Samuels’s sun rises in Japan

(photos by Imperial Household Agency of Japan)
Last fall, Richard Samuels ’73 was dashing around Japan trying to find a morning coat (formal men’s attire dating back to the 19th century), which he would be required to wear to the Imperial Palace when presented with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. “I had to rent what must have been the largest morning coat on the archipelago,” joked the 6-foot-4- inch Samuels. The Japanese government honored Samuels — the Ford International Professor of political science and director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — for his scholarship on their country as well as for promoting friendly relations between Japan and the United States.
    Samuels was one of approximately 40 award winners and only two foreign recipients present at the ceremony. His wife, Debra, was at his side in the Imperial Palace, which he described as beautiful in its elegant simplicity. The couple’s fascination with Japan began almost 40 years ago when they went on Colgate’s first study group there in 1972. The childhood sweethearts actually wed early so that Debra, a Lesley College student, could go on the study group with Richard. The bond they formed with their homestay family — which continues to this day — solidified their affection for Japan.
    “It was a deep immersion into the culture,” Samuels said of his experience with Colgate’s study group, which inspired him to create MIT’s Japan program in 1981, using what he called the “applied international studies” concept. “We require the students to learn the language, the history, and the culture before we’ll send them,” he explained.
    Adding to his numerous published works on Japanese politics, Samuels is currently writing a book about the March 2011 catastrophes that devastated the country: the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that triggered the massive tsunami and the nuclear power plant disaster that ensued. In the book, Samuels specifically addresses what he calls the “rhetoric of crisis” — how the country’s media, public, and politicians are debating the events’ impact.
    Samuels has facilitated positive relations between the United States and Japan as chairman of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission — a philanthropic foundation that supports American scholarship on Japan — and as chairman of the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange.
    Having lived in Japan for 11 years as Richard conducted his scholarship, the couple raised their two sons there. Reflecting on their experiences over the years, Debra (a food writer for the Boston Globe) recently published the cookbook My Japanese Table: A Lifetime of Cooking with Friends and Family. Dedicated to their homestay family of 1972, whom she called “an extension of our own,” it opens with a picture of the father, Dr. Chikanori Oishi, “who opened his heart and home to two young Americans and changed their lives.”

— Aleta Mayne


Reed given Presidential Early Career Award
Sasha Reed ’97 holds a sloth in a Brazilian rain forest.

By virtue of its name alone, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers isn’t one of those commendations that allows awardees to rest on their laurels. As President Barack Obama told the 2011 recipients, now the country expects even more from the cutting-edge scientists. Sasha Reed ’97, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, is up for the challenge. Reed was one of 94 people who were given the award — the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.
    Reed is something of a fortune teller of the land. Part of her job is to “gather information to help predict what our future world will look like if the climate changes in a certain variety of ways,” she explained. From where Reed is stationed in Moab, Utah, to the tropical forests in warmer climes, she looks at how global change is affecting various terrestrial ecosystems.
    In Moab, Reed works closely with land managers to help inform decisions about land use. Stretching out farther, to the Four Corners (where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet), she’s studying the landscape variability in nitrogen deposition from industrial sources. Another Southwestern-based project that Reed is digging into is the development of biofuel as an alternative energy resource. And, on an even larger scale, she travels to Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Hawaii to research “how global change is affecting those really carbon-rich parts of the world,” she explained.
    These are just some of the projects that keep Reed busy, but one of her favorite aspects of the job is when she has the opportunity to work with children. To ensure that her research is accessible to the public, Reed conducts outreach and teaching events. One program, called Expanding Your Horizons, exposes middle-school girls to the career possibilities in science, engineering, and math. “It’s just so much fun watching their eyes get big and blowing their minds about how cool their world is,” Reed said. “I love working with kids, and every chance I get, I make time for that.”

— Aleta Mayne


How he got to Sesame Street

After Big Bird was bullied on a recent episode of Sesame Street because the other birds said that his feet were too big and he was too yellow to join their club, Jamie Ostrov ’99 was there to offer the muppets advice. As a developmental psychologist and associate professor at University at Buffalo (UB), Ostrov researches different types of aggressive behavior in children. His work involving one of those subtypes of aggression — bullying — led him to Sesame Street. The show and an accom-panying series of webisodes tackle the national concern about bullying as part of the program’s educational mission. Ostrov was one of five experts who participated in the web series called “Happy to Be Me: An Anti-Bullying Discussion” that defines bullying and counsels parents and children on how to address the problem.
     Ostrov’s work has garnered the attention of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the U.S. Department of Education, for which he is one of the consultants who helped develop a uniform definition of bullying. In addition, Ostrov has assisted the federal StopBullying.gov initiative in adapting bullying-prevention materials for young children.
    Although his research on aggression got under way as a Colgate student, Ostrov’s curiosity about the topic was set into motion much earlier — when he started martial arts classes as a child. “In traditional Japanese karate, you’re trained to avoid conflict,” the third-degree black belt said. “Trying to promote interdependence and social harmony were values that were not only instilled in me by my parents, but also solidified in my martial arts training — and it stuck.” Later, as a camp counselor in high school and director in college, Ostrov pursued his fondness for working with children. At camp, Ostrov witnessed a lot of behavioral problems, and he wondered, “What can we do?”
    His interests and experience merged when, as a rising senior at Colgate, Ostrov was a summer research assistant in the child psychiatry branch of the National Institutes of Health. He attended a talk by child psychologist Nicki Crick about relational aggression (undermining social relationships with others). Crick had developed a questionnaire that measured teachers’ opinions about which children used relational aggression. Excited by Crick’s findings and seeing an opportunity to make an impact on the field, Ostrov proposed to his adviser, Colgate psychology professor Carrie Keating, that he build on the research for his senior thesis. Over the next year, Ostrov and Keating observed local preschool children to test Crick’s research.
    Noting the extraordinary time commitment and skills required for the project, Keating said, “This could not have been done by any ordinary student. Not everyone can successfully negotiate relationships with children, teachers, and parents — but Jamie could do it all.” The first person to take “a paper and pencil measure and put [Crick’s] research to the test to show how accurate it was,” Ostrov was working at a master’s level, Keating said. And the mountain of data — which kept Ostrov and Keating in the lab into the wee hours of the night — was strong enough to get published in the prestigious journal Social Development. Bringing the experience full circle, Ostrov then attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota, where Crick became his mentor.
    Today, as he continues to study aggression in early childhood, Ostrov’s work is an expansion of what he started at Colgate. “We’re trying to capture the behaviors early on so that we can effectively intervene and reduce them,” he explained.
    “He’s developed into a researcher who has a very keen eye for behavior at a very young age that is likely to eventually cause significant problems in terms of forming relationships,” Keating said.
    As director of UB’s Social Development Laboratory, Ostrov is now training the next generation of researchers. He and his students conduct workshops for early childhood educators, parents, and families in western New York. “We’re trying to reach as many people as we can,” Ostrov said. “If we want to get a handle on bullying and aggressive behavior in children, then we need to know what it is and what to do about it. Many families, educators, and even practitioners don’t realize that aggression is really problematic. They think it’s just boys being boys or girls being girls. Our efforts are to dispel those myths and disseminate good information so that we can all work together to decrease some of these problems in kids.”

— Aleta Mayne


Guide to the finish line


Tiffany Alvarado McKenna ’00 (left) guides Sarah Heller (second from left) through the 2011 New York City marathon. (Also pictured, two other Achilles International volunteers)

Tiffany Alvarado McKenna ’00 has run four New York City marathons, several triathlons, and numerous other races. These feats are impressive in and of themselves, but what’s more remarkable is that they weren’t McKenna’s races — she helped others compete. McKenna is a volunteer for Achilles International, a nonprofit organization that pairs athletes who have disabilities with able-bodied “guides” who help them train and compete. Recently, she was recognized as the Achilles Volunteer of the Month for being “dedicated, enthusiastic, and caring toward all Achilles athletes” as well as for “her upbeat attitude and ability to always get the job done.”
    “Different athletes need different things,” McKenna said in explanation of the range in disabilities of those in the club. “For people who have had an amputation, you might be helping them put on their prosthetic leg after the swim portion of a triathlon. For people in wheelchairs, you’re looking on the ground for places where their wheels might get stuck and helping them ride over rough terrain. In general, for all athletes, you’re their eyes and ears — and a cheerleader.”
    Having joined the club nine years ago, McKenna has helped so many athletes that she’s lost count. “It’s been a lot” was the closest she could get to a number. For the past year and a half, McKenna has mostly been guiding Sarah Heller, who has a traumatic brain injury. McKenna’s role is to provide running advice to Heller during training and races, such as when to hydrate, have an energy gel, and keep or change pace. She also helps coordinate the race-day logistics. “Sarah’s an inspiration, because a year and a half ago, she couldn’t run a mile, and this year, she ran the New York City marathon and her first triathlon,” McKenna said. “She always sees the good in everything, and it’s amazing what she’s accomplished.”
    McKenna is also a member of Achilles International’s junior board and has written two grants for the nonprofit — most recently securing $19,000 for triathlon equipment. She also volunteers for the nonprofit organization Puppies Behind Bars, which commissions prisoners to train service dogs. Professionally, McKenna is the publicity director of the publishing house Thames & Hudson. She lives in New York City with her husband, Rob McKenna, and their cat, Pumpkin.

— Aleta Mayne


In the know
Leadership lessons from man’s best friend

Andy Krüger ’98 consults with small business owners on strategy as head of his company, KSG, LLC. In 2010, while earning his master’s in leadership from Boston University Brussels, he realized that his two rescue dogs were the perfect vehicle for making complex leadership concepts more appealing to the general public. One day, his blue heeler, Paco, used a rawhide bone as an excuse to parade around, while Zeke, a pit bull mix, took his “cookie” and diligently went in the corner to chew it up. “This is just like my clients!” Krüger thought — while some work hard to accomplish their tasks, others use those same tasks as an excuse to parade around and draw attention to themselves. Starting with this “lesson,” he developed 51 more useful leadership concepts, presented through anecdotes about his and his wife’s relationship with their dogs. His new book, Get the Cookie Paco!, is written for people from all professions and walks of life. Here, he offers a sampling of tips:

1. Just jump in! Zeke learned to swim by just diving in, while Paco overthought the challenge and thus never learned. The best leaders act with incomplete information and follow their intuition. After all, if you wait for 100 percent of the information, you’re a follower.

2. Personality and persistence. As a pit bull, Zeke has negative stereotypes to overcome. His persistent display of goofy, loving behavior has won over many skeptics, and made him the more popular of our two dogs at the dog park. To excel as a leader, you must show this same conviction and persistence in creating and presenting your personal brand. By discovering your unique approach and believing in it, you can draw others to your cause.

3. Quit licking your foot! Zeke split a toenail on the subway in Brussels, and spent the following three months nursing it. At first, his attention helped the wound, but eventually it kept it open and infected. Similarly, many of us don’t realize that we need to change tactics as a situation develops. The best leaders know that what works in one instance may not work in another, and they tailor their strategy accordingly.

4. Forget beer — dogs are the real social lubricant. Leadership is all about aligning the efforts of others toward a common goal. Anyone with a dog knows that it can corral an entire household toward the goal of going for a walk. At the dog park, all the owners have the same intention: make sure their dogs are staying out of trouble, relax for a moment, and maybe make some new friends. Unintentionally, the dogs have aligned the efforts of the people!

5. Lead at just the right distance. During a walk, there’s a subtle interplay between you and your dog. Some days you’re ahead, pulling them, and other days, they are pulling you, so you must steer them away from trouble from behind. A good leader feels this same interplay with his or her followers and knows how to navigate it. Most important, don’t get too far ahead of those you are leading, or else they’ll lose sight of you.

What do you know? If you’re an expert in an area of your field or avocation and would like to share your sage advice, e-mail scene@colgate.edu or write to the Colgate Scene, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346.


Post-9/11: from the ground up



From her office window overlooking the site where the World Trade Center once stood, Jane Brogan ’02 has watched the rubble transform into new construction over the last five years. Brogan isn’t just a casual observer — she’s had a hand in the renewal, as planning project manager for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC).
    Supported by a disaster relief grant following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the LMDC is tasked with rebuilding and revitalizing lower Manhattan, Brogan explained. The agency sponsored the competitions for the plans for the 9/11 Memorial and the World Trade Center site, which includes office towers, a transportation hub, and a performing arts center — Brogan’s main charge.
    A master’s degree in environmental science from the University of Sydney in Australia has given Brogan a solid foundation for managing the environmental requirements and reviews for the LMDC’s projects. Part of that work involves historic resource management — like what to do when an entire 18th-century ship is uncovered, or how to handle the artifacts left after the attacks (which fill an entire airplane hangar). She’s also responsible for coordinating designers, engineers, and city agencies to ensure that projects are on point.
    It is the performing arts center, however, that is Brogan’s baby. Designed by famous architect Frank Gehry, the building will take approximately five more years to complete. But the thrill of Brogan’s job goes beyond meeting people like Gehry. Brogan said she’s proud to work on a project that will literally fill a void for so many people, from New York City residents to visitors from around the world.

— Aleta Mayne


A writer coming of age

Q&A with Jennifer E. Smith ’03, author of the young-adult novels The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, You Are Here, and The Comeback Season. Her new middle-grade novel (for ages 8–12), The Storm Makers, is on the cusp of release. Smith is also senior editor at Random House.


(photo by Fiona Aboud)
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I was an English major at Colgate with a concentration in creative writing. I wrote my first novel at Colgate, but it never got published. It was [Colgate’s] Living Writers course that made me want to be in publishing.

What makes you good at writing for young adults?
I think my inner 16-year-old is more pronounced than most people. Writing coming-of-age novels is something that comes naturally to me because, in a way, I feel like I’m still coming of age myself.

Do you base your characters on parts of yourself?
My characters are always a little bookish, but the plots are not much like my life. I always say I’m lucky that my life has been happy enough that I’m forced to write fiction. What ends up creeping in are little anecdotes and things I’ve experienced.

What’s your message for your audience?
You have to be careful to not go out there thinking you have a message — teens see through that. Writing for young adults is almost less of a genre than a point of view, and it’s important to keep that in mind so you’re not trying to hide lessons in there. You’re writing a good story — it’s just that the protagonist happens to be 16.

Your recent release, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, is getting great reviews. (The New York Times called it a “gorgeous, heartwarming reminder of the power of fate.”)
It’s been really exciting for me. My first couple of books did fine, but this one felt different right from the start. There was a lot of early excitement about it; the rights have been sold in 24 countries and it’s also been optioned for film.

What’s next for you?
I’m working on my fifth book, called This is What Happy Looks Like, which will probably be out in spring or summer 2013.

Tell us about being a Random House editor.
Being an editor has made me a better writer, and being a writer has made me a better editor. I’m lucky to have two jobs that I love.

What do you do outside of writing and editing?
I teach therapeutic horseback riding to kids with disabilities. I wanted to do something where I would be outside and where I felt like I was making a difference. Writing for kids, you do feel like you’re making a difference, but you’re a little bit removed from seeing that. With therapeutic horseback riding, you’re right there seeing the benefits, which are amazing. Watching these kids connecting with the horses, which is such an empowering thing for them, is really incredible.

What’s something readers would be surprised to hear about you?
My life’s not terribly exciting. For the most part, I’m an open book!

— Aleta Mayne



Road taken

Roger D. Mitchell ’62



After graduation, I became a management trainee with J.C. Penney Co., followed by a position as a sales representative with Warner Lambert Pharmaceutical Co.

Thereafter, I began my career in education as a middle-school teacher. I was recruited to join Rutgers University – Newark. For the last five of my seven years at Rutgers, I was an assistant vice president/assistant provost. I left Rutgers in 1975 to begin my doctoral program in education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Following graduation, I joined Passaic County College in New Jersey to coordinate a federally funded developing institution grant.

In 1987, I joined the National Urban League education staff in New York City to coordinate a National Science Foundation–funded project to develop science curricula for early childhood learners. This position opened the door to science and technology education.

I was recruited by the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago in 1991 to become director of public programs. Three years later, I was loaned to the National Science Foundation for four years, as a program officer in informal science education.

The final five years of my working career was as a vice president for educational services at WHYY, the PBS station in Philadelphia, Pa.

When I retired in September 2002, the real fun began. I became a dance host on cruise ships plying the world’s oceans. I served on many ships over a four-year period. Today, I reside in Sarasota, Fla. I am in my seventh year as a volunteer medical missionary with an eye team that operates a clinic and performs surgery in Fiji every November. I also volunteer with Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium and with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, where I am a certified boat crewman and galley chef.

What a life, and it isn’t over yet!


Maroon’d…
outside Paris, France

Tad Brown ’58 landed in Orgeval, France, in 1975 to begin working in Paris with Rousselot International. He and his wife, Nicole, have three children and three grandchildren. Brown calls himself a polyglot and amateur musician; he plays several wind instruments including the ocarina and anglo concertina.

Orgeval is a fruit-producing village known for fancy pears, strawberries, and superb raspberries. The village boasts a 12th-century church, the remains of a Cistercian abbey, ample hiking paths, and riding stables. Le Moulin d’Orgeval is a first-class hotel and restaurant. With easy access to motorways, Paris is only about 25 minutes away, and other day excursions are within close proximity.

Visit Saint Germain en Laye, a historic city with a castle, a museum of archaeology, and a terrace with a panoramic view of Paris. Other nearby castles include the Palace of Versailles, the chateau and forest of Rambouillet, and the Chateau de Breteuil. Also visit Les Andelys and its ruined medieval castle, Chataeu Gaillard, where Richard the Lionheart fought battles. Another worthwhile trip is to Giverny to see impressionist painter Claude Monet’s house and gardens.

Only two hours away is Deauville, known for its beautiful sand beaches as well as its annual yearling auction, one of the world’s biggest sales of thoroughbred horses. If you fancy horse racing, Maisons Laffitte is the equivalent of England’s Newmarket.

For golfers, there are several world-class courses including the Saint-Nom-la-Bretéche in La Tuilerie, about 15 miles west of Paris. One of France’s most exclusive golf clubs, its clubhouse is a former 18th-century manor house.

Have tips for travelers who might be maroon’d in your town? Write to us at scene@colgate.edu and put Maroon’d in the subject line.


Colgate seen

The spirit of alumni sporting their Colgate gear is seen here, there, and everywhere around the globe. Where was your latest spotting? On a Machu Picchu trek? At a mini-reunion in Pocatello? An election polling site in Houston? We’re collecting photos of Colgate sightings around the world. Send them to scene@colgate.edu.


Irish eyes are smilin’ on Evan Zimmerman ’11 at Dromoland Castle in County Clare, Ireland.


John ’93 and Stacy Taylor Frazier ’93 with their children, Alyssa and Sebastian at Mt. Fuji, Japan.