Campus News

I came to Kenyon with a single-minded focus on being an English major. During my first semester, as an initial step toward that goal, I signed up for an introductory English course, “Literature and Representation,” with the legendary Professor Mason. Within my first few days on campus, I’d heard stories about Professor Mason’s life-changing courses and exacting, analytical style. Even his appearance — glasses hanging halfway down his nose and a calm, confident gaze — made him a figure on campus.…

Gearing Up for Research

Kenyon in the World From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

Bicycles are ubiquitous on college campuses across the country, so Sarah Manz ’19 blended in perfectly as she pedaled to her lab at the Ohio State University this summer. But Manz was using her wheels to do more than just commute; she was simultaneously training for Pelotonia, an annual long-distance bike ride and fundraiser for cancer research. Manz, a biochemistry major from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was one of six Kenyon students picked to spend 10 weeks this summer studying at the Ohio State University…

Greenhouse Guru

Science & Technology From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

An electric razor seems an unlikely laboratory instrument, yet it played a crucial role this summer in the research of biology major Sam Lisak ’19. He used the razor to give plant leaves a close shave, so he could examine the water transport in leaf hairs called trichomes, comparing the function of damaged trichomes to healthy ones. The razor was one of several instruments, including a psychrometer, Lisak used to measure water loss and water absorption among the leaves of two plants: the soybean…

Writing Through Life

Arts & Culture From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

When Natalie Keller ’19 was in elementary school, she watched a movie, “Homeward Bound,” which follows the adventures of two dogs and a cat as they search for their owners. For many a child, this movie likely amplified pleas for acquiring pets of their own. For Keller, however, the movie inspired her to pen her first novel, which she describes now, with a laugh, as “‘Homeward Bound,’ but with dragons.” Keller, an English major from Cleveland, is in the midst of her second summer working as a resident…

Kenyon Mourns Professor Emeritus Roy Wortman

General Kenyon From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

Editor's Note: A memorial service for Professor Wortman will be held Sunday, Oct. 15, at 1:30 p.m. on campus in the Gund Commons Ballroom. Roy T. Wortman H’05, a longtime member of Kenyon’s history faculty, died Sunday, July 23, 2017, in hospice care at the Laurels in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He was 76 and a resident of Gambier, Ohio. “Professor Wortman was a legendary teacher whom alumni described to me in superlatives,” remarked President Sean Decatur. “Once I met him, I discovered that all of the…

Pantry Parity

Society & Politics From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

Elizabeth Abrash ’17 was scrolling through class listings last year when she came across the description for a religious studies course, “Prophecy.” The course, taught by Professor of Religious Studies Miriam Dean-Otting ’74 P’05,06, called for students willing to explore social issues by spending extensive time volunteering in Knox County. Abrash was hooked. “I thought it was going to be my last non-science class, maybe ever,” Abrash, a molecular biology major, said. “I came across Professor Dean-Otting…

Crash Course

That's So Kenyon From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

As a summer storm moved through Gambier one morning, 12 Kenyon Educational Enrichment Program (KEEP) scholars worked in small groups with their professors to analyze the most difficult passages in Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved.” “All of these passages work together because they are all self-reflecting inner monologues,” said Elizabeth Barrowman ’21, of Ashville, Ohio. “It seems very realistic to me. This is how my own memory works.” This summer marks the 10th anniversary…

Field of Dreams

Athletics From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

Renovations to Mavec Field, which began in mid-May, are nearing completion. After the field was stripped of its sod due to an infestation of Poa annua, an annual weed grass that leaves empty or uneven patches throughout the playing surface, it was re-sodded in late June with 100 percent Kentucky bluegrass. The field was sand capped for drainage and given a heavy top dressing of sand to facilitate growth prior to upcoming soccer season. “While it is unfortunate that our field experienced these issues…

Covering the Court

Society & Politics From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

After completing her first year at Harvard Law School, Sarah Kahwash ’14 wasted no time jumping into her next challenge. Within 48 hours, she arrived in Washington, D.C., and headed to the Supreme Court to meet her new boss: National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. We talked to Sarah about how her experiences at Kenyon led her to pursue a legal career. You majored in economics and modern languages and literatures (Spanish and French) at Kenyon. How did that course of study…

Hopping Gallery

By Christopher Paludi

Student Life From Kenyon News - 7 years ago

Even though I’m not artistically talented myself — I think I’m more of a prose guy — growing up in Los Angeles provided manifold opportunities to visit museums and develop a humble respect and an excitable verve for the visual. So, as soon as I arrived at Kenyon, I applied to be a Gund Gallery associate, thinking it would be a cool way to learn about art, engage with my creative side and check “work at an art gallery” off my bucket list. Nestled between Cromwell Cottage and Olin Library, the Gallery…

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