March 2007 - Randolph-Macon College

Carroll LaHaye Tops 400 Wins
R-MC Coach Carroll LaHaye has
many reasons to be proud.
She’s coached dozens of exceptional
female athletes. She’s led her teams to
numerous ODAC and NCAA tournaments.
In 2004-05, her team, which
finished second in the NCAA tournament,
marked the longest winning
streak in the history of the ODAC program
at 23 games. LaHaye has been
named Coach of the Year by many
local, state and regional groups. She
also was recognized for her dedication
as an R-MC faculty member when she
was awarded the Samuel Nelson Gray
Distinguished Professor Award in 2005.
And, to top it off, in February, Coach
LaHaye became the 21st coach in
Division III women’s basketball history
to record 400 wins when her Yellow
Jackets upended the WildCats of
Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.
“I have been fortunate and blessed
that the outstanding student-athletes and
assistant coaches that have come
through the Randolph-Macon basketball
program have allowed me to be a part
of their lives,” LaHaye said. “The
Seniors Salem Shaffer (left) and Kristen
Morgan stand with Carroll LaHaye.
young women that have given me the
opportunity to be their coach are the
ones who have made this program
what it is today. In all of our successes,
I truly believe we have done it
together. I could not have done it
alone and I will always be indebted to
the sacrifices we have made for each
other to be who we are today. This is
an honor to be shared with many who
deserve the credit as well.”
LaHaye, who is in her 25th year with
the Yellow Jackets, is known for her
sound coaching and teaching philosophy,
which is recognized by hundreds
of others in the field who strive to
have outstanding student-athletes in
their programs. •
MARCH 2007
Malvasi Named Issac
Newton Vaughan Professor
Mark Malvasi,
an R-MC professor
of American history
since 1992,
recently was
awarded the Isaac
Newton Vaughan
professorship. Mrs.
Emma Lee
Vaughan of Ashland
Malvasi
endowed the professorship as well as
a scholarship fund in 1898 in memory
of her husband, Isaac Newton
Vaughan. The Isaac Newton Vaughan
Chair of History and Politics was the
first endowed professorship at
Randolph-Macon College and is traditionally
awarded to the senior professor
of history. Past recipients include
William Edward Dodd, Charles Henry
Ambler, Early Lee Fox, William
Alexander Mabry, George Brown
Oliver and James Edward Scanlon.
During his acceptance speech,
Malvasi shared that he has come to
understand that institutions such as R-
MC are essential.
“They enable Continued on page 4
Board of Trustees Approves Staff Benefits Proposal
In February, the R-MC Board of
Trustees approved the proposal to
change the staff benefits policy. The
new policy, which will go into effect
July 1, 2007, features several significant
changes, including a carryover
leave policy for vacation and sick
days. Previously, full-time staff members
accrued 15 vacation days per year,
regardless of years of service, and 12
sick days per year – with no carryover
leave allowed.
Under the new policy, staff members
will accrue vacation days based on years
of service (0-5 years – 10 days; 5-15
years – 15 days; 15+ years – 20 days),
although any employees hired prior to
July 1, 2007, will continue to receive 15
vacation days per year. In addition, five
of these vacation days now can be carried
over and, by choice of the staff member,
placed in the staff member’s sick leave
bank or be used as vacation. Vacation
carryover days, though, must be used in
that following year, and will not be paid
out if the employee leaves the college.
Sick days, under the new policy, were
reduced to 10 sick days per year, versus
12, but these days can be carried over,
until a total of 130 days accumulate;
these carryover days must remain in the
sick leave bank and no pay out is given
if an employee Continued on page 2
INSIDE: Your News • Thank You's • Faculty & Staff Spotlights • Department Spotlight and More!
The Buzz: Helping Build Community Through Communication

@ R-MC
Now through Friday, April 20
Artists and Writers; Flippo Gallery;
Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, March 18
Lost Boys of Sudan: Film
Showing and Discussion; Brown
Campus Center; 4 p.m.
Wednesday, March 21
Faculty/Staff Lunch -- “Monsters,
Disability, and Otherness or Who
Are You Calling Weird?” by Jack
Trammell; Estes; 12:15 p.m.
Thursday, March 22
Sensory Experience and the
Development of Functional Maps
in Visual Cortex by Dr. Leonard
White; Copley Room 100; 5 p.m.
Thursday, March 22 through
Saturday, March 24
Ashland Musical Variety Show;
Blackwell Auditorium; 7 p.m. Call
798-2728 for tickets. •
For information on spring athletic
events, visit www.rmc.edu, or call
the R-MC Sports Hotline at ext.
3142.
R-MC Honors Richmond
Symphony Director
The Arts Council of Randolph-
Macon College will be honoring
Richmond Symphony Orchestra
Music Director Mark Russell Smith
at An Evening of Celebration and
Tribute, during which the college
will present Smith with its
Achievement in the Arts Award.
This event will take place on
Thursday, April 19, at 6:30 p.m.
at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.
The event is open to everyone and
tickets are $125 each. Those interested
in attending are asked to
RSVP to Charlotte Parrish at ext.
7238 by April 9. •
April Marchetti (chemistry) recently
was awarded a $10,000 grant extension
from the Thomas F. and Katie Miller
Jeffress Memorial Trust, which funds science
programs at nonprofit institutions in
Virginia. The title of Marchetti’s grant
proposal was “Synthesis of Polyolefins
Tethered to Inorganic Surfaces via
Insertion Mechanisms.” The grant, which
she also received last year in the amount
of $27,000, allows her to grow plastic
molecules off of surfaces like silica gel.
These molecules, which haven’t been
made before, show potential use for water
filtration and dialysis purposes.
Jodie Brill (music) organized the
“Junior Music Festival” piano solo division,
held in Old Chapel on March 3, with
the sponsorship permission of Jim
Doering and Joe Mattys. During the festival,
young musicians in middle and high
school, all who are part of the National
Federation of Music Clubs, played two
compositions for two judges, who then
awarded scores, trophies and certificates.
Jack Trammell (HAC) published a
book review on the Civil War book
Native Guard: Poems by Natasha
Trethewey.
Tom Inge (humanities) published an
essay on “Harvey Kurtzman’s MAD:
Subversion and Fantasy” in the Journal of
the Fantastic in the Arts 17 (Summer
2006): 122-39. He also gave a slide talk
on “Comics as Culture” at the Covenant
Woods Retirement Community in
Mechanicsville on Feb. 5.
Gregg Hillmar (arts) recently did the
Scenic Design for Bye Bye Birdie, which
Benefits continued from page 1
2
Your News
opened Feb. 2 at the Riverside Center in
Fredericksburg. He also presented a daylong
professional development workshop
for the United States Institute of Theatre
Technology’s national conference in
Phoenix on March 13. Titled “Light Plot
Deconstructed,” the sold-out workshop
was based on Hillmar’s popular hour long
session using the CAD software
Vectorworks. He also did a shorter version
of the workshop at the conference.
Debra Rodman (women’s studies) presented
a paper, “Truth, Memory, and
Human Rights: Genocidal Denial in
Eastern Guatemala,” in March at the
Southwest Conference on Latin American
Studies in Merida, Mexico. She also was
invited to speak about Immigrant
women’s activism at Elon University for
Women’s History month on March 26.
Ted Sheckels (English and communications)
presented a paper, “Political
Satire in Mark Lewis’ 1988 Documentary
Can Toads,” at the annual meeting of the
American Association for Australian
Literary Studies in Washington, D.C. in
March. Also in March, Readings on
Political Communication, an anthology
Sheckels edited with Janette Kenner Muir,
Terry Robertson and Lisa Gring-Pemble,
was published by Strata Publishing
Company. In addition, at the final
Collegiate Forensics Association tournament,
Sheckels was reelected the organization’s
president.
Michael Fischbach (history) gave a
talk on the legacy of the 1948 Arab-Israeli
war for the Palestinian people at the
Palestine Center in Washington, D.C., on
March 1. •
leaves the college. Also, the personal leave bank was increased from three days to
five days, and will be called “Personal/Family” leave. This time cannot be carried
over under the new policy.
Several other changes were approved, including an additional paid college holiday
– the last day of Spring Break – as well as changes to the short-term disability policy.
Changes to the retiree health insurance package were approved last fall and implemented
Jan. 1. That said, between now and July 1, Human Resources will work on
determining the best way to implement these new changes, including how to track the
new carryover leave benefits. Stay tuned for additional information, or for more
details, contact Sharon Jackson in the Human Resources Department at ext. 3747. •

The BUZZ on retired faculty member Dal Wooten, English
It might appear contradictory that a
man so thoroughly southern he could be
the creation of Mark Twain is also a
dedicated student of John Milton, but
Dal Wooten III (English, retired) epitomizes
both of these descriptions.
Born and raised in Kinston, N.C.,
Wooten has always been a true southern
gentleman in the best sense of the
phrase. Milton did not become an
important figure in his life until 1954,
when he graduated from the University
of North Carolina with a bachelor’s
degree in English. In 1958, Wooten
came to R-MC for what was supposed to
be a one-year position. But fate (or perhaps
the charm of Ashland) grabbed
hold of him, and his temporary position
soon became a 40-year career.
“I taught a little of everything in the department,
with special emphasis on Renaissance
drama and Milton,” Wooten said. “I was
impressed with Randolph-Macon.”
Wooten received his master’s from the
University of North Carolina in 1961,
and in 1974 he became chair of R-MC’s
English department. His role in this
position was an undeniable success.
By Luke Fawcett, R-MC junior
The BUZZ on staff member Charlotte Parrish, Alumni & Annual Giving
Cheerful, upbeat and happy about life in
general, she’s known for her ability to
brighten your day. And, having planned
hundreds of special events at Randolph-
Macon for just about every department,
she’s likely extended her love of life to
almost everyone on campus.
Charlotte Parrish (R-MC coordinator of
Special Events) has been at Randolph-
Macon for 11 years. From helping plan the
Back-to-School Picnic, Commencement,
President Lindgren’s Inauguration and
numerous other campus events, she’s truly
Charlotte and her son, Alex
Wooten increased the department from
five to eight members and brought in
several women professors to what was
once considered “the men’s department.”
He also instituted many new courses and
began the language lab. All this was
done while maintaining a reputation as
one of the most admired professors on
campus. In fact, Wooten was such a
likeable professor that he was known as
“Uncle Dal” by some of his students.
“I think my students found me to be a
good professor, or at least entertaining,” he
said. “I’ll run into a former student occasionally,
and they’ll share fond memories.”
Although the students would never
admit it, some of their adoration may have
been due to Wooten’s habit of a keeping a
fully stocked candy jar on his desk.
“The idea came from President Reagan,
whom I’d heard kept a candy jar on his
desk,” explained Wooten. “I liked the
idea, so I kept a jar of jelly beans or
M&M’s on my office desk.” Wooten
retired in 1997, but he still brings candy
by the department every week. And,
while Wooten’s days as an R-MC faculty
member may have passed, he still lives in
done it all, from ordering food and hanging
decorations, to every other logistical detail
in between.
“No two days are ever the same, yet
there is a great deal of flexibility,” she said.
When asked about the most challenging
part of the job, Charlotte noted, “Keeping
all the balls in the air! I work on several
projects at once and all are at different
stages.”
Ashland with Monnie, his wife of 33
years. The couple enjoys traveling; every
winter they take a week-long vacation to
St. Thomas in the Caribbean, and they
make regular trips to New York and
North Carolina. Wooten also is an avid
gardener, with a special fondness for azaleas
and boxwoods.
Wooten is enjoying retired life and
while he’s not on campus as often as he
used to be, be on the lookout if you are
in Haley. You never know when Wooten
and his candy jar might drop by.•
spend with him. And this truly is the
friendliest place I have ever worked.”
When she’s not busy at the college,
Charlotte spends most of her free time with
her son; they go to the movies and she
takes him skiing. She also enjoys playing
in the hand bell choir at church. And, at
home, her three cats – Kelly Lee, Tobey
and Mr. Bigglesworth (named by her son
from the movie Austin Powers) – also keep
her busy, along with the newest addition to
the Parrish family, a Beagle named
Bartholomew. “Bartholomew stories” are
a favorite around the office, including the
most recent two tales: Charlotte recently
had to clean the pup with tomato juice after
he was sprayed by a skunk; then she had to
clean him again after he colored himself
with a blue ink pen!
These days, though, Charlotte already is
planning for Commencement 2007, a task
that will keep her quite busy in the coming
months. Still, she’s sure to send a little
cheer your way if you happen to run into
her – and don't forget to ask her for the latest
Bartholomew news as she’s sure to
The Road to R-MC
Charlotte grew up not too far from
Randolph-Macon in Louisa County. After
meeting her husband, Jeff, the couple
decided to settle down in Louisa and start a
family. Charlotte later accepted a job in the
corporate world but quickly realized,
because of the demands of her job, she was
not able to spend enough time with her
son, Alex. Soon after, she was hired at R-
MC as an administrative assistant to Jean
Payne and later became the coordinator of
Special Events.
“My son is the apple of my eye!” she
exclaimed. “Working at R-MC has been a
blessing because I’ve had more time to have a story to share! •
3 By Ashley Morris, R-MC junior

Malvasi continued from page 1
us to preserve what we know and something of who we are – the vaunted experience
and wisdom of the ages if you will; the best that mankind has thought, said,
and done – to pass that inheritance on to the rising generation. It is the most important
and most fragile gift that we can bestow to enable young men and women to
avoid facing tomorrow as if there had been no yesterday. •
Thank You’s
TO: Susan Timberlake and the Registrar’s Office
FROM: Mark Malin
Thank you for all the gracious help I received from both the Registrar’s office, Janice especially,
and from Susan while I prepared all the materials for the Phi Beta Kappa election
and later, the notification of all people involved. A great big thanks!
TO: Sarah Montes
FROM: Aouicha Hilliard and Robert Baerent
Congratulations to Sarah Montes for a most successful Teachers’ Workshop. The number of
attendees (more than 50) and the evaluation forms indicate it was a great success – well done!
TO: Mine Eren and Admissions
FROM: Aouicha Hilliard and Robert Baerent
Thank you to Mine Eren for participating in the PAD interviews here on campus – a very
select group of 15 high school German students came to Haley Hall for all-day interviews.
The winner(s) will get a free trip to Germany. Thanks Mine! And a special thanks to the
Admissions Office for helping out with literature and free lunch tickets.
TO: Jeff, Sheila, Chris & Denis
FROM: Women’s Basketball Team
Thanks for all the extra hours you had to put in to make the hosting of the NCAA games a
very special event for our team, the other teams and R-MC. You are good!
TO: Physical Plant
FROM: Women’s Basketball Team
A special thanks for getting Crenshaw ready for our NCAA play. Having the floors and all
other areas cleaned, waxed and painted was pretty awesome! •
Did You
KNOW?
On Feb. 27, the R-MC
Admission’s Office logged its
3000th application for this year!
This number is the highest in
R-MC’s history. To give some perspective,
as of Feb. 27, 2006, the
college had logged 2,473 applications,
and in previous years the
numbers were 1,554 (2005), 1,568
(2004), and 1,489 (2003).
In addition, this year’s applicant
pool is more than just large; it is
also stronger than ever. The pool is
well qualified academically and
diverse geographically and ethnically
– to date, 30 percent of the applicants
are minorities and 50 percent
are from out of state. •
Welcomes
Welcome to R-MC’s newest staff members:
Carl Benson (environmental studies),
William McElroy (fine arts) and
Jennifer Morrison (sociology) and
Lisa Gangi (biology). •
The BUZZ on this month’s department:
Mathematics
-- Submitted by Bruce Torrence, department chair
The Department of Mathematics,
located in Copley, is comprised of six
full-time faculty members, and at any
given time, approximately 30 students
who are working toward completing
the major or minor. We
graduate about 10 such students each
year. The teaching in the department
is geared toward two distinct purposes:
providing the mathematics course
or courses that a student will need in
order to meet the college’s mathematics
area of knowledge requirement,
and providing a comprehensive
mathematical foundation for our
majors and minors. In addition to
teaching and learning in the classroom,
faculty and students in the
department engage the broader mathematical
community in a number of
ways. Students routinely take on collaborative
research with professors,
and such collaboration often results in
presentation at regional or national
conferences, and publication in professional
journals. Our students have
an active chapter of the Mathematical
Association of America, and the
department hosts a chapter of the
national mathematics honor society Pi
Mu Epsilon, to which new members
are inducted each spring. •
4
The Buzz is published
monthly for the faculty
and staff of Randolph-
Macon College. Please
submit your information,
news, suggestions
and calendar items via
e-mail by the 15th of
each month to Holly
Clark at: hclark@
rmc.edu.