Reid, who loves poetry and the opera, got a good dose of both last Wednesday as he sat on the stage in Memorial Auditorium to hear his final Presidential Lecture at MSU"Art and Life," by United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.
"I have always looked upon these University Days with joy and excitement because they symbolize our highest aspirations and the rich potential of academic life," Reid said. "My excitement this year is tempered by sadness, sentiment and strong memories."
After the lecture, during which Pinsky read several of his poems, the MSU Chorus presented selections from Verdiıs "La Traviata."
As a symbol of Reidıs accomplishments in expanding the campusıs physical facilities, he was presented with a framed ceramic tile from the roof of College Hall on behalf of the entire campus community.
At the luncheon ceremony that followed, Joan Ficke, acting dean of students, presented Pamela Reid with a poem by Audre Lorde, one of Pamıs favorites, for her involvement and support of women at Montclair State. The portrait of President Reid that will hang in College Hall was unveiled. It was painted by Wendy Schrivjer, whose mother-in-law, Corene Jacobson Schrivjer, is a 1926 graduate of the Montclair Normal School.
In offering closing remarks at the luncheon, Waters reminded everyone that although this is the end of Reidıs presidency, it is the beginning of a new and exciting time for Montclair State. He said: "In his Inaugural Address in 1960, President John F. Kennedy noted that what we observe today is the beginning as well as an end, signifying renewal as well as change.ı
"We are all going to miss Irv Reid and his vibrant leadership, his warm smile and his great friendship. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that an institution is the lengthened shadow of one manı and in many, many ways, Montclair State University is the lengthened shadow of Dr. Reid.
"But, even as Irv departs, the vibrant university that he helped shape for eight years is approaching its 90th anniversary. Dr. Reidıs name now joins those of Chapin, Sprague, Partridge, Richardson, Dickson and Waltersnames that resonate with an institutionıs history, names that cause great pride in us all.
"The search for a new president is a new beginning in our history, another page in a volume that is rich in achievement, in stories about transformation.
"I am honored that the Universityıs Board of Trustees selected me as interim president, to preside during this interesting period. I see this time as an opportunity for all of us to assert the values that have made us what we are today, to underscore the virtues of community and collegiality, to make a claim for the life of the mind. In fact, as we begin the search for a new president, we need to declare our core values. "Montclair must always be a place where ideas will thrive, where the creative can play, where canons can be challenged and where all subjects can be discussed without rancor.
"At Montclair, we must always maintain and model civility and mutual respect, even when we feel things passionately. We cannot be creative and lack civility at the same time if our goal is enlightenment.
"At Montclair we must always maintain our personal and institutional integrity and honesty. We must seek first to understand and then to be understood. This is the hallmark of the best teachers and the best studentsand it is a sign of the best leadership.
"We all know that sometimes community is more of an aspiration than a reality, a goal belied by the multiple pressures that fragment our lives. "But at Montclair we cannot allow the frustrations we encounter in fostering community to defeat our efforts to create a reality that matches our vision. In every genuine community there is a tension between self interest and the larger good. We need always to take advantage of the unique strengths in our community, striving in joint effort for the common good. We need to care about each other.
"Let us not forget the ideals that attracted so many of us to the academythe love of learning, the excitement of discussion and debate, the appeal of a community of scholars and students committed to improvement.
"We must make sure that at Montclair State University we provide and project an open, inviting and dynamic environment for everyone. To do this involves more than tolerance. It involves a constant renewal of the vision that animates our work and the values that inspire our lives.
"We know that we cannot simply create a community because we want one. Experience teaches us that the sense of community develops when we least expect it, as a by-product of common work or a mutual commitment to higher goals.
"So on this day of celebration and renewal, let us commit ourselves to the big questions and big issues, to the search for higher truths and a guiding mission. Let us debate and discuss, argue and affirm, always keeping in sight our guiding purposeto serve our students and citizens of this region with the best we have to offer.
"Iım personally excited by the challenges ahead; Iım grateful for your confidence and trust; and Iım inspired by the incandescent energy you share with our students. And with each other. "Colleagues, carpe diem."
The service learning program at Montclair State has received support and encouragement from the Corporation for National Service in the form of a $105,000 Learn and Serve America: Higher Education grant.
According to Freyda Lazarus, director of Career Developmentwho authored the grant proposal along with Dean Nicholas Michelli of Education and Human Servicesthe grant will be used to create the infrastructure to support a university-wide service learning program, expand the use of service learning as an approach to teaching and learning in the Teacher Education Program, and create the foundation for the America Reads initiative (see story in this issue).
The service learning initiative began on campus in the spring of 1996 after several years of planning and development. The program fosters in students a sense of civic responsibility and promotes service learning as an approach to teaching and learning while helping to solve community problems. The first service learning project involved five classestwo in anthropology, two in human ecology and another in psychologyand students participated in an after-school tutoring program for Montclair elementary school children. The second project began this semester and involves more than two dozen students who are taking the Perspectives on Drugs course.
The community service component includes their involvement in an alcohol and drug prevention program for Montclair middle and high school students. Plans are underway for a third project next semester addressing issues of aging.
The grant from the Corporation for National Service will help expand the already successful program by integrating service learning into the Teacher Education program. This year, the goal is to develop faculty expertise in service learning pedagogy among 20 Teacher Education faculty and train 75 students to be effective tutors. The plan includes developing a course to prepare reading tutors, a process for assessing reading improvements, faculty training, a new database and revised courses. Next semester two Teacher Education faculty will teach service learning courses that involve students assisting teachers in the Montclair public schools.
Teacher Education faculty have been invited to a Nov. 21 hands-on workshop where they will learn how to develop a service learning syllabus.
"Service learning engages the student in direct service," said Reesa Greenwald of Career Development, who coordinates the service learning program. "Thatıs the experiential part. Faculty then integrate that experience with educational strategies that foster reflection."
Kenneth Brook of Anthropology, who has taught service learning courses, said, "We want to get students in the habit of doing this [community activism] for the rest of their lives. It raises interesting questions about society, and the town of Montclair is the perfect place to start because of the variety of people."
Each week, nearly two dozen students spend several hours working at the Boys and Girls Club in Clifton and the MSU Child Care Center. They come from different majors, have different career goals, but they all have the same jobto help teach children to read.
These students, like many others across the nation, are participating in America Reads, established by President Clinton in 1996 as a way of encouraging college students to get into the community and help children read. The goal is to have children reading on standard level by the third grade.
America Reads was created to address the problem that 40 percent of children are not reading well enough by third grade. After countless studies showed individualized tutoring after school can raise reading levels, the America Reads challenge called for 100,000 work study students to participate in this national service agenda.
"We are enthusiastic about the America Reads challenge," said Randall Richards, director of Financial Aid. "It offers a unique opportunity for qualified Montclair State students to contribute to President Clintonıs national service agenda by working as reading tutors for elementary school children."
Twenty-one MSU students earn $10 an hour working three to four hours a week. Before they began their jobs as reading tutors, the students participated in a six-hour training session with Joy Stone of Reading and Educational Media.
"The training process allowed students to learn about early childhood reading experiences," Stone said. "They learned how to read stories effectively and what role tutors can play in a childıs learning process. America Reads is a wonderful way to support educational activity in a fun way."
Seven America Reads students are working at the campus Child Care Center as language and literacy based tutors. "It is wonderful for our children that we have additional MSU students in the Center," said Janey DeLuca, director of the Center. "Children love the one-on-one attention and these children love books. The most important thing someone can do is help a child to read."
History was made Oct. 25 at Sprague Field when sophomore kicker Mike Stoehrıs fifth field goal of the Homecoming game against Wilkes University sailed through the uprights with only six seconds remaining. The thrilling 15-12, come-from-behind victory gave head football coach Rick Giancola his 100th win while Stoehrıs field goal set a new single-game record for the most in one game and signified the second-highest total in NCAA Division III history. The win gave Giancola, now in his 15th season, an overall record of 100-49-2. He now joins The College of New Jerseyıs coach Eric Hamilton as the only collegiate coaches in New Jersey to win 100 or more games in a career. The Red Hawks are now 5-2 and were scheduled to play The College of New Jersey on Nov. 1, marking the only time in the history of the Garden State that two college coaches with 100 victories will play each other.
The following story written by Bill Handelman is reprinted with permission from The Asbury Park Press.
Ron Lewis was once a high school hero. He was an All-Shore running back, a state champion in the long jump, a sprinter with 10.6 speed. He had it all.
Itıs a beautiful thing, being a high school hero. Until they hand you a diploma and send you on your merry way. It gets tricky after that. There is no real shortage of former high school heroes out there on the street.
Lewis was real special, though. He rushed for 1,960 yards in 1994, his senior year at Asbury Park High School. He also averaged an astounding 9.3 yards a carry and scored 26 touchdowns, nine of them on bursts of 50 yards or better. Thatıll happen when you can cover 55 meters in 6.4 seconds.
But none of those numbers mattered much by the spring of 1995. The only number that meant anything by then was 1.9, Lewisıs grade-point average. Eighteen years old, runs the 100 in 10.6, state champ in the long jump, rushed for almost 2,000 yards his senior year, and there he was, working for his uncle, doing odd jobs in Asbury Park, taking phys ed classes at Brookdale Community College.
Not playing football. Unhappy.
"Back then I used to try to put it on guidance counselors, coaches, anybody but me," Lewis says. "But it was my responsibility to be aware of things."
He came to this conclusion a little over a year ago, right about the time his daughter was born. By then he was ready to go back to schoolto Montclair State. Lewis recently told his story at the North Ward Center in Newark. He was there to help promote Pride Bowl XIX, the Nov. 8 game between Montclair State and Jersey City State. The Pride Bowl helps fund Project Pride, an all-volunteer operation. For 19 years, the organizers of Project Pride have sought to give the inner-city kids of Newark a chance, and they have succeeded beyond expectations.
Lewis says he thinks it is a wonderful thing theyıre doing. "Itıs a great honor for me to play in this game," he says, "and help these kids."
But not just because he knows what itıs like, growing up in a city, not just because he knows what itıs like hanging in the streets until all hours of the night, as he used to do on Prospect Avenue in Asbury Park, behind the middle school, by the basketball courts.
No, thereıs something else involved here.
As he says, "I played in this game last year, but I wasnıt really sure about the significance of it."
He had only recently become a father then. And, he had only recently begun to fit in at Montclair State, where they wanted him to play defense.
"I always thought I could make things happen," he says. "I was recruited as a tailback, so I was a little frustrated last year, and I guess the coaches could see that. The third game of the season, they moved me back deep on kick-offs."
That was against SUNY Brockport. The first time he touched the ball all season, on the opening kickoff that day, Lewis went 92 yards for a touchdown, causing the Montclair State staff to rethink its position on the kid with the 10.6 speed.
"We needed him to play in the secondary," says coach Rick Giancola. "But, as we soon saw, Ronnie needed the ball in his hands. Heıs just too explosive." On the field, which is why heıs now starting at tailback. Off the field, Lewis believes he is less explosive. He is now a 20-year-old father, a guy who understands what the Pride Bowlıs all about.
A high school hero who got over it.
* * * *
Tickets for the Nov. 8 Pride Bowl , which begins at 2 p.m. at Sprague Field, are available now for half the gate price of $10. Tickets are being sold in Panzer Gym, Athletic Offices A and C. For more information, call 5236.
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For full descriptions and information on where to send resumes, see the bulletin board outside the Personnel Office,
College Hall, Room 316, or access MSUıs homepage on the Internet at (www.montclair.edu).
FAXMODEM. US Robotics 33.6 Sportster Faxmodem for Macintosh can be upgraded to 56kbps x2. Compatible with Mac Plus and higher Macintosh and Power Macintosh. Chosen by Macworld as best external 33.6 modem. Purchased this year for $179. Asking $75. Call Susan Amirian of Publications at 4388.
Do you have something youıd like to sell or buy? Put it in the INSIGHT Bulletin Board. Send the information to the Office of Public Information, College Hall, Room 313 or via e-mail to STLIFER.
Nov. 17-28: Jessica Zadigian, poetry.
Dec. 1-12: Diana Hsukung, painting.
Dec. 15-19: Michael Johnson, photography.
The following music events are free and will take place at noon in McEachern Hall.
Tea and Talk Series. 3:30 p.m., Global Education Center, 22 Normal Ave. Call 4185 to reserve a seat.
Nov. 5: "Strangers Among UsGender Differences in African and African-American Literature and History" by Leslie Wilson of History. Noon-1 p.m., Student Center, Room 417. Free. Sponsored by the Womenıs Center. Call 5114.
For game results, call the Red Hawk Hotline at 7645.
All classes are held in College Hall, Room 317. To sign up, call Academic Computing at 5449.
The weekly television show produced by broadcasting majors will feature the conservation of American kestrel birds in New Jersey with John Smallwood and Christopher Natale of Biology. Produced by Patricia Piroh; directed by Leo Machado; hosted by Larry Londino. Nov. 7, 8:30 p.m. on CTN and Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. on TCI. For more information, call 7870.
Amnesty International Meetings. 3:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Student Center, Room 408.
Mass. 11 a.m. Sundays, Russ Hall, Kops Lounge; 6:30 p.m. Newman Catholic Center.
Public Telescope Night. Thursdays from 8 to 9 p.m. in front of Richardson Hall. For more information, call 7266.
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Tuesdays, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Center for Health and Wellness. For information, call Kate Johnson at 7746.