Spring 2004 Connected - Wisconsin Alumni Association

•Integrated Liberal Studies Program, UW-MadisonConnected:ILS Alumni e-letterVolume 1, Issue 1Spring, 2004• Special points ofinterest inside thisissue:Message fromOur Chair:Exciting Directionsin ILSFocus on OurAlumniILS Alumni StrategicPlanSummer ILS/WAA WeekendCourse12-333Welcome to our e-newsletter efor Young AlumniA Word from the ChairIntegrated Liberal Studies is thriving! Our classrooms are filled to the brim and over 40 undergraduatesreceived ILS certificates last year. In other ways, as well, ILS very much remains atthe heart of the undergraduate experience at the University of Wisconsin. We are participatingactively in an innovative new program, the Freshman Interest Group Seminar. FIGS studentsenroll in the same discussion sections of two lecture courses, then take an integrative, interdisciplinaryseminar that links their courses together with a theme. This year, Craig Werner I offerssuch a course, "Democracy and Authority," while two discussion sections of ILS 203 are linkingwith other first-year seminars. We also continue to be committed to the Honors program andhave offered two small upper-level seminars in the last year, most recently a course on Utopiasby German Professor Klaus Berghan and one on critical theory by his colleague, Gerhard Richter.Last spring, we were delighted to offer our second Meiklejohn-Powell course, "Expertise andDemocracy," taught by Professor Daniel Kleinman of Rural Sociology. We continue to supportthe development of campus residential learning communities, such as Bradley and Chadbourne.Pushing beyond the borders of the University, ILS is thrilled to be involved with the OdysseyProject, an effort to extend the reading of core texts to an economically disadvantaged sectorof Madison.Life in ILS is not all work and no play, however, as our students will tell you. This year, the ILSstudent association has been revived by a very active, enthusiastic group of students. It sponsoredan open house for interested students on October 14, 2003, from 5 to 7 pm. As if pizzaand door prizes were not enough to attract a crowd, the open house featured a lively faculty debatebetween Professors Howard Schweber (Political Science) and Craig Werner (ILS and Afro-American Studies) on the role of religion in American public life. In the Spring semester, the studentssponsored an ILS Jeopardy Games Night, using questions from the curriculum submittedby professors and teaching assistants. Other student events that have been well received in thepast year include visits to plays (Sophocles' Antigone and Djerassi's Oxygen), the annual banquet,and the ever-popular student-faculty game night.ILS ProfessorRocksWhat Our ILSProfessors AreDoingWhere in theWorld Are...OurProfessors Emeriti?Ways toconnect with ILS34-555Lastly, this newsletter represents an effort to encourage and maintain better contact with our ILSalumni. To that end, we have reformed the alumni board known as MILSA (Meiklejohn IntegratedLiberal Studies Association), incorporating some younger members and working closely with theWisconsin Alumni Association. Over the summer, we embarked on an oral history project, therecording of the memories of some of our Ex College alumni, and are working with a professionalarchivist to organize some of our materials. We are also planning some future alumni events,such as talks and seminars, as well as a new and improved hard copy newsletter. So if youwould like to get more involved in alumni outreach, please contact me and let me know yourideas! I can be reached at: lmcclure@facstaff.wisc.edu.ILS Chair and Professor Laura McClurewith ILS student Ellen Feingold,our recipient of the 2003 WisniewskiAward for Dedication to the HumanitiesVolume 1, Issue 1Page 1

ILS Alumni on the Move: Timothy BartlettWe have always said that ILS students gofar in life, and this column should prove it!Some of you have traveled as far as Australiaand Chile. Others work in our nation’scapital and fill graduate schools from coastto coast.. Some ILS alums have been in thenews, and others write the news and editthe books. Yet, you connect with ILS! Beloware some profiles. We look for morestories of your lives for our next issue. (Justmail the editor and include a digital photo,please.)Timothy BartlettTim Bartlett is Senior Editor for politics and currentaffairs in Oxford University Press's New Yorkoffice. He worked previously as an editor at NYUPress and at Basic Books, where he acquired titlesin politics and current affairs. While at Basic healso served as the editor for New Republic Books,the book publishing arm of The New Republicmagazine, and Basic Civitas Books, an imprintdedicated to African-American thought and culture.He has worked with a diverse group of writersand scholars, including Alan Dershowitz,Henry Louis Gates Jr., Samuel P. Huntington, JosephNye, June Jordan, Orlando Patterson, RobertPutnam, and William Van Deburg. He is also aTerm Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.He is married and has a one-year-old daughter.He would love to hear from old ILS friends atBartlettt@oup-usa.org.“Thanks for your letter.I was an ILS certificaterecipient in 1988. Iended up transferring toBrown after that yearand graduated with aBA in History. If there'sever anything I can dofor ILS, please let meknow. ILS was themost formative partof my college experience.It doesn't surpriseme in the leastthat you are overrunwith students.”~Timothy BartlettILS Alumni Writing the News: Whitney GouldWhitney Gould, the Urban Landscape Writer forthe MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL and loyal ILSalum (Class of 19—), gave the luncheon keynoteaddress last fall for a jointly sponsored MeiklejohnILS Alumni Association -Wisconsin Center for theAdvancement of Postsecondary Education Conferenceon Learning Communities.Whitney is a 1965 graduate of UW-Madison in arthistory and German, and went thru the ILS programin 1961-’63. She graduate work in art historyat Columbia University and spent a year atHarvard in the mid-‘70s on a Nieman Fellowship,studying architectural history and the history ofcities. She currently writes about architecture andurban landscape issues for the Milwaukee Journal-ILS Alumni Making theNews: Abha ThakkarWhitney writes the news, and Abha is both writing andmaking the news. Specifically, she appeared in the “Know YourMadisonian” column of the Sunday WISCONSIN STATE JOURNALon September 7th. Abha is associate director of the NorthsidePlanning Council of Madison, and editor of the Northside News.Abha has a degree in political science and certification in teachereducation from UW-Madison. She is delighted with the ownershipthat north side residents take of their community andclearly is seeing integration on all levels.Abha was a student coordinator at ILS and a strong champion ofthe ILS certificate program and courses when advising newfreshmen in the SOAR orientation.Volume 1, Issue 1Sentinel. She was previously an editorialwriter for the Milwaukee Journal and hadalso been editorial page editor at The CapitalTimes inMadison.Whitney GouldAbha Thakkar andProfessor Sell at ILSannual banquetPage 2“Only connect!” E.M.Forster exhorted. “Live infragments no longer.”Forster would have beenright at home in ILS,which taught me to seethe connections betweenscience and history,between philosophy andliterature, geography andpolitics. For me and thethousands of otherstudents who wentthrough this program,the challenge to thinkabout the world in anintegrated way, insteadof in fragments, hasbeen essential andenduring. ~WhitneyGouldUPDATE: ILS hascreated an alumnioutreach strategic planwith the following goals,already underway:• More outreach toalumni of all ages,including this e-newsletter targetedat younger alums• Alumni events inMadison andelsewhere (contactus if interested inhaving one in yourarea)• Working moreclosely with theWisconsin AlumniAssociation

ILS Alumni Abroad: Nathan BardFrom biotechnology firm in Wisconsinto Chile where he isstudying Spanish and preparingto work in a non-profit organization,Nate Bard has traveledfar in the past year., but alwaysstays in touch with ILS.Nate’s father and mother, Neiland Mary Bard, are UW alums,and Neil writes: “I think thatthis sojourn to Chile of Nate's isa tribute to the opportunities atUW-Madison. He met theseChilean engineering graduatestudents at the University… AsI told the two UW guys beforethey left for Chile, "I am proudto send you two UW graduatesto distant points in the world.I believe that you representeverything that is good aboutthe USA. You represent theforce for positive, peacefulchange in the world." Like father,like son?Nate still keeps us up to speedwith articles and analyses oftopics we studied in ILS 400.ILS Alumni on the Radio! Jenn BrandelNATE BARDon his way toChile: “I don’tknow if I couldbe any moreexcited!”We invite you to go online tohttp://www.npr.org/about/nextgen/And listen to 2003 ILS graduateJenn Brandel in her radio piece,Commentary: The Age of theAmbient Ad , the fourth piece in“Next Generation Radio” byNPR news. In this piece, Ms.Brandel mulls the loss of openpublic space as ambient ads proliferate,and the effects on ourown ability to reflect and be sane.Jenn was also an editor for theentire show, put on by the NPRAloha from Oahu!” writes KatieFenner (Class of 2002?) . Katiespent last year hiking and exploringAustralia and New Zealand,an impressive accomplishment!This year, she has been workingas an animal trainer in a sea lifepark on Oahu, Hawai’i. Thismakes us completely envious.She has now been lured awayand reports: "I am leaving thefall interns.The talents displayed on NPRby Jenn Brandel were no surpriseto those who knew her inthe ILS senior capstone seminar.Her final project for theseminar was a personally writtenand studio recorded foursongcycle on artificial intelligence(the seminar topic).Jenn now reports in fromMontreal, where “I'm relearningmy French and turning itinto the Quebecois Patois.”ILS Alumni at Sea: Katie Fennerwarm waters of the Pacific for the clearblue mountain-ringed waters of Nevadaat the end of this month. A wonderfulsmall company called Myths and Mountainshas offered me a position. Theyspecialize in creating individualized travelitineraries to mainly South America andAsia/SE Asia as well as a few to Australia,Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands. Ihad always thought about the travel industrybut didn't want to sell family vaca-She is working there as a psychologist'sassistant for anonline web-testing company.The job entails researching anddeveloping tests for onlinesites. She is also becomingpart of the Montreal communityby producing an hour of liveradio for the 2nd annual CanadianHomelessness Marathon(www.ckut.ca/homeless.html) and helping to organizethe Montreal Jewish Film Festival.All we can say is ~ STAYTUNED!ILS/WAA Alumni Summer Weekend Course."Blank space inthe environmentallows people tothink…."Could yousurvive a daywithout fiveminutes of quiet?"~ Jenn Brandelon NPRtion deals to Disneyland- this company is totallydifferent. They work with local guides in the areasand sell tours with focuses on cultures &crafts, religion & holy sites, wildlife & environmentor folk medicine & traditional healing.They are also the founders of a program calledREAD which has helped build over 30 libraries inNepal in an effort to increase literacy." Soundswonderful and very ILS-like; perhaps somealums will want to sign on for one of these trips.On July 30-Aug. 1, 2004, Wisconsin Alumni Association will hold its annual summer “Alumni College”, this time in the Northwoodsand on a topic that is an ILS focus with a twist: The Great Books and Midlife Transition. Dr. Kathleen Sell of ILSwill teach this session, at least in part because ILS alums in the WAA Northwoods alumni branch came up to her at a resort inRhinelander last May (where she was attending the Wisconsin Idea Seminar for campus faculty) to ask “When is ILS going to dosomething for those of us who are middle-aged alums and loved ILS?” The answer was, “Next summer!”, thanks to SarahSchutt of WAA and the Campus Division of Continuing Studies. She and Dr. Sell brainstormed on the bus the next day, developingthe concept of this course that Kathi has wanted to do for alums for some time, because many of the Madison alums wantto sit in on ILS classes. More information on the course will soon be posted at: http://www.uwalumni.com/learning/calendar.html or you may call toll-free (888) 947-2586. The weekend will be held at the Schwan Retreat and ConferenceCenter near Trego, Wisconsin, north of Eau Claire, in a wonderful lake and woods setting.ILS Professor Rocks:Professor Craig Werner has just published a book, Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfieldand the Rise and Fall of American Soul (Random House) that received strong accolades from Publishers Weekly: “In thiseloquent cultural history...Werner’s exquisite prose and his richly informed music history offer a deeply felt love letter to threeof soul music’s greatest.”Volume 1, Issue 1Page 3

Integrated Liberal StudiesProgram, UW-Madison228 N Charter StreetUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonMadison, WI 53715Phone: (608) 262-2190Fax: (608) 262-4042We’re on the Web!www.wisc.edu/ils/http://ILS"Learning Independently ...Together."-Alexander MeiklejohnINQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOWWhat ILS Faculty are Reading, Writing & Teaching!Many of you write to ask us in what particular subjects your favorite ILSprofessors are currently interested. Below we profile several of their answersto the following four questions:1) What books are you reading that you would recommend to alums?2) What new courses are you planning or teaching? What new thingsare you doing in your courses?3) Would you tell us about the books and articles you are writing or haverecently published?4) What else would you like to tell alums about current activities at ILS,Chadbourne or Bradley Learning Communities, or the campus?Here are their answers. We’ll profile more faculty in our next issue. Feelfree to send us other questions that inquiring minds want to know.TIM ALLEN1. Jared Diamond. Why is sex fun? BasicBooks. Much better than his Guns Germsand Steel, because it is about biology andhe is a biologist. Joseph Tainter Thecollapse of Complex Societies, 1988Cambridge. Societies are problemsolving entities that work throughcomplexification. He debunks all thetheories about barbarians, drought,climate change etc. as being specialcases without logic. The reasonthose accidental issues were part ofthe narrative of decline is that allthose societies were at a low pointon a complexification curve. Like weare now! Jeff Gates The OwnershipSolution. Addison Wesley. He sees acrisis in capitalism. Capitalism makes capital not capitalists. With all excludedfrom the prize he sees collapsein the manner of Tainter. Haveworkers and others own, then theywon't pollute their own actual environment.He still believes in capitalism,but it needs a make over.2. I am moving to the use of PowerPoint. Big deal, you say. I masteredslides when most did not, and nowPowerPoint is just one more way todump too many facts. I am usingdynamic graphics in my graphs (notthe wizzy zooms from the side) in away that really makes it all click. Iam actually using PowerPoint as aresearch tool.I always knew undergrads had maximumclock speed in their brains at20 (the best math is done in mathematicians20's). I also knew that therewere very few women general systemstheorists. Only recently have I acted onthose observations. .. I have found that1) undergrads can do cutting edge theorybecause it does not turn on a depthof factual knowledge, and 2) brainstorming with young women, instead ofthe middle aged guys with whom I usuallywrestle, makes me more flexibleand less stubborn. To my surprise, Ihave found working one on one with undergradsright at the heart of my theoryis helping me do the best research Ihave done ever...3. A New Book: Allen , T. F .H., J. A.Tainter, and T. W. Hoekstra, 2003, Supply-sidesustainability. Columbia UniversityPress. NY. This book looks atcomplexity in use of resources. In theend we address the contemporary problems.It is very scary, but I think wecan make it to a hydrogen economy.That will reorder our lives. Muchless travel, much smaller urban centers.Jobs like windmill repair in NorthDakota will replace urban work. Thisstuff matters.4. I am on sabbatical next year andplan a couple more books. I celebratedmy 60th birthday last year, but do notintend to retire for a decade yet. My oldest,Josephine is now 9. But the recentnews is I have twins, a boy Harrison anda girl Gwynedd who are just 2 yearsold. It should keep me young. Whilemy wife, Valerie Ahl, is Harrison's primaryfigure, but I have become Gwynedd'smother figure, an experience mostguys don't get.LAURA McCLURE1. The best book I've read this year isAtonement by Ian McEwan; I alsorecommend the Pulitzer prize-winningMiddlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.2. ILS 203 had a Freshman InterestGroup Seminar this past fall; this willallow a cohort of 20 students to enrollsimultaneously in three of the samecourses, giving them a more coherenteducational experience. Students inILS 201, 203 and 205 also share a"common lecture" on Plato's allegoryof the cave, given by ProfessorAllen Speight of Boston University inearly October.3. Courtesans at Table: Gender andGreek Literary Culture in Athenaeus,out this year from Routledge.4. ILS is booming; our courses arefilled; we gave out 40 certificates in2003 and expect more in 2004.MIKE SHANK1. One of the most stimulating booksI have read recently is not new, but Inow consider it a truly importantbook: Harold Berman, Law & Revolution:The Formation of the WesternLegal Tradition. Overall, I found iteye-opening in every respect; itssweep is astonishing, and its concepthas changed my outlook on Europeanhistory since the 11th century (I am amedievalist). The book has given meVolume 1, Issue 1Page 4

ILS"Learning Independently ...Together."-Alexander MeiklejohnINQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOWWhat ILS Faculty are Reading, Writing & Teaching!(continued)a new appreciation for the tremendoussignificance of law both as an intellectualendeavor that interacts with other fieldsand as a transformative social force.Lately, I’ve been listening over and overto Mendelssohn’s third symphony(Scottish, A minor), which has been inmy consciousness for some 35 years, butwhich I just now find stunningly beautiful,as never before. I balance this outwith Credence Clearwater Revival andDoc Watson.3. I have two new journal articles out,both on late medieval astronomy. Theone is in Perspectives in Science and theother in Centaurus (both 2003).[Editor’s note: thanks, Mike, forwisely expanding us beyond booksto music!]MIKE VANDEN HEUVEL1. John Jarvis, Exploring the Modern ANDTransgressing the Modern.2. I am teaching a special “Arts and theSciences course through UW-Extensionin Spring, 2004 (cross-listed in Theatreand Drama) that will feature a CD-Romof the recent UW Theatre production ofCarl Djerassi’s Oxygen [editor’s note:several ILS classes attended the play,including the senior capstone seminar].3. I am working on a book entitled Introductionto Modern Theatre Theory for Blackwell Publishers.RICHARD STALEY1. I’ve read an historical novel by Jorge Volpi,The Search for Klongsor. It’s an exploration ofall the tensions involved in Nazi physics andthe U.S. and German atomic bomb projectswith Heisenberg and von Neumann as characters.2. I’ve enjoyed teaching the history ofmodern physics for the first time, alongwith ILS 202/History of Science. ThisSpring, I am at the Max Planck Institutein Berlin, working on my book manuscripton Einstein’s generation and therelativity revolution.Volume 1, Issue 13. I have written two articles on AlbertMichelson’s development of the interferometeras a class of instruments, and hisrelations with astronomers in the U.S.They widen our perspective on Michelsonby taking seriously what he made of hisfamous ether-drift experiment as an experimentalphysicist, rather than focusingon the theoreticians’ perspective alone.My next project is to nail down the argumentthat “classical” physics was creatednot in the time of Newton to Einstein butat the same time as “modern” physics, inthe 20th century. I think this will help uslink physics more fully with the culturalhistory of the period.4. I enjoyed last summer in Madison withElisabeth and our two young kids, Francescaand Griffin. Slides and swings.HOWARD SCHWEBER1. In fiction, Dom Delillo’s Underworld is superb.I am a great fan of William Kennedy’s Albanyseries; I most recently read Roscoe, and enjoyedit very much. In nonfiction, Nancy J. Hirschmann’sedited collection in feminist theory calledRevisioning the Political. I enjoyed Keith Whittington’sConstitutional Interpretation (although Iwas not persuaded) and Akhil Amar’s The Bill ofRights. There are lots of good things in Stone,et.al, The Bill of Rights in the Modern State.Finally, Richard Klein’s Cigarettes Are Sublimeand Frederic Jameson’s On the Cultural Logic ofLate Capitalism both give one a great deal tothink about.2. I am revamping a seminar I taught awhile ago on “The Theory and Practice ofAmerican Freedom”. I think I will givemore emphasis to the question of whatkinds of cultural conditions are conduciveto “free” decision-making, and perhapsspend a little time thinking about thesources of information that define our experienceof the larger world through themedia of telecommunications. I will beteaching a new graduate seminar in constitutionaltheory next spring, a more advancedversion of an undergraduate seminarthat I taught in the Fall of this pastyear. I hope to do more in ILS!3. In 2003, Speech, Conduct, and theFirst Amendment came out from PeterLang Publications. The Creation of AmericanCommon Law, 1850-1880: Technology,Politics, and the Construction of Citizenshipis due out in early 2004 fromCambridge University Press. It’s a finestocking stuffer.4. At the moment, my energies arerather consumed by our new family addition,Emma, whom we adopted fromChina last January.Where in the WorldAre Our Alumni Professors?Professor Emeritus Robert BoothFowler (Political Science and ILS)can be found at Wisconsin Public Radio’sUniversity of the Air Show online, wherehe appeared February 1st as HenryDavid Thoreau, claiming Thoreau “wasnot just a nature-lover and advocate ofcivil disobedience. He was also an activistwith a dark side.” Go to the followingsite to listen: http://www.wpr.org/uoa/(then click back on “Previous Program”to February 1st).Professor Fowler will also appear at thePyle Center, 702 Langdon (next to theRed Gym), on Sunday, April 25, 2004,from 2-3 p.m., to deliver a lecture in the“Eloquence and Eminence: EmeritusFaculty Lectures” Series. His topic willbe “Golden Laughter: FriedrichNietzsche on Living a Free Life.” Thelecture is (appropriately, given the topic)free.He regularly appears as Augustine,Nietzsche, and others, in ILS 200, 206and 275., and will teach a course againin ILS in Fall!Professor Emeritus Bob March(Physics & ILS) teaches in the BradleyLearning Community on campus, andappears on public radio as a guest ontopics from music to cooking. He appearedon “University of the Air” onMarch 21 to discuss how America beatGermany to the development and use ofthe atomic bomb in World War II._______________________________CONTACT US AT ksell@wisc.edu to give your personal updatesfor the next issue.Page 5