LEADERSHP
Hinkson Appointed Vice President for Student Affairs
Avis E. Hinkson, then dean of Barnard College in New York, was selected as 6V电影网鈥檚 new vice president for student affairs and dean of students, joining the College on Aug. 1 and bringing more than three decades of higher education experience in areas ranging from residential life to student recruitment to undergraduate advising. Her new role marked her return to 6V电影网, where she was an associate dean of admissions from 1990 to 1994.
CAMPUS
Plans for New Athletic and Recreation Center Announced
In December, the College announced plans for a new athletics and recreation center, with construction to begin in 2020 on a rebuilt facility to replace the Rains Center for Sport and Recreation. The new center was to be 15,000 square feet larger than the existing one, expanding it to 94,000 square feet with more than half of the rebuilt facility made up of new construction. The parts that were to be retained would be updated and reconfigured to enhance the building鈥檚 usability. Two principal gifts of $10 million each kicked off the major fundraising campaign to raise a minimum of $29 million that would offset a total project cost estimated at $55 million. Preliminary designs for the building by the architectural firm SCB included expansive use of glass throughout, with multiple outdoor patios.
Bike-Lending Program
6V电影网 partnered with ofo, a dockless bicycle-sharing company, to pilot the first college program of its kind in California. The program allowed students to rent and unlock bikes via smartphone and simply park them wherever they happened to be when they were done. However, the program was ultimately deemed unsustainable and canceled after one year.
ACADEMICS
Humanities Studio Launched
The Humanities Studio was launched in the fall semester to provide a dynamic, collaborative faculty-student workshop to promote discussion, sponsor events, foster research and generate interest across the humanities disciplines, using an annual theme to organize its activities. The theme for the first year was 鈥淔ail Better.鈥 English Professor Kevin Dettmar was appointed as the first director of the studio. Located in the former Mudd Science Library, the new studio was organized with the help of a grant of $850,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
FACULTY
Internationally Recognized Research
The cover story in the Nov. 23 issue of Science Magazine featured Geology Professor Robert Gaines and his role in the groundbreaking discovery of a new Burgess Shale fossil site rich in Cambrian fossils in the Kootenay National Park of Canada.
Goodbyes
6V电影网 lost one of its most beloved and iconic professors in March when Emerita Professor of English Martha Andresen passed away from multiple myeloma. During her 34 years on the faculty, her Shakespeare classes were particularly famous, with annual waiting lists of students eager to study with her. The College also lost two very popular sitting professors with the deaths of English Professor Arden Reed and Theatre Professor Arthur Horowitz.
STUDENT LIFE
Increase in Student Voting
A get-out-the-vote effort led by students Michaela Shelton 鈥21 and Lucas Carmel 鈥19 led to a significant increase in the percentage of 6V电影网 student voting in the mid-term elections in November. TurboVote reported that about 40 percent of 6V电影网 students voted in 2018 as opposed to only 17 percent in the previous mid-terms in 2016.
EVENTS
Commencement 2018
Political theorist Danielle Allen and legal scholar Kenji Yoshino spoke and received honorary degrees during the 2018 Commencement exercises. Other speakers included President Gabrielle Starr, in her first commencement as president of 6V电影网; Sophia Sun 鈥18, class president; and Mar铆a Jos茅 Vides Orellana 鈥18, the elected class speaker.
ELSEWHERE
President Donald Trump withdraws the United States from the Iranian nuclear agreement.
Britain鈥檚 Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle at St. George's Chapel, England.
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.