Stalwart<strong>Champlain</strong><strong>College</strong> staffmember ShelliGoldsweigsteps up tothe challengeof a long,successfulcareerSteadyas She GoesArticle by Erik EsckilsenPhotography byKathleen LandwehrleThe first course that Shelli Goldsweigtaught at <strong>Champlain</strong> <strong>College</strong> in the mid-1970s—Adjustment Psychology—is nolonger offered. In some ways, however,that course topic has come to describethe collective mindset of the <strong>College</strong>community in the intervening years.Perhaps no member of that communityhas known the experience of adapting one’s thinkingto new challenges as intimately as Goldsweighas. Over more than three decades of service to theinstitution, she has responded to profound shifts inthe <strong>College</strong>’s direction by redefining her role on thatjourney—first as an instructor, then as a counselor,then as director of First Year Seminar, and now asdirector of the Life Experience & Action Dimension program,aka LEAD. In each new position, she has helpedstudents experience life and learning to the fullestthrough high-quality programs tailored to their needs.The latest of these initiatives, LEAD, launchedin fall 2008, finds Goldsweig in the driver’s seat ofarguably the most ambitious effort to prepare studentsfor life beyond graduation that <strong>Champlain</strong> <strong>College</strong> hasever seen (see “Life Lessons” on page 10). While LEADis truly something different—<strong>College</strong> President DavidFinney calls it “cutting edge”—it also illuminates arare constant in a <strong>Champlain</strong> era marked by change:Goldsweig’s uncommon commitment to making adifference in the lives of others.18 <strong>Champlain</strong> View | Spring 09
“She’s direct, she’s honest, she’s not afraid to confront a challenge. She’slearning new stuff all the time, and she’s not afraid to ask if she doesn’t knowsomething. She has that self-confidence. She’s comfortable in her own skin.She’s happy to work with a group, and she likes to be the boss. She’s not afraidto take on responsibility.” —Carol Moran-Brown, director of Counseling &International Student ServicesBACK TO THE LANDWere Goldsweig less adaptable, she may have neverreached Vermont, let alone <strong>Champlain</strong> <strong>College</strong>. A NewYork City native who grew up on the 14th floor of anapartment building, she remembers summer visitsto Sackett Lake, New York, where the simple abilityto “walk out of the house without taking an elevator”piqued her youthful interest in a more rustic way of life.She leaped into that life in the early 1970s when sheleft her job teaching elementary school in Harlem sothat she and husband Arthur could move to Vermont.Their first residence was a communal home in Monktondubbed Pepperland, which they shared with five nearcompletestrangers.“Pepperland was great,” Goldsweig recalls. “Noneof us had family up here. We were all from other places.It became sort of like family. I think living together is areally wonderful way to get to know someone.” Little didshe know that helping young people live harmoniouslytogether would become part of her job through LEAD.Goldsweig’s urban roots notwithstanding, shewasn’t altogether surprised by her easy adjustment toVermont life. “I always operated a little slower than NewYork,” she says. “I’d always get stuck in the revolvingdoor. I’d often go around a second time because Icouldn’t get out in time … the pace of Vermont suitedme.” On snowy mornings, it’s not uncommon for herto make Nordic ski tracks before heading to campusfor work.BACK TO BASICSWhile working as an adjunct instructor at <strong>Champlain</strong><strong>College</strong>, Goldsweig, who had earned her undergraduatedegree from City <strong>College</strong> of New York, completedher master’s degree in counseling at the University ofVermont. This set the stage for a full-time position at<strong>Champlain</strong> as a counselor in 1977. C. Bader Brouilettewas the <strong>College</strong> president at the time. Goldsweig wouldsee him succeeded by three others—Robert A. Skiff,Roger H. Perry, and Finney—in her own tenure.Those early years were different times, recallsDirector of Counseling & International Student ServicesCarol Moran-Brown, who, at Goldsweig’s suggestion,became a counselor at <strong>Champlain</strong> in 1980. Moran-Brown remembers gleefully the plays that she andGoldsweig cowrote as part of alcohol-awareness andsimilar programs. She also remembers a colleaguedetermined to get the best performance from herselfand her colleagues. “I just have so much respect forher,” Moran-Brown says. “She has incredibly highstandards that she holds herself to, that she holds thepeople who work with her to, as well. It’s the quality ofthe product that’s important to her—and the people.”While the two women set about creating counselingservices at <strong>Champlain</strong> <strong>College</strong>—a concept that, Moran-Brown says, was still rather new at the institution backthen—Goldsweig expanded her role to encompassstudent tutoring services. Moran-Brown, in turn, hadassumed responsibility for supporting the school’sinternational students, which reached a peak of 100 orso in its heyday. The time for penning skits may havepassed, but Goldsweig and Moran-Brown continuedto benefit from a close collaboration. Moran-Brownpraises her colleague’s “can-do attitude” and, again, herexpectation of quality work from students in her charge.“There was an intense, selection process” for peertutors, Moran-Brown says, “because Shelli believed inquality. She wanted to make sure that we got the best ofthe best.”Tutoring services were gradually phased out of theStudent Life office and into the academic divisions.Goldsweig wasted not a moment in creating a new opportunityto enrich students’ <strong>Champlain</strong> experience,<strong>Champlain</strong> View | Spring 09 19
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