On Campus
Vassar College

Sam Rosen-Amy '08

By day, Aaron Miller helps some of Vassar’s 1,700 student employees find the perfect campus job. As the temporary acting coordinator of student employment, he also fields any and all questions from students and the departments that hire them. His free time, however, is devoted to art. He has spent years finding and creating common (and uncommon) objects to manipulate and then re-examine in a new light. This conceptual work has been featured in exhibitions around the region and in New York City. In February, Miller’s pieces will fill the James W. Palmer Gallery during his solo exhibition, ART, LOVE, FEAR, LIFE, DEATH, TRASH.

Bozo, Rocky, and Dorothy, 2006, wood, pigmented wax, objects

"I like to take objects that I’ve found or that I’ve made to my specifications and give them a little twist," says Miller, explaining how a simple article of clothing, such as a baseball jersey or a wedding dress, can be viewed on many levels. "Dresses may hang on a rack with no changes to them," he explains. "But having six or seven of the same dress makes you think about reproduction and the idea of a copy of a copy. It shows how far removed something is from the original." Many of Miller’s pieces challenge how we interpret everyday objects and icons.

The process of finding and acquiring objects is as unique as the objects themselves. "I’m a real fan of eBay and buying things from around the world," he says. "The act of buying something is part of the process of making the art object." While he stumbles upon many of the objects, Miller will also come up with ideas for new projects that spark a search for a particular object or an article of clothing. In his upcoming exhibit, the words "art, love, fear, life, death, and trash" will all be spelled out in block letters made from flowers. After living in England, Miller was intrigued by how they used flowers to spell out the name of the deceased for display on a hearse and at the gravesite. "I knew these existed, but I couldn’t find anyone in the U.S. who did them, so I finally contacted someone in England who was able to make them out of silk flowers."

Baseball Has Done It, 2003, Jackie Robinson replica baseball

Before moving to Poughkeepsie, Miller spent over 20 years living in New York City and working at a gallery. When it was time to leave the city, he eventually found a loft in Poughkeepsie and helped found G.A.S. (Gallery and Studio) - Visual Art and Performance Space downtown. During this time, he also discovered Vassar. "I’ve never treated an art career like a nine-to-five," he says. "Working for Student Employment is nice because it allows me to compartmentalize the two and keep them separate." Miller’s job keeps him busy working with students and their supervisors, helping with time reports, and keeping up with data entry and payroll issues. "I love dealing with students and finding a way to tie in a campus job with the larger picture of their post-Vassar career."

In the meantime, Miller is eager to bring his art to Vassar. "I was so happy to have this show," he says. "It’ll be interesting to see how the students respond. Hopefully it makes people think and can be appreciated on many levels."

The exhibition runs from Friday, February 15, through Friday, March 7, with an artist’s reception on Thursday, February 21, from 5:00 to 7:00pm.

By   Fri, Feb 01, 2008

There is a consensus on campus about the need for greater involvement in the Poughkeepsie community. This theme emerged at the beginning of President Hill’s tenure and was the topic of discussion at the last All College Day. A year ago, a campus-wide committee (Campus- Community Advisory Committee) formed to assess Vassar’s various community relationships. In President Hill’s letter to prospective members - more than 20 Vassar employees and students from offices, organizations, and departments across campus - she explained that the committee would "determine what we do well, what we could improve upon, and what we still need to do."

First on the CCAC’s agenda was to review a report on the college’s community-related activities, compiled the previous year by the Development and Dean of the College offices (view this report). Among the report’s findings: dozens of Vassar students tutor weekly in the local schools; for more than 20 years, thousands of area school children have participated in Exploring Science at Vassar Farm; through the Good Neighbors Partnership begun by President Fergusson, Vassar has provided several seed grants for educational and community improvement projects in the immediate Arlington area, and built important new Vassar partnerships in the neighborhood.

"It was eye-opening. I don’t think anyone at Vassar was aware of all the things that were going on," says committee cochair James Challey, lecturer in physics. "At the same time, we began to see the need for better coordination." For example, a student on the committee recounted the experience of two student groups separately showing up at Poughkeepsie High School at the same time, unsure of why the other group was there and perplexing high school officials.

Before suggesting any new ways for the college to engage with the community, the committee decided first to look for ways that the college could better support some of the core activities already underway. The need for more reliable transportation into Poughkeepsie emerged as a common challenge for community-oriented programs.

Gail Beckwith-Ecker

"When people talked about what they were doing, they seemed to always mention the trouble they were having getting people to off-campus sites, and students were quick to point out that transportation was a key priority for them. In fact, one of the VSA’s chief goals for the year is to find transportation options that make it easier for students to get out into the community," says Jeff Kosmacher, committee cochair and director of media relations. The CCAC’s transportation subcommittee successfully recommended to the college’s senior officers that Vassar try a downtown shuttle service this semester as a pilot project. The shuttle is expected to be up and running by mid-February.

Nearly a year into its efforts, the CCAC has also formed a subcommittee to strengthen Vassar’s relationships with Arlington businesses and local government. Another subgroup is looking at ways to improve the experience of visitors to the campus, from parking to signage. A third group is assessing the academic aspects of the college’s community connections.

"Perhaps the most important thing we’ve learned in the committee is that when it comes to the community, everyone at Vassar needs to think beyond their individual good intentions," said Kosmacher. "We’re a very independent and entrepreneurial bunch, but we can have a greater impact and build much stronger community ties if we improve the way we work together as a campus."

By   Fri, Feb 01, 2008

Courtesy of the New York Times

In past years, the Alex Krieger Memorial Lecture has included well-known humorists such as Tom Wolfe, David Sedaris, and Sarah Vowell. Gail Collins, this year’s pick, may not have the same instant name recognition, but her political wit and sarcasm regularly fuel her brutally honest New York Times op-eds. Over the years, her columns have kept us informed - and chuckling - as she’s taken on everything from the primaries to presidential pooches.

The first woman ever to be appointed editor of the New York Times editorial page, Collins constructs well-crafted arguments and humorous insights that breathe life into otherwise mundane news stories. Over the years, she has commented on a slew of issues ranging from social welfare programs to airline mergers. More recently, she has kept a watchful - and critical - eye on the primaries as she exposes everyone’s quirks. In "The Man from Target," a closer look at Mike Huckabee’s tenure as governor, she writes, "And then there’s the matter of Giftgate. It turns out the guitar-strumming, good-humored populist has never met a present he didn’t want. Huckabee managed to pile up $112,000 in freebies in a single year as governor. I can see how he would feel constrained to politely accept a picture of a duck or a cowboy hat, but $48,000 in clothing? A discount card for Wendy’s? A chainsaw?"

In "Haunted by Seamus," she rounds up a list of the candidates’ pets and examines how the critters are used for better or for worse on the presidential platform. "Most of the candidates from both parties have pets. In fact, so many of them have golden retrievers or labradors you can’t help but wonder if they rent them. (John Edwards, ever the conspicuous consumer, has one of each.)" She goes on to report that John McCain is the proud owner of a ferret, commenting that, "Few of us who lived in New York City during [Giuliani’s] ferret-banning crusade can forget the day a ferret owner confronted the mayor on a radio-call-in show. Giuliani, in tones of Dr. Phil on steroids, urged him to seek psychiatric care."

Collins is also the author of Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity, and American Politics; The Millennium Book, which she coauthored with her husband, Dan Collins; and America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines.

Her visit will include an hour-long lecture on Wednesday, February 13, at 8:00pm on the second floor of the Students’ Building, followed by a question and answer session and book signing.

By   Fri, Feb 01, 2008

Sam Rosen-Amy '08

The Vassar Filmmakers (from the left): Sebastian Weinberg '09, BenRutkowski '09, Lauren Rubin '10, Brian Paccione '09, and Woodrow Travers '09

When five Vassar filmmakers set out to make a movie in 24 hours, they had no idea that their work would leave such a lasting impression. For Apple’s 2007 annual Insomnia Film Festival, Ben Rutkowski ’09, Brian Paccione ’09, Lauren Rubin ’10, Woodrow Travers ’09, and Sebastian Weinberg ’09 headed down to New York City in October to write, cast, edit, and score their film, Hobopus - all in a single day.

"Knowing that you have to make something in 24 hours really gets the creative juices moving, and it forces you to think in a totally different way," says Rutkowski, who, since high school, has made nearly 20 films with time constraints (the other filmmakers also had prior experience). The group quickly brainstormed the plot on the drive down. Then, when the clock started ticking at 9:00am, they met over breakfast to hatch a plan to create the story of a young musician (played by Rutkowski’s friend) struggling to compose a new piece of music. When an idea finally strikes, he quickly records it, only to have the pages fly out his apartment window as he sleeps. He later encounters a homeless man (the same man he had previously ignored outside his apartment) playing his composition in the subway. Rutkowski based the story on an incident that actually happened to a friend of his father’s. The filmmakers decided to run with the idea, filming Hobopus in a friend’s apartment while incorporating several of Apple’s required elements (a specific camera angle, narrative device, and dialogue) in the three-minute film.

The team decided to keep the film low-budget, picking up a smoke machine, cheap lights, and fishing line to enhance the dream sequence, where papers appear to fly through the air and out the window, and books flutter open and closed. "With the proper lighting, it didn’t matter that we were using a cheap camera," says Rubin, who worked on the special effects. The film was made sans dialogue (though the group incorporated the prescribed element of dialogue with a sign held by the homeless man, played by Travers) and used a musical score previously written by Rubin and recorded by professional musicians, with Weinberg improvising on violin.

As the team filmed into the night, Rutkowski quickly edited the footage. "My favorite part is always when everyone else falls asleep, and I can stay up and edit," he says, adding that most of the group sacrificed sleep to keep filming. "It’s interesting to watch the film change and transform itself in every stage of planning, shooting, and adding music." After the final edits were made, he frantically tried to upload the film to Apple’s website, struggling until it finally uploaded just 10 minutes before the 9:00am deadline.

"When it was finished, we knew that it was the best 24-hour movie we’d ever done," says Rubin. "That in itself felt like enough." Of the 3,000 teams who entered nationally, only 1,900 met the 24-hour deadline. And then the public voting - and the waiting - began. "When we were finally told we were in the top four, we freaked out because it was such a surprise," she says. They anxiously waited as a panel of famous film producers judged the entries, finally announcing that the Vassar Filmmakers had won the popular vote. The win meant not only a Macbook Pro and software for each filmmaker, but also a screening of the movie and the film’s inclusion in future Apple products. "It was incredible - I was shaking," says Rubin. "We definitely couldn’t have done it without the support of Vassar and everyone who viewed the film and voted for us."

By   Fri, Feb 01, 2008

February 20th is All College Day! Join the campus community for a Soup and Substance lunch hosted by President Hill, share your thoughts through the mural project, and meet the members of current organizations and programs to find out how you can get involved.

Fri, Feb 01, 2008

You can’t talk about reproductive health and family planning without mentioning Dr. Laurie Schwab Zabin ’46. The recipient of this year’s AAVC Award for Distinguished Achievement, Zabin has led innovative programs in the prevention of teen pregnancy, contributed to countless publications, and offered advice on numerous government and academic advisory panels. She is the founding director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, where she is a professor in the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences. The award (and a lecture) will be presented on February 7 at 3:30pm in Sanders auditorium.

Mariano Fernández, Chilean ambassador to the United States, will lecture on the promises and challenges of Chile in the 21st century on Thursday, February 7, at 5:00pm in Rockefeller 200.

The star of Broadway’s original Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music is coming to Vassar! From February 10 to 18, actor, musician, and activist Theodore Bikel and internationally renowned classical pianist, conductor, and peace activist Tamara Brooks will visit as Artists in Residence to teach and reflect on “The Arts as a Bridge to Peace.” Most of their time will be spent teaching students, but you can catch Bikel and Brooks during these two community-wide programs:

• Thursday, February 14, 5:00pm
  In a lecture with music, the pair present “The Artist as Activist: A Conversation with Theodore Bikel and Tamara Brooks.”
  
• Sunday, February 17, 3:30pm
  “An Afternoon with Theodore Bikel and Tamara Brooks: Stories and Songs from around the World.” Martel Theater (limited tickets are available through the Office of Campus Activities)

Start planning your summer! With deadlines fast approaching, here are some opportunities for your 9th or 10th grader.

July 5-13, July 26-August 3
The Eleanor Roosevelt Girls’ Leadership Workshop strives to empower girls. For more information or for an application, visit http://www.ervk.org, email ervkglw@ervk.org, or call 845-229-5302. The application deadline is February 15.

June 22-August 1
The Summer Scholars Program allows students to explore various topics at local colleges. Applications are due mid-March. For more information, visit dcboces.org/summerscholars or contact your local high school guidance counselor.

June 22-August 1
Internal Drive, (ages 7 - 17) Vassar’s summer technology program. There is an early registration and faculty and staff discount, so register today (http://www.internaldrive.com/new-york/vassar.asp?loc=VASSAR, or 888-709-8324).

If you haven’t picked up a copy of the recent Prestel publication The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College: The History and the Collection, now’s your chance to get an autographed copy by author and FLLAC director James Mundy. Catch Mundy at Barnes and Noble in Poughkeepsie on Friday, February 29, at 7:30pm, where he will answer questions and sign copies of the museum guide.