Professors, Coaches Share Parting Thoughts
KATHERYN H. DORAN
What will you miss most about your work as a professor?
Teaching students and connecting with students. I mean, is there any other answer? I already miss it a lot. It’s been a bittersweet period — my last class, my last faculty meeting, my last paper, all those things. But missing students? No doubt about it, there’s no rivals to that.
What are you most proud of?
I’ve done several Emerson and Levitt summer projects that have led to the life’s work of the students, which was unbelievably satisfying. I was a Posse mentor for Class of ’19 Miami, which was hugely important to them. I’m still in touch with most of my Posse. I was the chair of the search committee that hired Monica Inzer as dean of admission, and she was relatively young in the pool. She was a fantastic hire! Also, I organized and hosted two huge and important conferences at Hamilton. We brought people in from all over the world. One was on philosophy and film in 2023. The other was on varieties of realism and was probably 20 years ago, but it was a star-studded cast of the most important philosophers working in that area in the world.
What advice do you have for graduating seniors?
Never stop trying to understand yourself, others, the world. Cultivate curiosity! And most important, don’t lose sight of your values and of what really matters to you.
JONATHAN T. HIND ’80
What are you most proud of accomplishing in your career?
The defining moment would be working closely with [former President] Joan Stewart to move Hamilton fully into the NESCAC. So much of everything we did was in response to moving to that conference. It changed everything. It changed all the people we played with; it changed the competitive level for us. Moving into the NESCAC really helps define who we are as an institution.
What advice do you have for graduating seniors?
Hamilton’s a really special place. Hopefully, more than likely, you’ve created relationships with people across all constituencies at the College, whether it’s faculty members, coaches, club directors, or peers. Maintaining those relationships is the best advice I can give. I can’t tell you how many times I have reached out to the Hamilton community network for all kinds of things. I had to battle cancer over the last handful of years, and you’d be amazed at how many Hamilton people helped me through the whole thing. Whether it’s one of my former roommates and friends who opened up his condominium in New York City to me while I had my treatments, or a Board of Trustees member steering me toward great healthcare through connections they had, I can go on and on about people from Hamilton and how they’ve helped me in all kinds of ways throughout my life. So, maintain the connections that you have formed here.
What’s next for you?
I’m still figuring that out. I think it’s going to be a space to unwind and enjoy things. I go out in the backyard and watch the birds. We also own a home down on the shore in North Carolina on Holden Beach Island. And the island is also a sea turtle sanctuary. Once I am down there more, I plan to volunteer and be part of the sea turtle patrols. The turtle patrol is pretty cool; they follow the flipper marks up the shore and figure out where turtles lay their eggs. Then they watch over the nest and sit right at the nest during hatch time to help shepherd the turtles toward the ocean. So, I’m going to enjoy the birds, help shepherd baby turtles to the ocean, and be the biggest fan of Hamilton sports!
JAMES “JAMIE” G. KING III
What will you miss the most about your work at Hamilton?
The relationships with student athletes. I had a long career of 25 years here. I’ve been to a lot of weddings and caught up with former students. There’s been a lot of good times and a lot of crazy times on the road, like getting stuck in a ditch. I’ll miss those good times, watching the students go through their four years at Hamilton and beyond. Talking in my office, coming in with their latest accomplishments and job offers, but also maybe the bad stuff, problems with roommates, with professors, with relationships. My couch got a lot of use over the years in the squash center.
What are you most proud of accomplishing?
The sportsmanship awards are something really important to me. My last year of coaching, my team won the Sloane Award, named after my coach at Williams College. All the teams in the country voted for the team with the best sportsmanship, and Sean Sloane was there in Philly to deliver the award to me. Sportsmanship is something I always talked about. We can’t always control the winning and losing, but we can always be respectful to officials, opponents, and parents. There’s been a lot of close 5-4 wins and that kind of thing, but none of that stands out as much as the way students behave themselves and being awarded as a team for them giving their best within the spirit of the game.
Looking back, what would you say has changed the most at Hamilton? What’s essentially stayed the same?
What’s changed a lot are the buildings on campus. When I first started, Taylor Science Center had just come online. There’s a lot more opportunities for people to explore their passions on campus and a bit more access to different majors and courses of study. For athletics, the athletic training building used to be in a basement in the athletics center, and it was a scary place to go. Now that they’ve changed that around, it’s more open to students.
The sense of community has stayed the same. The Hamily is definitely there. I’ve had teams over to my house for meals over my time here. These are special moments that have been maintained. My graduating seniors remember when we got together in areas outside of practice and matches, and we took an interest in each other outside of whether we won matches. I think that’s why Hamilton alums are so loyal to the institution. Their connections with coaches, professors, people at the dorms, dining hall staff, and custodial staff are special and enduring.
DORAN LARSON
Was there one defining moment in your career – something that you are most proud of accomplishing?
Organizing college programs at Attica, Mohawk, and Mid-State correctional facilities, involving Hamilton and Colgate faculty offering classes that contributed toward men earning AA degrees from Genesee Community College (for students inside Attica) and Herkimer Community College (for those inside Mohawk and Mid-State).
If you could start over, would you still have chosen creative writing and literature?
I try to avoid such retrospective reassessment. I’m satisfied with the career I’ve had (large parts of which continue), and that is what it is because of the choices I made in the past — which decisions are always the best one can make at the moment. My research career veered rather suddenly into the writing of incarcerated people, which writing I was able to bring into the classroom to great results, both for Hamilton students and incarcerated people. I can’t regret anything that led to that opportunity.
What’s next for you?
Continuing work for The American Prison Writing Archive, which I initiated at Hamilton and is now housed at Johns Hopkins University; a new book on hospitals, prisons, and dementia care; and caring for my family.
PERRY NIZZI
What will you miss the most about your work at Hamilton?
I’m going to miss just pulling up to the beautiful campus. Whether it’s winter or spring, summer or fall, rainy or beautiful, there’s always people outside, working and walking. I’m going to miss that feeling of not just going to work but going to your second family. I’ll also miss recruiting from the standpoint of meeting new families and young men and being able to tell them all about Hamilton and the NESCAC and getting them as excited as I am. But probably the thing I’ll miss the most is preparing for game day when we’re on the bus travelling to Maine. The guys are buzzing, the music is playing, and they’re just full of adrenaline and excitement. And then of course, the game itself is everything.
If you could start, would you still have chosen soccer and coaching?
One hundred percent. A lot of people who have known me through my life told me that I was crazy because I could’ve sold refrigerators and I would’ve made so much more money and moved along in my life so much faster. I’m like, I am crazy. I had a coach in college and coming from a first-generation family who spoke no English, he was my way through. Coaches always got me to where I wanted to be and helped me from filling out applications for financial aid to helping me find schools, and they became my best friends. That put me on that trail that I didn’t think I ever wanted to get off. I don’t regret it for a minute, and I loved every second of it.
What’s next for you?
A good friend of mine who retired told me to remember, it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. So, I’m trying not to spring and do everything on my bucket list, but I do have a few things that I’m going to start with right away. I’ve been a coach for 56 years, so I’ve never had a fall to do the things I love. The falls around here are gorgeous, probably our best couple of months. Also, my family is still in Italy and my dad owns a piece of land with a lot of olives and grapes that they harvest to make olive oil and wine. I’m finally going to be able to be a part of it because it all happens in the fall. I’m really excited to get there and pick olives and then go down to the bar and squeeze them and get that first squeeze that only kings and queens get. That’s probably the only thing that would replace that excitement I got on game days in the fall. I’m probably going to be out there juggling olives with my feet.
VINCENT O. ODAMTTEN
What are you most proud of accomplishing in your career?
Having students who’ve maybe only taken a single course with me or took a lot of classes with me, but having those students go on to do something that was perhaps sparked by my interaction with them. So, students who have gone onto graduate school, others who weren’t in literature, but went on to become professors in different fields and disciplines who occasionally write to me and tell me where they are in the world, doing things that they really like and happy that they had a brief moment in my classroom or in my office.
Looking back to when you first came to Hamilton, what has changed the most? What’s essentially stayed the same?
When I first came to Hamilton, I was one of two professors of color. That has changed a lot. One might think that being one of two professors of color on campus was isolating. It was and it wasn’t, in that I was a newly minted Ph.D. I felt in the company of other newly minted Ph.D.s that we were all in the same boat. One of the significant things that hasn’t changed is the idea that your department are your closest colleagues and they become a pseudo family for you. I was fortunate enough to land in a department that had very good mentorship and so that sense of isolation, although apparent and visible, was not felt viscerally or emotionally or psychologically. Your eyes could see that I was in a department that was predominantly white and older. However, they hired me and to that extent, they had a vision that they did not want to replace themselves with themselves. They wanted difference and to that extent welcomed what I had to say.
What one piece of advice do you have for graduating seniors?
Never think that you know exactly what you’re going to do after you leave Hamilton. Always be open to see the doors that open and keep them open so you can get through and perhaps turn around and give some advice to someone else who’s graduating. Whatever vision that you have, nurture it and know that achieving it is not always a straight line. Remember that all the twists and turns are useful or can be of use if you look at them from a certain angle. Nothing is a waste of time. Make sure you face life with optimism.
STEPHEN W. ORVIS
What one piece of advice do you have for graduating seniors?
There’s more to life than a career, and don’t try to plan too far ahead, because life won’t let your plans go the way that you want them to. There’s so much emphasis, and understandably so at your stage in life, on careers. But remember there are a lot of other important things in life besides careers. Contributing, feeling like you contributed something of importance, is very important to your own well-being.
If you could start over, would you still have chosen government and being a professor?
I know the right answer is yes, absolutely, but I can imagine myself having done other things. I can easily imagine there are lots of things in life that are important to do. I don’t think I have the mind for this, but in some ways, I wish I were a natural scientist of some sort. Right now, environmental and climate issues are very important to me. I’d like to be Aaron Strong [associate professor of environmental studies], if I could do it again. I’ve also always been interested in politics, and the career alternative was to try to work in DC somehow. I still think about the life I could have had working at a think tank somewhere.
What’s next for you?
I have a lot of interests and that’s one of the main reasons I retired. I’ve found myself wanting to spend a lot of time doing other things. My wife and I are both active in a variety of community organizations. My stuff is working on various environmental issues, mostly at the local or state level, so I’m on the town’s Climate Smart Community Task Force and I have a native plant garden to try to restore. I also cycle, hike, and cross-country ski. I want to get back to playing piano. We’ll travel more. And no grandkids yet. That’s yet to come too.
VIVYAN C. ADAIR
Vivyan Adair, a scholar focused on comparative feminist theories of race, class, sexuality, and gender, has excelled as a teacher, researcher, and changemaker during her time at Hamilton. Her many accolades include her status as the inaugural Elihu Root Peace Fund Chair in 1999 and her honor as the 2004 New York State Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Then-Hamilton President Joan Stewart spoke of her Teacher of the Year award, saying, “Vivyan is an exemplary teacher and a role model, an accomplished scholar, and a warm and caring individual. She believes in the transformative nature of higher education because she has experienced it herself. As a result, she takes nothing for granted and asks for a similar commitment from her students. She is truly an inspiring teacher.”
Adair took keen interest in the representations of women on welfare and the impact of welfare reform and policy on women. She explored this topic in her book From Good Ma to Welfare Queen, a Genealogy of the Poor Woman in American Literature, Photography, and Culture. Adair also advocated for legislation allowing qualified low-income mothers to pursue higher education. Her activism also involved creating the ACCESS Project, which assists disadvantaged parents attend college and pursue meaningful employment through its educational, social service, and career programs.
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