on to diverse fields. One graduate works as a financial analyst for UNICEF, one teaches as a professor of psychology, and another creates independent films and documentaries as a producer and cinematographer.

"Overall, it’s been really fantastic," reflects Livingston. "I’ve learned so many new things and cognitive science really forces you to go beyond your initial training. It pushes you to stretch beyond the normal ways of looking at things."

By   Mon, Nov 05, 2007

Our neighbors need our help. Every dollar you give works to reverse these statistics. According to Community Works:

• Almost 4,600 children under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line in Dutchess County (7.1% of all children in the county).
• Nearly one third of LBGT teens are dealing with substance abuse issues. Nationally, nearly 30% drop out of school.
• The waiting list for subsidized housing units in Dutchess County ranges from six months to five years.
• An estimated 18.3% of people with a mental disability are living below the poverty level in the county, compared to 5.3% of adults without a disability.
• Over 4,000 cases are annually reported of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse.
• Nearly 200 children in Dutchess County spend at least one night in the River Haven Homeless Shelter.
• 24% of Hudson Valley residents, most of whom are educated, employed, and white, go without health insurance at some point during the year.
• The teenage pregnancy rate in Dutchess County is 34.2%. Only half of pregnant teens receive prenatal care during the first trimester.
• There are over 7,000 reported cases of people living with HIV/AIDS in Dutchess County.

By   Mon, Nov 05, 2007

Click on this image to make bigger

If it weren’t for Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, the popular women’s journal of the 19th century, Vassar would be "Vassar Female College" and Thanksgiving Day wouldn’t exist.

According to the VCencyclopedia, the college was originally incorporated in 1861 as "Vassar Female College." Very much a supporter of Matthew Vassar’s plan, Hale appealed to the founder to dispense with "Female," a word she considered "inelegant" and "absurd." After much correspondence between the two and numerous editorials in Godey’s, the trustees eventually agreed to the name change, the New York State Legislature amended the college’s charter, and the marble slab engraved with the word "Female" was removed from the front of Main.

This same outspoken woman is responsible for our most revered national holiday. It’s true that the settlers who survived their first winter in Plymouth held something akin to a traditional English harvest festival in 1621, but after that, Thanksgiving was an on-again off-again affair. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving; a few years later, Thomas Jefferson unproclaimed it. And so on.

It wasn’t until Hale took up the cause that what we call Thanksgiving evolved. She wrote editorials and lobbied "that the LAST THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER shall be the DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING for the American people." Finally, in 1863 (just two years before the first class of Vassar students would arrive on campus) President Lincoln succumbed to her pressure and proclaimed the last Thursday in November a national day of Thanksgiving. Finally, in 1941, Congress made Thanksgiving a legal holiday.

In the early days of the college, everyone remained on campus for Thanksgiving (and more than a few for Christmas as well). One student wrote home, "The tables were glittering with cut glass and a world of lovely decorations....We fairly groaned because our dresses were getting so tight....We nearly died laughing at each other’s distressed expression. The way the poor things scattered after dinner was a sight. I can’t tell what all did, but the whole of Parlor 97 loosened hooks."

By   Mon, Nov 05, 2007

Battered Women’s Services - Providing a 24-hour hotline, seven days a week, Battered Women’s Services also offers crisis intervention, advocacy services, and counseling, as well as a youth domestic violence prevention program.

Celebrating Community (John Flowers) - This grass roots organization sponsors voter education and community building events like an annual Easter Egg Hunt and Father’s Day Parade which attract over 3,000 people and serve to promote community pride.

Children’s Media Project - Focusing on media and technology, Children’s Media Project strives to create a positive teaching and learning environment. The award-winning programs teach youth how to create media, and how to critically evaluate it, along with the messages it carries. Children study and create public service announcements as well as their own short videos.

Circles of Planned Parenthood - Circles offers a number of programs to create a safer environment for LBGT youth, including social events and support groups, and provides training and assistance for health and human service workers and school districts.

Dutchess Outreach - Serving people facing food shortages, utility problems, or who lack essential medication or supplies, Dutchess Outreach also provides hot meals through the Food Pantry (last year, they provided 57,000 free meals to those in need, including over 1,650 children). The agency also runs the GIFTS program, which provides a nutritious meal to homebound HIV/AIDS patients and their dependent children, and offers resources, including help acquiring medication, for people with HIV/AIDS.

New Horizons - A resource for children and adults with disabilities, the center runs 19 community-based residences and assists people to live as independently as possible. The organization also operates Briggs Farm in Hyde Park.

River Haven - Assisting runaway and homeless youth for nearly 30 years, River Haven operates a crisis center and a shelter that provides short-term housing. Case managers and residential staff offer crisis intervention services and counseling, and help clients find employment, continue their education, and develop basic living skills. The agency also offers a transitional housing community for older youth (ages 16-21) capable of independent living.

Rural and Migrant Ministry - Through programs of youth empowerment and education, this multifaith organization has served rural and migrant people since 1981. The multifaith program works to overcome prejudice and poverty, while celebrating diversity and leadership development. The program also hosts youth arts groups and provides mentoring and scholarships.

Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library - Housing a collection of books, videos and programming for all kids, the library has built pride among African American children and will offer an adult research center in the future as well.

Sustainable Hudson Valley - Devoted to sustainable development, SHV’s goal is to foster economic and community development by promoting the use of renewable energy, integrating food sourcing, and implementing green building practices.

Mon, Nov 05, 2007

Stuart Belli, associate professor of chemistry, A. Marshall Pregnall, associate professor of biology, Kirsten Menking, associate professor of earth science, and Mary Anne Cunningham, assistant professor of geography, received a grant from the National Science Foundation to acquire an ion chromatograph, which will aid in their ongoing study of the Casperkill watershed.

Debra Elmegreen, Professor of Astronomy on the Maria Mitchell Chair, received a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute to study and observe with the Hubble Space Telescope in unusual nearby colliding galaxy, 100 million light years away.

Professor of computer science Nancy Ide received a National Science Foundation grant for her project "CRD: A Richly Annotated Resource for Language Processing and Linguistic Research."

Jennifer Walter, assistant professor of computer science, received an award from the National Science Foundation to conduct summer research with her students at Texas A&M University on the development and simulation of motion planning algorithms for self-reconfiguring robots.

Associate professor of education Chris Bjork edited Taking Teaching Seriously: How Liberal Arts Colleges Prepare Teachers to Meet Today’s Educational Challenges in Schools (Paradigm Press), which includes a chapter by dean of studies Chris Roellke.

Bertrand Lott, associate professor of classics, has been named an American Council on Education Fellow.

The play Pap Smear, edited by Norma Torney, administrative assistant for the History Department, was staged at the Star Theater in New York City.

Senior associate dean of the college Raymon Parker presented "Dealing with Generational Issues in the Workplace" to fire and police supervisors and managers in Poughkeepsie.

Hudson Valley magazine voted the Powerhouse Theater Apprentice Program "Best Way to Introduce Kids to the Classics." The magazine also voted assistant women’s golf coach Rhett Myers as the valley’s "Best Golf Pro."