Moderator Shalom Saar ’74 with Jalisa Roberts ’13, the inaugural winner of the SwatTank business-plan competition, on March 23. Photo by Laurence Kesterson

SwatTank, the College’s first business-plan competition, culminated in a lively finish at the 14th annual Jonathan R. Lax ’71 Conference for Entrepreneurship, Saturday, March 23 in the Science Center. Three teams of finalists were shepherded through the fast-paced judging process.

Coordinated by the Career Services Office, SwatTank began in the fall with 11 teams of students cultivating business ideas, mentored by entrepreneurial alumni and a team of student advisers. Competitors also participated in alumni-led webinars that explored the basic elements of business-plan development. The original teams were narrowed down to the three finalists who took the stage at the Lax Conference. Jalisa Roberts ’13 emerged victorious.

Each team made an initial pitch followed by two 10-minute question-and-answer periods, first with a panel of judges, then with the audience. Roberts went first, strolling gracefully as she delivered a four-minute presentation of her project, The Cocoon, a dance-based nonprofit youth-empowerment program designed to help rebuild the hurricane-ravaged community of East New Orleans.

Her pitch, like the two that followed, ended with a hug from moderator Shalom Saar ’74, an MIT senior lecturer who also teaches a leadership skills seminar at Swarthmore. His course represents, in addition to SwatTank, the second initiative overseen by the College’s new Center for Innovation and Leadership.

Roberts was followed by Chelsea Hicks ’14, Kyle Pierce ’14, and Ian Anderson ’13, whose presentation of their online company Pierce + Axel, a fashionable, affordable men’s shoe line, was accented by their own zippy, colorful footwear.

The third finalist was Chris Fortunato ’14, whose innovation was RiseDesk, a portable sitting/standing computer desk converter. Fortunato unveiled a rough prototype as a student demonstrated the ease of the product’s use. His prototype sparked later audience discussion of the power of a visual prop in selling one’s business idea.

The interactive, highly collaborative nature of the SwatTank competition was evident throughout the day. During the kickoff poster session, students held lively discussions with a stream of interested attendees, during which Roberts marveled at “so many ideas and questions I hadn’t heard before.” SwatTank organizing-team member Aldo Frosinini ’15 said he was “ecstatic” to observe how many entrepreneurial alums were lining up to talk to students.

Judges for the event were Lax Conference keynote speaker Terrence Hicks ’73, vice president of Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania; Iqbal Quadir ’81, MIT Professor of the Practice of Development and Entrepreneurship; Joseph Turner ’73, pharmaceutical industry consultant; and Karen Meidlinger, principal of Meidlinger Partners. While the judges’ questions centered on the practical viability of individual business ideas, audience members offered specific recommendations to the teams, such as asking for more seed money at the start of their projects.

Saar kept the audience engaged in the tense minutes leading up to the announcement of the winner. He asked the teams to make short statements on what they had learned from this experience and invited more audience input.

Dean of Students Liz Braun had her self-described “Oscar moment” when she opened the envelope and announced that Roberts’ dance project was the winner of the $500 prize. Turner noted that the judges were impressed with all three teams but felt that the cash award would most immediately benefit Roberts’ business plan. All of the judges hoped that Roberts would consider adapting her business plan to a for-profit model, which could be more sustainable, Turner added.

Reflecting on the day, SwatTank organizer Rosinini felt that the first competition “came together even better than I could have hoped,” fulfilling its educational goals and building student-alumni connections.

Dean Braun, impressed by the hard work of all involved, declared that one lesson she took away from the competition was that the Center for Innovation and Leadership is “a startup in its own right” and would benefit from a business plan.

Moderator Saar declared the Career Services office to be “the unsung hero” of the competition. Other sponsors included the Dean’s Office, the President’s Office, and the Entrepreneurship Club.

Of SwatTank’s finalists, Saar proclaimed, “You are all winners.”

See the link below for video from the SwatTank competition.

Arlie Russell Hochschild ’62 enjoys the lovely back garden of the Berkeley, Calif., house that she and husband Adam moved to a year ago, after decades of living in San Francisco. Photos by Seth Affoumado

The Second Shift, her third academic book, not only brought her public attention that very few scholars experience—she was a professor of sociology at the University of California–Berkeley then, is professor emerita now—but changed the landscape of our lives.

Her spotlight on the stress women feel from working two jobs was a wake-up call—for men as well as women.

But while more men today are sharing that shift work, says Hochschild, life has not become easier for families. “Men are in a more precarious economic situation, so it’s not so easy to be the good dad when you’re not sure that your boss is going to protect your job,” she says.

“There are some structural pressures that make it hard for people to turn things around,” she adds. “We would do better if families weren’t so under the gun, if we had the kind of policies they have over in Scandinavia [such as generous paid leave to handle family matters and subsidized child care].” (Scandinavia returns the admiration, as she has honorary doctorates from universities in Finland, Denmark, and Norway as well as from Swarthmore.)

Two years after The Second Shift came out, Hochschild wrote a piece for this magazine in which she posed the question: Who will do the work of the ’50s housewife in an era when most women work?

In 2012 came her answer. We’ve turned to the market economy to help us with “the time bind” (yes, she coined that term, too, in a 1997 book with that title). The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times explores the trend to pay for personal services we would have handled in the past—like planning an iconic wedding or, most extremely, having a baby.

Her latest consciousness-raising commentary on work, family, and emotional labor shows that, once again, Hochschild has the ability to introduce new catch phrases—and aha moments—into our vocabulary about social change.

Though the prospect of a sit-down with this woman who the American Sociological Association has hailed as one of the leading feminist sociologists of the last 30 years might be intimidating, that’s the last thing she is. But she is quite tall, so one does look up to her—literally as well as figuratively. She’s a fun dresser—flowy, drapy, purply. And fun doesn’t just apply to style. It’s clear that this woman likes to play.

Take Barbara Ehrenreich’s word for that. A former collaborator of Hochschild’s and the author of Nickel and Dimed writes in the foreword to At the Heart of Work and Family: Engaging the Ideas of Arlie Hochschild: “Arlie is one of the great, even iconic social thinkers of our time. Yes, her work is informed by dazzling intellect and deep moral passion … but she’s also done it because it was fun. …  She likes to play.”

The Hochschilds pore over a manuscript as they pour coffee—a familiar routine in their balanced work/home life.

If you have any doubt, observe the 8-foot-high cardboard giraffe displayed in her house. She delighted in crafting it with the two daughters of son David ’93, who live just three blocks from her wood-frame home with its view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay, and San Francisco from the bookshelf-lined room in the front of her house where she is being interviewed—not her customary role.

The article is supposed to be about her and her work, but she jogs your own emotional memory, and you find yourself rolling out personal second-shift stories: when you were a single mother, and you, too, outsourced when you could—hiring a woman to pick your son up from school and take him to baseball practice, your daughter to ballet lessons.

Her openness, her genuine interest in you tempts you to break down the normal divide between subject and interviewer. You see why her books are so authentic and so palpable and why her interview subjects often wind up as friends.

Take Rose, for example. In The Outsourced Self, she was the personal assistant of Norma, an affluent stay-at-home mom in New York. Rose handled household tasks as well as emotional labor for Norma. It was Rose who picked up Norma’s kids from the airport, took them to doctors’ appointments, and made excuses to a salesperson when Norma damaged a dress brought home on approval.

Though her work with Rose ended years ago, Hochschild has maintained close contact with her former subject, serving as a support when Rose’s only child died.

Likewise, when Hochschild traveled to the Akanksha Infertility Clinic in Gujarat, India, to interview pregnancy surrogates—poor Indian women who were being paid to carry fetuses for infertile American couples—she connected with a journalist for the Hindustan Times, Aditya Ghosh. He accompanied her to the largest baby farm in the world—and in turn, she helped him enter graduate school in sociology.

“He is now in the United States doing a Ph.D.,” she says smiling. “He’s got his wife and child here, so that all worked out beautifully. I feel so good about it. He helped me a lot, and I was able to reciprocate.”

Gift exchange is a very important concept to Hochschild. Of circulating gifts—Ghosh helping her, and she helping him, all free of charge—she says, “There’s a beauty in that, you know? There’s a friendship now, and he and his family may come and visit us.”

In speaking of gift exchange, Hochschild invokes the work of Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift and a recent speaker at Swarthmore (see adjacent story).

“Hyde talks about the spirit of the gift as something that continues through time,” she says, leaning forward, earnestly. “With any commercial transaction, it’s, ‘I give you this, you give me that. We’re done.’ There’s no abiding memory attached to it. But memory puts such beauty into life, and it’s also an existentially anchoring thing—to have memory in our relationships. The spirit of the gift as something that goes on and on is very important, and I thank Hyde for lifting that out. You could say that I’m trying to make room for that spirit in my work.”

The generosity of spirit Hochschild displays with her interview subjects and others connected to her books extends as well to colleagues.

When her son David ’93 was attending Swarthmore, Hochschild came for a visit. Joy Charlton, then a junior professor but now executive director of the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility as well as professor of sociology, was teaching the class Gender, Power and Identity, using the just-published The Second Shift as a text. A student in Charlton’s class was a friend of David’s and invited mother and son to drop by.

Charlton recalls how “the door slowly opened, and Arlie and David quietly came in. I remember how my heart pounded. My professional heroine had just walked into my classroom. Arlie headed for the back, but I, of course, immediately brought her forward to be in conversation with the students. Having the author of a book we had read together, someone so well-known in the field, be in dialogue so graciously and unexpectedly was an empowering experience for all of us. It was a wonderful gift.” Later, Hochschild returned for a semester as a Lang Visiting Professor for Issues of Social Change.

While her interpersonal style is nonjudgmental, so is the tone of her writing. She likes to take her readers on “an intellectual journey,” she says.

“I say, ‘Look at this problem with me—figure out how you feel about it with me; turn it around from all sides with me on this journey. Let’s explore.’ I think of the book almost like a meditation on where we are [in the market economy]. And I say, look, ‘I’m outsourcing, too. I’m there with you.’ ”

More so than any of her other books, Outsourced Self is about Hochschild as well as society at large. Her search for her own outsourcer—a caregiver for her aunt who lived in Maine—weaves through the book. By making herself a player in this evolving social phenomenon, she’s signaling, she says, “You’re not just an insect being scientifically inspected by the white-coated scientists.”

The book is resonating in ways she never would have predicted. This warm and gentle woman has been invited to speak in November at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at Australia’s Sydney Opera House. Kicked off in 2009 with an opening address by the late British author Christopher Hitchens, the annual festival has also featured the likes of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange and feminist author Germaine Greer. Though the 24-hour flight sounded daunting, Hochschild accepted the request, because, “It was just too interesting.”

Other unexpected outcomes of the book include its selection as the first-year reader for Stanford next fall and an invitation to consult at Google on the challenges of work/life balance of its female employees.

Though some may think she’s achieved quite enough and deserves time to just sit back and play with the grandkids (she still manages plenty of that), Hochschild is on to her next book projects.

First, there’s How’s the Family?, a book of essays due out in August from the University of California Press. The title essay, she says, “looks at the impact of neoliberal policies (deregulation, service cuts, lower and regressive taxation that exacerbates the class gap) on the second shift. If we don’t regulate junk-food ads on children’s TV programs and Coke machines in schools, we add to the probability of childhood obesity,” she says.  “That means more trips to the doctor, daily injections, food monitoring—additions to the second shift. If we cut unemployment insurance and food stamps, we also add great anxiety to the second shift. Like other aspects of public life, public policy ‘comes home.’ ”

Besides the forthcoming essays, Hochschild is pursuing a new book project (Outsourced Self took seven years), which explores the emotions behind political beliefs. In February, she headed down to Louisiana for her fourth interviewing trip.

“It’s just too much fun being in the field,” she says of her nonretirement. “I think we both feel that. We get a kick out of it, and we’re just so lucky.”

The “he” in the “we” is Adam Hochschild, founder of Mother Jones magazine and the author of Bury the Chains and other memorable books of historical narrative nonfiction, most recently To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion: 1914–18. (His next book is on the Spanish Civil War.)

Arlie met Adam at a Quaker work camp in Spanish Harlem when she was 20 and he was 17. Though they aren’t practicing Quakers, she says they are “Quakerish. We like the ethic, the spirit.” Quaker values provide “some of the ingredients for mobilizing around important issues and basing a sense of community on moral questions,” she explains.

Her appreciation of Quaker values also drew her to Swarthmore as a sophomore transfer student. Daughter of a United States diplomat, Hochschild began college in New Zealand, where her family was posted after an earlier two-year stint in Israel. It was her experience of being a 12-year-old outsider at that first post that attracted her to sociology.

“I was the only American in the school and two heads taller than everyone, and I didn’t speak Hebrew, and I wore dresses that were fancier than anyone else’s,” she says. “It was the worst and the very best thing that ever happened to me, because I just had to realize that my road was a tiny one and this was a bigger world, and I didn’t fit into it. It was such a privilege to be exposed to so many different ways of living, and it really made you question your own.”

Once at Swarthmore, she continued her interest in international relations by majoring in the subject and joining the Political Action Group and Peace Corps Committee. She pursued social action, as she had in high school. When she met Adam, she was dating a Swarthmore Quaker, but her affinity for Adam won out. The Hochschilds did civil rights work in Vicksburg, Miss., before marrying in 1965.

“Adam is a wonderful person, very kind and thoughtful, and that was apparent from the beginning,” she says. “I thought, ‘Well, if I can just master that last name …” she says with a laugh.

Much as they love and respect each other, they can put on their critics’ hats, working over a manuscript side by side at the kitchen table.

“It’s a gift—a tough critique is like a good friend,” she says. “You say, ‘I see what you’re trying to do, but let’s see—why don’t you start over here?’ Sometimes I think I’m going on a wild-goose chase and think, ‘Where’s that going to fit into this?’ He says, ‘The data will tell you. Don’t worry. Just get deeper in.’”

Thankfully for all of us, she keeps digging deeper.

Faculty and alumni, including Szilvia Szep ‘94, connected at a Future Directions of the College event in Philadelphia earlier this year. Photos by Laurence Kesterson

Active—not passive—learning. That’s what Swarthmore students can expect today. Graduates from the 1950s to the late 2000s heard examples of today’s inventive pedagogy from four faculty members Jan. 31 at a Future Directions of the College event in Philadelphia.

About 50 Philadelphia-area alumni listened raptly as Rachel Buurma ’99, assistant professor of English literature; Philip Jefferson, Centennial Professor of Economics; Grace Ledbetter, associate professor of classics; and Amy Vollmer, professor of biology, talked about the dynamic experience students enjoy in their classrooms, often driven by the application of cutting-edge technology.

For instance, Buurma’s Victorian Novel students carried out research by helping to create an online edition of Charles Dickens’ weekly magazine All the Year Round, which serialized Dickens’ novel Great Expectations in the 1860s. The Dickens Journals Online project is based at the University of Buckingham in England.

Jefferson explained how accepting the invitation from Vollmer to “spend time in her lab and learn about science over the summer” led him to abandon lecture formats on Fridays and set up hands-on, real-world protocols with concrete objectives. He found his economics students’ retention of information improved, and they benefited by receiving instant feedback from him.

President Rebecca Chopp met with faculty and alumni to for a Future Directions of the College event in Philadelphia earlier this year.

Ledbetter talked about the shifts in her field—classics—in the 21st century, including an expansion from the traditionally purely historical approach. “We now take the ancient text and explore how it’s relevant in a modern context,” she said.

Vollmer described how she “flips” her biology classroom. Instead of spending class time standing in the front of the room lecturing, she posts her lectures online. Students then spend their class time working on problems in small groups as Vollmer walks amongst them. “I really get to know my students,” she said.

President Rebecca Chopp, who opened the evening with a short talk about upcoming events at the College, summed up the professors’ presentations: “These are not only great teachers but teachers who love their teaching.” She then fielded a wide range of questions from the audience.

Jefferson and Vollmer referenced the College’s new Institute for the Liberal Arts, explaining that the institute is addressing some of the challenges facing small, residential colleges like Swarthmore. Chopp and Buurma, who serves with Jefferson on the institute’s committee, discussed how important it is to use interdisciplinary approaches to foster curricular, pedagogical, and scholarly innovation.

One alumnus wondered if Swarthmore was doing a better job than other colleges at providing a meaningful education. Ledbetter remarked that “one of the striking things about Swarthmore is how open people are about pedagogy. It’s a culture that is very unique that way. ” Chopp added, “Where Swarthmore is distinct is the symbiotic relationship between faculty and students that pushes the edge of knowledge.”

Strategic marketing executive Davia Temin ’74, left, shares her expertise with externs Maxwell Sacks ’15 and Nadin Hamza ’15. Photo by Laurence Kesterson.

Standing in a meeting room 27 stories high overlooking Midtown Manhattan, surrounded by Swarthmore students and alumni, I began to revise my view of the College community—from one focused on campus life to a realization that opportunities after Swarthmore are endless, like the city lights fading into the distance.

This epiphany, at a reception for students and alumni in New York, was just one part of Extern Week. The program, which the Alumni Council started nearly 20 years ago and is now coordinated by Career Services, matches participating students with a graduate of the College whose profession matches the student’s interests. Students then “shadow” their extern sponsors for a week to learn about the graduate’s career.

Some students stay in alumni homes during Extern Week, adding another dimension to the connection between past and current students.

“The home-stay aspect of the program allows alums to connect with the College in a very personal way by letting them interact with students at home,” says Jennifer Barrington, assistant director of Career Services. “The program would not be this big if our incredibly generous alumni could not provide housing.”

This year had the highest participation in the extern program’s history with 220 students participating and 300 alumni who either volunteered to be workplace sponsors or home-stay hosts Jan. 13–20.

Education, law, medicine, and academia were among the professions represented. My Extern Week experience was focused on law, as I shadowed Nancy Hengen ’73, a partner specializing in maritime transactions at the law firm Holland & Knight.

Most of my days were spent reading documents related to a current case, discussing questions and concerns that arose from the cases, and calling clients to address any concerns they had. While I learned a lot about specific cases, what I took away could serve me in virtually any area of law.

Shadowing Nancy enabled me to catch glimpses of the thought processes lawyers employ. While the subject matter of the cases varied, guiding principles such as asking what could be ambiguous in an agreement draft made me think in new ways. The experience also helped confirm my initial suspicions: Law felt “right” to me.

Regardless of career interest, there are common themes that can be found throughout every extern match.

“The extern program helps students answer the question ‘How do I take what I learned in class and make a lifelong career out of it?’” says Barrington. “It really assists in making students think about opportunities that hadn’t been on their horizons.”

The program is not just beneficial for students. It offers alumni a chance to reconnect with their alma mater while also potentially gaining help with current projects.

“The exposure to Swarthmore students is just wonderful,” says Davia Temin ’74, president and CEO of Temin and Co., a strategic marketing firm specializing in corporate reputation management. “It is important for alums to get to know who students are today, because we just remember who we were. I’ve had students come in, conduct research, help give presentations to clients, and even co-author articles with me.”

One of Temin’s externs, Maxwell Sacks ’15, remarks on the extern experience’s strong impact.

“I got more than I could ever ask for out of working for Davia,” he says. “I saw how hard one has to work to achieve something great. She taught me a great deal about accountability and reliability, as her firm is one that must have a reputation for these traits to be successful. It is very hard to build up a reputation and easy to destroy one.”

Temin, who has participated in the program since its inception, is a true believer in the extern program’s value to sponsors as well as students.

“As an alumna, I’ve always been delighted with my experiences with current students,” says Temin. “There is a really high possibility of hitting the jackpot with a wonderful student who can help and learn from you.”

SwatTank finalists, from left, Chris Fortunato ’14, Ian Anderson ’13, Kyle Pierce ’14, Chelsea Hicks ’14, and Jalisa Roberts ’13 competed for the College’s first student-business-plan prize March 23. Photo by Laurence Kesterson

The 14th Annual Jonathan R. Lax Conference on Entrepreneurship, held March 23, featured the usual sharing of alumni expertise and robust discussion but also contained exciting new features. An enthusiastic group of students (Aldo Frosinini ’15, Marisa Lopez ’15, Antony Kaguara ’15, Kwame Koram ’15, and Dionne Wilson ’15), in collaboration with Erin Massey and Jennifer Barrington of the career services office, created the college’s first student-business-plan competition. SwatTank was co-sponsored by Career Services, the Dean’s Office, the President’s Office, the Center for Innovation and Leadership, the Lax Conference, and the Entrepreneurship Club.

Throughout the academic year, the planning team recruited student entrepreneurs, developed a team of alumni mentors, and created a curriculum of alumni-led webinars. Student submissions were narrowed down to three plans.

SwatTank finalists presented their ideas in a competition moderated by Shalom Saar ’74. Contest judges were Joseph Turner ’73, Karen Meidlinger, and Terrence Hicks ’74, who also served as the conference’s keynote speaker. Hicks’ topic was “When You’re Finished Changing, You’re Finished—Entrepreneurship in the Current Economy.”  Hicks is vice president for the investment group at Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

The conference also featureed discussion groups led by Gustavo Alberelli ’00, managing director, Trident Capital; Michael Bertuch P’14, president and CEO, ViaTech Publishing Solutions; Way-Ting Chen ’94, partner and co-founder, Blue Garnet Associates; Robert Cleaves P’14, managing director and co-founder of Stratex Energy LLC and president of the Biomass Power Assoc.; Claire Hartten ’91, co-founder of Dirt Café and Hungry New York; Feng He ’03, co-founder of DemoHour; Nick Martin ’04, founder and president of TechChange; Michael Silton ’86, executive director of UCLA Venture Capital Fund; and Ali Usman ’91, founder of Credit Market Intelligence and Sunergix.

To read more about SwatTank see our Web Exclusive story below.

“Look, there’s a hawk,” one of them exclaimed, his face upturned, staring into the skeletal branches of the lofty ginkgo that dominates the hill above the fraternity lodges.

Following his friend’s gaze, the second student looked up, located the bird. Their hefty book bags slithered to the ground, landing with an almost inaudible double thunk. Silently, the two young men observed the magnificent hawk silhouetted motionless on its perch, apparently resting, unperturbed by its audience. For a few moments, the students were transported, taking a break, quietly, like the bird. Then, maybe in response to the grumblings of their stomachs, they shouldered their backpacks and continued down the hill. First to dinner. And then, probably, to the library.

At a college where campus beauty and academic rigor hold top spots in national college rankings, such magical, transformative experiences seem too rare. Although many applicants to Swarthmore list the loveliness of the campus as one of the reasons they apply, once here, they tend to find little time to enjoy it. Instead, they hurry from classroom to lab to library and back, comforted by the feel of the books clutched against their chests like the kickboards some fear to ditch when taking Swarthmore’s obligatory and dreaded swim test.

Wild animals, driven by instinct, know when to hunt, to eat, to rest. They maintain inner balance intuitively. Swarthmore students, in pursuit of perfection and academic deadlines, feeding on passion, and sometimes neglecting to rest, often don’t. In a place where the life of the mind is lived so intensely, kindness to body and soul doesn’t come easily. Many need prompting to seek it.

According to Dean of Students Liz Braun, the College’s goal for wellness is a holistic one encompassing work, play, exercise, sleep, and nutrition. “There is a really strong institutional recognition,” she says, adding that students need to devise their own programs for wellness, using a wide variety of options.

President Rebecca Chopp concurs with Braun that supporting wellness initiatives is a College priority. After all, as Chopp says, “The mind functions better if the body is fit.” She defines wellness as “being a steward of one’s body and mind and trying to live simply and with attentiveness, both physically and mentally.”

For those who seek guidance in their wellness journey, help is at hand.

BEING WELL ON THE INSIDE

Enter Satya Nelms, a Wesleyan graduate, former doula (labor coach), and yoga and meditation instructor—and the College’s first student wellness coordinator. Hired in August under the auspices of the Dean’s Office, and working closely with Worth Health Center (WHC), where her office is located, Nelms has become a star among the campus community. Looking hardly older than a student herself, Nelms radiates an aura of calm. Just listening to the sound of her gentle voice makes visitors to her office feel relaxed. And she gives really good hugs—to everybody.

Hiring Nelms is “a dream come true” for Beth Kotarski, director of WHC and a nurse practitioner, who, shortly after her arrival at the College six years ago, identified the need for a wellness coordinator. Quoting from a College National Health Survey that lists sleep deprivation and stress management as the top-two wellness challenges among college students nationwide, Kotarski adds that the WHC, open 24 hours, six days a week, logs about 9,000 visits a year, a high number for a school of Swarthmore’s size.

“Attending class is the most important thing for our students,” says Kotarski. “They have a hard time justifying being sick. It’s our job, along with the wellness coordinator’s, to help students understand the importance of listening to their bodies, understanding illness, and promoting wellness.”

David Ramirez, Swarthmore’s director of counseling and psychological services, concurs: “Sleep is the No. 1 variable that should be the target for any wellness program. Everything else derives from that.”

“The students are more reactive than proactive,” Nelms adds. “I’d like them to come to me before they become overwhelmed and are not sleeping. If I can get students into a state of optimal health and well-being, then, when they traverse a period of higher stress, such as during finals, they’ll manage it better.”

One of Nelms’ greatest challenges is persuading students that wellness is important.

“I ask them when they take time for self-reflection to do something just for themselves, and they look at me as if I have two heads,” she says. “I suggest they use their longest walk across campus—from dorm to class, or gym, wherever—and try to be really present in that time, look around them, thinking about how their bodies feel, and taking a few deep breaths.”

Many of the students don’t have a baseline for what “normal” feels like, says Nelms. So she has them track their days, how they feel and function after minimal sleep or missing breakfast or lunch; record time spent on class work, study, extracurricular activities, and quiet time. Based on their responses, she devises alternatives for them to try, working towards an optimal plan for staying healthy, happy, and fully functional.

Marina Tucktuck ’13, from Ramallah, Palestine, is one who took Nelms’ advice after experiencing chronic stress that was affecting her ability to study and sleep. “Satya gave me some breathing exercises to do before I went to sleep and when I woke up, just to clear my mind and help me focus. It really helped,” she says.

Nelms collaborates with deans and students to create an expansive program of activities aimed at relaxation, fun, and exercise. During her first semester on campus, she organized alcohol-free parlor parties and yoga and meditation sessions. Her 30 Days of Gratitude campaign prompted students to post personal reasons to be thankful on the Student Wellness website. A Tea of Thanks was catered by the student-run Paces cafe. A Fun Fall 5K Run attracted about 50 participants from the College and borough.

Perhaps Nelms’ grandest coup so far, on a campus where so many students eschew sleep, is the introduction of monthly bedtime stories in Parrish Parlors. These have become so popular—attended by up to 40 students each session, some in slippers and jammies—that twice-monthly sessions are being considered. A slew of faculty and staff members signed up to read—books include Goodnight Moon, Frederick, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Giving Tree—with President Chopp closing the academic year with a story in May.

“Everyone loves bedtime stories,” says Nelms. “It takes the students out of the academic into a more restful milieu, where they also enjoy calming drinks and healthy snacks.”

Nelms also finds elegantly simple ways of inserting short-term, “feel-good” activities into everyday campus life. During the 30 Days of Gratitude, she hung small posters around the campus, one of which invited readers to “Take What You Need” and sported tear-off tags with words such as “passion,” “beauty,” “strength,” and “health.” The other poster, titled “What Can You Give?” encouraged students to tear off and share with friends tags showing words such as “understanding,” “encouragement,” “strength,” and “hope.”

Meanwhile, Nelms herself has been tagged by students with labels like “fantastic,” and “incredible.” Kotarski says, “We really hit the jackpot with Satya.”

MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO

While Nelms has introduced new activities, the College has a longstanding core tradition stressing its physical education requirement—upholding the mantra of mens sana in corpore sano.

According to Marian Ware Director of Athletics Adam Hertz, the College embraces the need to satisfy the student appetite for open space to pursue wellness and recreation activities. “Our PE curriculum struggles to meet the changing demands, as we have added and continue to add classes that better support the growing wellness focus of the campus,” Hertz says.

These days, students can obtain PE credit by planning their own programs. For example, they can take a new walk-jog-run class, where, according to their abilities and preferences, some might choose to walk with the group, others train for a 5K, or still others focus on more serious running.

For many students, the mind-body balance is achieved through rigorous intellectual exercise in the classroom, countered by taxing physical exercise on the field, court, or in the pool. Says Hertz, “We have about a 22 percent participation rate for varsity sports. If we include club and intramural participation, that number jumps above 40 percent.”

Due to the time and energy demands of team sports, student athletes have no choice but to be disciplined about managing their time, course work, team practices, and eating and sleeping habits. Achieving optimal performance in all areas is challenging.

Tony Lee ’15, an engineering major, varsity swimmer, and club ice hockey player, says, “When students are having a hard time keeping up with academics, the immediate solution is to sacrifice their workouts; then they enter a vicious cycle of stress. Studies show that exercise is excellent for reducing stress and increasing productivity.”

In the fall, advised by Nelms and operating under the charter of the student-run Ashtanga Yoga Club, Lee and two friends helped to expand club offerings by offering hot yoga as a regular off-campus activity. By staggering the times of sessions, the trio managed to provide transportation to nearby Media for the 150 participants who registered. “Hot yoga pushes you out of your comfort zone, kind of like a purging,” says Lee. “The high temperature—104 degrees—drives all the toxins and stress from your body.”

SO HOW ABOUT THE STAFF?

Many College staff and faculty members, although claiming not to be athletes, are role models for the rest of the campus and can frequently be seen on the tennis courts, in the fitness center, and in the pool. Liz Braun often starts the morning with a run. “It’s a kind of physical meditation to clear my head and start the day,” she says. “As I pass by the Rose Garden, I’m one of the few people who can literally stop to smell the roses on my way to and from work.”

Some prefer more organized settings. Anyone passing by Upper Tarble after work on Mondays or Wednesdays will likely hear the pulsating beat of loud music that makes it hard for listeners to stand still. Those willing to climb the stairs to take a look will see Jocelyne Noveral, a biology lab instructor, leading about 50 bobbing figures in a rousing step-dance session. Starting out as PE classes that students could take for credit, aerobics classes are now also open to employees as part of a daily exercise-relaxation program, sponsored by a campus Wellness Group formed about 10 years ago by several staff and faculty members.

Noveral has taught fitness classes since she came to the College in 1995. Two of her “regulars” for years now have been Myrt Westphal, associate dean for residential life, and Kathleen Siwicki, professor of biology. “It’s our responsibility to show an example to the students and encourage them to join in,” Noveral says.

Although she recognizes it’s sometimes hard to find the time, Noveral urges everyone to try exercise. “When you start to feel sluggish, you should do something physical. Once you discover how good your body feels when you are active, you always want to find a way to move your body,” she says.

While some staff members spend their lunch breaks striding purposefully around the campus or through the woods wearing comfortable walking clothes and shoes, others pack the Mullan Tennis and Fitness Center. In the early morning and evenings, faculty and staff members as well as students swarm to the facility that is often overcrowded. A campaign is under way to raise funds for an additional fitness facility, which will include reconfigured, renovated, and expanded existing facilities, providing ample space for new exercise machines, yoga and meditation rooms, and an on-site office for the wellness coordinator.

Furthermore, the 10-year-old wellness program that has offered yoga, aerobics classes, and lunchtime wellness lectures is being overhauled and expanded under the auspices of the human resources (HR) department, as director Pamela Prescod-Caesar and HR Project Specialist Terri Maguire, a member of the original Wellness Group, push to take the College’s staff-wellness initiative up a notch or two. The currently informal Wellness Group will become a more formal Wellness Committee later this year.

The importance of wellness initiatives hit home last year, when a utilization review by representatives of Independence Blue Cross (IBX) revealed higher-than-average employee claims in the areas of hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, and asthma. These are four of the top 10 conditions that can be controlled if precautionary measures are taken by at-risk individuals.

“People tend not to go for annual wellness checkups,” says Prescod-Caesar, “and, as a result, when they do get sick and go to the doctor, they find that they’re suffering from one or more of these illnesses on the list.”

Prescod-Caesar aims to raise awareness of the dangers of such illnesses and the importance of checkups, especially since the College is a member of a consortium of 141 schools that work together to bargain for favorable rates with insurance brokers, which may result in lower premiums.

“When I came to Swarthmore [in early 2012], the consortium had just implemented criteria for wellness in all the schools,” Prescod-Caesar explains. “One was a point system, with points awarded to each institution for preventative programs—10 points if you offered a smoking-cessation or Weight Watchers program, and so on. You need a minimum of 50 points to remain in the consortium and enjoy the privileges it offers.”

So, in hot pursuit of a healthier community, points, and ultimately lower premiums, starting in November, Prescod-Caesar began inviting a nutritionist to campus one day a week to offer employees individual counseling. Allowed six visits a year, members can contact the nutritionist to book slots, which fill fast. “The hope is that they will address existing health issues or improve their vitality through healthy eating and activity,” she says. Nutrition awareness will be complemented by participation in the lunchtime campus-trail–walking groups that are being planned for later this year.

THE TIME TO BREATHE DEEPLY

According to Braun, “The [HR] initiatives have raised the community consciousness of wellness. People are talking about it, and they’re grappling with it more. Wellness need not steal a lot of time from a busy day. Sometimes, just stopping to take a couple of minutes to look around and breathe deeply will work a small wonder.”

Just ask those two students, who paused spellbound to observe that majestic hawk.

—Travis Mattingly ’13, chemistry major,
Leonardtown, Md.

“I spend a lot of time at the Black Cultural Center, where I’m an intern and where we all encourage each other. A lot of the time, I think we create our own misery poker game, and although anyone can play, we should at some point stop and convince ourselves that it’s not that bad, and we can handle it. Sometimes, I think you just have to take time to be silly.

“Since I was a first year, I’ve been known for having a very tranquil room. I have a little Zen corner and lots of color. I brought in a purple rug, some little pillows from Thailand, and some drapes that hung from the ceiling. When people wanted to take a break from homework, they came and hung out there.”

—Alaina Brown ’13, religion, black studies,
Fort Washington, Md.

“I attend on-campus concerts and dance parties. Dance parties are especially relaxing, because prior to the actual party, you get to meet with friends and hang out before going to the actual party. Meeting with friends and learning how their week went as well as talking about your own week provides a measure of stress relief. When I’m worried about something but have somebody to confide in, I usually feel less stressed.”

—Stephen Dini ’13, computer science, Harare, Zimbabwe

“I work out six days a week. I love it, and it helps me deal with stress. Also, I’m a firm believer in the power of friendship as an important part of wellness. Research indicates this as well.”

— President Rebecca Chopp

“Get sunshine in your eyes, spend time outside, have fun, relax— whether you’re doing well academically or not.”

—Myrt Westphal, associate dean of student life and
tennis aficionada for 25 years

“Besides physical activities, one of my hobbies is going to Philly to hear touring musicians. I usually go with a few friends once or twice a semester, and for one night, I don’t have to worry about upcoming deadlines.”

—Tony Lee ’15, engineering, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

“After my freshman year, I decided not to continue on the tennis team … Without the physical activity, I was stressed out and overly anxious about deadlines and assignments. Everything was intensified because there was no release. The gym offers a cathartic release from the stress of Swat life. Bring your anger, your anxiety, any stress in the book—the gym never judges.”

—Dina Zingaro ’13, honors religion and English literature double major, English literature minor, Randolph, N.J.

“I seek the advice of friends. I often find that panic and feelings of stress exaggerate my perception of a situation, and simply voicing my worries to someone often helps lessen the psychological burden. Also, exercising or practicing music helps to clear my mind. I attend wind-ensemble rehearsals once a week and practice the music on my own during the week. These breaks are particularly rewarding, as I’m forced to concentrate on nothing but the music. After practicing or rehearsing, I’m much more relaxed and content.”

—Daniela Jaeger ’13, psychobiology special major, Lopatcong, N.J.

“Make a feasible schedule of what you want to do. Make sure to sign up for it and tell a lot of people you’re doing it. I fell off the wagon a bit one semester, skipping Sharples and my hour of reading, but I literally had so much I couldn’t skip.

“I was happiest at the beginning of fall 2012, when I’d wake up at 5 to 6 a.m., eat breakfast when Sharples opened and take the path through the woods to get to the Science Center. I’d buy something to drink and head to Cornell Library to read scholarly journals for an hour before heading to my first classes.”

—Stephanie Carrera Lozano ’15, undeclared, Brownsville, Texas

“I believe in excellence, not perfection. For example, there are students who mentioned having classes that run very late in the evening. I am sure our students are being intellectually stimulated and are quite happy to engage with their peers and faculty members. I do sometimes wonder if there are other ways to demand excellent work without it being at the cost of sleep and therefore health. I think we should be a leader in slowing down the pace, knowing that slowing down will allow us to be more excellent. At least four times this year I’d like to have lunch sitting in the Rose Garden.”

—Karlene Burrell-McRae, director of the Black Cultural Center,
dean of the junior class

“One of the first things I did when I came to Swarthmore was get involved with the Swarthmore Asian Organization (SAO). A part of me was missing the connection I felt to that community back home, which is really an immigrant Chinese community. Through the SAO, I started working with youth in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, and being involved in something outside of Swarthmore that is in some ways connected to my own experiences makes me feel more grounded.”

—Yin Guan ’13, biology major, English literature minor, Madison, Wis.

Jocelyne Noveral (left) and her mentee Marina Tucktuck ’13.

“I stress mainly about academics. Another challenge for me is being away from home. I haven’t seen my family in more than a year and a half now, so I’m very homesick. As a Richard Rubin Scholar studying biology, I was matched with a mentor, Jocelyne Noveral, a lab instructor in the biology department. She’s amazing. I’m constantly in touch with her, and she’s been a great support for me here. She always notices when I don’t look well, and she approaches me to talk about what has been happening with me. She’s a real mother figure to me and is always very encouraging. Also, I belly dance and do Balinese dance to shift my energy away from Swarthmore’s stressful academics. I’m also an EMT with the Swarthmore [borough] fire company, which I really enjoy. Taking the role of a health-care provider takes my thoughts away from myself and focuses them on someone in need of help.”

—Marina Tucktuck ’13, biology major, peace and conflict studies minor, Ramallah, Palestine

“Weightlifting is essential for women—to maintain bone density. Lift anything. Flour bags, water bottles, veggie cans …”

—Jocelyne Noveral, biology lab instructor and aerobics teacher

Jake Neely ’13 feels the burn during a break from his studies in the Mullan Tennis and Fitness Center. Photo by Laurence Kesterson

Jake Neely ’13 is used to stares from students and new dining-hall employees as he exits Sharples. On hisoverflowing plate are bunless hamburger patties, mountains of cubed chicken, and spinach—the mainstays of his diet. Proudly, Neely will tell you that diet has  taken him to 525 pounds … on the barbell. The Missoula, Mont., native has actually lost 75 pounds on his carnivorous, protein-rich regimen, which, when paired with intense muscle building, helps him maintain a paradoxical balance.

“It’s very, very hard to lose weight while gaining strength,” says Neely. “To gain strength you have to be in a calorie surplus—that’s a flat-out rule. You have to eat between 4,000 and 6,000 calories a day, and you have to pick your calories right to lose weight,” hence the carb-free mounds of meat on Neely’s plate twice daily. He hopes to lose 15 pounds by midspring for a meet and another 25 by fall (bringing his total weight loss to 115 pounds), a feat he says “shouldn’t be a problem.”

The astrophysics major embarked upon this weighty fascination two years ago when he sought an extracurricular activity. At the College gym, he discovered weightlifting and, before long, was reading up on how to train competitively. This fall, Neely participated in his second meet, a daylong affair that leaves lifters just as exhausted mentally as physically. (Since the sport is not NCAA regulated, meets are held by third-party organizations, such as USA Powerlifting).

Neely spends most of his downtime during the 15-hour–long meets in anticipation of his turn, indulging in Gatorade and Skittles for their carbohydrate value. Competing by weight class, powerlifters are required to squat, bench press, and dead lift, adding weight for all three attempts. At the end of each contender’s turn, the highest weight achieved in each lift is combined to determine a score.

Once good and Skittled up, Neely says the most important part of a meet is the hour before competing.

“You’re envisioning doing your lifts over and over,” he says. “Everybody has their own way of psyching up and getting ready; mine is to think about things that make me angry and build that up.”

During a fall meet, Neely took first place in his weight class with a 525-pound squat, 315-pound bench press, and a 515-pound dead lift—all of which he’s looking to double in the coming years.

Outside of the 20 to 25 hours per week that Neely spends training himself and others in the gym, the senior remains academically engaged: He’s applied to seven astrophysics graduate programs and is collaborating on a paper with Associate Professor of Astronomy David Cohen.

Neely and Cohen’s work determines the nitrogen and oxygen content of distant megastars that are much larger and brighter than our sun. They hope to draw conclusions about the stars’ evolution by using a space telescope, deriving X-ray information to study the diffraction of a star’s spectra as a means to analyze wavelengths and determine elemental abundance. They intend to submit a paper on their findings for publication.

“Jake has shown an unusual degree of determination and initiative—as well as careful work and scientific insight—for an undergraduate just beginning his research career,” says Cohen. “We are hopeful not only that other people in the field of stellar astronomy and chemical evolution of the galaxy will take notice of Jake’s results, but also that they will use the technique that Jake has helped pioneer.”

Back in the weight room, Neely continues to evolve. This spring, he’ll move out of raw powerlifting and into a category called single-ply equipped lifting, which entails wearing a layer of supportive material, a tailored polyester shirt, which has enabled him to increase his bench press by more than 100 pounds in mere months.

While there may be some truth to the saying “You are what you eat,” Neely, albeit a big guy, could never be called a “meathead.” Still, as he moves forward with his studies and his powerlifting, Neely intends to adhere to his extreme diet even after he graduates in June … at which time, employees working the grill at Sharples can take a collective breather.

Karlene Burrell-McRae, director of the College’s Black Cultural Center (BCC) warns her student advisees to avoid what she calls "perfectionist syndrome." Photo by Ken Yanoviak

“For some it’s a no-brainer,” she says from the cozy confines of her colorful, book-lined office in Bond Hall. “They come from some sort of religious or spiritual tradition and know that this is an important part of their resilience and essential to their success in college. They’re intentional in continuing their practices, whether by going to church, synagogue, mosque, or in personal prayer. We do all we can to support those students in our office.”

The more challenging group of students, Tompkins says, are those who have no tradition of organized religious practice but are interested in spirituality, either exploring it for the first time or exploring one that is different from the one in which they were raised.

“Swarthmore students want to be good people, to give back and seek ways to do that, so we try to find faith-based opportunities for them to do that,” Tompkins says. “In that, they find solace.”

In a community of high achievers, some students labor under feelings of intellectual and/or social inadequacy. Karlene Burrell-McRae, director of the College’s Black Cultural Center (BCC) says that one of the greatest challenges she faces is “perfectionist syndrome,” which can affect any student.

“There’s a degree of shame in asking for help,” she says. Burrell-McRae believes that her protégés sense a stigma attached to having problems, whether personal, academic, mental, social, or physical. “When students are used to being in the top 1 percent of their class and their families have such high expectations of them, the burden and stress associated with having to be perfect prevents them from being well,” she says.

So that they feel less alone, Burrell-McRae tells her students stories about situations similar to their own, either from her own experiences or those of students in her former workplaces. “Being able to ask for help is a strength, not a weakness,” she says.

The BCC is one of several entities that nurture social wellness. Others include the resident assistants program, the Social Affairs Committee, the Women’s Resource Center, the Intercultural Center, and the International Students Organization.

While social wellness is the concern of administrators like Burrell-McCrae, others assist students who, in times of stress, seek comfort in mood-altering substances. The College’s drug and alcohol counseling program, sponsored by the Dean’s Office, is run by Tom Elverson ’75, alcohol education and intervention specialist. Elverson oversees campus groups comprising the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team; the Party Associates Coordinators, who are responsible for ensuring safety at on-campus social events; and the two campus fraternities Delta Upsilon, of which he is a member; and Phi Psi.

At the students’ request, Elverson started the first alcohol support group at the College. “We have about eight to 10 students in the group, who can be actually in recovery or working toward recovery.”

If necessary, Elverson is the College’s liaison to the court system. “When students are charged with underage drinking, I help them through the court process.” A former borough councilman, he meets regularly with the local chief of police to enhance communication between the College and police department to ensure that students receive the correct clinical and judicial support.

With respect to alcohol consumption and drug use on campus, Elverson says, “In keeping with a College policy that advocates responsibility while following Pennsylvania state regulations, Swarthmore is on the lower end of the spectrum around issues of hospitalizations, citations, court appearances, and interventions.” Elverson bases his statement on a 2007 comparative study of six colleges similar to and including Swarthmore. “I have no exact current figures, but I’d say we’re about average or below, compared with other schools,” he says.

Another commonly abused substance is nicotine. Although fewer people ages 17 through 25 are smoking cigarettes, the rate of decline has slowed during the last few years, according to a recent report on tobacco use from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

That Swarthmore students are susceptible to this form of substance abuse is worrying for Bennett Lorber ’64, Thomas M. Durant Professor of Medicine, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Temple University School of Medicine, and a member of Swarthmore’s Board of Managers. Lorber would like to see the College’s smoking policy revisited. Currently, smoking is prohibited in all indoor public spaces campuswide and outdoors within 25 feet of entrances to buildings.

“As a physician, I am particularly interested in direct human sustainability—the sustainability of human life,” Lorber says. “The health and wellness benefits of exercise, stress relief, good nutrition, and many other things pale when compared with the adverse health effects of smoking. I visit the campus quite regularly, and my observation is that the number of students smoking cigarettes, at least in public, has increased in the last few years. Why are such bright people doing something so dumb?

“So many Swarthmore students are engaged in activities to make the world a better place,” he adds. “Perhaps some of those who don’t smoke could engage in programs to help those who do. Perhaps the College should consider a smoke-free policy.”

Much of what we think of when we consider the “quintessential college experience” involves behaviors and activities that might not necessarily be in the long-term best interests of the students, contends Dean Liz Braun.

“To assist them in making good choices, we encourage students to use all the resources on campus,” she says. “Our goal is to get students to figure out how they can best take care of themselves and develop lifelong habits that will help them be successful at Swarthmore and beyond.”

Jerusalem is just one of the sights the alumni tour will visit in Israel.

Travel with Professor of Religion Mark Wallace, alumni, and friends on a tour of timeless Israel Oct. 15–26. Discover a land steeped in history, from ancient biblical times to the creation of the modern-day state of Israel. Journey from the coastal plain to the mountain region and Jordan Rift Valley, and experience the myriad cultures, customs, and traditions that make up this fascinating country. Highlights include visits to Tel Aviv, Caesarea, Ein Hod, Tiberias, Nazareth, Masada, Safed, the

Dead Sea and a five-night stay in Jerusalem. This air-inclusive program is limited to just 24 alumni and friends, so reserve your place today. Please contact the Alumni College Abroad office (800-789-9738 or alumni_travel@swarthmore.edu) for more details and to reserve your place.