On Campus
winter 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 5
4 winter 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine
On Campus
A roundup of news from
campus. For more, go to
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
has
once again included St. Lawrence in its list
of “Best Values in Private Liberal Arts Col-
leges.”
Kiplinger’s rates only 100 liberal
arts colleges, and St. Lawrence ranks
67th, up from 73rd last year.
St. Lawrence has donated six automatic
external defibrillator (AED) units to
local police departments
in Canton,
Potsdam and Ogdensburg. AEDs are
portable electronic devices that can be
used to help prevent cardiac arrest in
emergency situations.
U.S. News and World Report
has named
St. Lawrence a top-performing school for
low-income students
—those who receive
Pell Grants, the federal financial aid
program. Among services University
officials cited as reasons for the recog-
nition are the Collegiate Science and
Technology Entry (CSTEP), Ronald
E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achieve-
ment and Higher Education Opportu-
nity (HEOP) programs, the supportive
nature of the First-Year Program, and
general academic counseling. “St.
Lawrence does a great job helping our
low-income students not only afford
college but also succeed in college,” said
Marsha Sawyer, project director for C-
STEP and the McNair grant.
St. Lawrence hosted the third annual
Upstate New York Undergraduate Research
Conference in September.
Students from
the New York Six Liberal Arts Consor-
tium (St. Lawrence, Colgate, Hamilton,
Hobart and William Smith, Skidmore
and Union), from Siena College, and
from the Associated Colleges campus-
es—Clarkson, SUNY Canton, SUNY
Potsdam and also St. Lawrence—who
had been doing summer independent/
mentored research were invited to
participate in poster sessions or oral
presentation-performances.
What started as a backup to the way
a St. Lawrence instructor prepared
lengthy classroom demonstrations has
turned into a popular Internet website
and resource.
Professor of Physics Daniel
W. Koon has created his own YouTube
channel to host videos of his scientific
demonstrations.
It has received more
than 100,000 viewers from the U.S.,
South Korea, India and the U.K., and
has more than 50 subscribers. To view
Koon’s YouTube channel, visit www.
youtube.com/user/KoonPhysics.
fyi
The Ubiquitous St. Lawrence
The names “St. Lawrence” and “Saint Lawrence” (the latter belonging to the person) turn up
in an eclectic array of places, as reported from time to time in this magazine – churches, of
course, but also restaurants, derelict buses, street names and so on. But this is the first time
we’ve seen either name on a CD cover that’s not home-grown. Ken Hughes ’98 sent us this
picture, explaining, “I bought (the CD) when I was studying in France. Having sung in the
Laurentian Singers, I was a big fan of Palestrina. I remember thinking it was too good to be
true – Palestrina
and
‘Saint Laurent.’”
50 Years and Counting
Fifty years on and animated as ever,
Executive Secretary of Student Life
Elaine White has reached a rare mile-
stone in her career at St. Lawrence.
Last fall, she celebrated her 50th year
of employment, and so did a lot of
current and former colleagues, friends,
deans and her two sons at a surprise
reception in the Winston Room.
Since 1963, White has worked in mul-
tiple office buildings and served with six
presidents and numerous deans. She says
her job is always different and always fun.
“You think you’ve seen it all until you get
a new group of students or administrators
and something new happens,” says White.
“Things change all the time.”
When White started at St. Lawrence,
the comprehensive fee was $2,350, there
were 13 Greek houses and enrollment
was 1,350, a little more than half of
today’s. “Over five decades, Elaine White
has worked with hundreds of faculty and
staff, and been a very special and trusted
resource for thousands of students,”
wrote David B. Laird Jr. ’65, one of her
many former bosses, in a letter that was
read at the gathering. “She probably
knows more of the untold history of SLU
than anyone alive today.”
“This is the first building that I worked
in,” White says as she points to a faded
black and white picture of the old “Ad
Building,” approximately where ODY
Library now sits. “I worked on the third
floor, and in the summer, man was it hot.”
People ask her, “Which dean was best?”
White, with a look of amusement in her
eyes, takes the high road. “Like I’m going
to tell you that,” she jokes. She does say,
“Each dean has been a little different. We
find our own pattern.”
A lot has changed since 1963, but St.
Lawrence is still a great place to work,
White observes. “I don’t want to be any-
where but here.”
–Ashley Richardson ’15
Car Charger
Vice President for Finance Kathryn
Mullaney happily cuts the ribbon as
government officials and industry
representatives gathered on campus in
late September to christen the arrival
of St. Lawrence County’s first electric
car charging station, on campus near
Newell Field House.
The device, visible in the background,
looks like a gas pump but delivers
electricity that is cheaper and more en-
vironmentally friendly than fossil fuels,
although it takes a lot longer to fill up a
car, about six hours. The station is free
and open to the public
It’s all part of a $1 million grant from
the New York State Energy Research
and Development Authority, in
partnership with National Grid and
ChargePoint Inc., Campbell, Calif., to
install 80 charging stations statewide.
The hope is that if charging stations are
available, more customers will decide to
invest in electric cars.
–RD
Among the surprises at the reception in honor of a clearly moved ElaineWhite’s 50 years
of employment at St. Lawrence was the appearance of her sons, Tom, left, and Don ’89n.
The St. Lawrence Fund Needs Your Support!
Our goals – $5 million and 10,000 donors – help assure that the St.
Lawrence experiences that transform our students can continue for
the next generation. Keep the tradition strong!
Penalty Box, Summer 2013
We assigned Allen Splete to the wrong
class in our article on the Beta Temple
renovation (page 14). He is a proud
member of the great Class of 1960.
And we assigned Baylor Johnson to the
wrong department in the caption on page
18. He is in philosophy, not psychology.
In “Laurentian Reviews,” we failed to
give Debora Georgatos ’78 a class year
and the courtesy of a boldfaced name
that traditionally accompanies such a
designation.
St. Lawrence
regrets these errors.
By the (International Study) Numbers
St. Lawrence’s rank in the nation among four-year institutions for the total
number of students taking part in semester-long study-abroad programs in
2011-12.
St. Lawrence’s rank in the nation among baccalaureate institutions for the
total number of students who studied abroad for any duration in 2011-12.
Percentage of St. Lawrence students who took part in either a semester-or
year-long study-abroad program in 2012-13.
18
th
27
th
51
%
