Musical Introduction Gabe Morton '08 - Guitar
Shawn Cole '07 - Bass
John Cooper, Faculty Member in Music - Saxophone
Welcome Remarks
David Hales, President
PRESENTATION OF SELECTED SCHOLARSHIPS AND HONORS Center for Applied Human Ecology Award Presented by Gordon Longsworth, Director of GIS Lab
The Center for Applied Human Ecology Award is given to a student who has shown outstanding accomplishment in the area of Geographic Information Systems, community planning or other work within communities in the region. On behalf of the students, faculty, and staff of CAHE, I am pleased to present the this year's award to Ivan Willig '08.
Edward J. Meade, Jr. Educational Studies Award Presented by Bonnie Tai, Faculty Member in Education
Each year an Educational Studies student is selected to receive an award in the name of Edward J. Meade. Ed was a COA trustee for a number of years, and a strong supporter of the Educational Studies Program here. He died in 1994 at the age of 63. For nearly thirty years Ed was Chief Program Officer for the Ford Foundation's programs and projects related to schools and youth, and improving the quality of public schools. He began at the Ford Foundation in 1960, directing its efforts to improve the professional abilities of teachers and later directed a public education program that encouraged innovative practices among public school teachers.
This year's Edward J. Meade Award goes to Elizabeth "Leeza" Danylevich '08. Leeza has engaged in a range of unique teaching and learning experiences including serving as an instructor at the Living Earth School, learning and living with children in the woods and hollows of central Virginia; working with elementary-aged children in a summer Waldorf School; serving as an art instructor privately and in an artist's studio class. As her commitment to teaching clarified and solidified she decided to complete the Educational Studies pathway to teacher certification. Her special interests in the natural environment, organic agriculture, art, languages and music help define Leeza as an interdisciplinary teacher in the tradition of COA. In her own words Leeza believes, "that educating is one of the best ways to support positive happenings in the world. As I've grown, and my love for the beings of this earth has deepened, it has dawned on me that teaching may indeed be my gift back to this wonderful place. I hope that, in following this path, I can inspire and support the natural wonder and awe that children hold, and facilitate their unfolding into fulfilled, steady and aware adults."
PRESENTATION OF AWARDS MEMORIALIZING FACULTY
Daniel H. Kane Jr. Award
Presented by Kenneth S. Cline, Faculty Member in Environmental Law and Policy
This year's Daniel H. Kane, Jr. Award for outstanding work in conservation and conservation law at COA is awarded to Shoshona Smith. Shoshona has a passion for land conservation. She has taken courses in environmental law, agricultural policy, history of the American Conservation Movement, land protection, and river conservation. She has blended her interests in sustainable agriculture and watershed protection with learning the policy and legal tools to protect special places. In addition to her land trust class; this past winter Shoshona did an exemplary independent study with Maine Coast Heritage Trust evaluating the use and effectiveness of innovative mechanisms to finance land conservation. Shoshona is currently doing a post graduation internship with the Frenchman's Bay Conservancy.
Craig Greene Scholarship Award Presented by Nishanta Rajakaruna, Faculty Member in Botany
It is my great honor to present the Craig Greene Memorial Scholarship in memory of Craig Greene, who was the professor of botany at COA from 1980 to 2003. I am proud to say that I had the good fortune of studying botany with Craig from 1990 to 1994. Craig was my teacher, my academic advisor, and above all my dear friend. I spent my first night here in America at Craig's house, had my first breakfast of homemade blueberry pancakes and maple syrup with him the next morning, took my first hike in Acadia National Park with him that afternoon, had my first homemade pasta and first home brewed beer with him that evening and played my first darts game with him at the end of the day • All this in one day, my first day in America.
The rest of my time here with Craig was equally eventful and memorable, filled with wonderful memories of botanical adventures, great meals, home-brewed beer, and hours and hours of playing darts on Friday nights. Craig simply knew how to share his joys and always treated his friends with respect and love.
Craig showed us the joys of doing botany and shared with us his passion for plants both in the field and in the lab. Craig was not just another botanist • he was an excellent taxonomist and an attentive field botanist. He taught us to keep our eyes wide open in the field and in the lab and to pay close attention to those subtle differences in plants that often set the stage for botanical research from plant taxonomy to plant ecology and evolution.
Craig was not just a botanist, he took great interest in all activities of the college, the national park, and the island community. It is because of Craig's broad interests that span from botany to conservation to COA's landscape to its governance that I know he would have absolutely loved to meet this year's recipient of the scholarship.
This is year's recipient is no stranger to this community, he shares with Craig the passion for plants and their environment. He is an excellent botanist with skills in both plant taxonomy and ecology and was the recent winner of research grants from both GCA and NASA. His enthusiasm for field botany, just like Craig's, is nothing short of infectious.
His ongoing, yearlong senior project on the ecology of vernal pool plants of Mount Desert Island is the first such study for eastern North America and will no doubt reveal valuable information for ANP and the region. His current work on vernal pool plants was recently highlighted at the Northeast Natural History Conference X in Albany, NY. He is definitely on his way to considering botany as a career and this would be a great way to recognize his love for field botany. And, like Craig, this year's recipient has always played an active role in the governance and other activities of the college. It is my great pleasure to announce Brett Ciccotelli as this year's recipient of the Craig Greene Memorial Scholarship.
William H. Drury, Jr. Prize in Natural History Presented by John G. T. Anderson, Faculty Member in Zoology
William H. Drury, Jr. Chair in Evolution, Ecology, and Natural History This award honors William Drury - biologist, ecologist, researcher and COA faculty member from 1976 until his death in 1992. Bill helped launch the Master of Philosophy in Human Ecology degree program and received the first honorary MPhil in 1991. Before arriving at COA, Bill served as director of education and director of research at Massachusetts Audubon Society, and taught evolutionary biology and ecology at Harvard from 1952 to 1976. At COA, Bill taught ecology and natural history, investigating with students the connections between plants, landscape, animals, people and culture.
Jamus Drury was the unanimous selection by the science faculty to receive this year's Drury Prize in Ecology/Natural History. Faculty members spoke highly of Jamus' enthusiasm, energy and excitement with learning, his willingness to assist other students, and the genuine joy that he seemed to express in his education. Faculty members were also extremely impressed with the quality of his senior project, including the stunning display of photography of Tern Island, which in itself would have constituted a worthy senior project. Overall the faculty felt that Bill would have thoroughly enjoyed having Jamus in the classroom, in the field, and in discussion sections and feel confident that Jamus will make significant contributions to our understanding and appreciation of Natural History.
Richard Slaton Davis and Norah Deakin Davis Scholarship Award Presented by John Visvader, Faculty Member in Philosophy Richard Slayton ("Dick") Davis was COA's first philosopher, arriving in the college's second year. He was devoted to examining the philosophical underpinnings of Human Ecology until he passed away in 1982. A brilliant and inspiring teacher, in and out of the classroom, Dick saw both the big picture and the smallest details - and showed how they were interconnected. This year, the Davis Fellowship honors two outstanding students in the contemplative, aesthetic and philosophical aspects of Human Ecology that Dick loved.
Michael Griffith has pursued a broad range of subjects in his career at COA with particular interest in philosophy, literature and social sciences. His philosophical and literary essays are of unusual merit and sophistication and he has been particularly interested in Continental philosophy and Critical studies. Michael has just returned from a term of philosophical study at the Central European University in Budapest.
Diana Escobedo Lastiri won the Dreier prize for art last year and has brought to her studies at COA a depth and range of skills that almost defy characterization. She has shown extraordinary talent and dedication, remarkable intellectual depth and a critical eye. Equally important, she brings a keen visual aesthetic and an interest in narrative and storytelling to her other academic work in anthropology, philosophy, history, and mathematics. Diana possess both remarkable creativity as well as self-discipline and motivation. Diana is always generous in lending a helping hand and in thoughtfully discussing ideas with other students, faculty, and staff. Diana embodies the searching, interdisciplinary, and artistic spirit that is a hallmark of College of the Atlantic. She served her internship working with the photographer Steve Double in London and is at present studying photography in Paris.
Original Composition by Elizabeth Nappi '08 Elizabeth Nappi '08 • Alto Saxophone
John Cooper • Piano
Patrick Wilson '11 - Cello
THE FOLLOWING HONORS WILL BE PRESENTED AT CONVOCATION IN SEPTEMBER, 2008
Rebecca Clark '96 Memorial Scholarship
John C. Dreier Scholarship
Louisa R. Dreier Scholarship
August Heckscher Scholarship
Eleanor Scott Mallinckrodt Prize
Maurine and Robert Rothschild Scholarship
Alice Blum Yoakum Scholarship
College of the Atlantic, 105 Eden Street, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Email: inquiry@coa.edu
