Inside Webster - December 2006

Inside Webster is published for Webster University's faculty and staff.

As construction continues on the second floor and concert hall of the Community Music School's building on the Webster Groves campus, classes are being taught on the lower level. Construction is running on schedule and the building should be finished by the end of February.

The new building houses 15 rehearsal studios and two halls. The larger hall can hold up to 80 musicians, and both halls are capable of handling smaller concerts and recitals. Larger concerts will continue to be performed at the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall in University City until the new concert hall is finished.

The concert hall, which will seat approximately 500, has raised boxes along the sides with seats placed at a 45-degree angle to the stage. "The theory is that the audience can gain a greater appreciation for the performance by seeing other people enjoying it as well," says Carol Commerford, director. "There are also acoustical 'clouds' to help push the sound forward and out to the audience."

Carol Commerford in one of the box seat sections in the new concert hall. Photo by Claudia Burris

"We have a really nice backstage area, which we've never had before," says Commerford. "That will be great for the musicians and our pianos, chairs and stands. The stage doesn't have to double as storage space. It can be a performance space."

A recording booth is on the balcony at the back of the concert hall. Rather than being enclosed behind glass, as most recording booths are, the booth is open so the person doing the recording can hear the actual sound of the performance.

In addition to the new building, located directly east of the Loretto-Hilton Center, the school has seven rehearsal studios at 23 Old Orchard Center in Webster Groves and will continue to use the eight studios at the 200 Hazel location. The Faust Park and Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club CMS locations will continue as before.

The office staff — Carol Commerford, director; Julie Walbridge, community relations coordinator; K.J. Reynolds, program director; Kerry Goodwin, department assistant; and Jennifer Dunn, department assistant — have settled into offices located on the lower and first levels of the house at 200 Hazel Ave.

Julie Walbridge (l) and Carol Commerford in the new building's lobby, still under construction. Photo by Claudia Burris

"I think the move went amazingly well, considering what a huge operation it was," says Commerford, who gives former CMS facilities supervisor Carl Dettlebach all the credit. "He orchestrated the entire move, and it was no small feat with everything we have."

Since the move, Dettlebach has moved into a different position with Facility Operations, which Commerford says "left a big hole we're trying to fill." In the meantime, department assistant Kerry Goodwin, who also teaches violin and viola for the school, is helping out with Dettlebach's former duties.

The main advantage of the school's new campus location, according to Commerford, is the opportunity to do more resource sharing and networking with the Music Department, as well as with other departments on campus.

"Financially, there are some advantages in terms of resource sharing and cost sharing, and the new building is more cost efficient than the older one," Commerford says.

In addition, the relocation should help increase enrollments, as Webster Groves is more convenient for potential students who live in farther out in St. Louis County.

A grand opening gala for the new building, scheduled for April 15, will feature internationally recognized violinist, fiddler and composer Mark O'Connor with his Appalachia Waltz Trio.

To read more about the school and some of its students, go to this recent article in the Suburban Journal.

^ Return to Headlines

Professor Boritt speaking in the Emerson Library. Photo by Claudia Burris

Gabor Boritt, professor of Civil War Studies at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, visited the St. Louis campus Dec. 4 to speak about his new book, The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows.

Webster University life trustee and former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Bert Walker, introduced Boritt, whom he met at the urging of his son. "You've got to meet professor Gabor Boritt," Walker's son told him. "He's a native Hungarian who came to the United States after the 1956 revolution and is probably better informed about Abraham Lincoln than any other person alive today."

Boritt and Walker were subsequently able to connect while Walker was serving as Ambassador in Budapest and Boritt and his family were visiting to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 revolution.

"It's a tremendous honor to have become acquainted with and to introduce this man," Walker said. "I'm particularly pleased that we can show you an excerpt from a feature-length documentary about Boritt that his son Jake has been working on."

Boritt opened his presentation with scenes from the documentary that juxtaposed images of two events that loom large in his life: the Hungarian revolution and the Battle of Gettysburg.

Just 16 years old when the revolution took place, Boritt is candid about being uncomfortable with his own history. Speaking in the film, Ken Burns, producer of "The Civil War" series, says, "I think Gabor is a person who has found in the example of the American Civil War — the bloodiest moment in American history — his only way to deal with, however much he avoids it, his own complicated past, which is dealing with the exact same thing: the age-old human search for freedom."

Boritt was able to escape the revolution and come to the United States in 1957. "Coming to Gettysburg was like dying and going to heaven," he said. "Gettysburg is filled with beauty and history.

"However, I lived there for 25 years before I understood that it was the site of the biggest and most awful man-made disaster in American history. We mythologize the battle and make it beautiful, and in memory we almost wipe off the horror of it."

Boritt explained the horror: 10,000 dead, 50,000 casualties. To make matters worse, most of the medical personnel left with the armies in anticipation of another major engagement, leaving 31 surgeons to take care of the 21,000 wounded who remained. There were also the carcasses of 3,000 to 5,000 animals killed in the battle.

This number of casualties was completely out of the range of American experience up to that time. Boritt said that before the Civil War, the largest number of casualties Americans had experienced was 160 during the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War.

One way the community of Gettysburg coped with the staggering loss was to focus on the establishment of a Soldiers National Cemetery on the site. The dedication of that cemetery in November 1863 was the occasion for Lincoln's now-famous speech.

"Lincoln faced a problem never faced before in a democracy in the middle of an unprecedented, bloody war," Boritt said. "The people were sick and tired of it, but Lincoln had to persuade them that the war must go on."

At the time, the speech by American statesman and orator Edward Everett, that preceded Lincoln's speech, was more highly regarded and quoted. Lincoln's speech was not considered significant until the 1880s-90s and, surprisingly, not known as "The Gettysburg Address" until the 20th century.

Boritt said the most difficult job of a historian is to put history back, to understand things the way they looked to people at the time. For example, today we think of Lincoln's train traveling at 25 miles an hour as very slow, but in 1863 the people thought it was going at an amazing pace.

Another example is Everett's 2-hour speech presented before Lincoln's 2 1/2 minute speech. Boritt said a 2-hour speech is long by today's standards, but in the time before mass communication, it was exactly right, especially for people who had traveled a long way to hear it.

"My book is a serious book, but it's full of fun stuff, too," Boritt said. "One of the funniest parts of the book to me is where I report on how people heard the speech, what they got and what they didn't get.

"For example, The New York Times printed the entire speech with many mistakes and no comments. One of the mistakes it makes is Lincoln talks about 'unfinished work' and The New York Times changed it to 'refinished work,' like it was a piece of furniture, which makes no sense at all."

Following his presentation, Boritt set straight the false story that Lincoln wrote his speech on the back of an envelope. "That is a legend," he said. "But I do think he wrote it fast." Boritt believes Lincoln wrote his speech in about two days, beginning it before he came to Gettysburg and completing it after he toured the cemetery.

Boritt is the founder and director of the Civil War Institute and co-founder and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the $60,000 Lincoln Prizes at Gettysburg. He has received various awards, fellowships, an honorary degree and was selected distinguished alumnus of his undergraduate institution, Yankton College, and his graduate school, Boston University. He is the author, co-author and editor of 16 books on Lincoln and the Civil War and has lectured at universities throughout the world. He and his wife live on a farm in Gettysburg where they raised three sons.

For a description of Professor Boritt's new book, click here.
For additional information about Professor Borrit, click here.

^ Return to Headlines

Front Row (l to r): Richard Meyers, Carolyn Corley, Nancy Higgins, Kay Sanders, Kathy Marlock. Second Row: Christine Arteaga, Mary Ryan, Fran Blumentritt, Kathy Corley, Marilyn Shelton, Debbie Psihountas. Photo by Claudia Burris

Each December since 1992, Webster University has recognized the contributions made by women employees through a Leader Lunch program hosted by the YWCA of Metropolitan St. Louis. The YWCA Leader Lunch recognizes area women for the roles they play in business, government, education, science and technology, and the arts.

The Webster University women who receive the honor are nominated by the Faculty Senate, the Webster Staff Alliance, the Administrative Council and the president's office.

This year's honorees (pictured above) are: Christine Arteaga, assistant director, User Services, Information Technology; Fran Blumentritt, coordinator, Human Resources; Carolyn Corley, team leader, Foundation and Government Relations, Development; Kathy Corley, professor, Electronic and Photographic Media, School of Communications; Nancy Higgins, special events coordinator, Executive Office; Kathy Marlock, director of academic assessment, Academic Affairs; Debbie Psihountas, assistant professor, Business, School of Business and Technology; Mary Ryan, team leader, Help Desk, Information Technology; Kay Sanders, director, Marketing and Publications, Marketing; and Marilyn Shelton, financial aid counselor, Financial Aid.

Congratulations to all!

^ Return to Headlines

Top Goals for the Year

Q: What are your top priorities/goals for 2006-07?

A: We're halfway through the year, and I would say that we're doing well with our priorities:

• Serving our students with quality instructional programs that meet their educational, personal and employment needs;

• Organizing the development campaign to build the new instructional buildings we need;

• Continuing to increase the size of the endowment and build our institutional visibility locally and globally;

• Having a caring Board of Trustees that takes pride in service and supports the University financially; and,

• Preparing for the future in the well-being of our faculty, staff, students and the institution by being caring, sensitive and responsive to changing needs.

The University has become a complex organization through the years. We are like a small municipality with diverse needs and responsibilities, and administering such an organization is radically different than it was even 10 years ago. Changes in law, increasing competition and challenges in maintaining financial stability are staggering. This milieu of change — which also has affected most spheres of society — makes for interesting times.

I like the challenges and feel we are lucky to be living in a special time when almost everything is in flux. While disorienting at times, the up side is that real change can be an everyday reality, and this is a kind of nirvana for an impatient person like me.

^ Return to Headlines

Reya Hildebrand is the new director of Admissions and Enrollment Management at Webster Vienna. Hildebrand has admissions experience with the Art Institute of Boston and the University of Maryland's Schwäbisch Gmünd campus in Germany. She also served as the director of a Finnish non-profit organization in Germany.

A native of Finland, Hildebrand completed her bachelor's degree in mass communications at Emerson College in the United States. She also has a degree in marketing and has completed graduate work in education management, management and international education.

^ Return to Headlines

Christopher Gardner

Christopher Gardner — "A Rags-to-Riches Story: From Homelessness to Wall Street"
• Christopher Gardner, president and CEO of Gardner Rich & Co., a Chicago-based firm he founded in 1987, will speak about how to break the cycles that hold you back. His remarkable story of struggle, faith, entrepreneurialism and fatherly devotion is the subject of the highly acclaimed new film starring Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness." The event is sponsored by the Multicultural and International Student Association (MCISA) and Campus Activities.
• Monday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m., Loretto-Hilton Center, free
• For more information, call 314-961-2660, ext. 7708 or 7658
• Gardner's Web site

^ Return to Headlines

DECEMBER 2006 SPOTLIGHT AWARD

Contributed by Ashley Marshall, student editorial assistant

Laura Wainz

Laura Wainz, department associate, Academic Affairs; and Renee Wilcots, general clerk, Los Angeles Air Force Base, share the December Employee Spotlight Award honors.

"I can honestly say that the Sarasota campus could not operate as successfully as we do without the help of Laura Wainz," says a nominator. "She works diligently to support all of our metropolitan campus locations."

"Laura's attitude about serving the extended campuses is commendable, given the volume of requests for information and amount of help that extended campus directors need on a daily basis," says another nominator. "I have spoken to many directors throughout the country, and all find her pleasant and helpful when they need assistance."

Wainz says winning the award was quite a surprise. "I just like dealing with people and being helpful and making everyone happy," she says. She likes working at Webster because she sees so much potential for future growth, and that's exciting to her.

Wainz chose as her prize a month's reserved parking.

Renee Wilcots' nominator says, "Since Renee joined our staff she has been most pleasant, hardworking, and efficient. Whatever she is given to do, she completes almost instantly."

In addition, the nominator says Wilcots never complains and is a great asset to the office and wonderful to have on the team.

Wainz is praised for her "unwavering commitment" to Webster Works Worldwide, by taking charge of the arrangements, finding donors for materials needed, getting the students excited and making sure the day goes smoothly.

"Renee constantly has over-the-top enthusiasm for her job, life, and for Webster University," says another nominator. "She is very deserving of the Employee Spotlight award."

[Editors note: Renee Wilcots was not available to be interviewed for this article.]

Employees everywhere are eligible for the monthly Employee Spotlight Award.
Using the nomination form is easy!

^ Return to Headlines

News from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has reached an agreement with Tenet Healthcare Corporation that will allow St. Louis University Hospital and Des Peres Hospital in St. Louis to continue as in-network hospitals in Webster University's medical plans.

A list of in-network hospitals and providers can be found at Anthem.com or by calling (800) 392-1104.

Carolbeth True, adjunct professor, Music, will receive the 2007 St. Louis Arts Award for "Excellence in the Arts" at the Arts & Education Council awards dinner on Jan. 29, 2007.

Etido Akpan, adjunct professor, Memphis Supply Activity, was interviewed Nov. 30 on TCT-TV about his book, Finding and Keeping Your Significant Other, a manual for singles and married couples based on biblical principles.

Suzanne Hutcherson, community relations coordinator, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., had the article, "The Two Faces of Charles Daniel Dee," published in Fate magazine, Dec. '06. Hutcherson has had feature articles, historical sketches and ghost stories published in a variety of newspapers throughout southern Illinois.

Keith Welsh, associate professor, Interdisciplinary Study, had "Essays on Mary Renault's novel, "The Charioteer" and Thai Erotic Literature published in The Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature, edited by Gaetan Brulotte and John Phillips, Routledge 2006.

Barry Hufker, associate professor of audio production, Electronic and Photographic Media, recorded The Bel Canto Chorus of Saint Louis's holiday concert at University United Methodist Church. Under the direction of Bruce Vantine, the concert featured Vivaldi's "Gloria." Hufker also recently recorded organist and composer Paul Vasile, at Trinity Presbyterian Church in University City, in a re-dedication recital designed to showcase the church's newly renovated pipe organ.

James Brasfield, professor of management, School of Business and Technology, appeared on St. Louis radio station KMOX Total Information AM Sunday with Bill Reker on Dec. 10. Brasfield commented on the recently released Baker Commission report on the War in Iraq.

Bill Barrett, chair and professor, Electronic and Photographic Media, had the article, "Entrepreneurship and the Photography Degree at Webster University," published in Newsphotopher, the National Press Photographers Association magazine, Nov. '06.

Keep us posted on your professional activities and send us your story ideas by completing the UFO form.

^ Return to Headlines

The University extends its appreciation to the following individuals who have served the institution for many years:

DECEMBER 2006

Rolando Cavazos, coordinator, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 10 years

Bryce Krug, development officer-College of Arts and Sciences, Development, 10 years

Sherry Brindell, accountant, Finance Department, 5 years

Kathleen Nystrom, head of cataloging, Emerson Library, 5 years

^ Return to Headlines

We extend warm welcome to the newest members of the Webster family:

DECEMBER 2006

Robert Ciampoli, development officer, Development, (314) 961-2660, ext. 7452, replaces David Lauber.

Stephanie Kessler, coordinator, International Business Internship Exchange, (314) 968-5979, replaces Teresa Sarai.

Vincent Lamb, help desk shift leader, Information Technology, (314) 968-5995, replaces Gary Cuppett.

Teresa Lazarin, department assistant, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, (210)226-3373 or #6 027, replaces Diana Simmons.

Elizabeth LePoidevin, administrative associate, Gov. Holden Public Policy Forum, School of Business and Technology, (314) 961-2660 X7423, new position.

Jennifer Meyer, representative, Orlando Metropolitan Campus, Fla., (407) 869-8111 or Speed Dial #6 101, replaces Lucy Negron.

Benjamin Schwartz, coordinator, Information Technology, (314) 961-2660 ext. 8725, replaces Gary Cuppett.

Leslie Brockman Smith, department associate, College of Arts and Sciences, (314) 968-7160, replaces Brenda Johnston.

Eleanor Weiters, lab assistant, Charleston Metropolitan Campus, S.C., (843) 760-1324 or Speed Dial #6 054, replaces Jeromy Richey.

To learn more about job opportunities at Webster, go to the Human Resources Jobs site.

^ Return to Headlines

The University extends sympathies to Lynette Knight, director, Luke Air Force Base, in the loss of her husband and to Jane Guldner, Registrar's Office, in the loss of her brother.

Correction to last month's condolences: "... to Carl Dettlebach in the loss of his brother, Randy Haenel."

^ Return to Headlines

EDITOR
Marianne Kirk, Editor
Office of Marketing

MARKETING OFFICE CONTRIBUTORS
Claudia Burris, Sr. Editor & Photojournalist
Casey Conroy, Graphic Designer
Dominik Jansky, Writer/Editor
Patrick Powers, Writer/Editor
Pete McEwen, Technical Advisor
Ashley Marshall, Writer

HUMAN RESOURCES CONTRIBUTORS
Betsy Schmutz
Gloria Barbre
Julie Dreiling