Honoring the alumnus for whom it is named, the first Bruce Stangle Award for Distinguished Service now belongs to Bruce Stangle ’70.

A longtime 乐播传媒 trustee who retired from the board in May, Stangle received the new Alumni Association award during the spring trustees meeting, this year held in conjunction with the Volunteer Leadership Summit.

Family and friends toast Bruce Stangle '70 (second from right) and Emily Siegel Stangle '72 (third from right) on the occasion of Bruce being the first to receive an award honoring him: the Bruce Stangle Award for Distinguished Service to the 乐播传媒 Community. Photograph by Jose Leiva.

The Stangle Award will annually recognize outstanding contributions to 乐播传媒 career development 鈥� exactly what Bruce Stangle has provided for more than a generation.

Indeed, since co-founding the Boston-based consulting firm Analysis Group Inc. in 1981, Stangle has been personally and professionally committed to the success of 乐播传媒 graduates.

Analysis Group has recruited many young alumni into the firm through the years and, in partnership with the 乐播传媒 Career Development Center, has sponsored countless 乐播传媒 student interns. Stangle himself has hosted or spoken at many 乐播传媒 career-related events.

“Bruce is a truth-teller.”

A 14-year 乐播传媒 trustee, Stangle is considered a valuable, engaged liaison between 乐播传媒 and the business community. “Bruce is a truth-teller who provides crucial feedback to 乐播传媒 about how our students are faring,” says Trustee Jennifer Guckel Porter ’88.

“That includes what additional preparation they need and how they can be competitive in the job market.”

This cycle of feedback helps students and alumni while raising the value proposition of business, consulting and finance careers at 乐播传媒, says Porter, a managing partner for The Boda Group, a Boston-based leadership development firm.

Jennifer Guckel Porter '88 laughs with Bruce Stangle '70 at the Museum of Art reception honoring Stangle. He is the inaugural recipient of a new annual alumni award named in his honor: the Bruce Stangle Award for Distinguished Service to the 乐播传媒 Community. Photograph by Jose Leiva.

In 2003, Stangle was the driving force behind the creation of the Boston 乐播传媒 Business Network, formed to bridge a gap in 乐播传媒’ on-the-ground efforts to support alumni in their career trajectories.

The 乐播传媒 Regional Networks, since extended to a number of U.S. cities, offer dynamic programming while helping participants meet, connect and learn from one another on a personal and professional level.

Porter, a beneficiary of Stangle’s “incredible generosity and wisdom” in her own career, says her mentor always makes time when it comes to guiding 乐播传媒 students and young alumni. 鈥淲hen people want his help, he meets with them, takes their phone calls and steers them in the right direction,鈥� she says.

He’s an equal opportunity mentor, too. “It doesn’t matter if the person is an uncertain current student who sends him an email, a mid-career acquaintance considering a career shift or an entrepreneur with a new idea,” Porter says.

“Bruce can be counted on to listen, offer thoughtful and straight counsel, make an introduction, and give endless encouragement.”

Stangle is married to Emily Siegel Stangle ’72, and their daughter Alissa Stangle O’Shaughnessy is a member of the Class of 1996.

As a major 乐播传媒 philanthropic contributor, his and Emily’s gifts include funding of the Stangle Family Fund for faculty and student research in economics and law; the Betty Doran Stangle Professorship in Applied Economics, named for his mother; and the Frank Stangle Lounge in the 280 College St. Residence, named for his father.

Some presenters in the “Creative Economy and How To Grease It” event on March 31, 2012: From left, Anna Stockwell ’08,聽 Peter Pawlick ’05, Jeremy Fischer ’06, Joshua Macht ’91 and Andrew Karp ’09. Photograph by Simone Schriger ’14.

鈥淥ptimize opportunities for serendipity. Have a bias towards saying yes.鈥�

These aren’t words from the latest self-help best-seller, but instead the jubilant advice Jeremy Fisher 鈥�06 gave an eager crowd of 53 乐播传媒ies sitting around white-clothed tables on the second floor of the Muskie Archives.

On Saturday, March 31, campus got a visit from Fisher and the Mafia — the 乐播传媒 Creative Mafia (BCM) that is. This group of alums working in creative fields collaborated with the 乐播传媒 Career Development Center (BCDC) to host a daylong workshop, The Creative Economy and How to Grease It, designed to explore career directions in industries like marketing, communications and publishing.

A daylong affair, the workshop was lively and engrossing, as smartly dressed presenters and attendees engaged in conversation that was animated and at times cheeky. Positive and productive energy pulsed through the room, especially during the Dining Services-catered working lunch that opened up time for socializing.

An affiliation of about 60 members, the BCM brings together New York City-based alumni for networking and professional development opportunities. Monthly meetings include member presentations; past topics have included 鈥淎n Introduction to Introductions鈥� by Fisher, as well as event planning for the on-campus workshop.

For the March event, the BCM organized a panel of nine 乐播传媒ies working across the creative economy to share real-life insights, experiences and the kind of advice they would have liked to get before leaving 乐播传媒.

Starting with presentations about their personal experiences, the panelists offered playful stories of transitions, self-actualization, community and their own projects.

Andrew Karp 鈥�09 is an account manager at the award-winning international advertising firm Cunning. Describing his post-graduation transition, Karp talked about moving into his first New York City apartment and 鈥渇eeling like I wasn鈥檛 a college kid anymore.鈥�

Participants listen intently during a presentation by the 乐播传媒 Creative Mafia on March 31, 2012. Photograph by Simone Schriger ’14.

Karp prescribed keeping up a constant do-something attitude while trying to get established after graduation. 鈥淒on鈥檛 hesitate to produce something,” he counseled. “It’s important to have things going on outside work that you鈥檙e passionate about.鈥�

Carola Cassaro 鈥�09, a product designer at the New York design firm Method, recounted how she bounced from job to job after 乐播传媒 — and how it worked out fine. 鈥淚t’s OK to try things out and keep puzzling,鈥� she assured the audience.

In fact, that was a theme for the day, as the alumni promised students that they won’t have to figure everything out the minute they graduate. 鈥淚t’s liberating to discover you don鈥檛 have to decide . . .ever,鈥� exclaimed Peter Pawlick 鈥�05, a colleague of Karp’s at Cunning.

鈥淚t’s not a straight path,” explained Anna Stockwell 鈥�08, an editor at the prestigious lifestyle magazine Saveur. “It’s about really being active, sending resumes and being involved in your community.鈥�

After 乐播传媒, convinced she wanted to be a photographer, Stockwell interned at several photography and fashion magazines. But she found herself constantly dreaming about food, perusing cooking blogs and planning recipes during the work day. So she switched course, started her own blog, took a food-writing course and began interning at Saveur.

Eight months later she was hired as a full-time assistant editor.

Josh Macht 鈥�91, group publisher at the Harvard Business Review Group, encouraged the students to discover what they want and to remember their own value. 鈥淔igure out where you want to be,” he said. “Constantly weigh where you want to be, what you’re willing to give up and what you’re not.
“What kind of company do you want to work for? You鈥檙e valuable. They need you.鈥�

Throughout the day the BCM members emphasized the power of community and connecting. Fisher, CEO of the Web-based social sharing platform Wander, underscored the importance of getting out and meeting people. Stockwell, who found each of her internships through 乐播传媒 connections, has in turn had the chance to hire four 乐播传媒 alumni for projects at Saveur.

It was a jam-packed day. The inspiring morning session gave way to afternoon workshops where the attendees broke into small groups and explored self-actualization, community and how 鈥渢o do something.鈥� Easing into the spirit of collaboration, they speculated about projects they could work on together.

Participant Claire Lampen 鈥�12 found it helpful, she said, 鈥渢o see alums who have recently graduated and gone through this process, and who we kind of know and can definitely relate to.”

The presenters emphatically reassured participants about the career value of the 乐播传媒 education. 鈥淓verything you are studying is relevant to everything,” Pawlick said. “It’s so much more helpful to what we do, grappling with complex cultural and communication problems, if you can do research and solve problems.

“We can teach technical skills, but we can鈥檛 teach critical thinking.鈥�

Here are 31 nuggets from the GAME Day panelists:

Avoid the Fellowship of the Miserable. “Fellowship of the Miserable” is Rick Pitino’s famous phrase describing the negativity of Boston sports fans. In his GAME Day keynote, Peter Wyman ’86, vice president of North American sales for Ocean Spray Inc., urged students to instead embrace the athlete’s positivity. “An athlete’s mental skills 鈥� being competitive, optimistic, accountable, hard-working, willing to lead and positive 鈥� are highly transferable to the workplace,” he said.

It’s Nice to Be NESCAC. Alumni of New England Small College Athletic Conference schools are your network. “NESCAC alums have great respect for the academic and athletic rigors of our schools,” said Brian Machunski ’08, a rhetoric major and football athlete now with Triumvirate Environmental Consulting. “The leadership team at my firm is passionate about recruiting from NESCAC schools because the graduates do very well.”

Major Network. Join one of the business-focused 乐播传媒 Networks, which have chapters in Boston, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Maine. “They are great opportunities for your alums to get more actively involved in the 乐播传媒 alumni community,” said Pat Boyaggi ’03, a steering committee member of the Boston 乐播传媒 Business Network.

It’s the Academics, Stupid. “Don’t forget to be upfront and clear that you have worked hard in both academics and athletics, and succeeded at both,” said Patrick Quinn ’12 of Milford, Mass., an economics major and football athlete who will intern with Wyman at Ocean Spray Inc. this summer.

Take Command. “While nature has given some people gifts you might not have, you are in total command of your attitude, your approach and how hard you choose to work,” Wyman said. “Inventory your skills: You are results-driven. You are focused. You are motivated. You perform under pressure. You collaborate, communicate, compete, analyze and adapt.”

Get a Job. In finding your passion, don’t forget to actually get a job. “Even if you don’t love your first job, it is far easier to look for a job when you have a job,” said Boyaggi, a history major and football and track athlete now with Leader Bank. “Get into the work world to get used to life that’s not college.”

Scoreboard! Scoreboard! College is a great place to make mistakes but the workplace expects results, and mistakes have a price. “I don’t want to pressure you,” Wyman said. “But I do want to raise your consciousness. Especially in business, there is a scoreboard. There is a game. There is competition.”

Pay Attention. “I saw a sign in Carnegie one day while going to a lab: ‘乐播传媒 grad looking for a 乐播传媒 grad’ for a research position,” said Ben Lowenstein ’92, a biology major and squash athlete who is now a cardiologist. “That’s how I was hired by Rick Jack ’75 for my first job, doing biomedical work at Harvard, which was my bridge to medical school.”

Diverse about Diversity. “Diversity is multi-platform,” Wyman said. “It’s about socio-economics. It’s about age. Gender. Ethnicity. Geography. As 乐播传媒 graduates, you should be able to create community and do business among all these differences.”

Write On. “The best thing about 乐播传媒 is the writing that you do,” Wyman said. “Writing well helps you develop insights that lead to action.”

Human Resources. “乐播传媒 may not have the highest endowment,” Boyaggi said. “But we have the best people 鈥� it’s undeniable. That’s our greatest asset. I promise you there will be 乐播传媒 people willing to help you during your job search.

Get Some Face Time. “Text messaging and e-mail have harmed your ability to seek a job,” Wyman said. “You are used to handling personal conflict through technology, by texting what you believe. You are not used to handling what happens in a job interview. When you interview, it is you they see.”

Passion Play. Always be thinking about what you love to do. “I grew up on a dairy farm in Bridgewater, Mass.,” Wyman said. “I majored in political science and interned with one of Maine’s U.S. Senators. But it wasn’t my passion. I recognized that my passion was for the food industry, from my experiences growing up.”

Turn to Internships. “I did three years of internships at Octagon that led to my full-time position,” said Ben Morrill ’07, a rhetoric major and alpine skiing athlete now with Octagon sports and entertainment marketing. Rachel Harmeling ’08 adds, “The smartest thing I did was do 乐播传媒 internships. 乐播传媒 connections were very important to the start of my career.”

What’s in a Word? “Internship is just a word,” Wyman said. “What we’re talking about here is getting work and business experience. You can get as much and as valuable experience from a traditional summer job with a local franchise. If you use the skills and attitudes of a 乐播传媒 student, and you outwork the other person — working smarter, showing initiative, never being idle — you will learn tremendously.”

You Had Me at Hello. “Seeking a job starts with a conversation,” Wyman said. “And conversations start with ‘Hello.’ Don’t ever stop having conversations. Don’t stop networking. Don’t stop saying, ‘Hello.’ If there’s someone you admire, have the self-confidence to reach out.”

Stay in the Game. “In my interviews, I made it clear that I wanted to continue to keep doing something that felt competitive,” said Nick Schmiemann ’11 of Weymouth, Mass., an economics major and basketball athlete who joins RBC Capital Markets in February 2012. (He landed his investment job through Rob Cramer ’79, an RBC managing director.)

Stay in Bounds. “The worst thing you can do in a job interview is pretend to know something that you don’t,” Harmeling said. “If you don’t know something, admit it.”

The Big T. “In your interview, talk about your thesis experience as a way to show commitment, meeting deadlines and being accountable,” said Machunski.

Be Yourself. “No one expects you to have a lot of work experience,” said Boyaggi. “But you should be able to leverage what you do know into your interview and in your work.” And that means knowing yourself. “If you can’t communicate your interests and who you are, you will not get a job,” Machunski said.

Brand Management. Think of yourself as a brand that is capable of delivering a certain experience, Wyman said. “To do that, you have to be clear about what you are passionate about.”

Easy Doesn’t Do It. Boyaggi admitted that he had “visions of grandeur” after getting an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. During his difficult job search, he fell back on “what it was like to get beat on a play, and how the only thing to do, and you had to do it, was get back up, dust yourself off, and try again. If you have that mindset, you will succeed.”

I Love You Tomorrow. Connections made today will stay with students tomorrow. “I’m still being mentored by alums I met in my first job,” said Harmeling, an art major and lacrosse and squash athlete now with Coach Inc. “Make as many connections as you can,” Machunski added. “I know that if I’m looking for career advice two years from now, I can turn to BCDC director Karen McRoberts, to whom I reached out last fall.”

When in Rome. “Research the culture of any company you approach,” Wyman said. “If someone interviews with Ocean Spray and doesn’t know that we’re a cooperative of 650 farming families, well, I sort of write that person off.”

Point Spread. Boyaggi took to using a spreadsheet to keep track of the literally hundreds of phone calls, results and followups during his difficult job search after earning an M.B.A.

Mind Your Major. “Don’t use the lens of your major to filter your job choices,” said Machunski. “I was a rhetoric major, and I’m now working for an environmental services firm. Read job descriptions, and if it interests you, apply.” An art major, Harmeling initially went into investment banking because she pursued that interest through internships.

Get Up. Stand Up. Play Up. Always remember that as an athlete, you want the opportunity to “play up” 鈥� advance to the next, more difficult level. Have that mindset in the work world.

Have a Plan. Don’t put the onus on the 乐播传媒 Career Development Center, Wyman said. “If you do that, you will fail. You need to make a plan and execute the plan. You can’t just say, “I’m going to work on it this week.”

The Pause That Refreshes. Business school can wait until you can bring real-world business experience to your fellow students and program, Boyaggi said.

Get Better. After Machunski deftly delivered a few observations, Wyman, having known Machunski since his 乐播传媒 days, glanced down the long table and said, “I interviewed Brian a few year ago. I am so impressed how he has developed in three short years as a business professional. That’s what this is all about: development.”

Dress for Success. When Wyman’s daughter headed out for an interview with Ann Taylor Loft, he asked her what she was wearing. “Ann Taylor Loft,” she said. “Smart girl,” Wyman said.

But inside Alumni Gym, it’s game time.

But rather than wearing team uniforms (or the kind of Short Term attire that wouldn’t get you served at 7-Eleven), the 70 or so student athletes taking seats in the gym are in business-casual wear. Joined by their coaches, they’ve turned out for GAME Day, a program of , networking and mentoring from 乐播传媒 alumni athletes.

“GAME” stands for “Gaining Athletic Mentors’ Experience,” and it’s a cooperative program among the 乐播传媒 Career Development Center, the and the Department of Athletics.

In its first year of a major restructuring, BCDC has deployed new programs and teamed with 乐播传媒 offices to rebrand other career programs like GAME Day. So besides the banishment of sportswear and flip-flops (and the improved, conference-like setup), something else is in the air this morning. It’s not sweat (or pollen), but a sense of accountability.

“We’re trying to instill the idea that’s still true and meaningful in the work world: You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” says BCDC director Karen McRoberts.

Career programs are not “I’ll-try-to-make-it” events

In a variety of ways, from strict RSVPs to specific event instructions (for example, the GAME Day notice included nearly 100 words about attire), BCDC makes clear that its career programs are not “I’ll-try-to-make-it” events.

“Accountability and, literally, showing up are parts of the overall package of how students brand themselves for their professional lives,” McRoberts adds.

At the same time, BCDC seeks to “meet the students where they are, physically and emotionally,” McRoberts says. “GAME Day offers an existing framework to build upon, to offer insight and guidance to a large and important group of talented 乐播传媒 students.”

Keynote speaker Peter Wyman ’86, Ocean Spray’s vice president for North American sales, invokes the accountability theme.

“Raise your hands, he says. “Who was out last night?” A few hands go up, and more after Wyman raises his. “I was out — I got dragged to the Goose last night for the Bruins game,” he says as the students respond with a knowing chuckle. “Being here shows commitment!”

GAME Day keynote speaker Peter Wyman ’86 talks about GAME Day:
http://vimeo.com/23957695

Introducing Wyman is longtime Maine educator and former 乐播传媒 football center Jeff Sturgis ’69, who notes that while the gathering is sports-focused — an opportunity to understand how sports lessons carry over into the real world — the theme is universal to all 乐播传媒 students.

“The connections and networks you begin at 乐播传媒, whether through a sport, or the Deansmen or the Robinson Players, will stay with you and serve you for the rest of your life,” Sturgis says. “So if someone or something strikes a chord today, we encourage you to create that connection.”

Wyman speaks on the topic “Four for 40”: the idea that decisions and experiences in college will shape the next 40 years of life.

“What do I feel passionate about?”

In terms of career planning, Wyman tells the gathering that “I want you to understand the duality of your life right now. Please, enjoy your 乐播传媒 experience. I know you feel pressure in your lives. But have in the back of your mind one question: ‘What do I feel passionate about?’ Because the answer to that question will affect your next 40 years.”

Wyman also tells them to embrace their sports-honed optimism and positive outlook. “An athlete’s mental skills 鈥� being competitive, optimistic, accountable, hard-working, willing to lead and positive 鈥� are highly transferable to the workplace,” he said.

Approaching the job search like a competition

The message was not lost on students like varsity rower Hannah Richardson ’11 of Washington, D.C.聽 “What stuck with me is that students should approach the job search process as they would a competition: with persistence and more effort than the other person,” she said after the event.

She added, “I have a better understanding of how to apply my athletic background in the professional world.”

After Wyman’s talk, students tossed questions to the nine GAME Day panelists — in careers as diverse as environmental consulting, sports marketing, medicine, investment banking, fashion and the food industry — that prompted

Chris Chiappetti '13 sits on top of Mount Chocorua in Albany, N.H. Chris and I hiked the mountain in pre-dawn hours with BOC gear, including pack, boots, stove and headlamps to catch the sunrise. One of BOC's most important functions is rent gear to students who do not have the specialized equipment required for the harsh Northeast environment.

Approaching a pack with a BOC emblem, Zena "Trees" Sabath '14, Julie McCabe '12 and Jun Wee '14 near the final 20 feet of a winter hike up Tumbledown Mountain in Weld on Dec. 12

Student-built racks hold new skis and poles, purchased with money acquired from a co-sponsorship grant. The BOC's ski and snowboard gear is probably some of the most used. Many sets of new telemark skis are used for backcountry adventures or a trip to Sugarloaf or Sunday River.

The BOC E-Room, besides a storage space, offers students a place to fix bikes, tune skis and do other gear repairs. Here, Sean Auth '12 works on a bike near the famously messy workbench.

A couple of the awesome '70s-era alums came out to help on a BOC work trip to install bog bridging on the section of the Appalachian Trail we maintain north of Rumford. From left, Matt Baker-White '13, Ken Spalding '73, Lester Kenway '75, Ursula Sandstrom '13, Allie Balter '14 and Brian Kennedy '14. Photograph courtesy of Ken Spalding '73.

鈥� Click thumbnails above to view slide show

Text and photographs by Matt Baker-White ’13

Last spring, as I helped with the ‘s 90th celebration during Reunion Weekend, I heard BOC alums swapping stories from back in the day. It made me realize that BOC friendships will be with me for the rest of my life, and that the Outing Club is the sole reason I have these great friendships.

For about half of all incoming students, their very first 乐播传媒 experiences are are infused with BOC spirit through the . While the BOC no longer runs AESOP, the club contributes leaders, outdoor skills, equipment and an upbeat 乐播传媒 attitude to these trips for first-year students.

AESOP forms lasting friendships. Some of my closest friends here at 乐播传媒 were on my AESOP trip or are people I met swapping AESOP tales of hikes, climbs and paddles.

And after this sweet encounter with Maine’s and New England’s wilderness,聽 many students get figuratively聽 (and usually literally) bitten by the outdoor bug.

Almost every weekend morning this past fall, I donned hiking boots, a wetsuit or a climbing harness, getting out to the hills, rivers, and cliffs of Maine and New Hampshire with fellow 乐播传媒ies. Nearly every weekend there’s at least one BOC trip offering something, somewhere. It’s during these trips that we learn to rely on each other, and this trust forges lifelong BOC friendships.

The BOC also gives students with much less outdoor experience the chance to try something new.

I recently led three 乐播传媒ies on a trip to Each had either never hiked or never winter-hiked. I cherished the chance to share the outdoors with fellow students, to help others feel a real sense of connection to beautiful places in Maine and beyond.

Some people see the BOC as a bunch of crazy kids who do outdoorsy things. For others, the club is a totally normal place that, like any 乐播传媒 club, attracts heavy involvement. In truth, we’re both.

Here’s to the next 90 years.

Matt Baker-White ’13 of Williamstown, Mass., is a BOC director.

Associate Professor of French Kirk Read makes a point at the 乐播传媒 event in New York City as President Hansen listens. Read is associate professor of French and chair of the humanities division at 乐播传媒. Photo by Lorenzo Ciniglio.

Attending in New York City are, from left, Halley Love Bysshe '95, Peter Bysshe '93, Dana Dratch '93. Photo by Lorenzo Ciniglio.

At the president's reception in New York City in October, Howard Scher '72 (left) talks with Terrence Moan P'14 and Beatrice Gotthelf Moan P'41. Photo by Lorenzo Ciniglio.

Attending in New York City are Donald Weatherbee '54 and Epsey Farrell Weatherbee. Photo by Lorenzo Ciniglio.

At the Chicago reception in October, Andrea Bueschel '90, recently elected to the 乐播传媒 Board of Trustees, talks with Trustee Edmund Wilson '62. Photo by David Joel.

Following her visits to several cities earlier in the fall, President Elaine Tuttle Hansen resumes her presidential road show in December, visiting Cleveland (Dec. 1), Boston (Dec. 2), London (Jan. 13), 聽San Francisco (Feb. 8), Los Angeles (Feb. 9), Seattle (Feb. 10) and Florida (week of March 7).

Each reception will feature a briefing by Hansen, who will discuss 乐播传媒’ strategic choices and plans, and presentations by College administrators, faculty and/or students.

For questions or more information, please contact Alicia Richard in the Office of College Advancement, 207-786-6336. To register for an event, go to the .

Friday

• At 7:30 pm, recent grad with a Zambian nonprofit organization that he founded and directs, in the Keck Classroom of Pettengill Hall.
• At 8 p.m., the a cappella group celebrate the release of their CD Lost and Found in the Little Room of Chase Hall.
• Also at 8 p.m., in Chase Lounge, the celebration finale. The program promises a photographic review of the year and a discussion of “activities and antics” of the BOC today, produced and presented by current students.

Saturday

• At 11 a.m., apropos of Halloween,聽 , author of , explains the growing American popularity of the Mexican celebration El D铆a de los Muertos.
• At halftime the football game vs. Colby, five recent grads will receive Senior Athletic Citations, among other awards. The College will salute its women’s soccer program, celebrating 30 years as a varsity team, and the 1956 football team, Maine State Championship victors.
• At 4 p.m. in the Benjamin Mays Center, alumni share tips and strategies for LGBT job seekers and their allies. The topics of the program, hosted by and will range from self-identifying on a resume, coming to prospective employers and ways the 乐播传媒 LGBT alumni network can help student job-seekers. Panelists will include Jason Hall 鈥�97, senior counsel to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon who, in 2005,became ; Laura Kay Gagnon 鈥�88, manager of information services for the Maine Association of Non Profits; and Larry Handerhan 鈥�05, pursuing a master鈥檚 in public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy at Princeton University.
• At 5 p.m., by prior reservation, is the annual Alumni Celebration reception聽and dinner. Many awards are on tap, including honors to Tanya Schwartz ’04 (Distinguished Young Alumni Award),聽James Houston 鈥�95 (David G. Russell 鈥�66 Alumni-in-Admissions Award) and Paul “Swede” Anderson 鈥�53 (Alumni Community Service Award).

“Swede” Anderson is a College Key member, longtime volunteer fundraiser and active in the 乐播传媒 National Day of Service. Of his service to 乐播传媒, he once said that “institutions that you’ve been involved with 鈥� good causes that are sincere and beneficial to humankind 鈥� can’t exist without contributions from generous people.”

Following the January meeting of the 乐播传媒 Board of Trustees and the February 2 meeting of the 乐播传媒 Faculty, I write to share some of our most recent thinking about how best to steer the College through these uncharted economic waters.聽聽 I want to reaffirm the principles and priorities articulated in my December letter, stressing again our confidence in the creativity of 乐播传媒 people, the unflagging value of our mission, and the consistent strategies we will use to address both the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead.聽

Our challenges continue to be at once obvious and deeply distressing.聽 Like every other college and university or other organization whose operations are funded in part by its long-term investments, we have lost wealth.聽 We are worried about how this loss will affect the only end that this wealth is intended to serve: educational opportunity for those upcoming generations of 乐播传媒 students who will become our future leaders, citizens, and workers.聽 Our students and their families are already stretching hard to afford a first-rate education.聽 How might their ability to achieve their educational goals be compromised by what is happening now?聽 Will many noble dreams and potential attainments be denied, will the promise of many young people who would have come to colleges like 乐播传媒 be thwarted and unfulfilled?

Unlike many of our more well-endowed peers, we do not have a sizeable financial cushion to help us guard against such consequences.聽 Like most of their endowments, ours has lost a significant portion of its value.聽 Because the original value was smaller, we are not in a position to consider spending a little more from abundant reserves until the economic climate improves, as some of our peers may be able to do.聽 At the same time, we have several crucial factors on our side, including time, prudent habits, and a different kind of cushion鈥攐ur academic and educational resources, our people and the strong position they have put 乐播传媒 in over the years.

Time, and timing, are important factors in weathering the economic downturn.聽 At a breakfast meeting of the Garcelon Society last week, a panel of 乐播传媒 faculty members from our Economics Department invited questions from the audience.聽 The very first query raised a key concern: We hear from some experts that the situation is so urgent that we must act immediately or risk further disaster, while we hear from others that it will take many years, great patience, and much sacrifice to rectify this situation.聽 Which is it, a friend of the College asked our faculty鈥攄o we need to take drastic measures right now, or do we need to implement some serious reform over the longer term?聽 All three panelists agreed on a single answer–yes.聽 While they may have different ideas about some of the options, our economists concur that we need to take action now, in the immediate term, and we need to continue doing hard things in the months and years to come as well.

Our faculty panelists鈥� response neatly encapsulates the College鈥檚 approach to the current crisis.聽 Today, we are taking several immediate steps to adjust to the financial situation in which we find ourselves.聽 At the same time, we are using this opportunity to prepare for the future, both through multi-year budget and financial projections and through institutional planning efforts that will help us collectively understand and reach our most important goals.聽 Three principles guide us, now and in the long run:

Working hard together, we will seek out and take vigorous action to cut controllable costs and sustain revenues wherever possible.

We will build on our great strengths and stay focused on our top priorities.

Our actions and our priorities will be strategic and mission-centered. We will control costs not by cutting across the board, but by identifying things that we can stop doing and things we can do more efficiently, while at the same time we will invest in efforts that raise revenues and/or advance our core mission.

FY 10: Anticipated revenues and expenses

On the revenue side, endowment spending, which normally accounts for about 14 per cent of our budget, will be down by about $2 million from what we anticipated when we first began to build the budget for the next fiscal year.聽 Our only other sources of revenue are student fees, which account for over 70 per cent of our revenues, and gifts and grants to the College.

We know that 乐播传媒 is an expensive college, like all of its peers, and we understand that the financial health of many students and their families will suffer during this economic downturn.聽聽 To make up for the entire shortfall in endowment revenue through student fees net of financial aid, we would need to increase the comprehensive fee next year by over 9 per cent.聽 But we intend instead to work very hard, in the ways noted below, to keep any increase as low as possible without compromising the quality of the education that our students expect and deserve.聽 We also anticipate an increased need for financial aid for continuing and new students.聽 At present, we have included in next year鈥檚 budget a 14 per cent increase for aid, as well as increased contingency funds.

We continue to seek and find support from those generous alumni, parents, and friends of the College who contribute to the 乐播传媒 Fund.聽 It is too soon to predict, but while we are hopeful that we will not see serious declines in philanthropy, we know that the capacity to give may be diminished in these economic circumstances.

On the expense side, the entire College is focused now on taking measures to close the budget gap.聽 Fortunately we are practiced in taking sensible measures to manage resources efficiently.聽 Our academic success in a highly competitive league has long since outstripped our financial position. This is what we often speak of as the 鈥渙ver-performance鈥� issue at 乐播传媒, the doing of more with less.聽聽 Supporting educational excellence and maintaining 乐播传媒鈥� high standards with even less than the revenue anticipated a few months ago will not be easy, but it can be done by resource reallocation.聽 Every department can be involved on the operations side, for example, through the 鈥淐ost-Savings Initiatives鈥� (CSI) program piloted in Human Resources.聽 The more we can save in operations, the more we can still spend on the things that matter most.

Personnel costs account for about 60 per cent of our budget, and we are continuing to analyze this category carefully.聽 It is important to remember that while other colleges and universities have announced that they will now be scrutinizing (if not freezing) every new staff position, we have in fact been reducing our staff for the last several years.聽 Through attrition, we have cut 19 positions since FY 2003, and in our multi-year plan we propose further reductions in staff levels.聽聽 Three or four years ago we instituted the 鈥渨aiver鈥� system for staff positions, so that no vacancy is automatically filled; instead, we ask departments if they possibly can to wait a few months and during that time consider how they could do without a replacement hire.聽 In cases where crucial needs would be unmet without immediate replacement, Senior Staff must agree to 鈥渨aive鈥� the waiting period.聽 The fact that we have agreed to waive the waiting period in many areas ranging from security and dining to ILS and the Dean of Students鈥� office could be construed to suggest that this policy has no teeth, but in reality it points to the fact that we do not employ many 鈥渘on-essential鈥� people.聽 At the very least the policy reminds us all that we must control growth in staffing and find efficiencies, again, so that we can still fund our priorities.聽 In recent years we have also moved several staff positions from 12- to 10-month, academic year positions.聽 We have at the same time restructured a number of areas and positions so that we have new people doing new jobs, but without net additions to staff.

On the faculty side, some peer institutions have already announced that they are freezing salaries for one or more years, cutting positions, or at least holding back on additions or leave replacements.聽 But with our 10:1 student-faculty ratio (compared to 9:1 and even 8:1 at the most highly-ranked colleges) and fewer resources for faculty support (including salaries, sabbaticals, and research funds) than many top schools, we cannot cut very deeply without adversely affecting the quality of faculty and thus the student experience.

Looking at capital budgets, we will include ongoing work on the renovation of Hedge and Roger Bill in our plans for FY10.聽 You have heard from others that construction projects will be cancelled or put on hold; some institutions have said they will halt all “non-essential construction work.鈥澛� Here too immediate reductions are harder for us, for just as we have no non-essential positions, so too we have no non-essential projects in our plans.聽 The 鈥渇orm givers鈥� driving our Campus Facilities Master Plan鈥攄ining and campus center functions, beds for the 450 students living in housing that does not conform to current building codes, science facilities that even begin to approach the capacity of our peers, athletic facilities for both varsity sports (like basketball) and the fitness/wellness needs of all students in the 21st century 鈥揳re all essential and, in most cases, overdue.聽 In the near term we will continue to plan and raise funds for these facilities so that we have the best spaces to promote the learning experiences of our students, and part of our strategy may entail being ready to build what we need while costs are lower rather than waiting until they go up again.

Focusing on our strengths and priorities and thinking strategically

At the same time that we are intensifying existing cost-control processes and finding more ways to improve our efficiency right now, we are also considering the longer term.聽 We have been doing multi-year budget planning for a number of years, and we are using that tool to look at multiple scenarios for changes in revenues and expenditures and to think about more extensive changes.聽 Some of the longer term and larger scale possibilities we may consider include optimizing the use of our infrastructure, particularly in the summer months; increasing enrollments, along with the various kinds of additional support that would require; and even more aggressively lowering energy consumption, thereby decreasing costs as well as reducing our carbon consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Whether looking at the next year or the next ten years, however, our first priority is the same:聽 sustaining the greatness of a 乐播传媒 education.聽 Our biggest resource鈥攐ur special cushion, in times like this鈥攊s our academic reputation and the solid reality of the intellectual community that underpins it.聽 We must maintain our leadership and even accelerate our trajectory of growth in educational quality if we are to prepare students for the future.聽聽 To this end, it is even more important to develop innovative and creative programs through the planning process that our three strategic initiative teams are now conducting.聽 With a shared vision, built by faculty, staff and students working together to innovate and advance, we will be able to implement key elements of this vision in the short- and middle-term through substitution and fund-raising.聽 Looking out further, through the planning process and in all our thinking about the future, we will continue to ask what is changing in the environment and how we can respond to those changes in ways that make us stronger.

To protect and enhance the educational value and reputation of 乐播传媒, we also need to put the resources we can find through cost-cutting and raising revenues into our second and closely related priority, student access and affordability.聽 As I said earlier, we are committed to doing all we possibly can to support our students as we always have, both by controlling costs and by continuing to offer financial aid that meets the demonstrated need of all who are offered admission. 乐播传媒’ grants support a talented and diverse group comprising about 40 per cent of our student body. We understand the importance of diversity鈥�-socio-economic, racial, and ethnic鈥攖o the quality of our academic program, to our mission, to the learning environment for all students, and to our competitive position.聽 Our competitive situation in this regard has improved significantly in the last couple of years but, as with faculty salaries, our peers have been aggressive as well, and we have continuing work to do.

In sum, the Trustees, faculty, and administrative officers of the College are committed to ensuring that in both the short term and the long term, through good times and bad times, 乐播传媒 will continue to offer the finest liberal arts education possible.聽 In the current situation, we will economize and we will be entrepreneurial.聽 We will depend on the collective efforts of our entire community: talented faculty, dedicated staff, ambitious students and generous supporters working together.

Regards,
Elaine Tuttle Hansen
President