DA Class of 1983 E-Newsletter
November 2005
Dear 83er,
Welcome back to another Class of 1983 E-Newsletter – back with a vengeance. News on some classmates and then the official announcement about the newly selected Head of School! Please let me know if there is a better email address for this monthly missive…New email for newsletter contributions is jknight01038@comcast.net. Hope to hear from you…
PS 25th reunion is June 6-8, 2008!
World Learning Names New Provost and Senior Vice President
Photo of Adam WeinbergCourtesy of Colgate University
Brattleboro, VT – Carol Bellamy, President and CEO, World Learning, and President, School for International Training (SIT), announced today that Adam S. Weinberg has been named Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs of World Learning and SIT. Weinberg comes to World Learning from Colgate University, where he has held various positions since 1994, serving since 2002 as Vice President and Dean of the College. He will report to Bellamy, succeeding Paula A. Harbecke, who is relocating to Boston after four years as SIT Provost and Chief Operating Officer.
Commenting on the appointment, Bellamy said, “From our first meeting, I knew that Adam Weinberg would be a perfect fit. His academic experience and perspective will be of great value to the institution – for our high school Experimenters, our undergraduate study abroad participants as well as for our graduate and professional program participants -- and more broadly, to all of us at World Learning. Working closely as Adam has with students and faculty has given him a keen sense of the nature, value and potential of education in today’s world. I know I speak for World Learning faculty and staff when I express great enthusiasm about Adam’s joining us, and look forward to working with him to position World Learning and SIT solidly at the forefront of international and intercultural education and development.”
During his 11-year tenure at Colgate, Weinberg applied his background in sociology to both the academic and administrative components of his work. Recent work on civic education particularly has garnered national attention from a number of major foundations. He has a considerable record in the area of sustainable development, including micro-enterprise development, poverty reduction programs, and educational initiatives. He has also been involved in a national effort directed toward youth political engagement, an activity that began as a project in a course he taught.
Consistent with the spirit of SIT and World Learning, Weinberg approaches his work with a strong dedication to teaching and research, which will position him advantageously as SIT increases its commitment to gathering, assessing and documenting the work done in the field by faculty and students.
“I am honored to join SIT and the World Learning family,” said Weinberg. “For years, I have watched World Learning from afar, amazed at all it has accomplished. I am excited to work on issues that I care deeply about with an organization that has a long and proud history of making the world a better place."
Weinberg expects to start in his new position in early December. He is married to Anne Weinberg, Director of Communications for Democracy Matters, a non-profit organization dedicated to the political engagement of college students. The Weinbergs have two children: Margaret, 11, and Nathan, 8, and are expecting a baby in November. They will move into their new home in Brattleboro in December.
WORLD LEARNING
When he takes his new post in December 2005, Dr. Weinberg will join an organization whose scope and intensity has grown in the 72 years since its founding as The Experiment in International Living.
World Learning today is comprised of four operating divisions -- School for International Training, The Experiment in International Living, and World Learning for Business, and World Learning for International Development -- through which it delivered and maintained, in 2004, 175 programs in 108 countries.
In addition to its Vermont headquarters location, World Learning maintains offices in Washington, D.C. - home of World Learning for International Development and its Delphi International Visitors Program - and a multitude of program sites in the U.S. and abroad. School for International Training, or SIT as it is known, is equally global in its reach. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org
School for International Training (SIT)
World Learning's accredited institution of higher education, SIT prepares graduate students and professionals to be interculturally effective leaders, professionals, and citizens, with degree and certificate programs in teaching, as well as in conflict transformation, sustainable development, organizational management, international education and social justice in intercultural relations. For more information about SIT graduate and professional programs, visit www.sit.edu
In addition to its graduate school in Brattleboro, SIT campuses are located in approximately 50 countries on six continents serving students in its study abroad programs. SIT Study Abroad supports the school's mission with field-based academic programs - most in non-traditional study sites. To date over 26,000 students from over 200 sending colleges and universities have studied abroad through SIT. For more information about SIT Study Abroad, visit www.sit.edu/studyabroad
The Experiment in International Living
The Experiment continues its 70-plus year tradition of fostering international understanding through intercultural exchange. In three- to five-week summer programs offered in over 25 countries worldwide, high school students immerse themselves in the culture and language of another country by living as a member of one of its families. They engage in language training, community service, peace studies, travel and ecological projects. Over 1,000 young people from the U.S. and abroad went abroad in summer 2004. For more information, visit www.usexperiment.org
World Learning for International Development
World Learning for International Development (WLID) designs and carries out projects that support democratic change and social justice around the world. The division specializes in grass-roots programs in three sectors - education, civil society and social change, and training and exchange. To date, WLID has managed more than $650 million in programs funded by United States government agencies, including the U.S. agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State; multilateral organizations, including United Nations agencies and the World Bank; private foundations and corporations; and foreign aid agencies of other governments. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org/wlid
World Learning for Business
World Learning for Business provides customized training in global business communication to employees of international corporations. The division offers a portfolio that includes programs in executive communication coaching, international orientation, and training in all languages, provided on site or in its offices in Vermont, Northern California, Washington, D.C., Houston, and New Delhi, India. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org/business
ADAM S. WEINBERG, PH.D.
Adam Weinberg is Vice President and Dean of the College at Colgate University. He is the author of two books and over 30 articles on politics and community development. Over the last couple of years, he has written extensively on how universities can be catalyst for sustainable forms of community development. He served as a taskforce member on President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development. He has also been involved in the development of numerous organizations that connect universities and communities, including: the Partnership for Community Development and the Upstate Institute.
More recently, Dr. Weinberg has been working on civic education. He developed the Center For Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (the COVE) and is the architect of Colgate’s Residential Education Vision. Both of these efforts have gained national attention for their innovative approach to civic education. He is also a founding member of Democracy Matters- a 75-campus effort to engage college students in politics.
His work has been recognized by many organizations. Recent media coverage about his work has appeared in the Chronicle For Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, USA Today, NPR, and the New York Times. In Spring 2005, he was named a finalist for the Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning.
Adam Weinberg graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bowdoin College. He did work at Cambridge University before receiving his masters and Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University.
For more information, contact:Jerry GoldbergExecutive Director of CommunicationsWorld Learning(802) 258-3121jerry.goldberg@worldlearning.org
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AND NOW for the latest of Northampton (MA) real estate from the local newspaper:
Daily Hampshire Gazette, 11/2/2005
Deal hailed in city real estate circles, By KIMBERLY ASHTON Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON - Local landlord Eric Suher had been talking for a few years to longtime real estate owners Richard and Joan Shea about buying several downtown properties. Shea had other offers, including some for more money, but said he chose to sell the five properties - 50-58 Main St., 76 Pleasant St., 24-28 Center St., 58-64 Pleasant St. and a Strong Avenue parking lot - to Suher because of the way he does business. ''He's a great guy,'' Shea, 71, of Elm Street, said. ''He is a smart person; he knows what's going on. I'm glad he bought (the properties) because he'll be a good landlord to all these tenants.''
''He's our local Donald Trump, that's for sure,'' Tom Master, a commercial Realtor who works for Murphy's Realtors, said.
Masters thinks Suher's recent purchase is ''a good thing.'' Suher, he said, improves the properties he buys, keeps the tenants and doesn't seem to low-ball property owners. ''He runs a great business,'' Masters said. Shea said he did not talk to Suher about his plans for the properties. ''Eric is a professional,'' Shea said. ''He doesn't discuss his business with me and I don't discuss my business with him.'' Some of the businesses housed in the buildings have leases, but some do not. Shea said he doesn't remember which have active leases. He said he held off on finding a new tenant where Rice n' Easy used to be, at 28 Center St., because he was talking to Suher about selling the building and he didn't know Suher's plans for it. Shea said he planned on divesting the properties _some he has owned since the 1960s - after he turned 70. He still owns property on Elm and South streets but said he will probably sell those, too. ''We're about ready to retire,'' Shea said of himself and his wife, Joan, who is also 70. Another reason he wanted to sell is because he feels property taxes, water and sewer costs and insurance rates have gotten too high. ''We have had it. We're tired of it. We can't put up with any more of (these increases),'' Shea said.
Suher's latest round of downtown acquisitions has likely left him the largest individual property owner in the city, although the value of his real estate is dwarfed by that of Smith College ($31 million) and likely Coca-Cola ($16 million) and Massachusetts Electric Co. ($13.4 million); Big Y owns $9.8 million of property in the city, according to assessor Joan Sarafin. But coming up with a value of Suher's properties is difficult because he owns them wholly or partially under several business names, including Northampton Properties, Suher Properties, Trident Realty and his own name.
Suher paid $6.68 million for the Shea properties Tuesday and $2 million for apartment buildings on Franklin Street, Henshaw Avenue, Old South Street, Orchard Street, Bridge Street and Cherry Street he bought in August. He spent $1 million for the former Northampton Institute for Savings he bought in 2000; and hundreds of thousands for other properties he has bought over the years.
David Murphy, owner of Murphy's Realtors, said that he thinks it is good that a local person is buying the property. ''I'm very encouraged by his interest in the buildings,'' Murphy said. When asked about how unusual it is that two Main Street properties, the former First Baptist Church and former Northampton Institute for Savings, remain empty, Murphy is sympathetic with the difficulties of finding tenants for both places. >>>
>'\l 1033 \e ⋞ar Sir or Madam,''">Dear Whit,The church building doesn't have parking and the bank building ''is kind of a tough nut to crack'' because of its structure: It's big and not broken down into easily leasable units.
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See also: www.deerfield.edu for more on the following story…
New Head Announced
November 7, 2005 The Deerfield Academy Board of Trustees named Dr. Margarita O’Byrne Curtis, 52, as Deerfield’s 55th Head of School. Dr. Curtis has been a member of the faculty at Phillips Academy Andover for more than fifteen years, most recently serving as Dean of Studies.
Upon learning of the Board’s decision, Dr. Curtis said, “I am delighted and honored to join such a thriving, dynamic and caring community of learners. I look forward to the opportunity to lead a school with such a distinguished heritage and promising future.”
Dr. Curtis succeeds Eric Widmer who has served as Headmaster since 1994. After stepping down from his post at Deerfield in June, he will be the founding Head of King’s Academy in Madaba, Jordan. A long-held dream of His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, a 1980 graduate of Deerfield, King’s Academy will be an independent, coeducational boarding school serving 600 boys and girls from countries throughout the Middle East and beyond.
In reaction to the appointment of Dr. Curtis, Mr. Widmer said, "To Deerfield she will bring the highest qualities of leadership, character, and intellect. She is a rare scholar/educator with skills to inspire, to lead, and to manage a diverse educational community like Deerfield."
Dr Curtis was born in Cali, Colombia, and moved to New Orleans in 1965. Her father was a member of the Tulane University Medical School faculty. She did her undergraduate work at Tulane, spent her junior year at the Sorbonne, and then earned her doctorate in Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard University. Before coming to Andover she taught at Harvard, and for four consecutive years (1982-1986), she won the Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning.
Mr. John Jeffry Louis, a Deerfield graduate from the Class of 1981 who is President of Deerfield’s Board of Trustees and Chair of the Search Committee said, “The Board asked the Search Committee to find ‘a Head of School capable of fully engaging the skills and talents of a devoted and caring faculty and staff and collaboratively developing a bold vision that will carry Deerfield into this third century.’ Margarita Curtis is all of these things and much, much more. We are lucky to have her.”
Dr. Curtis is married to Manning Curtis, a cardiologist with a practice in Andover, Massachusetts. They have two children, Heather Elizabeth Curtis and Patrick Curtis. Heather attended Lawrence Academy and Wheaton College and Patrick attended Phillips Academy Andover and Williams College.
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Looking forward to more Class News from all of you. New email is jknight01038@comcast.net – or you could always use classnotes@deerfield.edu.
