Each edition of the Scene features profile conversations with students, faculty, staff, and alumni volunteer leaders. In this edition:
Carl Peterson
Head of Special Collections and University Archivist
(Photo by Andrew Daddio)
Tell us about your work.
I started in acquisitions in 1980, and then I became assistant to the special collections librarian. I took over in 1994. It’s a collections management thing: to make the rare book collection available to students, faculty, and staff, and to protect the irreplaceable material. For the archives, to help the college collect and preserve its records, and to help people with questions about Colgate history.
You know so much about Colgate. Do you have a photographic memory?
No, but I have a memory for trivia. A lot of it is just what I’ve been asked for. But mostly it’s because I indexed the Colgate Maroons up to 1990. I started with the first student newspaper in 1847. I did all of the Madisonensis. I did things like group the football games, so if someone were interested in all the games at Dartmouth, we could find it.
How did you get interested in this field?
I came in from the rare book side. I was a history minor, and I have an MFA in creative writing. As I went along, I got interested in other things, like Colgate photographs.
Name some intriguing or surprising things in Colgate’s archives.
Someone just found really nice copies of the first two U.S. postage stamps, on old Colgate correspondence. I found the first map of Hamilton Township, from 1797, folded in a book. My personal favorite is the Gould Hummingbirds, 25 volumes of all the hummingbirds of the world. If you put them under the light, the colors shimmer. I did a display once, and bird guys from all over the state came to see it. It was a gift from the Colgate family.
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
Probably that I have 50 aquariums in my basement. I breed tropical fish. They’re West African, all quite colorful, but they’re shy. There’s an international club, and I belong to a local one — basically friends who get together once a month and swap fish, and eat and drink beer. The usual stuff.
You and Margaret [Maurer, professor of English] have been married for 30 years. Have you ever tapped her to help in documenting the university’s more recent history?
Oh, all the time. She’s identified dozens of photographs, especially of faculty. I’ll call 7219 and say, ‘Who was the guy with funny hair? I know he was from philosophy, but I can’t remember his name,’ and she’ll say, ‘Roland Blum.’
What would you like alumni to know?
Don’t throw out Colgate stuff! It’s the ephemera they’re more likely to throw out that we’re more likely to not have. They’ll think, why would they want this ratty old football program from 1938, and in fact, I’d walk 10 miles to get one! One nice woman’s husband, who died, had a complete set of Colgate drinking glasses. We didn’t have any examples of them. She was going to put them in a yard sale, and then she thought to call us.Mark Williams
Studio Technician, Department of Art and Art History
(Photo by Andrew Daddio)
What was your background before coming to Colgate in 2002?
I was a Macintosh support technician for a consulting company in the Utica area. I did photography and drafting in high school, and graphic design in college. I worked in the printing field for quite a few years, which led back into graphic design as we got into computer-based design and typesetting.
Tell us about your job.
I help students with their projects in Video Art, Digital Studio, and studio arts classes, such as with scanning and Photoshop for printmaking. I give demonstrations such as how to use InDesign and our large-format printer to make posters for art history thesis presentations. I do technical and software support for the department — we have an ITS technical support assistant, but they come to me first because I’m right here. I design postcards and brochures. Working with the students is the fun part. I can help them, and it gives me a little bit of a creative outlet.
What’s the neatest project with which you’ve ever helped a student?
This year, Amanda Katz [’10] has been sculpting a big ship out of welded metal. As part of it, she was working with an outside vendor to rout words into wood. I helped her determine how she could set it up on a computer program for him to create what she wanted.
What’s this giant ampersand doing on your table?
Lynnette Stephenson [art professor] just gave me that. She had one like it in her office. I was joking with her one day. I told her if she keeps bugging me, I’ll take her ampersand. So she bought me one! I’m kind of an amateur typographer.
What do you do when you’re not working?
Last year, I started the Kirkland Cyclocross Race (the cycling equivalent to cross country) in Clinton, where I live with my wife, Janice. I’d been involved with cycling for quite a few years. I’ve been a runner even longer — I’ve run four marathons. I just got involved with the Colgate photo club; we’re doing an exhibition in the Barge.
What are your go-to websites?
Because I’m such a Mac head, MacDailyNews. For cycling information, VeloNews.
What three things would you want to have if you were stranded on a desert island?
I guess a computer wouldn’t be much good! A bike could serve a dual purpose of transportation and entertainment. A survival manual. Some kind of hunting weapon. I guess I think functionally.
Heather Bliss
Head Coach of Women’s Lacrosse
(Photo by Andrew Daddio)
– Hometown: Manlius, N.Y.
– College lacrosse experience: University of Connecticut, starter at midfield, four years
– Previous lacrosse coaching experience: Head coach, Davidson College, 2004–2006
In your first season coaching here in 2007, Colgate had a 6-12 record after the Patriot League Tournament. This year, your team won 14 of 18 games and defeated Navy 17-4 in the Patriot League Tournament finals. What led to the amazing two-year turnaround?
[Part of] it had to do with the trust the girls had in our coaching staff, but a lot of it had to do with the leadership of the senior class.
Did you always know that you wanted to be a women’s lacrosse coach?
I did. I always wanted to give back to the sport that had given me so much. My mother had started the lacrosse program in my town, and she and all of my coaches on my high school, Empire, and college teams showed me that if I was able to pass this sport down to others, then I should.
How did you find yourself at Colgate?
They called me, and I was flattered. I was successful at Davidson (Bliss led Davidson to its highest single-season win total in school history), so they brought me up for an interview. I liked the staff, the athletic director, and the facilities here.
What do you do when you’re not coaching?
I’m always hanging out with my family (Bliss married Colgate football wide receivers coach Chris Young on July 4, 2009). I love snowboarding, skiing, water-skiing, wakeboarding, and hiking. I basically like anything that doesn’t keep me inside.
What has been your most challenging moment both as a player and a coach?
As a player, it was being able to understand the concepts the coach was teaching and to do the things she was expecting. As a coach, it’s learning how each player works and getting the most out of each player. I think part of our success is that our staff has been able to figure out what buttons to push in order to motivate players and bring out the best in them.
On the flip side, what has been your favorite moment?
As a player, it was when I got to compete in the Carrier Dome [at Syracuse University]. I had played some high school games there [Bliss attended nearby Fayetteville-Manlius High School], but it was great when I went in there as a first-year for a Big East game. We were undefeated going in and tied at halftime, and it was awesome that UConn’s side of the field had more people than Syracuse’s side. As a coach, it was definitely the back-to-back Patriot League Championships. I’ll always remember both of those teams.
What is your favorite place to eat in town?
I’m going to have to say [my house] when I’m in season, so I can eat Coach Young’s cooking and I have don’t have to do anything.
— Paul Kasabian ’10Jung Pak '96
(Photo by Andrew Daddio)
– Alumni Council member since 2006; co-president, Alumni of Color; class president
– 5th and 10th Reunion program chair; career
services and admission volunteer
– Former professor and consultant, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute
– PhD in U.S. history, Columbia University
What professors were strong mentors for you?
Pete Banner-Haley, who said I should go to graduate school for my PhD, and Andy Rotter, who helped facilitate that process.
What’s your fondest Colgate memory?
My mother passed away in my junior year. The following fall, my friends went to Gary Ross [admission dean], Nan DeVries [chaplain], and Ernie Cross [administrative services VP] and said, ‘How can we help Jung?’ The university allowed us to plant a tree on the old golf course. I will forever be grateful for that — that the institution itself could care about one person.
Diversity is an important issue to you as an Alumni Council member. Why is that, and what would you like to see happen?
We have to work at making sure that everybody is included. Alumni of color who don’t participate often have reasons that are different from the majority population. What inspires me is alumni who did experience nasty things at Colgate but come back and volunteer anyway. I hope that more will volunteer — hosting a student for Career Services’ A Day in the Life, for example — because it’s important for students to see alumni of color in positions of influence and power and realize that diversity is a lived reality, not just a slogan for four years at Colgate.
As the Alumni of Color (AOC) group has increased its activities, what’s been the most interesting?
We’ve joined the communications revolution, which has been particularly effective in drawing in younger alumni and students. Loncey Mills ’02 and Pablo Gonzalez ’01 have done amazing things. They’ve set us up on Facebook, created online surveys, and redesigned the AOC web page on colgatealumni.org.
What figures in history would you like to have dinner with?
It would be great to talk to Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. about the dynamic between policy making and community activism. They were transformative figures who worked together to make civil rights a legal, institutional, and social reality. And Eleanor Roosevelt, who reminds me that you don’t have to be in an established position of power to influence international — never mind domestic — policy.
Do you have any hobbies?
I’m taking a basic drawing class at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Va., and I’m hoping to move up to painting, eventually!Javier Diaz '10
(Photo by Andrew Daddio)
As he has done every summer, Javier Diaz ’10 is in Puerto Rico working on his grandparents’ farm. While picking avocados, oranges, and lemons, he might reflect on what a memorable academic year this has been. Diaz authored the Colgate Creed, a statement that reinforces the university’s commitment to respecting diversity, and he campaigned for president of the Student Government Association (SGA).
Through both of these initiatives, he has knocked on doors all over campus and talked to as many students as he could. Diaz is a proponent of change on campus and a believer that it can happen. “This year, I really tried to increase my level of activity,” said the SGA senator, chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, member of the Committee on Admission and Financial Aid, and chamber music player. While he is heavily involved with several committees, Diaz believes that any student can make a difference. “You don’t need to be involved in student government,” he said. “You can accomplish anything you set your mind to, if you’re persistent enough and go about it the right way.”
The idea for the Colgate Creed came to him in a senate meeting shortly after last fall’s racist incidents on campus (see spring Scene, p. 34 for more information). “It popped into my head that we should put together a pledge to symbolize our desire to work toward the common goal of unity,” Diaz explained. He then met with various administrators and deans as well as hundreds of students to gain support. The creed, which states, in part, “I pledge to treat those who are different from me with the same respect and dignity with which I wish to be treated,” has since become school policy, and there will be a “Creed Day” in the fall as part of Diversity Week.
Although Diaz was unsuccessful at winning the SGA presidency, he hasn’t given up on parts of his platform, such as developing a mentoring program for first-years who don’t feel like they fit in. The concept stemmed from his personal experience as a first-generation college student whose parents weren’t able to fully prepare him for the transition into college, he said. Friends who had similar experiences reinforced his idea to organize open office hours for students to talk informally with volunteer students. As with the creed, Diaz said he plans to meet with the appropriate people on campus to make his plan a reality.
Given his motivation to help others, it’s not surprising that the peace and conflict studies major hopes to attend law school after Colgate. “I’ve always been the kind of person who likes fighting for what I believe in,” he said.
Last spring, Diaz even used his musical talent to support a worthy cause when he played his guitar at a banquet to raise money and awareness for local refugees. The song Diaz performed was a tribute to his Latin American heritage, which he believes has strongly influenced his desire to help others. “Talking to my grandfather about his struggles against prejudice when he first moved to New York from Puerto Rico planted a seed in me at a young age that intolerance toward people because of their background is unacceptable,” Diaz explained. “It has motivated me to help people in all different ways — I like to think that I am working to fill in the needs I see in my communities.”
— Aleta MaynePeg Flanagan '80
(Photo by Andrew Daddio)
– Vice Chair, Colgate Board of Trustees; member since 2001; chair,
planning and governance committee
– Chair, Colgate’s presidential search committee
– Alumnae Leadership Council chair
– Former litigation partner, Testa, Hurwitz, Thibeault, Boston, Mass.
Tell us about your family.
My husband, Tim Barrows, and I have two daughters. Kate just graduated from high school and Haley is a rising junior. Tim works for a venture capital firm. He grew up in Cazenovia, N.Y., and is an avid hockey fan, so he gets a kick out of hearing how Colgate’s hockey team is doing.
What is the first thing you notice when you meet somebody?
Whether they look me in the eye. It is such a noticeable thing if they don’t do it. Unless they have one of those killer handshakes!
What professors at Colgate were big influences on you?
I was an English literature major, and Margaret Maurer was terrific; she was the most approachable, and had such energy. And the Dijon Study Group was the first time I’d been to a different country. Jim Nichols didn’t mollycoddle us; he expected us to manage, but he was there if we needed him.
What initiative is most dear to you in serving on the board?
I feel strongly about the fact that we’ve made financial aid a priority, to make Colgate accessible. What’s great about that is we can actually measure the impact we’re having by seeing what the students bring to the community.
We hear you have been committed to helping the board to “bond” during on-campus meetings.
I believe that you’re a tighter group if you know more about each other than just a job title. I’m all for downtime. Part of our bonding is taking time to get to know each other, and the students and faculty. Those are the most valuable and interesting collisions we can have here. The students, faculty, and administration are the heart of Colgate, and the better we can understand all that they do, the more effective the board can be.
As chair of the presidential search committee, what kind of feedback have you been getting from alumni?
Being involved with the presidential search has provided a unique window into just how thoughtful and dedicated our alumni are. We have received input from a wide ranging group of alumni — across many classes, interests, and professions. Most comments have been forward looking and focus on the challenges Colgate will face in the coming years. Several have addressed the process itself. It is clear that all of the individuals who have taken the time to communicate are genuinely concerned that Colgate secure the best leader possible to continue our forward momentum.
Do you have any hobbies or special activities?
I love to garden — I’ll grow anything — and photography. The next thing I want to learn how to do is video. It drives me crazy that my kids just figured it out on their computer.