Beloit Welcomes Class of 2010
Beloit started off the 2006-07 academic year on a high note, welcoming a large class of 367 new students in August and expecting 20 additional students to begin their studies in January. Beloit’s target for fall enrollment was 330, but the College exceeded that number in part because of the way students approach applying to college today. The most recent data available suggest that 45 percent of all Beloit applicants applied to seven or more colleges, making it difficult to predict the number who would ultimately accept Beloit’s offer of admission.
“This trend did not bode well for predicted yield,” says Nancy Benedict, vice president for enrollment services. “During the month of April, deposits were slow, running 20 to 30 behind the previous year on any given day, but on May 1 we were inundated.” Yield is the percentage of students who make a deposit out of all those offered admission. Benedict adds that the bounty of applications allowed Beloit to offer January admission to students with promise.
Following a national trend, prospective Beloit students are using the Internet to do a large portion of their college search, and many of them prefer to remain anonymous until filing their application. Nonetheless, Beloit continues to enjoy large numbers of campus visitors (more than 1,500 annually) through visit programs and individual interviews and tours. The campus visit continues to produce the highest yield in both applicants and enrolling students. Additionally, the success of Colleges That Change Lives (the book, the tours throughout the United States and abroad, and the Web site) has attracted a large percentage of students to Beloit.
Members of the class of 2010 come from 35 states and the District of Columbia; 10 percent come from countries outside the United States, and 12 percent are underrepresented minorities from the United States. Many are already globally focused, with 29 having studied abroad prior to coming to Beloit through Rotary, AFS, or Youth for Understanding. Twenty-four of the new students had a Beloit family connection, with either parents or siblings as alumni, and nearly one-third had served in high school leadership roles as a student newspaper or yearbook editor, captain of an athletic team, or president of their class. Thirty-five percent ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Joining the new students this fall are 24 new faculty members and 20 new staff members.
Photo by Jeff Woods |
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Starting out by lending a hand: All first-year students capped their initial week on campus by volunteering for Beloit-area organizations. For many of them, it was a familiar role: More than half of all applicants to Beloit listed community service projects as an important part of their pre-college experience. From left, Andrew Serwadda’10, Kampala, Uganda, resident assistant and group leader Rich Kasper’07, Beloit, Wis., Simone Blake’10, Chicago, Ill., Andrew Whelen’10, Siletz, Ore., and Fida Khalil’10, Washington, D.C., clean up the streets as volunteers for the Downtown Beloit Association.
Move Over Ordinary Rankings
The third edition of Colleges That Change Lives has just landed on bookshelves. It’s a welcome arrival in a world sometimes gone crazy with absolute rankings. The book is a sane and intelligent guide to choosing a college for its educational qualities, not its prestige or number on a rankings list.
Written by former New York Times education editor Loren Pope, the book first appeared a decade ago, asserting that certain lesser-known colleges were providing superior educational experiences when compared to many major universities and Ivy League schools. Since then, more than 100,000 copies of the book have been sold.
Anyone affiliated with Beloit will not be surprised to find it among the 40 colleges Pope included in the book. “If product research had ever been done in higher education, today’s college scene would be turned upside down,” Pope writes about Beloit in the new edition. “Beloit, and a few others like it in this book, would be at the top, and the very selective elites at the bottom. Also, there’d be little need for a book such as this, because people would know Beloit is a happy place that multiplies talents.”
RELATED LINK:
Colleges That Change Lives Web site
Campaign, Master Plan Build Momentum
Anyone who’s been to Beloit over the past 18 months has sidestepped dirt piles and pits caused by construction and probably used up extra shoe leather walking longer distances to and from their campus destinations. Employees even graciously endured a couple of planned power outages during regular business hours this past summer.
| Photo by Dan Lassiter |
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In fact, the campus mail center proved its ability to get the mail through without interruption one day last July, when it operated at full capacity despite no electricity. The power had been shut off so that technicians could reroute lines in preparation for construction of the new Center for the Sciences. With camping lanterns and flashlights, mail center staff continued to provide services from their lower-level location of Pearsons Hall, which lacks natural light.
For the most part, everyone is taking these temporary inconveniences in stride as they consider what all the activity signifies: an even stronger future for Beloit College, both academically and physically.
Among the physical improvements completed to date are new tennis courts at the Strong Stadium complex; the closure of Emerson Street west of College Street; the addition of small parking areas, scattered mainly behind student residences and with more than 800 new landscape plantings in and around them; a new service drive with better access to Pearsons Hall; a brand new Aldrich Field; and the rerouting and upgrading of many underground utilities. Also, Beloit’s own version of the Berlin Wall (the stone wall behind Chamberlin Hall that put a visual wedge between the city and the campus) has come down, symbolizing a new era of openness between the College and its larger community. In keeping with the College’s commitment to sustainable architecture, wall stones were removed individually and then sold for use in another building project. The ground was regraded to open campus vistas to the river.
Simultaneously, Beloit’s Classic. Daring. Life-Changing. campaign, a five-year, $100 million comprehensive fund-raising initiative unveiled in April, is also building steam. As of this printing, the campaign was well beyond a third of the way to its goal, with $43.6 million raised.
The success of the campaign will not only make possible these and many more campus physical enhancements, it will also ramp up Beloit’s academic programs by strengthening the recruitment and retention of talented faculty, providing resources for innovations in academic programs, and building a greater capacity for scholarships.
The campaign sets aside $16 million for the creation of endowed faculty chairs, faculty recruitment, and new academic programs. In addition, campaign leadership set a $19 million goal for scholarships and other student funding, and more than half of that goal is dedicated to endowed scholarships, which will be available to students in perpetuity.
To find out more about Beloit’s campaign and progress on campus improvements, the master plan, and the Center for the Sciences — Beloit’s first sustainable building — visit the College Web site (
www.beloit.edu).
RELATED LINKS:
Classic. Daring. Life-Changing. campaign home page
"A Blueprint for a Green Campus," Beloit College Magazine, Fall 2005
Campus Master Plan home page
Justice Goldstone to Hold 2007 Weissberg Chair
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| Richard J. Goldstone,
2007 Weissberg Distinguished Professor of International Studies |
Justice Richard J. Goldstone, who served on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, chaired the International Independent Inquiry Commission on Kosovo, and was the first chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, will hold the 2007 Weissberg Chair in International Studies at Beloit College.
Goldstone will be in residence at the College from Jan. 17 through Jan. 29, visiting classes and hosting a day-long conference on transitional justice on Saturday, Jan. 27.
At press time, the January conference participants included some of the major figures in the field of human rights, including Robin Vincent, former registrar for the Special Court for Sierra Leone; Gregory Stanton, director of the Cambodia Genocide Project; David Crane, former Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone; David Scheffer, former U.S. ambassador for war crimes issues, and Gerald Gahima, former prosecutor general in Kigali, Rwanda, and now a judge on the Bosnia war crimes panels.
As chair of the Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidations in South Africa from 1991 to 1994 — also known as the Goldstone Commission — Goldstone played an integral role in managing South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. Since retiring from the South African Constitutional Court in 2003, he has held visiting positions at several U.S. law schools, including at Harvard and New York University. He is the author of For Humanity: Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator.
Since it was established by Beloit parent Marvin Weissberg in 1999, the Weissberg program has brought to campus individuals who are distinguished on the world stage of international politics, law, and public service, including, most recently, scholar and human rights activist Raufa Hassan al-Sharki of Yemen and retired U.S. Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni.
RELATED LINK:
Weissberg Chair in International Studies home page
Ascendance
| Photo by Greg Anderson |
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| The Zhou Brothers at work on a massive canvas in
Eaton Chapel last October. |
It was a one-of-a-kind, fluidly collaborative performance, and when it was over, a stunning memento of the evening was hanging from the top of the Eaton Chapel arch.
Held in the chapel on Oct. 4, Ascendance drew together readings of new poetry by Mackey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing Bei Dao, classical music performances by renowned Chinese-born violinst Yang Liu and accompanist/pianist I-Hsuan Tsai, and painting on a grand scale and in real time by contemporary Chinese-American artists and brothers Shan Zuo and Da Huang Zhou, known worldwide as the Zhou Brothers.
Billed as a “dream dialogue of poetry, painting, and music,” the event was notable not only for the caliber of Chinese-American artists it featured but also because it was the first time they shared a stage, says organizer and co-producer of the event John Rosenwald, a professor of English at Beloit, who read Bei Dao’s poetry in translation that night.
| Photo by Greg Anderson |
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| Violinist Yang Liu and pianist I-Hsuan Tsai. |
At times during the event, the artists performed in succession, but often Bei Dao’s voice synchronized with the music of Yang Liu and I-Hsuan Tsai, and sometimes the Zhou Brothers worked simultaneously on their large canvas while the musicians improvised in reaction to what the painters were doing.
The Zhou Brothers’ work process involved a fascinating, silent collaboration, and because their canvas was hanging vertically, the artists reached its uppermost regions using paint brushes and even mop heads of various sizes attached to long extension rods.
At the end of the evening, the extraordinary 20-by-25-foot painting remained. A gift of the artists, it will become part of the Wright Museum of Art’s permanent collection.
“The original plan was for the Zhou Brothers to do a slide talk and discuss a few of their works on Wednesday afternoon, followed that evening by the Mackey poetry reading by Bei Dao,” explains Rosenwald, who co-produced the event with Oskar Friedl, director of the Zhou Brothers’ foundation. But the event evolved, in part because of Bei Dao’s presence at Beloit and because of the artists’ mutual respect for each others’ work.
| Photo by Greg Anderson |
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The poet Bei Dao and Professor
of English Johnn Rosenwald. |
Yang Liu took first place in China’s National Violin Competition, earned a major prize in the Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in Moscow, and has received recognition for his performances around the world.
The Zhou Brothers’ exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and North America include opening the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2000, when they created one of their trademark large-scale works in front of assembled world leaders. In 2007, they will open the Salzburg Opera Festival. The two artists were separated by the Cultural Revolution, then reunited in 1973, when they began to paint together and sign their works of art as the Zhou Brothers.
Bei Dao is the most important Chinese-language poet living today and was central to a revolution in contemporary Chinese literature that began in the late 1970s. His works that are translated into English include a book of short fiction, two books of essays, and five collections of poetry. Since 2000, he has frequently served as the Mackey Professor at Beloit.
In Residence: Tibetan Buddhist Monks
Many came to see their traditional costumes and sacred ceremonies. Others wanted to learn more about Buddhism. And then there were those who were simply drawn to the rhythmic sounds of Tibetan Buddhist monks tapping out a brightly colored, intricately designed sand mandala in the courtyard of the Wright Museum of Art.
| Photo by Jeff Woods |
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| A monk at work on the sand mandala. |
A five-day visit to campus by the Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery formed the centerpiece of a larger series at Beloit this fall called Asia for the Ages and a focus on Buddhism, setting the stage for reflections on Buddhist teachings of mindfulness, non-violence, and compassion.
The residency, which included a series of lectures, the creation and dismantling of a mandala, and a sold-out performance of sacred music and dance, drew large crowds to campus during Family and Friends Weekend, when the Wright Museum welcomed close to 2,000 visitors.
The mandala, made from colored sand and representing hours of work by the monks over four days, is an ancient form of prayer. Visitors spoke in hushed tones while watching this work of art take shape during viewing hours in the Wright Museum. Meanwhile, art students created a popular, parallel mandala in the museum’s north gallery, which featured Beloit College symbols and allowed visitors to take part in making complex designs in sand with traditional brass funnels.
On the last day of their residency, the monks embraced the concept of impermanence by dismantling the mandala and walking with onlookers to the Rock River, where the sand was cast in.
A number of faculty members tied their teaching into the residency, incorporating the visit into everything from math and biochemistry to religious studies courses. Among them was Professor of Biochemistry Roc Ordman, whose students in a course on nerve signalling considered the biochemical effects of meditation on the brain. Students in the class had the opportunity to interview the monks about meditation. Associate Professor of Mathematics Darrah Chavey will focus on the mandala in a spring semester course called Cultural Approaches to Mathematics. In the class, students will consider how symmetry manifests itself differently in different cultures and how various cultures alter “perfect” symmetry.
Beloit’s philosophy and religious studies department, the Wright Museum of Art, the campus Spiritual Life Program, and the International Performing Arts & Lecture Series collaborated to bring the program to Beloit.
RELATED LINKS:
Photo gallery from the Beloit College residency of the Monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery
International Performing Arts & Lecture Series home page
Economics Professor Plays Leading Role in Katrina Study
| Photo by Jesse Hayes |
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| Professor of Economics and Management Emily Chamlee-Wright. |
A Beloit College professor is contributing to a major study of the Gulf Coast region in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Professor of Economics and Management Emily Chamlee-Wright is the lead researcher and one of three principal investigators in a five-year project that tracks Gulf Coast rebuilding. By conducting extensive field work in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes in Louisiana, and Harrison and Hancock counties in Mississippi, her team is seeking to determine what has been learned from Katrina and what it means for other communities facing natural or other disasters.
The project is being conducted by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where Chamlee-Wright is an affiliated senior scholar.
At the heart of the inquiry is a consideration of the role of civil society in the redevelopment of a region. The team is considering how a range of social, legal, political, and economic institutions engender different types of responses and how they may have affected different communities before, during, and after the hurricane. The team will examine the role of business, nonprofits, and governments, and integrate their scholarship with the realities of policy-making.
Earlier this fall, Chamlee-Wright and her associates released preliminary findings of their study at the National Press Club; that event was carried live on CSPAN2. As part of the Katrina project, papers authored and co-authored by Chamlee-Wright can be found on the Mercatus Center Web site: http://www.mercatus.org/.
RELATED LINK:
"Government Dines on Katrina Leftovers," by Emily Chamlee-Wright and Daniel Rothschild. Originally published in the Wall Street Journal on June 15, 2006.
Pizza with the President
| Photo by Jeff Woods |
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Getting to know them. How many college graduates can say that they dined with their college president while a student? All of Beloit's students can. Six years ago, John and Sally Burris started inviting all College seniors to "Pizza with the President" parties during their final year at Beloit. Since then, they've hosted a succession of these small, informal gatherings, which usually include around 15 students, and feature great food and conversation. Here, students share a laugh with John Burris in the kitchen of the President's house last September.
