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Tax evaders, beware.

They may have smiled two years ago when they heard the good news. Their nemesis, relentless Carl Levin ’56, the senior senator from that old rustbelt state, had announced his retirement. For only two more years would they turn on the network news and see his blue eyes peering over those glasses slung low on his nose, hear that voice with its flat Michigander vowels drilling, drilling for the truth as he led a Senate hearing investigating offshore subsidiaries devised by corporations to evade the taxman. 

Coaching is typically associated with activities such as sports, singing, or SAT prep. Yet, two years ago, after reading physician Atul Gawande’s 2011 essay “Personal Best” in The New Yorker, about the lack of mentors for doctors, Kenneth Sharpe, working on a Templeton Foundation project on Institutional Design for Wisdom, had a question: “Why shouldn’t faculty members be coached—even coach one another?” The seed for the Faculty Teaching Seminar was sown. 

Sharpe pitched the idea to Professor of History Timothy Burke, then recruited Professor of English Literature Betsy Bolton.

If you’ve read Zola, you may have seen the term charrette in his 1885 novel L’Oeuvre/The Masterpiece. To the French author, a charrette was a handcart that 60 frantic architecture students collaboratively commandeered in a mad rush to transport design projects to an evaluation site. To the 100 Swarthmoreans who collaboratively attended a two-day sustainability charrette, the term meant “a thoughtful and deliberate opportunity to evaluate proposals, compare priorities, and eventually coordinate aspirations with budgetary realities,” as Interim President Constance Cain Hungerford noted in her introduction to the February event.

Hungerford, who has chosen sustainability as her presidential priority, stressed the urgency of the issue.

Honors students are oblivious to time when they’re in the classroom. Three-hour evening seminars extend into discussions lasting until after midnight. When a professor stands to announce the end of class, students cluster like bees around a honey pot, protesting and pleading: “But we’re not done yet!” “Just one more question?” Professors leave only when each student is satisfied.

Two members of the College faculty have experienced honors as both students and teachers. 

Richard Valelly ’75, Claude C. Smith ’14 Professor of Political Science, says, “The idea that intellectual life is not only intense but also pleasurable was the principle I took away from honors. ...

When you meet Vishwanath “Vishu” Lingappa ’75, one of the first things you notice is his voice. In a blog for National Geographic, Carl Zimmer calls it a “radio-talk-show-host” voice. Other descriptions could equally well apply. It is a CEO’s voice and an orator’s voice. A simple interview with Lingappa has more dramatic pianissimos and booming crescendos than a Beethoven symphony.

Most of all, though, it is a big brother’s voice, loud and encouraging and demanding at the same time.

In a literal way, Vishu has always been there for Jairam and his sister Jaisri ’79. 

In late December Hannah Kurtz ’13 ventures out after dark for the first time on her red Vespa, a loaner from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), in this city of 1.5 million people.

Twelve years ago, Michael Buehler ’89 decided to leave his management-consulting career to become a dealer in rare maps. 

Rob Lewine ’67 has played with some of the best classic rockers since transferring to UCLA’s film school his junior year.

Karl Barkley ’15 was named to the 2015 Allstate NABC Good Works Team, which honors college basketball players who have given back to their communities. 

Kate Wiseman and Supriya Davis ’15 are two of the most decorated swimmers in Swarthmore history.