The Harbinger
November 21, 2005
Artists in Residence Find Not Only a College But Also a Home
When
Jeff Schmuki and Lee Renninger pulled into Hiram towing a trailer
partially constructed of wood remnants of homes destroyed by Hurricane
Katrina, they were struck by the College’s idyllic setting.“We didn’t know it was so beautiful,” Lee said.
They did know, however, that Hiram College had become their port in a storm that had ripped apart their lives. Katrina rendered their cottage in Gulfport, Mississippi, unlivable, destroyed many of the ceramic works housed in their home studio and closed Jeff’s college – William Carey – just as he had been promoted to associate professor of art.
“I don’t know where we’d be without Hiram,” Jeff said.
When Jeff went onto the Internet and discovered a Katrina blog on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, he found no dearth of offers from colleges eager to take in students. Fewer opportunities existed for displaced professors and their artist partners. One, however, was Hiram’s.
After Katrina had taken her vicious bite out of the Gulf Coast, Hiram College President Thomas V. Chema reached out not only to student victims of the hurricane but also to faculty members. He even invited faculty members to live in his home.
There were no takers – until Jeff saw that Hiram College was willing to help displaced faculty members.
“I was really impressed that Tom Chema put that offer out there,” said Professor of Art Marty Huehner.
Chema called it a “small gesture,” and as it has turned out, Jeff and Lee are living not in the President’s home but in a second-floor apartment in the College-owned Shipman House. They also are receiving a stipend for seven months, dining hall privileges and, perhaps most important, studio space in the Harner building.
Welcomed with a November 16 reception in the Frohring Art Building that was attended by about 150 people, Lee and Jeff began to discover that the only thing more beautiful than the campus are the people who populate it.
“The community here, both faculty and staff,” said Professor of Art Linda Bourassa, “has been extremely generous.”
The generosity has flowed from all areas of the campus – faculty, staff and students.
“The students have been very generous in raising money, making their own donations, and transporting items to Jeff and Lee’s apartment,” Bourassa said. “Erin Hoskins has been the point person for the leadership group that has undertaken this project.”
Jeff still rubs his eyes and shakes his head in disbelief.
“Are we in Stepford?” he asked. “This is just too good. Did somebody put something in the water? Is this real?”
Hiram College has become the flip side of Lee’s and Jeff’s lives.
“Home was death and destruction,” Lee said. “It had become a wasteland, a surrealistic landscape. I was so ready to leave piles of debris and was very much anticipating a new start.”
She and Jeff are eager to begin working with the College’s young artists, to give back, they say, for some of what the College is giving them.
“We’re encouraging our students to interact with them,” said Marty Huehner, who is the College’s only ceramics instructor. “One of the thrilling things is I now have two colleagues. Lee and Jeff are wonderful people. It is so nice to be able to share the facilities with them.”
As a start, students could ask the new artists to share with them two of the pieces – Lee’s “Shag” and Jeff’s “Ribbon” – that survived the hurricane but are not long for Hiram.
The works will soon be shipped to Victoria, Australia, where they will be displayed in the Sidney Meyer Ceramics Award Exhibition. The international ceramics competition usually attracts nearly a thousand entrants, Jeff said. This year, 40 were chosen, with Jeff and Lee two of eleven American artists honored.
To transport the pieces to Hiram – they may be seen on the artists’ websites: http://www.jeffschmuki.com and http://www.leerenninger.com – Jeff gathered scrap lumber which was in abundant supply. He found pieces labeled as pieces of homes – “north side door,” for instance. He decided they required paint for two reasons.
“I didn’t want to be reminded of where the wood had come from – the homes lost,” Jeff said. “And, we didn’t want to drive into Hiram looking like the Clampetts or something out of The Grapes of Wrath.”
Instead of resembling John Steinbeck’s unwelcome Okies, Jeff and Lee have been greeted with open arms.
“They are going to help me teach senior studio,” said Linda Bourassa. “This will be a real treat for our seniors. It helps them to hear more than one voice.”
Lee and Jeff are convinced they could not have found a better match for themselves than Hiram College.
“The interdisciplinary nature of the program here is very important to us,” Jeff said. “The real world is interdisciplinary. It’s the way life works.”
“You don’t find this emphasis at a lot of colleges,” Lee added. “We both believe it is more conducive to creativity. One discipline informs another.”
Hiram College’s artists in residence do not yet know precisely how what they have been through during recent weeks will inform their art. They just know it will.
“We lost everything,” Jeff said, “and now we’ve gained so much. We’re the lucky ones.”
Former Hiram Coach Steve Belichick Dead at 86
Steve
Belichick, 86, died Saturday night of heart failure after investing the
final hours of his life to the sport he loved - football, which he
coached at Hiram College for three seasons, 1946-48.Mr. Belichick (pictured at right in 1943), father of New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick, died after attending Navy's victory over Temple in Annapolis, Maryland, then returning home and watching more games on TV. Steve Belichick coached as a U.S. Naval Academy assistant for 33 years.
"I'm sure that's the way he would have wanted it to end," Bill Belichick said after his Patriots had beaten New Orleans, 24-17, on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
Hiram played an important part in Steve Belichick's life. Not only did he coach the game he loved at Hiram College after playing football and basketball at Case Western Reserve University but he also met his wife, Jeannette, at Hiram. She taught Spanish.
Steve Belichick, who was born in Struthers, Ohio, volunteered to be an equipment manager for the Detroit Lions after graduating from Case in 1941 but ended up playing one season as a blocking back on the team led by future Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White.
After serving in the Navy during World War II, Mr. Belichick coached football (8-12-2), basketball (24-29) and track at Hiram. He also coached at Vanderbilt and North Carolina before his long tenure with the Naval Academy.
According to Steve Doerschuk of The (Canton) Repository, one of Steve Belichick's proudest moments was when Cleveland Browns Coach Paul Brown agreed to speak at a Hiram College banquet. The Browns, whom Bill Belichick coached from 1991 through 1995, held their preseason training camp at Hiram College so Steve Belichick came to know Paul Brown well.
"Hell's bells," Doerschuk quoted Steve Belichick as saying at the 2005 Super Bowl, "Paul Brown's contributions to football were so great. It always bothered me that the (NFL) hasn't honored Paul the way it should."
Steve Belichick learned from Paul Brown, and his son learned from him.
"Obviously, he had a tremendous influence on my life personally, and particularly in the football aspect," Bill Belichick said following Sunday's game. "I coached this game with a heavy heart."
Garfield Christmas Ornament Available
The
White House Historical Society's 2005 White House Christmas Ornament
celebrates President James A. Garfield, preacher, educator, soldier,
and, of course, graduate from and principal of the Western Reserve
Eclectic Institute, forerunner of Hiram College."The design of the ornament," according to the White House Historical Society, "is reflective of Garfield's personal style as well as the style of the Victorian period during which he served as president."
Garfield (1831-81) won the 1880 Republican nomination on the 36th ballot of a badly divided convention. He defeated General Winfield Scott Hancock during a close presidential election, but his term was brought to an abrupt end when was shot twice by Charles Julius Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station. Garfield died of an infection and internal hemorrhage on September 6, 1881.
A pamphlet accompanying the ornament provides not only information about the ornament but also a brief biography of Garfield and a description of what life in the White House was like for the 20th president of the United States.
"The ornament," the Society has written, "is gold-plated brass with a round ceramic stone that features an illustration inspired by a period engraving on the South Front of the White House. The color scheme and highly decorative wreath design are derived from art objects, including the family china, needlework, and historic frames, in the collection at Lawnfield, the historic Garfield house in Mentor, Ohio.
"The JAG monogram on the ornament was styled after that used in Garfield's inaugural ball decorations, which now hang at Lawnfield. The pattern of the 2005 ornament box is based on high Victorian flocked wallpaper in the Garfield House."
The $16 ornament can be ordered at 800-555-2451 or at www.whitehousehistory.org.
Education Honor Society Inducts Sixteen
Sixteen Hiram College students were inducted into Kappa Delta Pi on November 17.
Kappa Delta Pi is an International Honor Society in Education and elects those who exhibit the ideals of scholarship, high personal standards, and promise in teaching and allied professions.
Founded in 1911 at the University of Illinois, Kappa Delta Pi is of, about, and for educators. Its inductees are selected based on high academic achievement, a commitment to education as a career, and professional attitude that assures steady professional growth.
This year's Hiram inductees are: Ashley Bailey, Caleb Bihari, James Conley, Kaitlin Gibson, Emily Hicks, Jill Howard, Nicole Manginelli, Katelyn Massie, Elizabeth Over, Elicia Schlosser, Emily Skoberne, Silviya Stoyanova, Monika Tabor, Adrianna Taylor-Brown, Allison Welch, and Michelle Willrich.
Bergman-Shem Can Cut to the Heart of Medicine or Communication
When
Dr. Stephen Bergman takes off his stethoscope and takes up his writing
instrument, his Samuel Shem persona can be as wittily sharp as any
scalpel - his cuts deep and lasting.Bergman, speaking at the last of the Hiram College Fall Convocations, on November 17, talked about his most famous Sam Shem novel - The House of God - read from its sequel - Mount Misery - and tried to help those attending better understand the essence of his non-fiction - We Have to Talk: Healing Dialogues Between Women and Men - written with wife Janet Surrey.
Physician-author Bergman was no stranger to the Convocation crowd. He helped the Center for Literature and Medicine celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2001, and returned on this occasion to give the first endowed Margaret Clark Morgan Scholar address.
As an author, Bergman first attracted attention in 1978 with the publication of The House of God, which takes readers into the lives of Roy Basch and five fellow interns at the most renowned teaching hospital in the country.
Shem's fiction grew out of Bergman's experience at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. His insight into the medical profession strips away much of the polish and glory, revealing the reality behind the curtain.
"You're never quite safe if you write a radical book,'' Bergman said.
He discovered this quickly. Most of the flack had died down, however, by the time Bergman found himself at a party and overheard two women talking about medicine. He gravitated to the conversation, and when they mentioned Beth Israel Hospital, he decided it gave them something in common.
"I may not be the most popular doctor at Beth Israel," he began.
"Well," one woman replied, "you can't be as bad as the guy who wrote that book."
What he did for internships and Beth Israel, he also did for psychiatric residencies and McLean Hospital at Harvard. Basch, again Bergman-Shem's alter ego, does not make such a good impression on one of his early patients. Showing his concern, he tells the woman he will call to check on her.
"You better not," the woman replied. "I'd rather talk to a mortician."
The theme of Bergman's "Conversations in Addictions and Mental Health" address went to the core of how men and women, boys and girls talk with one another, the gender gaps in communication and understanding that exist and how they might be remedied by thinking beyond "I and you" and "self and other" relationships to one that focuses on "we."
People are not always how they seem and do not always mean what they've said in the way another person infers, Bergman explained. In gender dialogues, he said, it is the children who often are able to best define the concept he and his wife have tried to teach.
When asked what he most wanted girls to know about him (and thus his gender), a fourth-grade boy replied, "Please see my heart."
"Everyone," Bergman said, "has a desire for a connection."
Hiram Alumni and WWII Hero Recognized at Art Auction
On Friday evening, November 18, 2005, in the Kennedy Center Ballroom, the local Kiwanis Club held their annual art auction. Among the crowd of over 70 attendees there sat one unassuming World War II hero, Hiram College alumnus, and Hiram Township resident: Lieutenant Keylon Clarke.
Meanwhile, across Garfield Road in the Hinsdale Building, a Weekend College class was going through its final exercises. The 17 students in this course learned about Keylon Clarke and his heroic war record from the four-page feature article in the spring/summer 2005 edition of Hiram magazine. When they heard that Lt. Clarke was across the street, they headed over to meet him.
At 8:45 pm, these 17 students arrived in the Kennedy Center Art Gallery. They were granted four minutes to interrupt the auctioneer. The announcement was made, "Would Keylon Clarke mind stepping forward?"
An elderly and dignified gentleman moved to the front of the audience. As the audience rose to their feet, the 17 students entered the Ballroom and individually shook Keylon's hand, thanking him for his war service. Four minutes later, the students left the room and returned to their Hinsdale classroom.
Hiram College Assists with Solon High School Leadership Retreat
Solon
High School honor students had a several-day retreat in early November
at Camp Asbury, Hiram, Ohio, where they studied leadership and
participated in programming about human values. Two of the guest
speakers were from Hiram College. Dee West, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Ethnic Diversity Affairs, spoke to a group of 50 students about diversity in a session entitled "Crossing the Line." Students discovered that diversity was present in their seemingly homogenous groups. West demonstrated for her class that even if a group is comprised of one race, the different religions, backgrounds, economic levels, interests, fears, prejudices, stereotyping, family values, customs, and cultures represented by individuals create tremendous diversity.
Roger Cram, Director of Special Projects at Hiram College, spoke to 40 students about the problem-solving skills, conflict-resolution abilities, and values used by the Tuskegee Airmen to overcome the challenges of racial prejudice in the segregated U.S. military of the 1940s. An original member of the Tuskegee Airmen, Sergeant James Travis, joined Cram during his presentation. Sgt. Travis, who served as a chief engineer on a B-25 bomber, also addressed the Solon High School students, answering questions and signing many autographs.
During a two-hour evening session, Cram spoke to the entire camp and delivered a presentation about SSSSH (the Secret Society of Serendipitous Service for Hal), stressing the benefits of anonymous giving and the difficult accomplishment of reaching true ego-free compassion.
Athletics Update
Each week the Hiram College Athletic Department puts together a
comprehensive review of the Week in Sports, highlighting some of last
week's accomplishments of Hiram's student-athletes. In addition, the
upcoming games for the week are previewed.Simply click on the "This Week in Sports" link on the Hiram Athletics page to get the latest information.
Tokens of Appreciation
How would you like a coned-off parking space in front of your
office for one week? Perhaps you'd appreciate lunch for two at the Food
Court or a $10.00 gift certificate to the Book Store? Are you tired in
the morning? Would an extra two hours of sleep, with pay, be a welcomed
token of appreciation for a job well-done?To kick off the winter holidays, the president's office is distributing these and other special benefits at random to Hiram College faculty and staff. Thanks to everyone for their efforts and commitment to the college throughout 2005.