Several PA faculty members returned to the classroom in September after sabbaticals that took some to Europe, some to Boston and one to a sheep field in Vermont.

Displaced from his home in Andover, Instructor in Theatre Mark Efinger and his wife, Cindy, interim director of student activities, bought a motor home and drove north to Montpelier, Vt., where he promptly set up shop in a sheep field for six weeks while performing in the play Much Ado About Nothing at the Lost Nation Theatre. (The field belongs to the daughter of Walt Levering ’55, an actor who met Efinger during rehearsal and who, subsequently, offered it to him as a temporary home.)

“I wanted to get involved in professional theatre and do some of what I’ve been teaching for a while,” says Efinger, who took a yearlong sabbatical.

Over the summer, Efinger returned to Vermont to act in a second play, Proof, in which he played a math genius “similar to John Nash.” In between productions, he wrote a screenplay about his father’s life, which he is still working on.

Between jaunts to Italy, England and Scotland with his wife, Instructor in English Paul Kalkstein spent a great deal of his yearlong sabbatical holed up in his house in Maine writing his first work of fiction. Titled Jump the Kennebec, it is about a young teacher who discovers he has bipolar disorder, something Kalkstein’s brother suffered from during his life. Excerpts of the novel can be found at http://mainefolks.com/bridge.

“As a teacher of literature, I learned a great deal about what it takes to write a novel,” says Kalkstein, who is eager to return to the classroom. “I now understand and appreciate what writers go through, and that will make me a better teacher of fiction.”
Most people who take sabbaticals actually leave campus, but not biology instructor Patricia Russell. Russell’s husband, Christopher Shaw ’78, teaches history and economics at PA, so instead of uprooting the family, they just moved into a non-dorm apartment while Russell commuted into Boston.

In Boston, Russell took part in a research project at the Department of Neurology at Children’s Hospital, where she helped to identify proteins that control cell migration in embryonic brains. “Because I’ve been teaching, I haven’t been able to do much lab work, except during the summer,” she says. “It’s nice to have some more firsthand experience as a scientist and work with people who do this for a living.”

Though the concepts she studied are a little advanced for high school students, she says the techniques she learned in the lab will be transferable to her students here.

Though not technically on sabbatical—it was a two-year leave of absence—Chad Green is also back this year as director of the Community Service program. And this time he’s got a master’s degree in theological studies from Boston University.

Green says he left to study theology in part because many of his closest mentors here (Phil Zaeder, Diane Moore and Michael Ebner, to name a few) are ministers, and also because he was interested in approaching the idea of community from a philosophical and religious perspective.

“My goals in studying theology were twofold: personally, it was a time to concentrate more deliberately on my own spiritual journey and to consider questions of meaning and being; professionally, I wanted to approach the notion of community and community work from a perspective that was not purely sociological or policy driven. In the end, I found a strong overlap between the facets of theology and the theory and practice of service-learning.”

Green says the new Community Service initiative Praxis, which is designed for students who want to deepen their commitment to community work, evolved out of his experience in grad school. The program will allow students to participate in more sustained reflection and training and thus learn more about the larger social, historical and political context that lies behind their community work.

“Community service is a great forum in which kids learn about themselves and others,” he says, “and my theological education will help me to better frame some of those experiences.”

Other faculty who have returned from sabbatical this year are:

Deborah Carlisle, who studied chemistry and technology for the classroom;
John Maier, who lived in Spain doing volunteer work and taking courses at the University of Burgos;
David Penner, who wrote a series of short essays and studied the writings of Apollonius and Archimedes;
Ed Quattlebaum, who traveled to historical sites in Europe and the United States and took courses in European history;
Lisa Svec, who lived the language and culture of Germany; and
Victor Svec, who traveled to Russia and wrote a first- and second-year textbook for the Russian language.

—Kennan Daniel

Neil Cullen, who has served Phillips Academy for 17 years, has announced his intention to retire from the position of chief financial officer in July 2004. The academy has placed a notice on the academy’s Web site and online at The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Black Issues in Higher Education. The trustees who will serve on the search committee include Tom Israel ’62, Stan Shuman ’52 and Oscar Tang ’56. Also serving on the committee are Peter Ramsey, secretary of the academy, and head of School Barbara Landis Chase. Members of the Deans’ Council and of the Faculty Budget Committee will also be involved in the selection process.

The Office of Academy Resources welcomed a new senior development officer to its Leadership Gifts team over the summer.

Barbara Gross comes to Andover with more than 14 years of senior-level development experience. After working in advertising, she started her development career at Wellesley College as a major gifts officer. She was also director of major gifts at Facing History and Ourselves, an organization devoted to citizenship education, and, more recently, director of development at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

A graduate of Bowdoin College, Gross will assume responsibility for leadership gift activities in Boston and New England, New York, Chicago, the Pacific Northwest and Europe.

Susan and Bruce Waterfall and their daughter Jane ’05 hosted a get-acquainted party for New York students and their families at their home in New York City on June 10. Guests Dean of Admission Jane Fried and Dean of Students and Residential Life Marlys Edwards familiarized new students with life at Andover.
In Chicago, Rowland “Bing” Chang ’68, wife Deborah Sobol and their children, Benjamin ’02 and Sarah ’05, a welcomed more than 30 students and their parents to their home for a send-off supper party in August. Also in attendance were Michael Ebner ’70, director of alumni affairs, and Peter Anderson ’70, with wife Karen and their children, Ford ’06, Stuart ’07 and Taylor.

Bay Area events

The Andover Abbot Association of Northern California continues to be a wonderful resource for the Andover family in the Bay Area. In September, Rick Kimball ’74, founder of Technology Crossover Partners, and Lyndon Comstock ’69, CEO of the Local Economic Assistance Program, spoke to the association on Bay Area business innovation and community development.
The Bay Area association also organized a day of tours of ’58 graduate Phil Woodward’s Chalone winery that included a luncheon at Woodward’s family vineyard home on Oct. 10. A holiday party in December is in the planning stage.

Warm August evenings seemed the perfect time for alumni and past parents to catch up with old friends. Vijay Sikand ’70 and his wife, Pradnya, enjoyed the company of about 20 alumni and parents in their East Lyme, Conn., home.

Tom Israel ’62 and his wife, Barbara, were hosts to 35 alumni and parents at a cocktail party at their home on Martha’s Vineyard. Margarita Curtis, Spanish instructor and head of the division of world languages, was also on hand.

Also in August, about 30 members of the Andover family in and around Portland, Maine, dined at one of Portland’s newest restaurants, O’Naturals, co-founded by Frederic “Mac” McCabe ’65. McCabe impressed his guests with an O’Naturals buffet of organic specialties—sandwiches, salads and beverages, including wine and beer.

Alumni Council welcomes new members

During Leaders’ Weekend in October, Grace Curley ’81, president of the Alumni Council, welcomed the following new members to the council: Jennifer L. Amis ’90, Margaret S. Block ’92, Richard L. Babson ’76, Myron J. Bromberg ’52, Elizabeth Harold Close ’78, Patricia Hammond Foot ’48, Tara Gadgil ’03, Laurie Nash Geall ’84, William P. Heidrich II ’03, Jonathan F. Hubbard ’84, Margaret G. Klarberg ’96, Daniel A. Koh ’03, Timothy C. McChristian ’73, Sarah E. Perkins ’88, Dermond O. Sullivan ’58, Abigail D. Ross ’94, Paul S. Sonne ’03, Sarah Gay Stackhouse ’71, Everett K. Wallace II ’87 and William Y. Yun ’77.

The Alumni Council provides advice and council on a range of educational, administrative, admission and financial-aid policy issues.