University of Rochester

Rochester Review
March–April 2013
Vol. 75, No. 4

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Online with Education?

I read with interest the discussion about online education by President Seligman (“President’s Page,” January-February) and another transcribing an interview with Dean [Rob] Clark (“Starting an Online Conversation”). I too am very interested in online education related to my own teaching, and I very much appreciate their guarded approach to the issue (while making sure that “ . . . Rochester is ‘part of the conversation’ . . . ”) and the full involvement of the faculty in the process of exploring this new educational tool.

However, I was quite surprised that there was no mention of participation by or leadership from the Warner School of Education in either of these articles. The omission was all the more surprising given the cover photo and the extended article on Dean [Raffaella] Borasi’s leadership of the Warner School and the new Raymond F. LeChase Hall (“Advanced Education”).

While science/engineer types such as myself and Dean Clark certainly have good ideas regarding pedagogy, I certainly hope that the U of R takes full advantage of the research-based approach of the Warner School faculty to help guide us into the future of this new learning medium.

Daniel Gauthier ’82, ’83 (MS), ’89 (PhD)

Durham, N.C.

The writer is the Robert C. Richardson Professor of Physics at Duke University.

Congratulations, Wind Ensemble!

What a pleasant surprise to read in the recently received copy of Rochester Review that there will be a celebration of the 60th year of the Eastman Wind Ensemble (“A 60th Celebration,” January-February). The recalling of the founding of the ensemble is indeed an occasion for celebration!

I was a master’s student at the school between 1960 and 1962 and a member of that fantastic musical group. So many great memories! I remember Fred Fennell ’37E, ’39E (MS), ’88E (Honorary) calling me at my home in Milwaukee, before I even thought about Eastman, to discuss the possibility of my playing in his ensemble. I had recently returned from France, where I had won a first prize at the Paris Conservatory.

I did, in fact, apply and enroll, and it became my pleasure to play alto saxophone in the ensemble under his direction. Those two years were a very exciting and stimulating time. Several recordings were made during the time I was a member. While in school, I formed a really fine saxophone quartet with fellow students from Eastman.

In the spring of 1962 I presented a recital in New York’s Town Hall, but after I had completed the master’s degree and even though I had begun work on my DMA, it was time to move back to the Midwest. I received an invitation to teach as a full-time music faculty member at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

I eventually completed my doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and regularly played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra whenever they required a saxophonist. At Northwestern, I progressed from department chair, to senior associate dean, to interim dean, and faculty representative to the Big Ten Conference and NCAA. I have always taken a great amount of secret pleasure in knowing, after many intense conversations, that I convinced John Paynter, then director of bands, to form a wind ensemble at Northwestern. Last

June an almost weeklong celebration of my 50 years of full-time service to Northwestern University completed my career. Two hundred former students returned for the celebration. The greatest pleasure was that my family, including Nita, my wife of 54 years, our children, Elizabeth and Frederic, and their spouses, along with our four grandchildren were able to be with us for this important occasion.

My career has been greatly influenced by the days I spent at Eastman. My heartiest congratulations to the Eastman Wind Ensemble and all of you who are able to claim the ensemble as an important part of your own musical life. What a wonderful contribution to the entire world of music this organization has been.

Frederick Hemke ’62E (MM)

Wilmette, Ill.

The writer is the Louis and Elsie Snydacker Eckstein Professor Emeritus of Music at the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University.

Reading the article “A 60th Celebration,” in particular the section about the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s recording of Stravinsky’s Octet and Histoire du Soldat, I thought it might be of some interest that I had a long connection with the Russian composer. My brother, Robert Craft, was Stravinsky’s associate and, as such, introduced me to him in the late 1940s. I worked as their editorial assistant in the writing of the Conversations books and spent considerable time with the Stravinskys through his death in 1971 and until the end of Madame Vera Stravinsky’s life in 1982.

Unfortunately, I was unable to be present when the composer and my brother conducted a concert at Eastman in 1966. Bob told me, however, that he was impressed with the musicianship of the Eastman students. My daughter, Diane, then a junior at Cornell, did attend. Also, of possible interest to alumni, her daughter, Wendy Rumble Van Bronkhorst, received her MD from the School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1999.

Phyllis Craft Crawford ’42

New Paltz, N.Y.

 

History of Snowball Fights

In regards to the undated photo in the January-February issue under Class Notes, I am the woman on the right successfully pummeling my friend, Carol Lambie-Parise ’77N, with snow. We believe that this occurred our freshman year. Of note, she later became my sister-in-law.

Regina Parise Lewis ’77N

Newton, Mass.

Last September when I was at my dad’s house I discovered a box of childhood “treasures” in his attic. In the box was a yellowed copy of a newspaper from my college days. I wondered why I’d saved it until I saw the photo of two of my friends having a snowball fight. I scanned it and sent them a “remember when” copy of the picture. Imagine my surprise to open Rochester Review and see the very same photo. The two mystery combatants are Carol Lambie-Parise and Regina Parise Lewis, both of whom graduated in nursing in 1977.

Nono Burling ’81

Olympia, Wash.

 

History of Old Photos

Scott Hauser writes: In the January-February issue, we noted that alumni had identified four of the five students in a 1952 photo by Ansel Adams. We seem to have the fifth. The unidentified woman is the late Betsy Van Dusen, a woman I dated at the U of R; a wonderful and kind person, she often wore a sweater with a necklace. She was an English honors major, Class of 1954.

Ray Harrold ’54

Northborough, Mass.

Several correspondents also noted that Ruth Adams, the assistant professor leading the seminar in the photo, went on to become president of Wellesley College. Adams, who taught at Rochester until 1960, left Rochester to become dean of Douglass College at Rutgers University. In 1966, she was named president of Wellesley, and in 1972, she became the first woman vice president at Dartmouth College, retiring in 1988. She died in 2004—Scott Hauser.


Review welcomes letters and will print them as space permits. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity. Unsigned letters cannot be used. Send letters to Rochester Review, 22 Wallis Hall, P.O. Box 270044, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0044; rochrev@rochester.edu.