FARCASTING THE LIBERAL ARTS
"This novel is dedicated to Wabash College—its men, its faculty, and its legacy."
When was the last time you could walk into any Borders, Barnes & Nobles, or independent bookseller and read that inscription? Check out Ilium by Dan Simmons ’70.
The follow-up to the Hyperion novels that placed Simmons among the most respected writers of science fiction and became one of the most acclaimed and popular series in contemporary science fiction, Ilium is told, in part, by an unwillingly resurrected former classics scholar from Indiana. Simmons carries readers to a future reenactment of the Trojan War (not to mention an evening with Helen of Troy), through trysts and conflicts with the gods on Mars’ Mt. Olympos, across galaxies and back and forth in time while morphing into different characters, faxing and farcasting through various states of existence.
This is liberal arts science fiction, with enough proto-Greeks and gods to enthrall Jack Charles; references to great literature (not to mention krakens and voynixes) to cheer Simmons’ mentors Walt Fertig and Bert Stern; and religious implications worthy of a senior seminar, underpinned by enough physics, biology, and astronomy (quantum teleportation) to be a freshman tutorial in science.
And continuing a Simmons tradition of weaving Wabash friends into his work, the writer’s resurrected scholar is named Hockenberry, after Dan’s close friend and fellow writer at Wabash, Duane Hockenberry ’70. Even Simmons’ classmate and DePauw classics professor Keith Nightenhelser ’71 makes cameo appearances as his resurrected self ("a friendly bear of a man") throughout the book, including the last scene, set among prehistoric men and women in Indiana, 1200 B.C.
Publisher’s Weekly called Ilium "an elegant monster of a novel, beautifully written, chock full of literary references, grand scenery and fascinating characters—Simmons at his best."
The New York Times warned readers that the novel is part one of a series, so "for answers to the mysteries laid out in Ilium, you will have to wait for the promised sequel. For now, matching wits with Simmons and his lively creations should be reward enough."
The Washington Post called Ilium "a doozie" of a novel, and Library Journal echoes, "highly recommended."
But the community to whom the book is dedicated heard the story first. Simmons returned to campus in April before the book’s publication and read from his author’s proof of the book for an audience packed into Center 216. And as life imitates fiction, Nightenhelser was there, too, once again among cavemen (and women), circa 2003.
(Read more about Ilium and Simmons at www.dansimmons.com)
A LEGACY OF DISCOVERY
Here’s a proud legacy to pass along: in 1999, David Cushman ’61 was honored with the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Science for his discovery of captopril, the drug now used by millions to treat hypertension and congestive heart failure.
This year, Cushman’s fellow Wabash chemistry major Robert Roeder ’64 will be presented with the 2003 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for his pioneering studies.
Nobel Laureate in Medicine Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, chairman of the international jury of researchers that selected recipients of the Medical Research Awards explains:
"Roeder opened up the process by which nucleated cells copy DNA into RNA. Because RNA serves as the blueprint for proteins, this reaction—called transcription—underlies virtually all physiological events. It determines which information is retrieved from the DNA and thus dictates how a pancreas cell produces insulin and how red blood cells produce hemoglobin. Roeder’s ability to reproduce transcription in a test tube provided a tool with which he could tease apart the reaction and identify its vital components. His test-tube system allowed him and other scientists to generate enormous insights into the mechanism by which multi-cellular organisms decode the genome."
Roeder’s research has numerous applications in medical science, most notably, perhaps, in advancing scientists’ efforts to understand, treat, and prevent cancer.
A chemistry major/biology minor at Wabash and the son of a Dubois County, Indiana farmer, Roeder now heads the laboratory bearing his name at Rockefeller University in New York. Word of his most recent honor came on the eve of the dedication of the College’s new science building. It’s hard to imagine a better dedication gift for the chemistry and biology departments, or a higher mark of excellence for Wabash students to aim for.
LITERARY LITTLE GIANT
When we entered Kyle Nickel’s photo essay "Unlikely Haven" (WM Fall/Winter 2002) in the national competition to honor the best articles of the year in college and university magazines, we didn’t realize the Wabash senior would be up against a Pulitzer Prize winner and some of the most respected professional writers in the country, let alone that he’d be the only student entered in the competition, and that there was no separate category for student writers. It was literally Wabash vs. Notre Dame.
And the Little Giant took the day, winning a silver medal from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for his insightful, skillfully crafted account of his immersion in the lives of Wild Bill, Les, and the other patrons of Stoney’s Bar in Crawfordsville. The 23-year-old’s fellow winners included that Pulitzer Prize winner, a National Magazine Award winner, and writers for The New York Times, Washington Post, and Atlantic Monthly.
Kyle’s work earned WM our first national award and put us on the winner’s platform with magazines from Brown University, Penn State, Cornell, Stanford, Middlebury, Claremont, Harvard, Yale, and Portland University in the best article category.
Read more of Kyle’s work in this issue’s End Notes.
TWO MORE FOR WABASH
While WM was slipping into the ranks of CASE award-winning magazines, the College’s offices of Admissions and Alumni Affairs were blasting in.
CASE honored Wabash’s class agent system with a Seal of Excellence award, recognizing the work of the alumni affairs team—Mike Warren, Michele Tatar, and Heather Bazzani—under the direction of Tom Runge ’71.
CASE also recognized the College’s alumni admissions program with a Circle of Excellence Award. The program, originally developed by Runge as a way of engaging alumni more intimately in the student recruitment process, is now managed by Steve Marcou ’93, and has resulted in back-to-back years of more than 1,000 alumni referrals to the admissions office.
Dean for College Advancement Joe Emmick ’92 was understandably pleased, noting that Wabash has now won four CASE awards in the last two years.
"So much of our work is behind the scenes in support of Wabash’s educational program that it’s nice when our programs are honored by our peers in higher education."
VAN DYKE'S MAGIC DUST
What has Emmy-winning actor Dick Van Dyke to do with the Wabash theater department? Just ask Marsh Jones ’50, a friend of the actor from his childhood days, when Van Dyke spent a year living in Crawfordsville. We’ll let Marsh tell the story:
Recently, my wife and I attended the Wabash Theater production of The Time of Your Life, and the production was excellent! I just had to tell the director, Professor Mike Abbott ’85, how much we had enjoyed the evening.
I woke him from his sleep about 8:45 on Saturday morning, and he graciously heard my remarks. I told him that, in addition to the hard work of his cast and crew, there was something about Ball Theater that had aided his production. Of course he wanted to know what that could be.
I told him that there was magic dust in the theater!
Realizing the professor had now probably crossed me off as a nut, I quickly recounted that when the theater facility was built, all the houses in that block of Grant Avenue were torn down. And the house that was located where the stage now stands was the home of the star of an Academy-Award-winning film.
The sound of his voice suggested he was awaking up!
"What show?" he asked.
"Mary Poppins."
"Are you telling me that Dick Van Dyke lived in Crawfordsville?"
"Yes," I told him, "and the family, Dick, and Jerry lived in the house that was located where the Wabash stage stands today. You see, the magic dust still must be there!"
Of course, I wanted to get Dick’s take on this. So I called the Screen Actors Guild and eventually got the right number. I left my message on the answering machine, and that night about 10 p.m., Dick called me from Malibu. I told him about my theory and the magic dust, and he said, as he laughed, that there must be something to it. He agreed that, if there was really any magic dust left, it is now the property of the Wabash theater department."
"At first, I thought this guy was nuts," theater professor Mike Abbott ’85 admits. "But when I found out he was right, I told the cast of the show. They were delighted by the thought of it."
"A GENTLEMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL"
You’d have to look hard to find a dean of students more beloved than Charlie Quillin ’60 was at Point Park College. Perhaps all the way to Wabash and Quillin’s own dean—Norman Moore H’63.
A cover story in the college’s magazine celebrates Quillin as "honest and forthright," "a gentleman of the old school," and doesn’t overlook the Wabash biology major’s sense of humor—on one page, he’s pictured entertaining kids while wearing an Easter Bunny suit!
At the gathering marking his retirement as dean, there were so many people offering their best wishes that campus services had to provide two separate seatings for the event in the college’s Alumni Park. All that after the alumni association had already honored Quillin during Homecoming.
"It was a measure of how much he is beloved by students, alumni, and staff that so many of them told me to have the search committee find someone just like Charlie," Point Park President Katherine Henderson says. "Alums have such respect for him that I think he could still call them up and scold them."