Strength of foreign languages highlighted at October board meeting

The Board of Trustees held its first meeting of the academic year on Friday, October 16. This was the first meeting in which Scott Dubchansky presided as board chair. In the plenary session, after an introduction by Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Catherine Gunther Kodat, professors and students spoke to trustees about the importance and relevance of foreign languages to students and alumni. 

Also at the meeting, which coincided with the start of Homecoming and Family Weekend, the trustees enjoyed lunch with students in Gregg Pavilion; toured the new Career Center and received an update on career services and the Center for Entrepreneurship; heard from each of the three schools about enrollment data and outlooks for the future; and passed a resolution naming Mary Clare as professor emeritus of counseling psychology. 

Professors Bruce Suttmeier and Molly Robinson Kelly were joined by five students who spoke of the transformative impact that the study of foreign languages at Lewis & Clark—and associated overseas study programs—have had on their educational, social, and professional development. The students who presented and their chosen languages were seniors Raymond Torkelson (Chinese), Annalyn Donaldson (Japanese and French), Scout Mills (Russian), Devon Streich (German), and Julian Harris (French). Bruce is associate professor of Japanese and associate dean of faculty, and Molly is associate professor of French and chair of the department of foreign languages and literatures. The presentation included a ten-minute video of alumni testimonials highlighting foreign languages and overseas study as key components of a liberal arts education at Lewis & Clark.

At this meeting, the board welcomed new member Patrick Nielson BA ’71 and new ex officio members Dan Eller JD ’04 and Michael Holtzclaw BA ’88. New faculty representatives are Stephen Weeks and Rishona Zimring, College of Arts and Sciences; Dawn Montgomery, Graduate School of Education and Counseling; and Samir Parikh, School of Law. Student representatives Daniela Lopez CAS ’16, Leann Knapp CAS ’16, Mary Crawford-Roberts GSEC ’17, Emet Klepper LAW 2L, and Kelley Meck LAW 2L also joined the board at this meeting.