While none of these employees would describe their work environments as solitary, each assumes responsibility for a specific College initiative, in most cases as a staff of one.
In this issue of Around the Hill, we'd like you to meet a few of Hamilton's "one-person shops."
Ginny Dosch, Student Fellowships Coordinator
As Student Fellowships Coordinator, Ginny Dosch is part publicist, part researcher, part matchmaker and part adviser as she helps Hamilton students learn about and apply for such national awards as the Watson, Goldwater and Fulbright scholarships. "Working with students is the most enriching, satisfying thing I can imagine doing," she said.
Dosch came to Hamilton from Colgate 5 years ago when Hamilton decided to centralize the process for students pursuing fellowships and scholarships. Previously it was spread through different academic and administrative departments. Since her early days here Dosch has seen her job get wider in scope, as she has learned the culture of Hamilton and its students. "For example with the Goldwater, (the nation's premier undergraduate award for science, mathematics and engineering) I knew science and math were really strong here and there was lots of summer research going on, and realized there were awards that would recognize the work students were doing," Dosch said. "It's gotten bigger as I've gotten to cast the net wider—the kinds of opportunities I can present to them," she explained.
Dosch describes her job as "constant" – she's always in the process of recruiting, continuously looking for the next group of students, even researching awards they might apply for in a year or two, while exploring their interests and pursuits and trying to match them. "Now is the heavy time – I'm really looking closely at juniors in more depth, looking at things we can begin working on in the summer months or as soon as they return in the fall," Dosch says. Recruitment is a combination of students seeking her out and her "beating the bushes."
One thing that's changed in the time she's been at Hamilton is the increased awareness on campus about various scholarships opportunities, and it's no wonder: 2002 was a banner year for Hamilton in Student Fellowships with 14 major fellowships and scholarships awarded. So far in 2003, Dosch has learned that Hamilton students have won two prestigious Watson Fellowships, a Goldwater Scholarship and a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship. Details about these awards can be found on her Web site http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/fellowships/postgraduate/.
Dosch says, "Though I seemingly function on my own it is a collaborative effort – I get faculty support, I work with the student fellowships committee, I interact with the career center, C&D, the registrar's office -- I'm not functioning in a vacuum."
Members of my family: husband, Thom and three children, Caitlin, 13; Christopher, 11; Laura, 9.
Spare time: avid down hill skier and kayaker; vegetable gardener; collect old maps; collect old editions of my favorite books; collect old pastry cutters(!) "I love the search for these things as much as I enjoy the find; much of my "spare" time is guided by my kids activities; a life long love for the Adirondacks which I have been able to share with my husband and kids. "
Gordon Hewitt, Director of Institutional Research
"Lies, damn lies and statistics" is a well-known quote of former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, and like Disraeli, Gordon Hewitt realizes the power of statistics and that there are different ways of portraying "the facts."
When asked, for example, the number of full-time Hamilton employees, Hewitt said, "There are eight different ways to calculate that. It all depends on who is looking for the data and how they plan to use the information."
In any given day, Hewitt might prepare information for just about every department on campus. He works with facilities to calculate comparative square foot data, with admissions to create applicant profiles, and with finance to report Hamilton's financial information to state or federal departments of education. Because Hamilton receives federal money through grants and student loans, providing accurate information in the requested format is important.
Hewitt also tries to make facts about Hamilton available to the community. Not only does he maintain the Planning Notebook, but he has a Web site with current and historical information: http://www.hamilton.edu/college/institutional_research/
"I try to provide information that is as useful and as simple as possible," Hewitt said. "I don't want to over burden everyone with too much detail." But if you're ever curious about how to interpret the numbers, Hewitt is happy to help.
When asked how he ended up in institutional research, he denied it was his childhood dream and confessed his graduate work was in higher education administration with a dissertation in policy and research.
Life outside of work? Hewitt and his wife, Rebecca, a librarian at Colgate University, have a 2-year-old daughter, baby number-two on the way, and a 150 year-old house in Hamilton to keep them busy.
Andrew Jillings, Director of Adventure Programs
As Adirondack Adventure coordinator, Andrew Jillings introduces more than 200 new students to Hamilton and each other by taking them "off to play in the woods." An eight-day orientation program, AA gives incoming first-year students the opportunity to choose from one of 24 trips into the Adirondacks. AA is run by Jillings and his crew of 49 trained staffers and includes not only hiking, climbing and canoeing, but also training in leadership, teamwork, goal-setting and decision-making.
Honing these skills is also the underlying theme of the ropes course program that Jillings directs year-round. More than 600 people a year explore experimental education and leadership training program. While the majority of participants are members of the Hamilton community, Jillings also runs the program for alumni during reunions and for organizations such as Youth at Risk.
The ever-adventurous Jillings also advises the Hamilton Outing Club, where his role is to make sure things are organized and to "manage the risks." He shies away from talking about safety. "Being totally safe is staying home," he said in regard to a Spring Break he led to the Everglades. "I make sure we have good skills, make good decisions and have good equipment." And yes, everyone did make it home safe and sound. Other HOC outings include climbing the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks every fall and a recent trip to Ecuador. Jillings is planning to take a group to Nepal soon.
Another one of Jillings' guiding philosophies is "leave no trace." When planning trips he considers how to increase the number of participants while creating the minimum impact on the environment. "We added a sea kayaking trip to Adirondack Adventure, and it's increasing in popularity in adventure programming for just that reason. It has relatively low impact on the environment."
In his free time, Jillings and his wife, Judy, travel the world climbing and kayaking and looking for adventures. Seeking thrills? He points to a quote by Sting pinned to his wall. "Sometimes people mix up thrill seeking and risk taking, but I think they're totally different experiences, with different motivations and outcomes."
Michelle Reiser-Memmer, Performing Arts Administrator
Those of us who attend performances and concerts on the Hill can thank Michelle Reiser-Memmer for the behind-the-scenes work that brings renowned artists, as well as student productions, to the Wellin Hall stage. For the past three years, Reiser-Memmer has booked artists for the College's two professional performing arts series, Classical Connections and Contemporary Voices and Visions. She also coordinates publicity, manages the box office and handles fundraising.
Although Reiser-Memmer worked in theater during her days as an anthropology major at UNC-Chapel Hill and did some freelance work in technical theater, she never longed for the limelight. "I don't like to be on stage," she said. "What I do like is making performances happen."
The most rewarding aspect of her job, according to Reiser-Memmer, is bringing performers to campus who also serve as artists-in-residence. "It was really great hosting the H.T. Chen Dance Company and jazz musician Steve Wilson - performers who spent several days on campus working and performing with students."
Reiser-Memmer, who earned a master's in arts administration from Carnegie Mellon University, served in a similar role at Lafayette College before coming to Hamilton. Although technically a member of the Music Department where she does have the opportunity to bounce ideas off professors, she manages her own budget and makes most of the decisions affecting the series she runs.
"I like everything about my job," she added. "I feel like I do it all!"
On those rare weekends off, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Phil, and their two dogs. Other hobbies include hiking, reading and black-and-white photography.
Monk Rowe, Joe Williams Director of the Hamilton College Jazz Archive
When he came to Hamilton as an adjunct instructor in saxophone 10 years ago, Monk Rowe had no idea that he'd end up regularly rubbing elbows with great jazz musicians whose work he'd admired for years.
In 1995, when Hamilton alumnus and jazz aficionado Milt Fillius '44 decided to establish an archive of interviews with famous jazz musicians, Rowe was happy to take on that responsibility. As director of the archive, he conducts videotaped interviews with the legends of jazz that are preserved for research and posterity.
The archive holds a collection of hundreds of interviews with jazz musicians, arrangers, writers and critics, generally focusing on artists associated with mainstream jazz and the swing era. Material in the archive is available to the Hamilton community as well as outside writers and researchers.
"Our first trip was in March of 1995. We went to Scottsdale, Ariz., to attend jazz parties where veterans still perform; they were there for a long weekend and when they weren't performing, we met with them," Rowe recalled. "That's been the biggest part of the job - identifying jazz personalities to be part of our collection here. Most are veteran players, but there are some younger ones because the opportunity was there, and it will be nice to have them 50 years from now if these people become jazz stars."
While Rowe does the on-camera interviews with the musicians, the A-V department's Tim Hicks mans the camera and does the video editing. Rowe's wife transcribes the interview for print. Transcripts are available in print, VHS, DVD and audiocassette.
When he's not conducting interviews, Rowe fields inquiries from researchers and presents programs about the archive to such audiences as the International Association of Jazz Educators and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. And the job that brought him to Hamilton in the first place - teaching saxophone - remains one that he still loves.
Rowe's other job is Artistic Director of the Utica Arts in Education Institute, part of the Central NY Community Arts Council. "I also play numerous gigs in the area..often at the Hotel Utica. My daughters..Alanna is a junior at SUNY Fredonia, music ed major and
Janine is a freshman here My wife is Romy Britell who runs her own business, Romy's Creative Services."
