Commencement 2001 Red Butte Gardens: Open House for Big Bugs ASUU Leadershape 2001 Discovery: 800 Year Old Moccasins Outdoor Recreation Olympics Games-related events New Deans Professor Emerita Bené Arnold retires Overheard: Arun Gandhi In Memoriam: Helene Druke Shaw

Commencement ceremonies May 4 had a slightly more global feel than usual, as graduates, faculty, and friendswere reminded of their connectedness to the world outside the Huntsman Center. Student speaker Lisa Devashrayee spoke of visiting her father’s homeland, India, where the scores of beggars she encountered were a painful indication of “just what an opportunity education is.” Commencement speaker Dr. William Close, who received a standing ovation, told stories of his medical work in Africa and in Wyoming, movingly pointing out the paradox that as the world shrinks through technology, the chasm between the haves and have nots widens. The Rosenblatt Prize was given this year to Francis H. Brown, dean of the College of Mines and Earth Sciences, whose work on the ages of hominid fossils in Africa was singled out by President J. Bernard Machen for its international significance. Finally, 53 countries were represented by more than 6,000 graduates. While the groups of black-robed bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral recipients were recognized by the University en masse, individual honors were also noted. Distinguished Teaching Awards were given to John Bowman, professor of geology and geophysics; Alan Fogel, professor of psychology; Andrew Gitlin, professor of education, culture, and society; Robert Kessler BS’74 MS’77 PhD’81,professor of computer science; Sidney Rudolph PhD’86, research professor of physics; and Jeffrey Saffle, professor of surgery. Distinguished Research Awards were presented to Elaine Cohen, professor of computer science; Kent Golic, professor of biology; and Joel Miller, professor of chemistry. Robert Huefner BS’58, the Governor Scott M. Matheson Professor of Political Science, was given the Distinguished Service Award for his numerous contributions to public-policy ork in Utah. The University also awarded honorary doctorate degrees to an impressive group of five individuals: William Close, Annette Cumming, Irene Fisher, Rocco Siciliano BA’44, and Michael Zimmerman.

Remember “Big Bugs”? Two years ago, Red Butte Garden introduced visitors to the world of insects through a traveling exhibit of larger-than-life replicas of a spider, grasshopper, and praying mantis, among others (see Continuum, Spring 1999). In another declaration that size matters, the garden’s current exhibit, "Home Sweet Habitat,” which runs through Oct. 31, offers nature lovers larger-than-life representations of seven native habitats. Matching native artists with native animals (and tossing in some ecologists and educators for good measure), the garden directed the creation of interactive habitats of a magpie, bat, woodpecker, trout, hummingbird, paper wasp, and beaver. While each depiction explains some basics about the habitat, each presentation is unique, exemplifying the diversity in nature and in art. Contrast, for example, Allen Bishop’s brightly painted sliding panels that show the elements of a magpie’s world with Rebecca and Clay Wagstaff ’s quieter (and dry) beaver pond installation and its authentic beaver-gnawed stumps. Mikel and Traci O’Very BFA’83 Covey’s stepping-stone climb through the hummingbird’s “nectar corridor” emphasizes the bird’s long trip from Idaho to Guatemala, while Greg Pearson’s 10-foot-long, metal-and-wood Bonneville cutthroat trout captures a moment in time—complete with foot-long flies dangling in midair—in the fish’s river home. Classes are offered in conjunction with the exhibit, and children can participate in scavenger hunts to fully explore the habitats (hint: check for bats hanging from the water pavilion and a queen wasp hibernating in a nearby wall). The exhibit is free to garden members, U of U students (with valid ID), and children under four. Seniors (60+), U of U faculty and staff, and children 4-17 are $3, and adults are $5. For more information, visit www.redbuttegarden.org or call 801-581-3878.

More than 70 U of U students started their summer with a week-long stint at the “LeaderShape Institute.” Hardly a retreat of spa cuisine and mud baths, the workshop offers six days of intensive leadership development activities. The U students, a diverse group from campus organizations such as ASUU (Associated Students of the University of Utah), the Honors Program, the Lesbian and Gay Student Union, and the Asian American Student Association, spent May 7-12 at East Canyon Ranch learning how to “lead with integrity” through the national institute’s detailed program. Organized by Les Cook, director of Orientation and Student Programs at the U, the shape-up regimen included sessions on effective communication, developing a vision, and group decision-making. Administrators from the U, as well as Karen Hale BS’80, state senator from Salt Lake City, Kent Murdock BA’72 JD’75, president of O.C. Tanner Company, and other guests, spoke to the students about leadership within their respective organizations. The intense, hands-on nature of the week makes it a memorable experience for students, according to Cook. ASUU president Ben Lowe, one of the participants, agrees. “It was a great opportunity to meet people from around campus,” he says. “The curriculum is regimented, so from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. you’re divided into different groups with people you don’t know. It forces you out of your own group.” Ute gymnast (and this year’s NCAA balance-beam champion) Theresa Kulikowski is equally enthusiastic. “I wanted to participate because I have never really done anything outside of academics and gymnastics,” she says. “I really enjoyed the small-group meetings. I got a lot of positive feedback from my group members and that helped me to build my confidence.” Cook says he plans to hold LeaderShape sessions annually due to this year’s high level of interest.

Displayed like an anthropological shoe store, dozens of pairs of moccasins, each sitting inside an open blue box, lined tables in Anthropology Hall of the Utah Museum of Natural History this past April. The moccasins, in varying sizes, styles, and degrees of decay, had just been designated treasures to be saved, in the form of a $50,000 grant to the museum from Congress, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Park Service. The grant recognizes the museum as a Save America’s Treasures Site and allows for the study, restoration, and preservation of the more than 250 moccasins. The moccasins are estimated to be 800 years old and were found in Promontory Cave on Great Salt Lake in the early 1930s by Julian Steward, a U of U scientist. Steward believed that the style of the moccasins suggested the presence of a unique culture around Great Salt Lake between the time of the prehistoric Fremont and the historic Shoshone, unrelated to either. Duncan Metcalfe, the museum’s archaeologist, and Nancy Odegaard, a professional conservator, spoke about the need for, and the special challenges involved in, preserving such deteriorating links to the past. “We worked hard to come up with techniques to both preserve the moccasins and allow increased access to them,” Odegaard noted. “Each moccasin required an individual recovery method.” A different solvent mixture was created for each moccasin—some of which are clearly identifiable as moccasins and some of which, as the Daily Utah Chronicle noted, might be mistaken for cow pies by the untrained—and hair clips, balloons, and Tupperware containers were employed liberally in the preservation process. “Preserving is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge,” Metcalfe said. “You start at one end, and by the time you get to the other end, you have to go back and start over, because by then new technologies exist.” Thus the chance—however slim—that by the time moccasin No. 250 is preserved and catalogued, an improvement upon Tupperware will have been found. To check progress on possible improvements and on the preservation project, check out the museum’s Web site: www.umnh.utah.edu.

While the concept of “outdoor recreation” is much older, the campus program that is “Outdoor Recreation” turns 25 this year. Begun as a student club—the Ute Alpine Club—the program now serves thousands of students, faculty, staff, and alumni every year with cooperative trips and outings, high-quality rental equipment, and educational resources. While the size and scope of the program have grown in 25 years, its unassuming premise has not. “We listen to students,” says program coordinator Brian Wilkinson BS’99. “As technology has changed a sport—like rock climbing, for example—and the demand for new equipment grows, we grow with it.”

The anniversary party Sept. 8 is a reunion of sorts, as the program is inviting all of the staff and volunteers who have led trips and outings over the past 25 years to come back to Building 420 for a potluck barbecue. The celebration will also be a farewell—to said Building 420, which has long housed the office and its skis, snowboards, tents, mountain bikes, sleeping bags, river rafts, and other rental equipment. As part of the overall development of the LDS Church-owned site southeast of the Huntsman Center, including the construction of a new parking structure, a number of buildings are scheduled to be torn down. The Outdoor Recreation Program is still studying relocation options, with the hope of finding a spot with sufficient space for, and accessibility to, the equipment. For more information about the anniversary celebration, call Brian Wilkinson at 801-581-8516.

As the official site of the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Villages and Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium, the U will be abuzz with Games-related activity in the coming months. (Continuum will cover those activities in its Winter issue.) In preparation, Larry Gerlach, professor of history, and the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the U will host a series of public lectures this fall by internationally renowned scholars on the Olympics.

David C. Young, a professor of classics at the University of Florida, will be in residence as the 2001 Sterling M. McMurrin Professor and will deliver the keynote address, “The Origins of the Modern Olympic Games,” Aug. 30. Subsequent lectures, running from September through the Paralympic Games in March, will be on topics such as “The History of the Winter Olympic Games,” “Women and the Winter Olympics,” and “The Politics of the Winter Games.” All lectures are at 7:30 p.m. in Orson Spencer Hall, and the complete series will be published by the University of Utah Press in 2002. For a listing of lectures, visit www.hum.utah.edu/humcntr or call 801-581-7989, and check out www.utah.edu/2002 for Games-related events at the U.

Two new deans left South Carolina and moved to Utah this summer as a result of their recent U appointments. Maureen Keefe, formerly the dean of the Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing, assumed her new role as dean of the College of Nursing in August. Keefe held a number of positions at the University of Colorado School of Nursing prior to her South Carolina appointment. In July, Robert Newman began his tenure as dean of the College of Humanities after serving as chair of the Department of English at the University of South Carolina. Previously Newman taught in the Department of English at Texas A & M University for 10 years. His wife, Vicky, is a visiting assistant professor in the U’s Women’s Studies Program.

Distinguished Professor Emerita Bené Arnold BFA’67 MFA’69 BS’77 MEd’78 retired from the U in June after 27 energetic years of teaching, dancing, and administrative work, all in the interest of furthering ballet studies and performances on campus and in the Salt Lake Valley. Arnold began her own ballet training as a form of physical therapy after contracting glandular tuberculosis as a child. She came to Utah with Willam Christensen to serve as ballet mistress for the company that would become Ballet West. Arnold still serves as the coordinator for the Ballet West Conservatory Summer Program and will continue to rehearse the young dancer roles for the Ballet West production of Nutcracker. “I have loved the mime roles I have been performing for Ballet West,” says Arnold. “Each one presents its own challenges. The most recent one, The Taming of the Shrew, was great fun, but I love the character Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty, Bertha in Giselle, and the nurse in Romeo and Juliet.” At the U, Arnold was able to combine her teaching and dancing talents to inspire scores of dance students. “She taught nearly every class in the department’s curriculum and did it with enthusiasm and flair,” notes Barbara Hamblin BFA’73, former chair of the Department of Ballet. “I love to teach, so each class was very special to me,” says Arnold. She particularly enjoyed the ballet technique and pointe classes, as well as courses in the general education and honors programs. A recent highlight for Arnold was a trip with students to Taiwan in May. In addition, Arnold, the first woman at the U to be appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor, says she will miss interacting with her colleagues, especially through the University Research Committee and meetings with other Distinguished Professors. Those meetings “made me aware of their enormous talents, great sense of humor, and their commitment to teaching and research.” Arnold’s own talent, humor, and commitment will be sorely missed. “She is an important reason why the Department of Ballet is ranked among the top five in the nation,” says Hamblin, pointing to Arnold’s extensive campus and community work. “She has a rare ability to motivate students to achieve beyond what they think is possible.” Besides her work with Ballet West, Arnold will continue her research, which she hopes will result in some publications. “And maybe I will have time for politics, piano, painting, and gardening,” she adds.

“We have to learn to think nonviolently, just as we have learned to think violently.”
—Arun Gandhi, in an address to the University at theMarriott Library, March 28, 2001

Helene Druke Shaw, 92, DPLMA’31, member of the President’s Club and recipient of the Merit of Honor award from the Emeritus Alumni Association. A gallery in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts is named in her honor, and the Department of Music is home to the Walter D. and Helene D. Shaw collection of recordings. Shaw, a pianist, established a scholarship endowment fund at the College of Nursing and an endowment fund at the Department of Music.