Class Memories

I first became interested in the U of R because my sister Jenni attended there, graduating the year before I arrived. Interestingly, she began as a physics major, but ended up in East Asian Studies, going into the Peace Corps. I chose the U of R because it had both the biology and music that fascinated and attracted me. Although I enrolled as a biology major, the experience of being immersed in music inspired me to change my major and follow my dream! I was fortunate to have Ray Ricker as my teacher during my junior and senior years, and he took me seriously, even as a liberal arts major. He told me I could work toward a performer's certificate, and I eventually received the required grade of 8 on my last jury! Though I did not become a performer, I earned a Masters degree in music theory at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Musicwhere I also met my husband of 35+ years. I have had some of my informal psalm settings performed locally, and have also had the opportunity at St. Lawrence University where I work, to explore religious studies, counseling psychology, and graph theory. I've even given two undergraduate papers at national Mathfests (joint meetings of the MAA and the AMS), and created a quilt to demonstrate a solution set! Two years ago, following one such meeting, I had a short paper published in the UK journal Caerdroia: Journal of Mazes and Labyrinths. Life is rich! My goal now is to continue to creatively combine my interests in math, with music composition, while working at staying healthy, despite having a chronic health condition.

At U of R, I had the opportunity to explore my many and varied interests, ranging from a freshman seminar in "The Mind and the Brain" to anthropology courses (Ancient Civilizations I & II), to Russian Literature (a Dostoyevsky course) to forming my own woodwind quartet my senior year. I studied composition as a non-composition major under Samuel Adler; took conducting team-taught by Donald Hunsberger and a visiting choral conductor, learning about how orchestra and choral conductors differ; participated in a performance of the Beethoven Ninth with the combined forces of the River Campus chorus, Eastman Chorale and Eastman Philharmonia; and took a graduate course in 20th century music literature with Jerald Grauewhere I learned NOT to take "no" for an answer when a book necessary for a research paper was not easily available. In short, there were many Meliora moments!

All of these varied experiences taught me that it's possible to do more, see more, and learn more. I continue to try to live, integrating my ongoing interests in math and music, with new concerns such as maintaining health through practices as varied as meditation, Tai Chi, and balancing medicine with exercise and diet. To me, living at its best is a kind of 'musical composition' as we seek to mix up all the ingredients, balance and harmonize the components, and come up with something unique and interesting, challenging ourselves to both take in (inspire) and offer out (express), ourselves, and the world we live in.

Back when I started my sophomore year I was majoring in chemistry but I didn't know what I wanted to do with the degree. What sort of chemist did I want to be: inorganic, organic, analytical? Would I work as a chemist or go on to a graduate chemistry program or medical school?

Everything fell into place for me during my sophomore organic chemistry course taught by Prof. Jack Kampmeier. I fell in love with organic synthesis and followed up his course with a NSFURPG gran the next summer under the guidance of Prof. Dick Schlessinger.

I went on to get my Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry and spent my entire career inventing and making new compounds as potential drugs and it has been a wonderful experience.