PLAYS PRO BASEBALL JAMES PIERCE â€™08 U.S. FEMALE AMBITION

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14RAISING EDUCATIONBRICK BY BRICK INAFGHANISTANAfghanistan women and girls find new hope in education in a countrystruggling with conflict and poverty.

22A GENERATION OFFEMALE AMBITIONFor a quarter century, women have earned more college degrees than men have in the U.S.

4THOMAS WOMEN ELECTEDTO AN INTERNATIONAL POSTKatie Cormier ’10 and Mara Davis ’10 were elected to prestigious posts within the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls earlier this year.

5NEW SCIENCE LAB Thomas received a large grant from theDavis Educational Foundation to renovateand furnish a science laboratory.

7COURSE SPOTLIGHT CSI: Maine. Students in theIntroduction to Forensics Sciencecourse learn how to identify themanner of death, wounds, firearms,blood spatter, fingerprints, DNA,fire investigation, bombs and explosives.

10RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESSJosh Morneault ’10 enjoys helping others.

10THE SWEET SOUND OF WORDSSummer writer Baron Wormser moves students with language and literature.

28JAMES PIERCE ’08PLAYS PRO BASEBALLStudent-athlete debuts in Israel

34MY PERSPECTIVEJudith Hansen-Childers M.B.A. ’96 on women’s access to education in theMiddle East and North Africa.

EDITORRhonda Morin

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSThomas EdwardsKatie Greenlaw ’02Judith Hansen-Childers

M.B.A. ’96Dorothy KnappJessica Poulin ’10

COPY EDITORSKatie Greenlaw ’02Doug LepleySuzanne Pooler M.B.A. ’97Lance TapleyMark Dog Wallace

CONTRIBUTINGPHOTOGRAPHERSJim EvansPeter FingerFuture GenerationsJoan Pierce P ’08Ron SimonsHerb Swanson

DESIGNMahan Graphics Bath, Maine

PRINTINGJ.S. McCarthyAugusta, Maine

LETTERS WELCOMEThomas Magazine is pub-lished three times a year(summer, fall and winter) by Thomas College. Signedletters may be sent to Editor,Thomas Magazine, 180 West River Road, Waterville,Maine 04901, or e-mailed to [email protected],or faxed to Editor, ThomasMagazine, 207-859-1114.Letters may be edited forlength and style.

www.thomas.edu

This publication is printed on 50 percent recycled content.

4 CAMPUS NEWS

8 FACULTY & STAFF NOTES

13 LUNDER SCHOLARS’ GOLF INVITATIONAL

30 CLASS NOTES

32 ALUMNA PROFILECover and inset: Mallem Hashim, teaching in the Jaghori District in AfghanistanPhoto Courtesy of Future Generations

ThomasM A G A Z I N E

Volume 6 | Issue 3

THE THOMAS MISSION statement is both simple and profound: “We prepare students for success in their personaland professional lives, and for leadership and service in their com-munities.” We are proud of the way we blend the personal and theprofessional, knowing that the Thomas experience lays the founda-tion for our students and alumni to give back to their communitiesin countless ways.

Excellent career preparation is key to a student’s success. Great classroom instruction, with caring professors, and a stronginternship program play a role in guaranteeing a student that all-

important first job. But the true mark of our success is how students continue to giveback—to their families, to their workplaces, and to their communities. This is whereThomas students and alumni truly shine.

The very definition of our community is constantly changing; and Thomas’ stu-dents, faculty and staff play a part in the regional, national and international landscape.As you will read in the pages of this magazine, women in Afghanistan are working tire-lessly to gain access to education to better their lives and those of their children despitethe anguish of years of war that has ravaged their country. Their success impacts thelives of all human beings; educated people live more productive and fulfilling lives.

Closer to home, women continue to assume leadership roles in vital ways and gainthe recognition that is long overdue for all that they contribute as essential members of society. Read about Janet Parkhurst ’71 and her evolution from teacher to presidentof Oakes & Parkhurst Glass, or Thomas professor Judith Hansen-Childers M.B.A. ’96and her account of the inspiring motivation that women from the Middle East andNorth Africa have in their pursuit of education.

Thomas College men are also delving into international and local experiences andare emerging as well-rounded members of the community. Josh Morneault ’10 knowsthat one small act of kindness can change another’s life, and he’s doing just that as avolunteer for the town of Winslow and its Fourth of July celebration. Meanwhile,James Pierce ’08 stepped up to the plate this summer to play in the inaugural IsraelBaseball League. The Thomas infielder had great success—his Bet Shemesh Blue Soxteam won the championship game and had a winning season.

From Manchester, Maine, to Baghran, Afghanistan, or from Winslow to Tel Aviv,Israel, what all these examples share is a commitment to leadership and service to thecommunities that sustain us. I know it is more than the lobster and music that bringalumni back to campus for our class reunions—it is the sense of community, theThomas community that is such an important part of what we do.

We welcomed our largest incoming class ever to Thomas in August—students justbeginning that journey toward the service and leadership that will mark their futures. I know that these men and women will emerge from their educational experience asconfident and capable individuals who will resolutely contribute to the communities in which they live.

GEORGE R. SPANNPresident

[email protected]

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T HOMAS COLLEGEHAS RECEIVED a

$195,356 grant from theDavis Educational Found-ation in Falmouth, Maine.The grant will be used to renovate and furnish a class-room to serve as a sciencelaboratory. Dale Dickson,Ph.D., assistant professor ofpsychology; Chuck Ravis,M.B.A. ’02, instructor ofsports management; and JoeScozzafava, M.D., adjunctassistant professor of biology,worked with ThomasEdwards, Ph.D., vice presi-dent of academic affairs, towrite the grant application.The science lab will open infall 2008.

CAMPUS NEWS

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New Science Labto Be Built

T HIS SUMMER, THOMAS PURCHASED more than47 acres of new land, adding to its 70 acres. The land

includes more than 15 acres of house lots located to the southof Grant, Parks and Heath residential halls. In addition, morethan 23 acres of land abutting Hamlin’s Marine on West RiverRoad was purchased. On the corner of Webb and West Riverroads, Thomas bought 9.5 acres. Beth Gibbs, vice president forfinancial affairs and treasurer, said the land was purchased withthe intent of supporting the College’s strategic growth plan andwill eventually be developed into residential housing, academicbuildings or athletic fields. Thomas intends to increase itsundergraduate enrollment to 1,000 by 2013.

Thomas Purchases Land to Expand the Campus

G UNNER SIVERLYM.B.A. ’08 SUCCESS-

FULLY completed an intensive10-week internship program atSwanson Communications, apublic relations and marketingfirm in Washingon, D.C. Whilethere he published a story inEbony Magazine.

Swanson Communicationsworks with clients ranging from

professional athletes to community-project executives. BoxersOscar de la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Bernard Hopkins,and de la Hoya’s company, Golden Boy Promotions, areamong the clients. Willis McGahee, the star running back forthe Baltimore Ravens, and Caron Butler, the standout for-ward of the Washington Wizards, also employ the firm.

“This experience has been more than anything I couldimagine,” Siverly said. “Swanson Communications has givenme opportunities beyond my wildest dreams, and they willhelp me continue to have success in my life.”

Siverly’s tasks included building media lists, pitching stories, writing press releases, and writing a story for boxingchampion Bernard Hopkins, titled “Doing it My Way,”which was published in the August issue of Ebony Maga-zine. The inspirational story is about Hopkins’ life and hisstruggles through hard times to become the successful busi-nessman and loving husband and father that he is today.

Kelly Swanson, owner of Swanson Communications,praised Siverly’s work: “Gunner is an amazing writer. He has a true gift for expressing, through words, what needs to be said. He will be an asset to anyone who hires him.”

Siverly plans to graduate with an M.B.A. and a bachelor’sin marketing management. He intends to continue his educa-tion and earn a doctorate in marketing research.

Gunner Siverly ’08 Interns with a D.C. Public Relations Firm

E LIZABETH BARRON ’07 ISthe most recent inductee into Sigma

Beta Delta, a graduate honor society. The other 2007 members include JamesMatthew Alberico ’06, Lori Blaisdell ’06,’09, James Boissonneault ’08, WalterCarlow M.B.A. ’07, Kelly Lynn DuquetteM.B.A. ’07, Annette Fuller M.B.A. ’08,Krista J. Gagne ’07, Kari Grant ’07,M.B.A. ’09, Suzanne Hammer ’07,Johanna Healy ’07, Lisa Larrabee M.B.A.’08, Bette Jo Lee ’07, Cheryl McInnis

’07, Deborah Menard ’08, Mary Michaud ’07, Leslie Poulin’07, Douglas Putnam ’08 and Amos Reid M.B.A. ’08.

The Thomas Chapter of Sigma Beta Delta was established in 1996 to encourage and recognize scholarship and accom-plishment among students studying business, managementand/or administration.

Prominent values of Sigma Beta Delta include wisdom, honor and the pursuit of meaningful aspirations. Membership is limited to the top 20 percent of juniors, seniors or graduatestudents majoring in a business discipline.

Newest Sigma Beta Delta Members

Upcoming Special EventsNovember 16 – Admissions Open HouseNovember 17 – Saturday Visit DayJanuary 12, 2008 – Saturday Visit DayJanuary 26, 2008 – Athletics Open HouseFebruary 1, 2008 – Admissions Open HouseApril 5, 2008 – Second-year/Third-year Student DayApril 26, 2008 – Admissions Open HouseJune 21, 2008 – New-student Orientation

K ATIE CORMIER ’10AND MARA DAVIS ’10

were elected to prestigiousMaine posts within the Inter-national Order of the Rainbowfor Girls (IORG) earlier thisyear. Cormier, who is studyingmanagement, was installed asthe grand worthy advisor forMaine. Davis, a political sciencemajor, was elected as the grandworthy associate advisor.

Rainbow is an independent,service-oriented organizationwith Masonic roots that teachesyoung women and girls the virtues of faith, hope and chari-ty. Each state or region is organized into a grand assembly,which establishes its own guidelines for activities, specialprojects or events.

Cormier is in charge of the Rainbow Girls throughoutthe state and raises money for Habitat for Humanity. Asadvisor, she attends the meetings of the 14 assembliesthroughout the state and also meetings in New England and Canada.

Cormier has been a Rainbow Girl for eight years. “Iwould not be the person I am today if it weren’t forRainbow,” she said. Her family is involved with similargroups: her father is a Mason, and both of her parents aremembers of the Order of the Eastern Star (OES). Herbrother was a Demaloy—the male equivalent of RainbowGirls for boys aged 11 to 20—and is a now Mason.

As grand worthy associate advisor, Davis will visit assem-blies throughout the state and participate in state events,service activities and programs. She will assume the grandworthy advisor’s post next year.

Davis, of Wilton, who has been affiliated with IORGsince age 11, says, “It’s a great feeling when you look at the impact your volunteer work has on members of thecommunity and on specific people or organizations.”

This summer, Davis interned at the Augusta office ofU.S. Sen. Susan Collins, working in constituent relations.She is the president of Phi Beta Lambda (the college divi-sion of Future Business Leaders of America, a nationalorganization for business students), class treasurer, a peeradvisor and a varsity soccer player.

Thomas Women Elected to Top Posts for International Group

Katie (left) during her installation asgrand worthy advisor for the Inter-national Order of the Rainbow.

Gunner Siverly with U.S. House ofRepresentatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Elizabeth Barron ’07

As a MatterOF FACT

27,346Number of hours thatwork-study studentsworked in 2006

$9,348,684Total amount of financial aid Thomasawarded in 2006

87,000Spam e-mails blockedeach day on campus

10,027Rolls of toilet paperused on campus in one year

12Number of computerson campus in 1984

842Number of computerson campus today

30,000Slices of pizza consumedon campus in one year

1,000Gallons of ice creamconsumed on campus in one year

49,500Gallons of number-2fuel oil used on campusin one year

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T OM LARGAY, PROFESSOR OF ACCOUNTINGand CPA, will serve as the host for the 11th annual Maine

Tax Forum November 7–8 at the Augusta Civic Center. Theevent will include sessions on individual and business tax devel-opments, the Maine economic and revenue picture, elderly taxissues and a report from the taxation committee of the MaineLegislature. The keynote speaker is Risa Williams, editor-in-chieffor Tax Analysis, a publisher of tax information. Williams, alawyer, coordinates coverage of state governments, state courtsand Capitol Hill news. She will give a national perspective onstate tax-reform efforts.

Daniel Wathen, retired chief justice of the Maine SupremeJudicial Court, will attend and address the topic of ethics in apresentation titled “The Ethical Tax Practitioner: The Uncert-ainty Principle.” Thomas College will hold a reception at theCivic Center on November 7 for Thomas alumni and otherforum participants. The event is presented by the MaineRevenue Services, Internal Revenue Service and ThomasCollege. Peter Gilbert ’78, associate professor of accounting and CPA, and Wendy Bean ’80, ’88 are part of the planningcommittee.

Tax Forum Slated for November

T HOMAS MADE A VARIETY of technology changesand upgrades on campus over the summer. In all, more

than $175,000 of new information technology items wereinstalled or upgrades were completed. Some of those changesinclude the following: laptop and desktop computers and termi-nals were added to classrooms and faculty and staff offices;Apple MacBook computers and software were purchased for the Education Department; several servers, including the mainadministrative-terminal server, were upgraded; a second academ-ic terminal server was purchased; the Internet T3 connectionspeed was tripled; the Exchange System was upgraded toenhance the use of Windows-based cell phones and personaldigital assistants; ceiling-mounted LCD projectors were up-graded; sound systems were added to some classrooms andmeeting rooms; the Microsoft Campus Agreement was renewed;Minitab and QuickBooks software packages were upgraded; the core network switch was upgraded; wireless antennas wereadded to boost wireless signals; and Microsoft’s Forefront Client Security replaced the Symantec Antivirus as the College’ssecurity software.

IT Enhancements and New Purchases

T HE 60TH ANNIVER-SARY SESSION of

Dirigo Boys State was held atThomas in June. Secretary ofState Matthew Dunlap attendedthe event and provided the 253high-school juniors with adviceon how to get involved in statepolitics. The week-long activitieswere capped with a speech byGov. John Baldacci.

Since 1947, the goal of theprogram has been to teach

young people the basic principles of the successful managementof a democratic society. The sessions provided an opportunityfor the boys to identify their democratic beliefs, organize cam-paigns, seek elective office, write legislation, debate judicialarguments, and use parliamentary procedures. In addition toclassroom instruction and interactive sessions, delegates partici-pated in a variety of athletic and intellectual challenges.

Dirigo Boys StateHeld at Thomas

T HE THOMAS COLLEGE INSTITUTE launched two new courses this summer—Business Simulation:

Experiencing Strategic & Tactical Decision Making (AC555)and Community of the Future (MG582). The business-simulation course instructs students in inventory management,production methods, marketing territories and pay structures.The community course teaches students that the global com-munity of the future is a series of interdependent and diversecommunities and that humanity must embrace differences andbuild cohesion in order to thrive.

Also new this summer, Thomas ran two different sessionsconcurrently—Teaching Using Technology: ExploringQuantitative Concepts (CT580) and the business-simulationcourse. In addition, a total of four courses in three one-weeksessions were offered. The fourth course was Becoming aMasterful Facilitator, Coach and Mentor (HR580). For moreinfo on TCI, visit www.thomas.edu/tci.

Thomas College Institute Offers New Courses

Course Overview

THIS COURSE PROVIDES AN INTRODUCTIONto the basics of forensic science and is designed for stu-

dents majoring in criminal justice, political science or pre-law, as well as students interested in forensics. A cross-section of general forensic topics is covered, including causes and mannersof death, estimation of time of death, wounds, firearms, bloodspatter, fingerprints, DNA, motor vehicle accidents, fire investi-gation, bombs and explosions. Students should be aware thatdue to the nature of the topic, some of the material covered isvery graphic.

The class includes lectures, PowerPoint presentations, films,and hands-on activities and demonstrations. There are guestspeakers who present real-life scenarios. In class, students applyforensic principles and concepts to current criminal cases andinvestigate and solve cases.

Project DescriptionThe course also focuses on the accuracy and limitations of foren-sic techniques. One course project has students investigate andreport on someone convicted of a crime and later exonerated by

DNA evidence. Students have found individuals who have beenincarcerated for up to 20 years or who were on death row, andwere later proved innocent by DNA and released.

The BookStudents read “Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientificand Investigative Techniques” edited by Stuart James and JonNordby. One of the chapters is written by Maine State ForensicAnthropologist Marcella Sorg, Ph.D, who has also been a guestspeaker in class.

The Students’ Take“Great class: I have really learned a lot, and you can relate mostof it to society. Great pictures and stories.”

“I really enjoyed the class and have already recommended it toother students who aren’t even criminal-justice majors likemyself.”

To learn more about the course, contact Dr. Scozzafava at [email protected].

Introduction to Forensic Science(SC295) with Joe Scozzafava, M.D.

COURSE SPOTL IGHT

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap

Photo by Peter Finger



O N C A M P U S O N C A M P U S

CAMPUS NEWS

New Retention Dean Post CreatedDEBBIE CUNNINGHAM, M.A., has been hired for the newlycreated position of dean of Retention Services. She comes fromAdams State College in Alamosa, Colo., where she directedretention and intervention initiatives. Cunningham’s teachingbackground is in composition and English as a second language,and she has worked extensively with underprepared students,both in and outside of the classroom. She recently co-authored a chapter in a monograph titled “Training Faculty and Profes-sional Advisors in Universal Instructional Design Principles”which is scheduled to be published by the University ofMinnesota in January 2008. Cunningham will oversee the operations of the Center for Academic Support and theFoundations Center, and she will work closely with faculty and staff on campus-wide retention efforts.

Corbin Is New CJ ProfessorANNE CORBIN, M.A., M.S., J.D., hasjoined the College as a criminal justiceassistant professor. Corbin has served as a research consultant for the PoliceFoundation in Washington, D.C., and asan instructor and research assistant atMichigan State University in East

Lansing. She has also taught at the University of Massachusettsin Lowell; Daniel Webster College in Nashua, N.H.; andMiddlesex Community College in Bedford, Mass. Corbin’sresearch focuses on the gap between education and practice, par-ticularly with attorneys, and the gap between law and science.She recently published an article titled “Report on PublicDefender Reputation Among Peers and Clients” in the CriminalLaw Bulletin; in addition, she co-authored an article titled“Breaking the Cycle: Scientific Discourse in Legal Education,”to be published in 2008 in the Temple Journal of Science,Technology & Environmental Law.

Professors PromotedTOM LARGAY, M.Ed., CPA, has been promoted to pro-fessor. Largay teaches courses in accounting and has been atThomas since 1993. Jim Libby, Ph.D., associate professor ofbusiness administration, has been promoted to chair of thebusiness department. Libby began teaching at the College in 2002.

David Pease Presents atTraining ConferenceDAVID PEASE, INSTRUCTOR OFmanagement, gave a presentation at theInternational Conference of theAmerican Society of TrainingDevelopment in June in Atlanta; thetitle of his presentation was “Got Goals:Creating and Linking a Training and

Development Scorecard.” The session focused on creating ascorecard that measures and communicates a business’s strategicplan. “There are four focuses: the finance, the customer, theinternal process and the people. It is important to work with acompany’s leaders to align human-resources development withthe organization’s strategic plan,” said Pease, vice president ofhuman resources and community health at Sebasticook ValleyHospital (SVH) in Pittsfield. He spoke about the types of indi-cators SVH measures: staff growth, staff turnover and customerservice. The hospital uses a scorecard to compare currentprogress with goals and the prior year’s results.

Jonathan Klane–Safety Professional of the YearGRADUATE SCHOOL ADJUNCT FACULTY memberJonathan Klane, M.S. Ed., CIH, CHMM, CET, was recentlynamed Safety Professional of the Year for the Training andCommunication Branch of the American Society of SafetyEngineers (ASSE) at a Council on Practice & Standards (CoPS)event at ASSE’s Safety 2007 Professional DevelopmentConference in Orlando, Fla.

Klane has served as vice chair of ASSE’s Training andCommunication Branch and has written articles for CoPSnewsletters, participated in white-paper research, presented atconferences and most recently presented a Web seminar forASSE titled “Training Needs Assessments: Who, What, When,Where, How, and Why.”

Beth Gibbs Elected to Growth Council BoardBETH GIBBS M.B.A. ’93, the vice president for financial affairsand the treasurer of Thomas, was elected treasurer of theCentral Maine Growth Council Board in June. She has been onthe board since January.

Sue Pooler and Darlene Ratte Appointed to United Way BoardSUE POOLER M.B.A. ’97, the director of the Graduate andContinuing Education Department at Thomas, was appointed as vice chair of the executive board for the United Way of Mid-Maine in June. Darlene Ratte ’86, M.B.A. ’88, a Thomasadjunct instructor, was appointed as secretary. Pooler and Rattehave been on the board since 2005.

Faculty & Staff News

Tapley Speaks at National Lawyers GuildLANCE TAPLEY, ADJUNCT JOURNALISM and writinginstructor, spoke on a panel at the National Lawyers Guild 70thannual convention in Washington, D.C., on October 31. Thepanel’s title was “Using International Treaties and the Office of the Inspector General to Fight for Justice in the U.S.”Tapley was invited because of his award-winning series of articles on the abuse of prisoners in Maine in the newspaper the Portland Phoenix.

New Faculty and Staff Join ThomasTHE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS HAVE joined theThomas College faculty as adjunct instructors: Julia Ackerman,David Allen, Scott Ballard, Mike Gosselin, Gayla LaBreck,Crystal Polk, Ann Marie Simone, Richard Spear and Lee AnnStirling. Sherry Pineau is an adjunct lecturer. Dale Potts, JoLynn Southard and Gerard Sweeney are new adjunct assistantprofessors. Rocio Orantes is the writing and learning specialist.New staff members include: Lisa Auriemma, director of LibraryServices, Jillian Bouley ’07, admissions counselor for transferstudents; Gina Byers, bookstore manager; Meghan Crosby,office assistant for Student Financial Services and the Registrar’sOffice; Julie Crossman M.B.A. ’84, director of accounting;Diane Dority, database coordinator for the InstitutionalAdvancement Department; custodians Philip Dow, MichaelFerran and Angela LaCroix; Amy Mason, Student FinancialServices counselor; and Jayne McKenney, public safety officer.

New Soccer and Field Hockey CoachesTHE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT hasadded a new face and a new appointment to its staff. Ed Thomas is the new head men’ssoccer coach, assistant athletic director andsports information director. Thomas brings29 years of soccer experience as a player,coach and official to the job. For the pastseven years, Thomas has served as the headcoach at both Morse and Freeport highschools for the men’s and women’s pro-grams, respectively. He is the former directorof coaching for the Bath Clippers SoccerClub and has coached a variety of under-18age levels. Thomas’ under-15 team won aWorld Cup tournament in 2000 and hisunder-16 soccer team won the Maine StateChampionship in 2003. He is a class-1

National High School Federation official and a State-5 official with the International Federation of Football Association.

Women’s softball coach Paul Rodrigue has taken on the add-itional role of head coach for the women’s field hockey team.Rodrigue has been at Thomas since 2002. He led the softballteam to their first championship in 14 years, when the LadyTerriers won the 2003 Sunrise Conference Championship. Inthe next year, they won the 2004 North Atlantic ConferenceChampionship.

Ed Thomas

Paul Rodrigue

GARY POULIN, ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR of marketing,brought big smiles to the faces of 13 Chinese children ranging in age from 9 to 13 this summer when he organized a month-long camp experience for the youth. The USA English/Summer Camp for Chinese Children welcomed the kids toCamp Tracy, the YMCA summer camp located at McGrathPond in Oakland, in July. Poulin partnered with the WatervilleArea Boys and Girls Club and YMCA to bring the childrenfrom the Chongqing municipality (in Southwest China).

The municipality has a population of 32 million people in an area similar to Maine’s. The children adapted to Mainequickly, savored American food such as pizza and hamburg-ers, played basketball, practiced archery and enjoyed arts andcrafts. During a trip to Wal-Mart, they learned that many ofthe products in the store were made in China. Poulin hasconnections to China: he taught international business inShanghai for four years and met his wife, Demín, there.

Gary Poulin Organizes Camp for Chinese Children Gary Poulin (back, right)



O N C A M P U S O N C A M P U S

HELPING PEOPLE COMES EASILY for JoshMorneault ’10. The 19-year-old Thomas sophomore hasalready amassed several years of community service for an

annual celebration in Winslow. He readily admits his overall motiva-tion in life is to assist others.

“Putting smiles on people’s faces and helping friends and familywhen they need it are what make me feel good about myself. A ran-dom act of kindness is all it takes to make a difference in someone’slife,” said Morneault, of Jefferson, Maine.

Last summer Morneault volunteered for the 17th annual Keepthe American Spirit Alive! Festival, an Independence Day event thatdraws upward of 60,000 people to the streets of Winslow. For thefourth consecutive year he raised money, sold advertising and servedas part of the float committee.

His interest in the festival started when he was a sophomore inhigh school. Ron LeClair, chairman of the celebration committee,asked him to join the group. Morneault gladly agreed. He had beenintroduced to volunteering a year before when he attended a

Christmas party for less-fortunate children at his father’s CentralMaine Power workplace: “It was a really touching moment tosee the children enjoying the day. That’s when I decided thatvolunteering was something I wanted to do.”

Several years later, Morneault found himself taking on moreresponsibility at the Winslow event. The day before the festivalwas the busiest time. After participating in a street dance at St.John’s church in Winslow, Morneault had to prepare the floatsfor the parade the next day: “I stayed up until five in the morn-ing with a few other volunteers to help decorate the remainingfloats.” In the past, only one float needed to be decorated, butthis summer there were five. He and another volunteer alsohelped line up the floats during the parade.

LeClair believes the event’s success is the result of the hoursthat Morneault and other volunteers contribute: “Josh is veryambitious and works very hard. He is a caring person and doesnot take anything for granted.”

Even though the Winslow festival is for both adults and chil-dren, when Morneault is volunteering, he feels the day is a spe-cial time mainly for kids: “Children need to have positive experi-ences in their lives and good role models to follow.” Morneaultenjoys watching as current and former residents of the small

town of Winslow gather for an entire week: “People from otherstates who grew up in the town of Winslow come home just forthe week-long celebration. It really gives friends and family timeto spend together.”

Giving back to others, especially to the people who haveinfluenced him, is one of the major reasons Morneault is com-mitted to lending a hand: “My hope is that, with what I amdoing, a child will embrace these positive experiences, stay offdrugs and make something out of his or her life.”

Much of the guidance he has received in his life has comefrom his father, Philip. Morneault admires his dad’s ambitionand motivation to help others: “We’ve been through a lottogether, and he has always been there to help me out when Ineed it. I can only hope that I turn out to be half the man thathe is today.”

Morneault is a resident assistant and a member of Thomas’criminal-justice and ice-hockey clubs. Pursuing a bachelor’sdegree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology, he wouldlike to work for a federal agency. Because of his love of traveling,becoming a United States air marshal is top on his list of careers.In the meantime, he intends to continue to volunteer in thecommunity.

F IRST-YEAR THOMASSTUDENTS had a specialtreat last summer: Baron

Wormser, the former poet laureate ofMaine, author of six books of poetryand a backwoodsman, was their fea-tured summer writer and guest speak-er during new-student orientation.

The students read sections from his memoir “The Road WashesOut in Spring: A Poet’s Memoir of Living off the Grid” and spent anafternoon discussing poetry and literature with Wormser in August.He talked about how living without the conveniences of modern lifefor nearly a quarter century helped to viscerally connect him to hissurroundings: “Living off the grid slows you down and focuses you.It is important to me as a human being and writer; if you don’tnotice anything, you won’t be much of a writer,” said the 59-year-old, who also read selections of poetry from Robert Frost, including“Two Tramps in Mud Time.”

Wormser grew up in Baltimore, but has spent most of his lifein Maine, having moved to the state in 1970 with his wife Janet.For 25 years he worked as a librarian for the school district inMadison and taught poetry writing at the University of Maine at Farmington. He settled in an off-the-grid house on 48 acresin Mercer in 1975 and stayed for 23 years, raising his family.

In 2000, Gov. Angus King appointed Wormser poet laureateof Maine—only the second person to hold the honorary officesince it was created in 1995 (the first was Kate Barnes ofAppleton). Wormser served for six years, visiting a variety oflibraries and schools, and read from his poem “Building aHouse in the Woods, Maine, 1971” at Gov. John Baldacci’sinauguration in 2003.

Wormser has led workshops on the teaching of poetry at suchvenues as the National Council of Teachers of English conven-tions in Nashville, Tenn., and Baltimore, Md.; the New EnglandReading Association; Assumption College; the University ofMaine; and the city of Worcester, Mass.

Wormser has won many awards including the Frederick BockPrize for Poetry and the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, as well as fel-lowships from Bread Loaf, the National Endowment for theArts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.In 2000, he was the writer in residence at the University ofSouth Dakota.

He studied at Johns Hopkins University and did his graduatework at the University of California, Irvine and the University ofMaine. Since 2002, he has taught in the Stonecoast MFA pro-gram at the University of Southern Maine (Stonecoast is a mas-ter’s-level program in creative writing). For eight summers hehas directed the Frost Place Seminar at the Frost Place inFranconia, N.H., for high-school and middle-school teachers(Frost Place helps teachers enhance their teaching of poetry).Wormser and his wife recently left Maine to live in Cabot, Vt.

Random Acts of Kindness

The Sweet Sound of Words

Josh Morneault ’10 Likes Helping Others

BY RHONDA MORIN

INSP IRAT IONAL STUDENT

Summer Writer Baron Wormser Moves Students with Language and Literature “

”We breathed the dank clean air,

the thin sharp smells of pine woods and dead

Leaves and melting snow, and we started to whoop and jig

for the vision of it,

The earth strength that we had lived too long without.

BY JESSICA POULIN ’10

“

“

”

~ Excerpt from “Building a House in the Woods, Maine, 1971”

~ Excerpt from “The Road Washes Out in Spring:A Poet’s Memoir of Living Off the Grid”(University Press of New England, 2006)

l-r, Charles Buckingham ’08 and Josh Morneault ’10

OOur family lived for over 23 years on 48 wood-ed acres that we purchased from an old Mainerwho had bought up land in the 1930s likepostage stamps and occasionally sold a parcel when he needed to raise some cash. We lived off the grid—no conventional power,no electric lines, no light switches or spigots, no toaster or hair dryer, no flush toilet, no furnace, no hot-water heater, and no monthlybill from Central Maine Power. Often when we told people how we lived, they asked usforthrightly how we could live that way. Whatwas with us? Frequently they assumed that wewere ideologues, that we were living withoutelectricity as a statement about the excesses of modern times, that our lives were an accusation of everyone else.

”

Putting smiles on people’sfaces and helping friends andfamily when they need it arewhat make me feel good about myself.



O N C A M P U S

CAMPAIGN UPDATE

THOMAS WELCOMED SEVERAL INDIVIDUALS and a business to campus in thepast several months to thank them for their generosity to the Harold Alfond Athletic

Center. We thank all who have contributed to the athletic center and to The ThomasChallenge: Guaranteeing the Future campaign.

Thomas College Thanks Donors of the Harold Alfond Athletic Center

THOMAS COLLEGE’SBOARD OF TRUSTEES

Conrad L. Ayotte ’77, H ’98,Chair

George R. SpannPresident

Douglas L. CutchinFirst Vice Chair

H. Allen RyanSecond Vice Chair

Kenneth P. ViensSecretary/Clerk

Eleanor M. BakerBrian Bernatchez ’88Edwin P. CarboniRichard J. Curry Jr.William Dubay ’72David M. MacMahonGregory PiperWilliam PuringtonSusan RocheWilliam J. RyanPaul J. Schupf H ’05Charles ShumanTodd Smith ’92, M.B.A. ’99Jay T. Snider H ’04Lawrence J. SterrsAnita C. Stickney H ’92

OFFICERS OF THECOLLEGE

George R. SpannPresident

Debbie CunninghamDean of Retention Services

Fran DayDean of Institutional Advancement

Lisa Desautels-PoliquinVice President of Student Affairs

Thomas EdwardsVice President of Academic Affairs

Beth B. Gibbs M.B.A. ’93Vice President of Financial Affairs and Treasurer

James LoveDean of Enrollment Management

Christopher H. Rhoda ’88, M.B.A. ’89Vice President for Information Services

Kennebec Savings BankMark Johnston (center), president andCEO of Kennebec Savings Bank, joinedThomas Board member Allen Ryan(left) and President George Spann at the dedication of the Kennebec SavingsBank Garden at the Harold AlfondAthletic Center.

Mary Simcock Lynch Walter Simcock (left) and members of hisfamily attended the dedication of the MarySimcock Lynch Elevator at the HaroldAlfond Athletic Center. The ceremony was in memory of Walter’s daughter.

Mary Karter Joseph and Stephen H. Brown ’88 The families of Mary Karter Joseph and Stephen H. Brown ’88 were in attendance for a special dedication of the Mary Karter Joseph and StephenH. Brown ’88 gardens. The gardens surround theentrance of the Student Center.

O N C A M P U S

S EVENTEEN TEAMS TEEDOFF during the fourth annual

Lunder Scholars’ Golf Invitational onSeptember 14 at the scenic BelgradeLakes Golf Club. The event helpsraise money for the Lunder Scholars’Endowment Fund. Recipients of the award include students who areDexter Shoe Company employees ortheir children, or Maine residents.

Lunder Scholars’Golf Invitational

Fred BoucherJ. Alfred “Fred” Boucher and his wife,Kay, unveil the Boucher Walk/JogTrack in the Harold Alfond AthleticCenter during a dedication ceremony in their honor.

Photos by Herb Swanson


F A L L 2 0 0 7 15

BY DOROTHY W. KNAPP

TTHE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN’S health and edu-

cation deficiencies are like those of the poorest countries of Africa and

far worse than in most Asian countries. For decades, while many

countries in Asia were rapidly developing, Afghanistan was being

physically destroyed—its fields, mountains, orchards, and pastures

heavily mined; its trees and forests largely annihilated; its roads and

highways made impassable. Its factories and electric power grid came

to a grinding halt, and its capital city was severely shelled, with 80

percent of the housing damaged or destroyed. Its political and social

life mirrored this physical devastation. The Soviet invasion, years

of warlord infighting, and Taliban extremism each subjected

Afghanistan’s social and political systems and its people to a distinc-

tive form of psychological, ethical and moral destruction.

Female Students in a literacy class in the Jaghori District of Ghazni Province.Photos courtesy of Future Generations

14 T H O M A S M A G A Z I N E

AfghanistanRaising Education Brick By Brick in

Advancements in Girls’ and Women’s EducationRely on Changing Men’s Attitudes



By mid-2004 American public attention had shifted from thislandlocked country, which is slightly smaller than Texas, to Iraq.But many who had followed Afghan affairs for years—especiallyafter 9/11—knew that the situation in 2004, characterized inthe American press as the defeat of the Taliban and the estab-lishment of democracy, was in fact complex and uncertain. Theend of the Taliban years was a source of enormous popularrelief, even euphoria. But sorrow over the years of internecinefighting after the Soviet invasion, when many Afghans felt thattheir leaders had resorted to guns rather than trying to rebuildthe physical and social fabric of the country, was palpable, anddeep anxiety about the future was just below the surface. Addedto this mix was Afghanistan’s history of relations with foreigncountries. It contained more negatives than positives.

I traveled to the Afghan capital of about 1.8 million people,in Kabul, in 2004 for a two-year assignment with a WestVirginia-based nonprofit organization called FutureGenerations, to help initiate basic health care and educationservices. What I found was both alarming and predictable.Kabul’s people had boundless energy. The streets were filledwith fast-moving crowds, bustling traffic, and obvious signs ofrebuilding and entrepreneurial activity. But the positive impres-

sions were quickly tempered by equally obvious signs of post-conflict anger and depression that burst forth on the streets andbehind the steering wheels of cars at the least provocation.Afghanistan hung in the balance.

The question remains; will the international community actwith sufficient resolve, tact and discretion to support Afghanefforts to rebuild the crumbled infrastructure? Education is critical to the stability of the region. But how will the countryeducate more people—particularly girls and women, who werebanned from schools during the Taliban rule—in rural areaswhere resources are scarce?

HARD LESSONS IN CULTURAL DIFFERENCESIn order to provide adequate education in rural Afghanistan,buildings need to be constructed and programs conceived. Butas one foreign organization discovered, the local communitiesmust be part of the planning process. A school was built forgirls in Wardak Province, which is primarily made up ofPashtuns (the dominant ethnic group) and is located about sixhours from Kabul, with funding from U.S. donors and landprovided by an Afghan with U.S. citizenship. Before classesbegan, the school had a fire, the result of arson. Letters attack-ing the school began to circulate in the community, and thenight watchman discovered a bomb wired to the light switchseveral weeks before the official dedication. This all happened ata time when Wardak Province—today a very volatile location—was relatively peaceful. Those involved with the project later

came to understand that they had made a fundamental error innot considering the educational needs of the area’s boys, too.

Preferential treatment of girls—especially when supportedfrom abroad—was treated with suspicion, making the school atempting target for malcontents. The lesson learned here wasthat an inclusive approach to the project, be it separate wings ofthe school for girls and boys or smaller schools a short distanceapart, might have been not only culturally appropriate but also a demonstration of the basic human right for all children tohave access to education.

LONG-TERM SUPPORT ESSENTIALThough foreigners often have the best of intentions, it becameobvious to me from early on in my travels that their prioritieswere very different when compared to the needs of Afghans.Prior to leaving the United States, I sat in a meeting with a del-egation from the Afghan Ministry of Education in Washington,D.C., as well as United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) contractors in education, education pro-fessionals, and others working on education policy and women’seducation issues. Only one speaker spoke about education inrural areas, despite the fact that Afghanistan is overwhelminglyrural. Also, the Afghan government and the Afghan-focusedU.S. educational community had fundamentally different posi-tions on resource allocation. In 2004, the Afghan governmentofficials seemed focused on the construction of school buildingsand how they would meet international standards for space andmaterials. Education specialists from the U.S. organizations

“”

More than 5.4 million children are enrolled

in schools, nearly 35 percent ofthem girls, compared to a little

more than a million five years agoand almost no girls.

Women and girlswalking to school

in Ghazni Province,which is located inthe highlands of

Afghanistan’sHazarajat region.



thought that construction should be more modest and theresources spent on teachers and books. I later learned that theseissues arose from the post-Taliban push to get millions ofAfghan children into school immediately, an effort that wasrushed by the Afghans to demonstrate early, positive results ofdefeating the Taliban.

In 2004, the Afghan government estimated that about 5.6million children had returned to school and that the govern-ment needed to build literally thousands of schools. It furtherestimated that only about 29 percent of the existing schoolbuildings had roofs over the classrooms. In other words, eventhe schools that existed were, in many cases, only walls orenclosed spaces.

Today, the government of Afghanistan is committed to pri-mary education for all of its children, boys and girls, by 2020,under a global partnership with the United Nations Develop-ment Programme called Millennium Development Goals. TheMinistry of Education says that more than 5.4 million childrenare enrolled in schools, nearly 35 percent of them girls, com-pared to a little more than a million five years ago and almost no girls. However, the ministry further estimates that half ofAfghan school-age children are out of school, and the out-of-school population is characterized by significant gender andprovincial disparities. School construction is still a high priority,but more variation in design and construction is permitted totake into account local circumstances and environmental issuessuch as earthquake risks.

The stark reality is that Afghanistan has made enormousprogress in girls’ primary education, but equal education oppor-tunity for girls and boys, while an official goal, will take years torealize. The international community has not adequately appre-ciated this progress nor acknowledged the need for long-termsupport of education efforts.

EAGER DETERMINATION Like primary and secondary education, the Afghan system ofhigher education has equally daunting challenges before it. Not only do many universities have to be physically rebuilt and faculty retrained, but also the higher education system has to be reengineered and rethought in crucial areas. Theresources to accomplish these tasks are in short supply, a prob-lem exacerbated by the foreigners’ preference for establishingnew institutions of their own design rather than investing inrebuilding Afghan institutions.

For example, I saw firsthand the discrepancies in the Afghanmedical education system. Two new doctors paid a visit to ouroffice; one complained that the medical training that he hadreceived was so inferior that he did not feel he could safely treatanyone with a serious injury or illness. The second man came toapply for a job as a night watchman so that he could stay inKabul rather than accept a mandatory assignment to theprovinces if he continued in medicine. We sent him on his way, but he did indeed become a night watchman for anothernonprofit group. The fundamental issue that both of theseyoung doctors faced was their outdated medical training: lec-tures by poorly trained teachers, no practical experience withpatients before graduation, and a pedagogical approach rootedin 19th-century French medical training.

One educational resource is not in short supply: the determination of Afghan youth, male and female, to pursue highereducation. Kabul is filled with ambitious young men and womenfrom the provinces staying with relatives to get a secondary edu-cation, to enroll in private tutoring courses, to upgrade skills inEnglish and computers or to acquire new skills in business andmanagement. They are eager to realize their dream of success inthe national exams and win a place at a university. In medicine,many young Afghan doctors, very aware of the shortcomings oftheir medical training, exerted enormous energy and showedgreat willingness to learn from foreign doctors and medicalorganizations working in Kabul. They aggressively pursuedopportunities to train both in-country and abroad, and theyworked long hours to improve their ability to addressAfghanistan’s pressing health needs.

“”

Advancing women’s education requires

the leadershipof both Afghan women and

Afghan men.

“”

The education of girlsand women

cannot be separatedfrom the education of boys

and men in Afghanistan.

Facing page: Mallem Hashim, site director in Jaghori District for Future Generations anda former principal, conducts a training session for literacy teachers.

Young students in Bamiyan Province


EDUCATION EQUALS BETTER HEATH CARECapitalizing on the Afghan people’s eagerness to learn, FutureGenerations, the education and community-development organ-ization I worked for, made excellent progress in literacy andhealth-care advancements in the communities.

The burning of the girls’ school in Wardak Province by anarsonist illustrated the importance of more inclusive thinking forthe staff of Future Generations. In 2004 and 2005, FutureGenerations was working primarily with the Hazara ethnicgroup, who believe itself to be the descendants of GenghisKhan. This group is more liberal in allowing women to pursueeducation and jobs than many other tribal and ethnic groups inrural Afghanistan. In Ghazni province, which neighbors Wardak,and in Bamyan (the site of the destroyed Buddhas) and DaiKundi (one of the least developed provinces), Future Gener-ations experienced significant and rapid gains in girls’ andwomen’s literacy in the communities in which it worked.

There were two reasons. First, the group ensured that thecommunity members themselves prioritized and addressed theirmost pressing needs—health, income generation, education and environmental destruction. Second, the organization integrated literacy with health, which was often the communi-ties’ highest priority and centered around maternal and childhealth, at every opportunity.

One illustration of how the connection between health andwomen’s literacy can advance the thinking of Afghan menoccurred in Bamyan Province. Future Generations, with supportfrom USAID, was teaching older, illiterate women community-health-care skills according to Afghan government curriculumrequirements. Members of the communities involved liked theresults, and soon Future Generations was awarded a second con-tract by the International Rescue Committee to implement ahealth-focused literacy program for younger women in the samedistrict. The goal of the program, called Literacy for Life, was toincrease the number of literate women qualified for the standardtraining as community health workers and midwives.

A community council, composed solely of males who hadapproved the first project, was asked to agree to this newest lit-eracy activity. There was opposition to the new program, whichrequired young women to be away from home daily for longperiods of time. Ultimately, the opposition agreed not to standin the way of this opportunity to bring new resources to poorfamilies.

The new program trained 500 women in eight months.When Future Generations reported back to the council on theprogram’s accomplishments, the leader of the opposition aroseand apologized for his earlier position. He said that the first pro-gram had revolutionized the birthing practices of his mother,who was a traditional birth attendant, and illiterate. But he was

Jaghori District had more women enrolled in Kabul University,the premier university in the country, than any other district inAfghanistan.

The women of the Jaghori District are extraordinarily recep-tive to community-organized literacy programs. There was aremarkable amount of work in women’s and girls’ educationthat continued under the noses of the Taliban or, more rarely,because the Taliban had agreed to ignore it. Under the cover of sewing circles, international aid workers organized literacyinstruction; and it did not occur to the Taliban that womenwere capable of such deception. Moreover, individual Afghanwomen educators organized home schools and classes in theirown homes at great personal risk. Their courage is widely recog-nized and highly respected by communities in Afghanistan.

Jaghori District is, for rural Afghanistan today, exceptional,but it shows what can be accomplished when Afghan men andwomen become partners in education. International expecta-tions can facilitate that partnership by nurturing both male andfemale education leaders. It requires extra effort and imagina-tion for Afghan non-governmental organizations and govern-ment officials to identify and recruit Afghan women for leader-ship roles in programs intended to benefit women and girls. It is easier, when time is short and resources are scarce, to drawfrom existing networks and trusted contacts that often consistentirely of men.

BASIC BIOLOGYThe young men and women in Kabul, like Jaghori District,place the highest value on education. In Kabul, night schoolsare being rapidly established, and any connections that the faculty have with foreign institutions are being highlighted. The government system of higher education was being re-established in 2004–06; competitive nationwide examinationsfor admission to free higher education were beginning to give

talented, ambitious youth, even those from the poorest families,the hope of affordable higher education. But there was wide-spread understanding among the young people involved thatmuch progress remained to be made before government-runhigher education could be considered exceptional.

The most fundamental truth I learned about women’s edu-cation during my time in Afghanistan is that progress towardequal educational opportunity for girls and women is a processthat transcends culture and history and is grounded in basicbiology. It can be reversed, delayed and frustrated—sometimesfor very long periods of time—but the process will alwaysresume.

The biological roots are complex. Urbanization and industri-alization reinforce them, even in rural areas. Education conveysa survival advantage. Educated women have fewer and health-ier children. Educated women can contribute more to the eco-nomic well-being of their families. Educated men understandthis. Many illiterate men and women also understand this andwant this advantage for their children.

Many times I saw Afghan girls and women in situations similar to that of my own grandmother—the first college-educated woman in our family. Very often I thought thatAfghans, especially urban Afghans, are at most only two life-times behind the United States in the achievement of equal educational opportunity for boys and girls—as the Afghanswould say, “Inshallah” (God willing).

In 2004, Dorothy Knapp moved to Kabul to be deputy country directorfor Future Generations, an education and community-developmentorganization headquartered in West Virginia. She spent two years workingwith the Afghan people to provide basic health care and literacy forwomen. Knapp’s background includes international education, fundraising and international grant-making. Today she lives in Castine, Maine,where she continues to work for basic education and health care forAfghan women.


particularly proud of the accomplishments of his wife, who hadenrolled in the second course despite his doubts about it. Hesaid that she was reading every health-related article and bookshe could find to his mother, further improving his mother’swork for the good of the community. And, most pleasing tohim, she was reading bedtime stories to their children.

COVERT SEWING CIRCLESThe response from the community council was a reminder thattraditional Afghan family values are deeply rooted in this society.Too often I saw international donors focus on women’s issues,advancing women’s leadership roles in addressing them, but failto bring men into the process. Focusing on the Taliban’soppression of women has made many donors forget the powerof Afghan tradition, even throughout the years of war and dis-location, and even in educated families.

As Afghan archaeology expert and author Nancy HatchDupree noted in 1984, reflecting on her experience inAfghanistan in the 1970s, the future of Afghan girls is deter-mined, not by government policies, but by family values.Changing the educational status of women in Afghanistandepends upon changing the attitudes of men. The AfghanistanMinistry of Women’s Affairs is very aware of this fact. It is care-ful in both prepared and spontaneous remarks directed at inter-national audiences to be inclusive and to treat men and womenas inseparable.

In Ghazni Province, the men of the Jaghori District have ahistory of supporting women’s education, even during theTaliban years. They continue to support and encourage theirfemale family members to become literate, even when the menhave emigrated elsewhere and have had to discuss the issue byphone. Indeed, by the time that I left Afghanistan in 2006,

An instructor teaches a class in Ghazni Province.

A Bamiyan Province family



A Generation of Female AmbitionFor a Quarter Century,Women Have Earned More College Degrees ThanMen have in the U.S. At Thomas, the NumbersAre More Equal

BY RHONDA MORIN

VVISIT ANY NUMBER of college campuses

today or attend a commencement ceremony

and you’ll likely see more women than men.

Read through the graduation-rate statistics of

those colleges and you’ll find that since 1981

the majority of associate’s and bachelor’s

degrees were awarded to women. The gender

demographics on American campuses have

changed significantly in the past three

decades. Women have consistently outpaced

men in degrees earned, particularly in the

fields of business, education and nursing.Amy Staton ’07. Photo by Jim EvansInset: Lindsay Sturm ’08 and Theresa Lathrop ’08. Photo by Peter Finger



The graduation rates of men and women at Thomas mirroredthe national trends in the mid-1990s, but those rates havemoved closer in recent years. Today, despite the fact that thereare more men on campus, men and women are receiving under-graduate degrees in almost equal numbers. The statistics forgraduate students at Thomas is where the larger differencesexist; more women after age 25 return to campus and receivedegrees than men do.

Nationally, as more women graduate with college credentialsand vie for jobs in a tight marketplace, are men at risk of losinghigher-skilled jobs with benefits to women? Scholars disagree onwhat the outcomes will be, but they agree a college education isessential to be competitive in the job market.

“There are 2 million more college-educated women than col-lege-educated men in this country. We’ve done nearly nothingfor our boys over the last 35 years. We’ve put all our eggs intothis women’s-movement basket,” says Thomas Mortenson, sen-ior scholar for the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity inHigher Education and a higher-education policy analyst forPostsecondary Education Opportunity, an education researchclearinghouse.

Jacqueline King, the director of the American Council onEducation’s (ACE) Center for Policy Analysis and author of agender equity report, says it’s important to note that there is a rise in the percentage of men getting degrees. “Because thepopulation of white men aged 25 to 29 has declined since 1990,and even though the number of degrees earned has been flat,the percentage of all white men in the U.S. with a bachelor’sdegree has increased,” she writes in the report. King says the

reasons for the differences between men’s and women’s college-degree attainment are unclear: “At this point, there is not a lotof hard evidence about why there’s this female majority.”

Today, 50 percent of medical students are women. Law andM.B.A. degrees are close to parity between men and women,and women have earned at least half of all master’s degrees since1980, according to the ACE. And although men continue tograduate with engineering and computer-science undergraduatedegrees at a higher rate than women, that gap has shrunk con-siderably since 1970, when women earned only 1.4 percent ofthe engineering degrees; today, they earn 20 percent, accordingto Mortenson.

Maine mirrors this national trend: Beginning in 1980, womenbegan to outpace men in bachelor’s degrees conferred. Theyhave received more associate’s degrees since 1977 and moremaster’s since 1983, though men have earned more doctoratesand professional degrees in law, dentistry and veterinary studies,according to Mortenson.

At Thomas, the graduation rates of undergraduate studentsfrom 1996 to 2001 reflected the national and state statistics;more women graduated than men. There was an average overthat time span: a total of 539 women enrolled to 511 men, andthe graduation rate for women was 53 percent compared to men at 48 percent. But in recent years that trend has slowedconsiderably. The years 2002 to 2006 saw 506 women enrolledcompared to 600 men, and the gender gap in the graduationrate has shrunk: 52 percent of the women over that time spangraduated compared to 51 percent of the men.

Thomas Edwards, vice president of academic affairs, notesthat the higher enrollment and graduation rates for womenoccurred during a time when Thomas was exclusively a businesscollege. He ascribes part of the shift in the past five years to theintroduction of majors such as criminal justice and sports man-agement that are popular among male students.

Meanwhile, in the Continuing Education Division andGraduate Division, the numbers are more in line with nationalstatistics. More women enroll in the programs and earn themajority of degrees, according to Sue Pooler, M.B.A. ’97, director of graduate and continuing education.

ONE WOMAN’S DRIVEDespite the fact that more men are enrolled in the criminal jus-tice program than women at Thomas, Ashley French ’09 is onewoman who is determined to get her degree in the subject andpursue police work at the local level. “I’m not your typical girlie-girl,” says the 20-year-old. She is also a volunteer firefighter,president of Thomas’ criminal-justice club and a first-generationcollege student.

French has an aptitude for hard work and is self-motivated: “Ilike going into burning buildings with all that heavy equip-ment.” French studies three to four hours each night, seven daysa week, and is constantly researching police work. She believesthere is a high demand for women in the workplace, and sherecognizes what it takes to get there: “Women are realizing thatyou can’t have the age-old, father-goes-to-work-to-support-the-family situation, while mom stays at home. You have to havesome college to get those better jobs.”

MAINE’S COLLEGE-BOUND REPORT CARDFrench is the first in her family to attend college and is part of agrowing population of such students at Thomas. But there is analarming trend occurring in Maine—fewer high-school graduatesare enrolling in college. A recent report by the MitchellInstitute, a nonprofit organization that conducts research andprovides scholarships to Maine youths, claims that Maine’s rateof students entering college is lower than its New Englandneighbors’ average and the United States’ average. “The college-going rate dipped to a low of 57 percent for the class of 2006,”according to “From High School to College: Removing Barriersfor Maine Students.” For central Maine, the story is more bleak.Many 12th graders surveyed said that the cost of college isprohibitive or getting a degree is not important, and thereforemany chose not to attend.

Among the college-bound, researchers claim that the menare at a disadvantage. “We’ve done a far better job at helpingour daughters succeed [in college] than our sons. Girls comeready to participate. Boys don’t; they come disinterested,” saysMortenson. The Mitchell Institute report adds to that assess-ment, claiming, “Male students have less confidence about theirfuture plans than female students do.” Nationally, the statisticsshow that white men are experiencing the sharpest decline indegrees conferred: “The share of bachelor’s degrees earned by this group has dropped from 49 percent in 1976–77 to 33 percent in 2003–04,” according to a 2006 ACE report on gender equity.

At Thomas College, women are earning

slightly more bachelor’s degrees

than men.

Ashley French ’09

“”

Women are realizingthat you can’t have

the age-old,father-goes-to-work-to-support-the-family situation, while mom

stays at home.

~ Ashley French ’09Photo by Jim Evans



MEN ARE NOT IN A CRISISJacqueline King stresses that white men are experiencingprogress in higher education, and the changing job market iswhere the focus of research and discourse should be. She claimsthat the percentage of men with bachelor’s degrees has increaseddespite the fact that the population of white men aged 25 to 29 has declined. What is shifting for both men and women, shesays, is the job landscape. Women are pursuing higher educationin order to get better-paying jobs with benefits.

King says women with high-school educations tend to getjobs in retail, whereas men often secure positions such as drivingforklifts or logging, which pay more than sales and service jobs.In addition, traditional male blue-collar jobs may offer healthcare and other benefits that make the jobs more economicallyattractive than sales and service jobs. “These wages are the difference between paying the light bill or not,” she says.

“Girls have to get a college education to make a decent liv-ing,” King adds. Many women realize that they need a collegedegree to increase their wages and are more apt than men to goback to college after the age of 25 to advance themselves. In2004, the median annual income for women aged 25 to 34 whohad a high-school education and worked full time was $24,166,according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Men of the same age andeducation level had a median income of $30,366.

Mortenson believes men’s jobs are declining, and so theirincome is in trouble: “They don’t get that the world of work ischanging—traditional male work like farming, manufacturing,

mining and logging is disappearing—and they have to continuein education to acquire the skills they need to get jobs in theexpanding service industries. The jobs now are in education andhealth care, business and professional services, leisure and hospi-tality, information service industries, and related businesses inwhich you must have a post-secondary education to be mostproductive and best paid,” says Mortenson.

About 35 percent of males earn an associate’s or bachelor’sdegree by age 29. Another 15 percent do not graduate fromhigh school. “The 50 percent who graduate from high schoolbut do not earn a college degree are the ones we need to focuson. Those who don’t get a bachelor’s degree—they start collegebut they don’t finish—are in an economic freefall,” he says. The world of work is highly competitive and extends globally.Getting an education beyond the 12th grade is essential forAmerican men and women to compete and to support them-selves and their families.

Mortenson claims that some men’s identity is based on thework they do. “When they are not productively engaged, menbegin to be damaging to themselves. They do drugs and alcohol,they are damaging to others such as committing domestic abuseor other criminal activity. They then consume the socialresources as prisoners instead of contributing to the socialresources [of the community].”

Ellen McQuiston, associate professor of English and directorof the Center for Academic Support at Thomas, says there is a

broader population of young people being educated today thanin the 20th century. Fewer are leaving high school to work onfarms or in factories. But, she adds, she sees some students whoare attending college unprepared for the academic challenges:“I’m concerned. Some students are not taking advantage of an(academic) opportunity, and that can be an expensive loss.”McQuiston, who is in her 23rd year at Thomas, believes thatstudent success depends on being ready for college and beingcommitted to goals.

NON-TRADITIONAL TRACKTim Wess ’08 sees students every day whoare not ready to be in classrooms withother students, let alone prepared to doacademic work. Wess, of Madison, is aspecial-education teacher for K-6, a non-traditional job for a man. He’s also study-ing for his master’s in education atThomas.

Though he’s amassing a variety of skills in his current job,Wess hopes to work with children as a behavioral caseworker:“Eventually, I would like to work with at-risk youth as a coun-selor.” Getting an advanced degree, the 29-year-old adds, willprovide him with more opportunities and higher pay.

Wess, whose expertise is in youth behavior, is the only full-time male at Norridgewock Elementary School. It’s somethinghe is used to: “At the University of Maine at Farmington [wherehe earned his undergraduate degree] I was usually the only malein the class. I find it hard at times because I don’t communicatethe way women do, and there aren’t many men to talk to at myjob. Also, kids sometimes respond to me differently. If a coat ishalf-unzipped, I’m not going to take a kid out of a game to zipup his coat,” he says.

Now in his sixth year of teaching, Wess says he’s seen a trendin boys becoming disengaged at school: “They have fewer socialskills. They don’t know how to do things together as a group.They are more aggressive. They frequently put each other down,and then they are friends two seconds later,” he says.

Nearly all of his special-education pupils are boys; the first girljoined his program last May. He works with the students who

are the most behaviorally challenged and require constant one-on-one time to develop their social skills. The goal is to reinte-grate the youngsters with their peers. Wess and his colleaguehave an average caseload of 11, with up to eight in their class-room at a time.

COLLEGE PAYSMaine is part of the national trend in which more women aresecuring college degrees than men do. In 2005, Maine menearned 40.5 percent of the bachelor’s degrees and 28.7 percentof the master’s. By contrast, Maine women earned 59.5 percentof the bachelor’s and 71.3 percent of the master’s, according toMortenson. It is critical to keep in mind, however, what theexperts claim—that the total number of degrees conferred onmen is rising, just not at the rate for women.

Research shows that higher education pays off: “Individualscompleting a bachelor’s degree earn nearly $1 million more overtheir working careers than people with only a high-schooldegree,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Work is chang-ing—traditional male jobs like farming and manufacturing arescarce. They are being replaced with jobs that require advancedskills or low-paying, non-benefit service work. Thomas hasencouraged more men to enroll in college by offering majors insports management and criminal justice. As a result, men andwomen are getting undergraduate degrees in nearly equal num-bers. The story at the graduate level at Thomas, however, ismore in line with the national trend; women aged 25 or oldertend to return to college and receive more degrees than men do. Experts agree that women associate a college education withan increase in their wages and are more likely than men to goback to college. The challenge for Thomas and other higher-education institutions will be to find new ways of engaging older males to return to college later in their lives.

Nationally, the totalnumber of degreesconferred on men is rising, just not atthe rate for women.

“”We’ve done a far better job

at helping our daughterssucceed [in college] than our sons.

~ Thomas MortensonPell Institute

Photo by Jim Evans

Phot

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Jim

Eva

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Debbie Deckert ’07



A T H L E T I C S A T H L E T I C S

HE DOESN’T SPEAK HEBREW, he’sbeen raised a Catholic, and he doesn’t

have any family connections to the Middle East,but that didn’t deter James Pierce ’07 fromjumping at the chance to play infielder forIsrael’s new professional baseball league.

Pierce, 23, a former Thomas baseball infield-er, played in the new Israel Baseball League(IBL), which debuted on June 24. Opening Daytook place at Yarkon Sports Complex in the vil-lage of Petach Tikva. His team, the BetShemesh Blue Sox, ended its season with a 29-11 record andwon the championship game. The toughest team they playedwas the Tel Aviv Lightning. “They had beaten us twice and hada really good left-handed pitcher,” Pierce said. Other teamsincluded the Modi’in Miracle, Netanya Tigers, Petach TikvaPioneers and Ra’anana Express. Each of the six teams played a45-game schedule, augmented by a mid-season all-star gameand ended with a championship game.

An award-winning athlete, Pierce finished his college careerlast spring playing shortstop for the Thomas Terriers. His accolades include 1st Team All-Conference his first year, most-valuable player and 2nd team All-Conference his second and fourth years.

At the beginning of his professional season, Pierce had a difficult time finding his form at the plate: “The competition was greater than anything I had played against before, but I started to hit the ball real well in July.”

The teams played six days a week, with Saturdays off—theday of the Jewish Shabbat. The competition on the field wasfierce: “The players were bigger, stronger and faster than in col-lege,” said Pierce. “We had a couple of players who had playedin the minor leagues in the United States and a few who playedprofessionally in countries like Australia, Germany, Canada, andin the Canadian Baseball League,” he said. The Canadian leaguewas an independent minor league that operated in 2003.

Greg Reymundo is one of those players. “His lifetime averagein the minor leagues was around .300, and he could play short-

James Pierce ’07 Plays Pro Ball in Israel

BY RHONDA MORIN

Student-athlete makes professionaldebut in Israel’s inaugural season

stop and third base as well as pitch. Juan Felicianowas from the Dominican Republic and was actually signed by the Boston Red Sox and played a couple of seasons in their organization,”said Pierce.

Pierce, of Dorchester, Mass., discovered theleague by chance. His mother was surfing theInternet one day and found a link to the IBL Webpage and tryout dates. Pierce went to the tryoutsat Dan Duquette Academy in Massachusetts, inthe summer of 2006. He made the team, signed

a $2,000 contract that also provided housing and a plane ticket, and was on his way to play professional baseball the next summer.

Once he was in Israel and the season started, Pierce traveled on his days off. A trip to Jerusalem was by far the most interesting experience for him: “We had a guided touraround the outside of the city before we entered the wall thatsurrounds the city. Inside the wall, Jerusalem is broken up intofour parts: the Christian part, the Jewish part, the Arabic sec-tion, and the Islamic section.”

Pierce lived 20 minutes outside of Tel Aviv and heard stories about how police respond to possible terror threats: “If a person leaves a backpack, for instance, on a bus, the busdriver will stop the bus and ask if anyone claims the bag. If noone does, then the police are called in. The people on the busare guided off the bus, and the bomb squad comes in and puts a box-type device over the bag and blows the bag up.” Piercesaid it takes about 20 minutes from the time a backpack is discovered to the time it is destroyed.

Pierce returned to the U.S. in August and to campus laterthat month to start his final semester at Thomas where he’sstudying sports management. He’s not sure yet what his base-ball future holds, but he’s toying with the idea of playing proball in another country. For now, he intends to focus on finish-ing his degree: “Being away from home was tough, and I wouldhave to weigh all of my options before deciding to travel acrossthe world to play baseball for a living.”

TENNIS PLAYER ANDRE GIGUERE ’11, of Waterville,received Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors

last May and was selected for the Singles First Team of theNorth Atlantic Conference’s All-Conference Team. Giguereposted a 6-1 singles record in the 2007 season against number-one-seed opponents, including a singles conference champi-onship at the NAC tournament.

Dave Campbell ’09, of Caribou, and Cory Daige ’09, ofSanford, secured places on the All-Conference First Team in the doubles category, and the Thomas tennis team received the Team Sportsmanship Award.

A number of student-athletes were named to NAC All-Conference teams in other sports last spring. Baseball: MattPavlis ’07, first team; Mike Chamard ’08 and James Pierce ’07,second team; and Nick Schauwecker ’09, honorable mention.Softball: Brittany Morin ’09 and Nicole Smith ’08, second team;Kim Denbow ’08, honorable mention. Men’s lacrosse: MikeRoss ’08, first team; Kolby Peckham ’10 and Gunner Siverly,M.B.A. ’08, second team—and Kolby Peckham ’10 was namedRookie of the Year.

In post-season play, the men’s lacrosse team qualified for theplayoffs for the first time. Despite their best efforts, the teamlost to the number-one seed and returning NAC champion,Mount Ida College. The softball team traveled to Elms Collegefor a first-round playoff game, coming up short, 7-2. Theyended their season ranked number three in the NAC EastDivision.

Giguere Gets Top Honors for All-Conference Team; Others Shine

MEMBERS OF THOMAS’ ALUMNI returned to campusin August for the annual alumni men’s soccer game.

Seventeen players were on hand to compete against theCollege’s current men’s soccer team. In hot and humid temperatures, the Thomas team beat the alumni 6 to 3.

Alumni Soccer Game

Photos by Joan Pierce P ’08


F A L L 2 0 0 7 31

1982—Tami (French)Ogden, of Derby, Maine, hasworked at Hayes Law Office inDover-Foxcroft for 23 years; shebecame a certified paralegal in1988. She and her husband,Benny, have one son, Benjy, whorecently graduated fourth in hisclass at Penquis Valley HighSchool in Milo. Benjy is attend-ing Colby College this fall. Kevinand Annemarie (Saunders)Peck live in Stratham, N.H., withtheir sons, Matthew, 20, andAlex, 12. Kevin recently accepteda chief financial officer positionwith Methuen Construction ofSalem. Annemarie works part-time at the Swasey ElementarySchool nurse’s office inBrentwood, N.H. Their sonMatthew ’09 is a sports manage-ment major at Thomas.Annemarie would like formerclassmates to e-mail her [email protected].

1986—Darlene Ratte ’86,M.B.A. ’88 was appointed secre-tary of the executive board of theUnited Way of Mid-Maine inJune 2007.

1988—Brian Bernatchez, aThomas College trustee, wasnamed Business Person of theYear by the Mid-Maine Chamberof Commerce in April for his 11

C L A S S N O T E S C L A S S N O T E S

years of leadership as founder ofGolden Pond Wealth Manage-ment in Waterville. Mid-MaineChamber of Commerce PresidentKimberly Lindlof ’91 said ofBrian: “He operates his businessto the highest standards, givesback to the community, and sup-ports area nonprofits and hisalma mater, Thomas College.”Brian works with two partners,Joseph Jabar and Bert LangueteM.B.A. ’94. He and his wife,Amy, have three children, Katie,Kristy and Jack. They reside inBelgrade.

1991—Guy Reynolds wasrecently appointed the boys’ var-sity soccer coach at Hull HighSchool in Hull, Mass. Guy“caught the coaching bug” whileserving as coach of the WatervilleSoccer Club and goalkeepingcoach at Thomas in the early1990s.

1992—Steve Brunetti andTammy (Pelletier) Brunetti ’96welcomed their second child,Isabella Marie Brunetti, onNovember 2, 2005. Steve andTammy also have a son, Dominic.

1993—Melissa (Plante)Wiley and her husband, Shawn,welcomed a baby girl, Ella Paige,on June 26, 2007. Big brother

Cooper turned 3 years old in Julyand loves his baby sister. Melissacurrently works for Sweetser asan application specialist.

1995—Jeffrey Willette cele-brated his first PGA Tour winthis summer. Jeffrey is a profes-sional caddie and currently worksfor golfer Brian Bateman, whowon the Buick Open in July.Jeffrey has been a professionalcaddie for six years. Prior tobecoming a caddie, Jeffrey playedgolf professionally for five yearsand lived in Texas and Florida.He now resides in Waterville withhis family.

1996—Tammy (Pelletier)Brunetti and Steve Brunetti ’92welcomed their second child,Isabella Marie Brunetti, onNovember 2, 2005. Steve andTammy also have a son, Dominic.

1998—Heidi (Poland)Bernier M.B.A. ’98 and her husband, Ray, celebrated thebirth of their son, Ty, on June24. Cynthia Clark joined BeeLine Cable Company as theirbookkeeper in February 2007.Mandi (Woodard) Cotter is living in North Waterboro,

(continued on pg. 32)

THOMAS COLLEGE’SALUMNI COUNCIL

Wendy (Iwans) Bean ’80, ’88Michelle (Closson) Begin ’02Heidi (Poland) Bernier M.B.A. ’98Ashley Berube ’07 Chad Boyd ’00John Brooks Jr. ’87Melissa (Tibbetts) Cadieux ’00Lynn Cayford ’74AJ Cloukey ’00Christina Cracolici ’99, secretaryScott Danner ’82 Larry Davis ’70, ’74,

M.S. ’78, presidentKevin Dennehy ’80Ron Dexter ’06, vice presidentBob Dube ’00Benjamin Fairclough ’04Nancy (Alexander) Fox ’00,

M.B.A. ’02Desiree Genthner ’06 Kari Grant ’07Katie (Hamann) Greenlaw ’02,

director of public and alumni relations

Ryan Greenlaw ’02 Laura Hudson ’97, ’00, M.B.A. ’02Ted Lawless ’79Deserae Levesque ’03Maren Madore ’04Wendy (Estabrook) Martin ’00, ’03CJ McKenna ’04 Erika Morin ’02 Devon (Burnell) Nadeau ’02Heather (Farrell) Orser ’01,

M.B.A. ’05Jevon Owens ’04Nicole (Soucy) Pelletier ’00 Ann (Cyr) Pinkham ’63Darlene Ratte ’86, M.B.A. ’88Nikolas Ray ’02 Eric Reddy ’04Christopher Rhoda ’88, M.B.A. ’89Stefanie Rioux ’05, M.B.A. ’05Betsy (Pratt) Sibley ’02 Amylynn Smith ’00 Angela (Downing) Stinchfield ’97Matthew Tibbetts ’00Molly Tibbetts ’06Roberta (Cross) Tibbetts ’69, ’71Jennifer (Cray) Watson ’02 Rick Whalen ’93Erica (Gallant) Whitten ’03

Mabel D. GleasonMabel D. Gleason, 90, passed away atWaterville’s Lakewood Continuing CareCenter on February 26, 2007. Sheattended Morgan-Thomas BusinessCollege. Mabel enjoyed knitting, sewingand crocheting; she was also an avidcamper. Mabel was predeceased by herhusband, Millard Gleason; her brothers,John and Richard Damren; and her com-panion of 40 years, Howard Leighor.She is survived by her sister, NancyBickford; her two daughters, GertrudePelletier, and her companion, FrankMank, and Sandra Tibbetts, and her husband, Lawrence; two sons, Frank,and his wife, Betty, and David, and hiswife, Judy; and her 14 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

George L. Langlais ’48 George L. Langlais, 85, passed away atthe Maine Veterans’ Home in SouthParis on April 27, 2007. He fought inWorld War II and earned a Purple Heart,and he graduated from Morgan-ThomasBusiness College. He worked for theMaine Department of Motor Vehicles for30 years, retiring as the chief motor-vehicle investigator. George is survivedby his wife of 57 years, Gilberte Langlais;his son, Steven Langlais; and his threedaughters: Roxanne Wheeler, and herhusband, Harvey, and Patricia Beaulieu,and her husband, Regis, and SandraWardwell.

Geneva LarrabeeGeneva Larrabee, 83, passed away onMay 6, 2007, at Waldo County GeneralHospital in Belfast. She was educated atFreedom Academy before graduatingfrom Morgan-Thomas Business College.She enjoyed farming with her husband,gardening and canning summer vegeta-bles. She was predeceased by her hus-band, Denby Larrabee, and siblings,Carlene and Leroy Thompson. She is

survived by her brother, ClaytonThompson, and his wife, Ruth; her sis-ter, Beatrice Lee; three sons: EdwinLarrabee, and his wife, Shirley, andClayton Larrabee, and his wife, Nonie,and Glen Larrabee and his wife, Brenda;nine grandchildren; and 16 great-grand-children.

Robert St. Pierre ’56Robert “Bob” St. Pierre, 78, ofOklahoma City, Okla., passed away onApril 29, 2007, after a long illness. Bobworked for 43 years as a senior account-ant for Wilson Foods, first in Waterville,then in Oklahoma City. He enjoyedplaying tennis, traveling, cooking andspending time with his family. He is sur-vived by his wife, Mary; his sister, NancySt. Pierre; his daughter, Linda Nusz, andher husband, Robert; his son, John St.Pierre, and his wife, Kelly; and a grand-daughter, Libby Nusz. He is also sur-vived by a step-grandson, Barry, and hiswife, Tonya; a step-grandson, Zachary;and two step great-grandchildren,Dakota and Ashley.

Robert M. Moroney ’62Robert M. Moroney, 88, passed away onApril 23, 2007, at his home in Fairfield.Bob served as a medic in the UnitedStates Navy from 1939 to 1959, surviv-ing the attack on Pearl Harbor and earn-ing the rank of warrant officer. It was inthe Navy that Bob met his wife of 60years, Eileen. After the war, he worked39 years for the federal government atthe Defense Contract AdministrationService in Hartford, Conn. He enjoyedattending Pearl Harbor survivors’reunions, traveling, reading and tellingjokes. Robert is survived by his wife,Eileen; his sons, Robert Moroney, andhis wife, Mary Lou, and RichardMoroney; his daughter, MelanieMoroney, and her husband, FredSchmook; his grandchildren, Bridget,and her husband, Jeff West, and Susan

her husband, Wayne Nadeau, and JaneMoroney and her partner, Brad Bellows,and Kara, Owen and Nell Moroney; andfour great-grandchildren.

Timothy Plumer Sr. ’68Timothy Plumer Sr., 62, passed awayunexpectedly on April 26, 2007 atMaineGeneral Medical Center inAugusta. Timothy was the owner andoperator of Dunkinfield’s Antiques andToys in Hallowell. He was a storytellerand music lover. He is survived by hiswife, Olga Plumer; his sons, Timothy C.Plumer Jr., and his wife, Colleen, andDaniel Plumer; two grandchildren,Darice and Kiana; and two brothers,Paul Plumer Jr. and Stephen Plumer.

Barry Nash ’71Barry Nash passed away on June 15,2007, in Charleston, S.C. For more than30 years, Barry was a self-employed con-tractor and residential real-estate agentfor the Nash family business inRichmond, Maine. He is survived by hissons, Scott and Jonathan; his brother,Gary; and nephews and nieces.

Donald LaChanceDonald LaChance, 71, of Waterville,passed away on May 2, 2007. Donaldworked as a custodian at the Collegefrom 1990 until he retired in 1996. Thegraduating class dedicated the yearbookto him that year and held a party in hishonor. He was known on campus by hisstudent-given nickname of “WhiteLightning.” Don loved playing cribbageand was well known for his delicioushomemade chocolates, which earned himthe additional nickname of “the CandyMan.” Donald is survived by his wife,Jeanne; his son, David LaChance; hisdaughter, Cathy Gilbert, and her hus-band, Marc; and four grandchildren,Erica, Jon, Ryan and Christopher.

I N M E M O R I U M

30 T H O M A S M A G A Z I N E

Class ReunionSummer 2007



C L A S S N O T E SA

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JANET THOUGHT HER CALLING was to be a teacher. When shegraduated first in her major with a degree in business technology teacher

education and third overall in the class, she found a job in the profession andmethodically began to climb the steps of the educational hierarchy.

Her first job was teaching business at Stevens School in Hallowell, a correc-tional center for girls that today is part of the Maine Youth Center. For fiveyears she taught high-school-level courses, tutored students studying for theirGED and taught adult offenders, before the school closed and moved to SouthPortland.

Maranacook Community High School in Readfield was just putting the fin-ishing touches on its new building when she was hired as a business teacher. Byher second year, she had been promoted to department head and team leader.She was one of a half-dozen employees selected for administrative jobs.

Despite her numerous daytime obligations, she agreed to launch a start-upbusiness in Winslow with her husband, Richard, and his brother, Allen Oakes, in1978. The company is called Oakes & Parkhurst Glass. It is a full-service com-pany with product lines in auto, residential, commercial and stained glass.

Janet left Marranacook after six years and went on to teach economics andmanagement courses at Cony High School in Augusta. Soon, her focus startedto shift from the classroom to the family business and to her young son. Oakeshad sold his part of the business to the Parkhursts just a few years after the com-pany had opened. More of the daily management, therefore, had shifted toRichard.

About 10 years ago, the company thriving, Richard asked Janet if she wantedto take over as president. She accepted, but with one requirement: that Richardspend a year teaching her the ins and outs of the commercial glazing side of theindustry. He agreed, and a decade later she’s still the president of O&P Glass

and he’s the estimator and project manager, as well as the vicepresident.

The glass company has evolved over the years to keep pacewith consumers and a constantly changing marketplace. Janetadded stained glass, and now does a bustling business fittingit into the windows of churches, such as, recently, the GreekOrthodox Church in Bangor. Her love for stained glass hasgrown into a side business—teaching—at their showroom inWaterville. The Stained Glass Express, located at RailroadSquare, offers classes in fusing, mosaics and beginner Tiffanymethods of glass and jewelry making. Her stepson, Glenn, isone of the artists at the shop.

Janet and Richard also own and manage a property-holding business with commercial space for lease in Belfast,Farmington, Manchester and Waterville. Railroad Square—which houses not only the stained-glass business but also avariety of entrepreneurs, including a hairdresser, a violinmaker, Brick Oven Pizza restaurant and a quilt maker—is one of their properties.

Juggling three businesses and community service (UnitedWay, Rotary Club and area chambers of commerce) and mak-ing time for her three grown children are all in a day’s workfor this former teacher. Though she no longer leads classes,Janet uses teaching methods in her business life when shenegotiates with commercial-glass manufacturers or launches a new stepping-stone-making class for gardeners. Running abusiness, she says, suits her well.

Juggling three businessesand community service and making time for herthree grown children are all in a day’s work for thisformer teacher.

Janet (Mackay) Parkhurst ’71

(continued from pg. 30)

Maine, and runs the SanfordWal-Mart. Mandi and her hus-band, Patrick, welcomed theirfirst child, Katelyn Marie Cotter,on January 25, 2007. Renee(Lavigne) McPherson is cur-rently living in Windham withher husband Todd. Todd andRenee welcomed their first child,Olivia Jane, September 12, 2007. Renee is working at Sappi FinePaper in Westbrook as their pric-ing specialist and has been withthe company for more than twoyears. Prior to working at Sappi,Renee worked at Cole-Haan inYarmouth for six years in mer-chandising and as a planning ana-lyst. Chris Parsons has beenhired as the assistant men’s soccercoach at the University of Maine

in Orono. His wife, Karin(Burdin) Parsons ’01, is takinggraduate courses this fall for hermaster’s in education. The couplewelcomed their second child,Emma, in September 2005.Karin, Chris, Drew and Emmareside in the Dover-Foxcroft areaand are dorm parents for studentsat Foxcroft Academy.

1999—Mandy (Roberts)Bisson and Corey Bisson ’01welcomed their first child,Anthony David Bisson, on May25, 2006.

2000—Dawn Blake joinedBangor Savings Bank in June asassistant vice president/branchmanager in Unity. Prior to join-ing the bank, Blake worked forUnion Trust Company in the

C L A S S N O T E S

Belfast area; Guaranty TitleCorp., in Portland; and CapitalArea Federal Credit Union inAugusta. Dawn is also the vicepresident of the Belfast AreaChamber of Commerce and co-chairperson of the chamber’s“Eggs & Issues” functions and“Business Afterhours” events.She lives in Belfast with herfiancé, Chad Place. Erin Hartleyand Geoff Burnham ’01,M.B.A. ’03 were married on July28, 2007, in Cape Elizabeth.The couple reside in Charlotte,N.C. Molly (Sorensen) Houdemarried Matthew Houde onOctober 1, 2005. Molly and herhusband currently reside inOlathe, Colo., and Molly isattending Mesa State College inGrand Junction, Colo., for adegree in accounting. She isworking toward a CPA.

2001—Corey Bisson andMandy (Roberts) Bisson ’99welcomed their first child,Anthony David Bisson, on May25, 2006. Geoff Burnham ’01,M.B.A. ’03 and Erin Hartley’00 were married on July 28,2007, in Cape Elizabeth. Thecouple reside in Charlotte, N.C.Seth Cronkite married AbigailJohnson on June 16, 2007 inBangor with many Thomasfriends in attendance. Seth andAbbie reside in Bangor. Karin(Burdin) Parsons ’01 is takinggraduate courses this fall for hermaster’s in education. Her hus-band, Chris Parsons ’98, washired as the assistant men’s soc-cer coach at the University ofMaine in Orono. The couplewelcomed their second child,Emma, in September 2005.

Karin, Chris, Drew and Emmareside in the Dover-Foxcroft areaand are dorm parents for stu-dents at Foxcroft Academy. MikeWhite was married to Julie Tafton May 10, 2007, in Certaldo,Italy. Mike is the director of busi-ness and event management forMonterrey Security Consultantsin Chicago. He and Julie live inChicago.

2002—Ryan White and hiswife, Stephanie, had their firstchild, Kason Miles, on April 3,2007. The family reside inHampden. Chuck Williams wasrecently promoted to assistantvice president in the finance andaccounting group of NorwaySavings Bank after spending twoyears as a junior commerciallender. Chuck is responsible for

monitoring and reviewing inter-nal controls for finance report-ing, as well as accounting forfinancial transactions.

2003—Ryan Connon andhis fiancée, Lori Blaisdell ’06,bought a house in Fairfield,where they reside with their fourpets, Casper, Riley, Simon andHenry. Angela Stevens currentlylives in Atlanta, Ga., and isemployed by Bank of America asan assistant vice president forstrategic marketing.

2004—Ben Fairclough hasbeen promoted to director ofmarketing and Web developmentfor the Big East Conference.Dawn Foss was married to DaleDickey on August 11, 2007.Elisha (Stevens) Hopkins and

Michael Hopkins ’05 were mar-ried on September 16, 2006.Eric Reddy recently acceptedthe position of director of salesfor America East in Cambridge,Mass. Eric and Maren Madorehave relocated to Fall River,Mass. Maren is the manager ofthe annual fund and specialevents at Friends Academy inNorth Dartmouth, Mass. She isalso pursuing her master’s in pro-fessional writing at the Universityof Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

2005—Michael Hopkins andElisha (Stevens) Hopkins ’04were married on September 16,2006. Heather Onorato andJeremy Nicklow were married onAugust 18, 2007, and currentlylive in Morgantown, W.Va.Heather works at Secure US.

2006—Lori Blaisdell and herfiancé, Ryan Connon ’03,recently bought a house inFairfield, where they reside withtheir four pets, Casper, Riley,Simon and Henry.

2007—Ashley Berube hasjoined Kennebec Federal SavingsBank as a customer service repre-sentative.GRADUATE PRO-

GRAM

1988—Darlene Ratte ’86,M.B.A. was appointed secretaryof the executive board of theUnited Way of Mid-Maine inJune 2007.

1997—Suzanne PoolerM.B.A. was appointed as the vicechair of the executive board ofthe United Way of Mid-Maine inJune 2007.

1998—Heidi (Poland)Bernier M.B.A. and Ray Berniercelebrated the birth of their son,Ty, on June 24. Heidi is theathletic director at Thomas.

2000—Petrea Allen M.B.A. isnow the senior mortgage loanofficer of The First, a home-financing company in theRockland, Rockport and Camdenarea. Petrea joined The First inMay 2005 and has 22 years ofbanking and mortgage-lendingexperience. She lives in Rockland.

2003—Geoff Burnham ’01,M.B.A. and Erin Hartley ’00were married on July 28, 2007,in Cape Elizabeth. The couplereside in Charlotte, N.C.

C O N TA C T A C L A S S C O R R E S P O N D E N T

1961–63Ann (Cyr) Pinkham ’[email protected]

1979–82Wendy (Iwans) Bean ’80, ’[email protected]

1983–88Darlene Ratte ’86, M.B.A. ’[email protected]

1996–98Angela (Downing)

Stinchfield ’[email protected]

1999–2002Heather (Farrell) Orser ’01,

M.B.A. ’[email protected]

2003–05Stefanie Rioux ’05, M.B.A. ’[email protected]

2006Ron Dexter ’06 [email protected]

2007Ashley Berube ’07 [email protected]

Kari Grant ’07 [email protected]

Or contact Katie Greenlaw ’02,director of public and alumni relations, [email protected]

Phot

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Ron

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34 T H O M A S M A G A Z I N E F A L L 2 0 0 7 35

tures are applied to higher educa-tion. Like their counterpart in theUnited States, the educational systems throughout MENA offerassociate’s, bachelor’s, master’sand doctoral degrees. Unlike theAmerican system, almost allprospective students must pass acomprehensive entrance examina-tion, known as the tawjihi. Insome Arab countries, such as Iraq,students’ scores dictate the type ofinstitution they can attend (com-munity college versus university) aswell as their career choices. Not

surprisingly, among men and women the highest-scoring stu-dents go into medicine and engineering.

In the United States, female enrollment in colleges and uni-versities since 1979 has exceeded male enrollment. For women,higher education is generally seen as a means to greater autono-my, self-confidence, leadership, freedom of choice and empow-erment. This trend is also apparent in the Middle East. For themost part, women make up 50 to 60 percent of the studentpopulation in colleges and universities in Jordan, Iran, Palestine,Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and some of theGulf States. In Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, womenoutnumber male students 5 to 1 (partly due to more menstudying abroad). Three exceptions to this trend include thewar-torn nations of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the poornation of Yemen.

THREATS AND VIOLENCEAfter 25 years of war and violence at the hands of the Soviets,Mujahideen, Taliban, and U.S. forces, Afghanistan’s educationalinfrastructure has been sorely damaged. Less than 15 percent ofthe population attend institutions of higher education; of thatnumber, only 17 percent are women. In Iraq, war and sectarianviolence have paralyzed colleges and universities. The currentclimate of instability in Iraq has turned what was once the mostprogressive Arab nation in terms of women’s rights and free-doms into a state where one’s personal liberty is increasinglycontrolled by violent fundamentalists. Academics and womenare especially targeted for kidnapping and assassination; as aresult, over 30 percent of university professors have fled thecountry, and women are usually forced to stay at home in orderto be safe.

BY JUDITH HANSEN-CHILDERS M.B.A. ’96Yemen, on the other hand, is still adjusting to the trials of

unification. Once divided into two ideologically opposed coun-tries, the now united Republic of Yemen faces numerous chal-lenges, not the least of which is the struggle to join two dis-parate economic systems. The result is that Yemen is one of thepoorest countries in the Arab world in terms of gross domesticproduct per capita. If one compares the literacy rate of womenin Yemen (30 percent) to men (70 percent), it is clear thatwomen’s educational opportunities have been limited by botheconomic and social factors.

In the other MENA nations, women’s educational and careerchoices are varied. In the oil-rich Gulf States of Kuwait,Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, both men andwomen enjoy a level of educational subsidization unknown toAmericans. In Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, however, men andwomen are segregated during their educational years. The SaudiArabian Kingdom goes a step further and maintains this separa-tion throughout women’s public lives. Consequently, men andwomen are forbidden to publicly collaborate in business or edu-cation, thus limiting women’s economic and career opportuni-ties. A major drawback to this system is that few Saudi womenare motivated to pursue advanced degrees. In contrast, Tunisia,a strong supporter of women’s rights and advancement, notonly boasts a nearly 60-percent female enrollment in co-educa-tional institutions, but 33 percent of their college professors arewomen as well. Fortunately, the majority of MENA nationsreflect this integrated approach.

SCIENCE POPULAR AMONG WOMENMuch like that of their American counterparts, women’s edu-cational choices in the MENA include (but are not limitedto) business, computer science, economics, engineering, law,literature, mathematics, medicine, social sciences, pharmacol-ogy, physical and natural sciences and political science. Aninteresting difference, however, is in the number of womenpursuing mathematics, science and engineering degrees: TheU.S. falls behind several MENA countries in the percentageof female science graduates. The countries in which the ratioof women graduating with science degrees exceeds that of theU.S. include Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar and Turkey.

Education is one of the most important tools of women’sempowerment—it allows them to obtain the power of knowl-edge and the necessary skills for effective participation andleadership in their local and global communities. In the pur-suit of freedom and autonomy, Middle Eastern and NorthAfrican women are working to overcome the barriers offemale stereotypes, violence, and, sometimes, war in order tomake a greater contribution to society.

Judith Hansen-Childers M.B.A. ’96 is the chair of the Departmentof Arts and Sciences and an assistant professor of computer sciences atThomas. She has a bachelor’s from Trinity College, an M.B.A. andMSCTE from Thomas, and a graduate certificate in Middle EasternStudies from American Public University. In 2004, Hansen-Childersparticipated in a faculty development study tour on contemporaryArab culture and society in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Shehas taught courses on the Middle East, terrorism, homeland security,and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

WHAT DOES THE typical college student think ofwhen he or she hears the words “woman” and “Middle

East” in the same sentence? Not surprisingly, when asked theirperceptions of the average Middle Eastern woman, most of mystudents describe the media image familiar to us all: a womancovered head to toe in heavy black cloth. A number add thatArab women are denied the basic rights that Americans enjoy,such as the freedom to pursue an education or a career.

Admittedly, a number of women do wear a burqa or, morecommonly, a simple headscarf, but in the West we shouldn’tassume that it is a universal sign of women’s oppression or anindication of their lack of educational opportunities. The coun-tries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), while shar-ing a common dominant religion, Islam, are economically andpolitically diverse, and women in these countries enjoy manydifferent levels of freedom and opportunity.

EDUCATION KEY IN MIDDLE EASTFor the most part, education is prized in the Middle East.According to historians, the Prophet Mohammed encouragedhis followers to learn to read and write and to teach others thesame, so as to spread knowledge throughout the world. Today,education is seen as the means to the social and economic trans-formation necessary to make the region competitive in the newglobal environment. Accordingly, the Arab states spend more oneducation relative to their gross national product than any othernations in the world, and one-third of all educational expendi-

Women’sAccess toEducationDespite U.S. perceptions of oppression,many women get university educationsin the Middle East and North Africa

MY PERSPECTIVE

“”

Tunisia, a strong supporter of women’s rights and

advancement,not only boasts a nearly 60 percent

female enrollment in co-ed institutions,but 33 percent of their college professors are women as well.

Judith Hansen-Childers, right, in Amman, Jordan

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