Back to School

You can take the student out of the classroom, but you can't take the classroom out of the student.

During Reunion weekend, dozens of Hobart and William Smith alums got back into the academic swing of things with a series of Alumni College courses taught by HWS faculty.

From Siberia to Shakespeare, dancing to wine, alums got a chance to see the passion of the professors who teach future generations of HWS alums.

"It was great!" said Caroline Wenzel '05, who spent the morning exploring the architectural history of buildings on the Hill -- from Blackwell to McCormick -- during Associate Professor of Art History Michael Tinkler's "Gothic Revival at Hobart and William Smith" course.

"You live and study in these campus buildings, and you don't realize the history," said Wenzel.  "I wish I'd known all this when I was a student."

Other courses included:

• De-Facing Shakespeare with Assistant Professor of English Rob Carson
• The Journey Toward Stem Cell Therapy in Treating Human Diseases with Assistant Professor of Biology Kristy Kenyon
• Midterm Elections of 2010 with Professor of Political Science Iva Deutchman
• The Making and Meaning of Wine with Professor of Economics Bill Waller
• Two Cities: New York and Toronto with Professors Pat McGuire and Jim Spates
• Living with Uncertainty in our Natural Environment with Professor Emeritus of Geoscience Don Woodrow
• Siberia: Myth and Reality, Curse and Blessing with Assistant Professor of Biology Meghan Brown and Assistant Professor of Russian Area Studies Kristen Welsh
• Will Poverty Traps Keep the Bottom Billion Poor? with Professor of Economics Alan Frishman
• What Does "Meaning" Mean? with Professor Emeritus of History Marvin Bram

In Assistant Professor of Dance Michelle Ikle's "Dance, Standing Tall" seminar, alums had a chance to exercise their bodies as well as their minds.  Ikle led Nicole Davis '00, Liz Figura '05, Suzanne Baldwin '80, Toby Heidenreich '60 and Erica Miller '00 and her husband Adam Miller in finding their way of moving and focusing on dynamic sensation rather than "fixing" postural problems.

"It's amazing the recuperative benefits that come with five minutes a day of self-evaluation and focus on relieving stress within the body," Ikle said.

After one of the tension-releasing exercises, Adam Miller summed it all up: "That was awesome!"

• Reunion 2010 News and Coverage