Nothing stops Cristina Hartmann ’03—least of all her disabilities

“Exceptionally bright and strong-willed in a positive sense” is how a former house counselor described Cristina Hartmann in a summer 2003 Bulletin story titled “Reasonable Accommodation.”

Hartmann faced—and surmounted—far more than the usual Andover challenges. She was born with Usher syndrome, a progressively disabling condition that has robbed her of virtually all hearing, caused balance problems, and interfered with her sight. With the help of two full-time American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, the Academic Support Center, and many others while at PA, Hartmann managed to earn a 5.2 GPA, take several Advanced Placement exams, participate in sports, and gain admission to Cornell University—from which she recently graduated.

“My day-to-day interpreter situation at college was much more patchworked than at Andover,” Hartmann explains. “Some were excellent, some were definitely not ready for university-level interpreting, which is quite hard. One plus was that Cornell also provided me with a C-Print—a captionist’s real-time transcription of my class or lecture.”

Because of interpreter issues, Hartmann almost missed out on the opportunity to travel her junior year. “In England they use British Sign Language, which is wildly different than ASL,” she explains. “At the last minute Student Disability Services at Cornell managed to find me an ASL interpreter in London.”

Hartmann participated in all the usual student activities at Cornell and joined a sorority, as well. The crowning accomplishment of her college career, however, was the formation of Cornell Union for Disabilities Awareness.

“I co-founded CUDA to advocate for students with disabilities and to educate the community about disability issues,” she says. “Although I stepped down as president in 2005 to study abroad, CUDA has continued to flourish, with about 50 members of the Cornell community actively involved.”

A history major, Hartmann wrote a 60-page senior honors thesis on the role of the church in the deaf community in the 19th century. “I got the chance to nose around in archives and find things that people have never written about before,” she says. “It was a thrilling experience to make an original—I hope—contribution to the field of history.”

Now at Penn Law, Hartmann is considering a focus on health law. “Legal issues surrounding the right to die and even disability rights are likely to receive even greater attention in the years ahead,” she predicts.

—Jill Clerkin

Go Back to Class with AndoverAgain

More than six decades after graduating from Phillips Academy, Jim Brown has seen his Andover education rejuvenated. A member of the Class of 1943, Brown is one of the more involved lifelong learners to take advantage of AndoverAgain, an online enrichment program offering free instruction in a number of academic and practical areas.

The courses are taught by Andover faculty—past and present—and are available to alumni/ae of Phillips and Abbot academies. Students enroll via the Web and “meet” with their classes online, too. Some courses include online chat sessions; in others, instructors post questions or other text to prompt discussion amongst participants, who log on and chime in as their schedules permit.

Courses cover a gamut of subjects—from literature and film to social studies, art history, biology, and mathematics. Faculty emeritus Tom Lyons offered a Current Events Forum in spring 2007, and current faculty member Natalie Schorr ’62, who previously taught a popular session on French idioms, will return this fall for Touch Up Your French. Also on tap in early October: Fiction and Nonfiction Writing, Sustainability, and Training and Running a Race.

AndoverAgain began in fall 2005, initiated by Paul Kalkstein ’61, a former PA English instructor who playfully has dubbed himself program Poobah. “I developed AndoverAgain at the request of Head of School Barbara Chase, who reflected the views of the Board of Trustees that PA ought to do something with distance education,” says Kalkstein. “My hope is that the program will not only serve alumni by helping to fulfill the Alumni Council’s 2006 mandate for continuing education, but also serve as a training tool for teachers who may eventually expand Andover’s reach through the world via the Internet.”

The demand for online outreach is certainly there.

Jennifer Quinlan and other members of the Class of 1986 signed on for Kalkstein’s Short Stories at the urging of classmate Heidi Van Horn. “We had a great social reunion and it seemed like a fun way to reconnect as students in the only way we can, given that we live on opposite sides of the globe,” says Quinlan, who was impressed by the online discourse. “I felt proud to be part of such a well-educated and thoughtful community of peers,” she says, “which is exactly how I felt as a student at Andover.”

The program is eager for more students like Quinlan and Brown…and Jana Paley ’81, who single-handedly funded the last two terms of AndoverAgain and has pledged to do the same this fall. Though hundreds of students have signed on since 2005, and the student demographic is diverse—participants range from collegians to former faculty member Simeon Hyde ’37—the program does have a problem with retention. Although increased enrollment is something Kalkstein and the folks in the Office of Alumni Affairs would love to see, participants are urged to follow through with a course once enrolled. “The dropout rate in earlier sessions imperils the continuance of this program,” warns the AndoverAgain Web site.

Interested in joining the discussion? Willing to make a commitment for a term? Check out www.AndoverAgain.com for all the details on how you can head back to class in early October—without even leaving your home.

—Scott Aubrey

Santa Fe Mini Reunion

Allis Brooks Hanley ’64, Jane Christie ’58, and Susan Moore Ferris ’58 take time for a photo while touring Pecos National Historical Park during May’s Santa Fe Mini Reunion.

Chandley McDonald, Maria de Echevarria, John Thompson ’50, Chris Weatherly-White, Lucky von Letkemann ’50, Mary Thompson, Dorian Freeman and Ken McDonald ’50 gather for dinner. Andover welcomed about 70 alumni and guests for the Mini Reunion.