Sandra Chu was named the head coach of William Smith crew in July of 2002. She joined the Herons following three seasons as an assistant coach of women’s crew at Kansas State.
Chu wasted little time making an impact on the Herons’ program, mentoring six All-Americans in her first four seasons, while guiding William Smith to consecutive Liberty League Championships in 2004 and 2006. Over the past three seasons, the Herons have garnered the Liberty League Crew of the Year three times and the 2005 Liberty League Novice Crew of the Year, while Chu and her assistant have been selected the conference’s Coaching Staff of the Year all three times the award has been presented.
Widely respected in the rowing community, Chu is a member of the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Board of Directors and the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee. In 2006, she began a four-year term on the NCAA Division III Championship Committee. A graduate of the NCAA Women Coaches' Academy, Chu also travels the country, teaching a coxing clinic called “Chu on This: We Make Coxswains Faster,” a comprehensive seminar geared for all levels of coxswains.
An active member of the campus community, Chu serves on several committees, including the Fisher Center Steering Committee.
A 1991 graduate of Princeton, she served as an intern coach for the Tiger women’s rowing team in 1998-99 before joining the Wildcats. With the Tigers, Chu helped lead the third varsity four to a third place finish at the EAWRC Sprints Championships and an eighth place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Chu competed as a coxswain for the Tiger varsity crew from 1988 to 1991. An All-Ivy League selection, she earned medals at the EAWRC Sprints Championships in 1989 and 1991 and at the Head of the Charles Regatta in 1990. She also was a 1997 Master’s National Champion.
An accomplished mentor, Chu has coached athletes who have rowed for the men’s and women’s junior U.S. National teams, as well as the Senior Mexican National Team.
Chu earned a master’s degree in English and creative writing from New York University in 1996, and has earned national recognition for her poems, which have been published in many journals and anthologies.
Since 2000, Jennifer Morris has been the Director of the Pioneer Library System, a cooperative public library system in upstate New York, serving the 42 public libraries in Ontario, Livingston, Wayne and Wyoming counties, with headquarters in Canandaigua.
Prior to that she was Associate Librarian at Hobart & William Smith Colleges for 7 years, and has worked in several public and academic libraries throughout her career.
She received her BA from the University of California at Davis and her Masters in Library Science from Syracuse University.
Jennifer has been active in the New York Library Association throughout her career. She was president of the Section on Management of Resources and Technical Services, served as Chair of the NYLA Legislative Committee and then was elected to serve as President of NYLA in 2005-06. She chaired the statewide Nylink Advisory Committee, served on OCLC Users Council, and has participated in many regional and statewide committees. She has given many presentations, including convening and presiding at the 2007 American Library Association Annual Conference program, Transforming Your Staff.
Richard C. Salter is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges where he currently chairs the Religious Studies Department and teaches courses on Global Christianity. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago; he received his B.A. from Hobart College.
He is especially interested in the intersections of theology and the social sciences and has published articles on religious group formation in the Caribbean, practical theology, Rastafari, and Civil Religion in film. He also actively publishes on pedagogical issues in Religious Studies. His current research explores American Civil Religion from the methodological perspective of practical theology.
His specific interests in gender arises from both his pedagogical and research interests: how does gender shape Christianity? How is gender shaped by Christianity?
Susan E. Henking is professor of religious studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges; she received her B.A. From Duke University and her M.A. And Ph.D. From the University of Chicago. Her scholarly and pedagogical work focuses on theories of religion and their relation to feminism, women’s lives, gender, and sexuality.
She is co-editor of Que(e)rying Religion (1997) and Mourning Religion (forthcoming, 2008). Susan has also published on the relation of religion to higher education in the United States. She has led teaching workshops that focus on developing an inclusive pedagogy both under the auspices of the American Academy of Religion and at the Colleges.
She is also founding series editor of “Teaching Religious Studies,” published by Oxford University Press, and has been Senior Research Associate at HERS (Higher Education Resource Services), for whom she also co-facilitates institutes in higher education leadership at Bryn Mawr College and Wellesley College.
Susan was the elected secretary of the American Academy of Religion and served on the AAR Board for nine years. Susan spent six years as department chair, has been a leader in interdisciplinary programs, and served three years in senior academic leadership at the Colleges.
Mark Wenderlich (Lighting Designer/Technical Director for Dance) is in his 12th year at HWS. He holds a MFA from Syracuse University and a MA from the University of Iowa.
Mr. Wenderlich has designed for various guest artists at the colleges including: Lisa Steinberg, Sean Curran, Lisa Race, Claire Porter, Soundance, Pepatian, Ramos Dance, Jennifer Muller, Misnomer Dance Company, Lingo and Ananya Chatterjia. He has served as technical director for artists such as Maureen Fleming, Jane Comfort & Company, Marles Yearby, Second Hand Dance, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company.
Mr. Wenderlich is also a half time Associate Professor of Theatre at Keuka College, Executive Director of Geneva Arts and a professional actor/director. He holds membership in AEA, SAG and AFTRA and USITT. He was recently accepted as a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Artistically, Mark’s most recent work was directing for the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca during their 48 hour, 10 minute play marathon. Previous to that he directed a production of Edward Albee’s The Goat or who is Sylvia for the Shipping Dock Theatre in Rochester.
The Fisher Center was endowed with a $1 million gift from Emily and the late Richard Fisher, whose son Alexander graduated from Hobart College in 1993. Creation of the Fisher Center for the Study of Women and Men reflects a perfect intersection of the Colleges' coordinate history and trends in the study of gender throughout academe.
