Lawrence University News

The Lawrence University community and the rest of the world learned of the sad news that Thomas A. Steitz, one of the giants of biochemistry whose research on the structure of ribosomes earned him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died on Tuesday, October 9, from pancreatic cancer.

A 1962 graduate of Lawrence University who earned a bachelor’s degree with a major in chemistry, Steitz also received an honorary doctorate of science degree from his alma mater in 1981, as well as the Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award in 2002.

The year after winning his Nobel Prize, Steitz returned to Lawrence as the featured speaker for the university’s 161^st commencement. As part of the celebration of Steitz’s achievements, Lawrence renamed its Science Building—home to the university’s chemistry and biology programs—to Thomas A. Steitz Hall of Science. From Lawrence’s press release at the time:

Steitz, who grew up in Milwaukee and graduated from Wauwatosa High School in 1958, was named one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in October and received his award in ceremonies last December in Stockholm, Sweden. He was honored for his decades-long research into the structure and function of ribosomes, which decode messenger RNA into proteins, a function central to life. An understanding of the structural basis of the function of ribosomes provides possibilities for the development of new antibiotics.

Since 1970, Steitz has taught at Yale University, where he is the Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and professor of chemistry. He also is an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Typical of so many Lawrentians, Steitz was a multi-interested lifelong learner. Beyond his pursuits in science, Steitz was also an accomplished saxophonist. His ability to pursue his science and musical interests is one of the things that drew Steitz as a high schooler from Wauwatosa (Wis.) to Lawrence. In his autobiography for the Nobel committee, Steitz writes:

My four years at Lawrence College changed my life, my view of the world and my professional direction. Since Lawrence is a liberal arts school, I was required to take many humanities courses to supplement what turned out to be my major in chemistry. These courses began with what was called a Freshman Studies course which was a broad based reading, discussion and writing course on many classical books. We learned to ask as well as answer questions. Importantly, we were also required to take a philosophy course, a scholarly based (e.g., Niebuhr, etc.) religion course, and an anthropology course, as well as English, History and language courses. I entered Lawrence with a heavy religious background and left it with an entirely different understanding of the origins of religious beliefs, their veracity and their roles in cultures. Lawrence also has a music school so that I was able to continue my love of music by participating in the band, orchestra and choir.

Steitz often credited Lawrence’s Professor Robert Rosenberg as “the person who had by far the greatest influence in inspiring me to pursue a career in science, and in particular chemistry.”

According to the October 10, 2018 tribute in the New York Times, Steitz’s spouse, Dr. Joan Steitz, and their son, Jon, were at his side when he died at their home in Connecticut.

“The world knows Tom as a Nobel prize-winning biochemist,” says Lawrence University president, Mark Burstein. “To the Lawrence community he was a beloved classmate, smart and engaging alumnus, and all-around gentleman. We will miss his presence and leadership. And in his name we will carry on the values of learning and transformation his life’s story represents.”

On Tuesday evening, October 2, a multi-disciplinary panel of faculty and students will convene to discuss some of the most important global issues facing us today.

This free event, sponsored as part of the 2018 Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies, is open to the public and will be held in the campus cinema, located on the second floor of the Warch Campus Center. (Click here for a campus map with parking.)

Download a copy of tonight’s program here:
Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies 2018

Megan Scott will join Lawrence University as its new Associate Vice President of Communication this fall, serving as the university’s chief brand manager, storyteller, and spokesperson.

“We are thrilled to have Megan with us,” says Ken Anselment, Vice President for Enrollment and Communication. “She is a smart, charismatic, and accomplished communication professional with deep experience not only with higher education, but with articulating the particular strengths of residential liberal arts and sciences colleges.”

Scott earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Knox College in 1996 and holds a certificate in publishing from the University of Denver Publishing Institute. She worked in academic publishing for eight years, last serving as marketing manager for the University of Iowa Press, where she coordinated all national and international marketing efforts for 30-35 scholarly books per year. She returned to her alma mater in 2004 to coordinate advancement communications and serve as editor of the Knox Magazine, the college’s biannual alumni magazine.

In 2012, she was given the opportunity to lead a newly created Office of Communications at Knox, which was charged with integrating college-wide communications and highlighting Knox’s story to its external and internal constituents. Over the last six years, she and her team have launched an award-winning website, introduced a new suite of admission communications, supported a series of fundraising initiatives, introduced a new internal portal and community newsletter, expanded the college’s visual and social media presence, and helped to launch an award-winning new athletic logo and mascot.

“As a graduate and long-time employee of a liberal arts institution, I am a true believer in the value of the education and opportunities colleges like Knox and Lawrence provide its students,” said Scott. “As both an undergraduate and employee at Knox, I have been challenged to stretch my abilities, push creative boundaries, and achieve more than I ever imagined.”

Scott’s background and approach made her the ideal candidate to lead Lawrence University’s efforts to ensure that its diverse community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and neighbors are informed about and engaged with our work together.

“Megan’s deep understanding of the transformative impact of a liberal arts education and her collaborative management style made her candidacy stand out in a very talented pool of finalists,” said Mark Burstein, president of Lawrence University.  “She is clearly well prepared to build on our recent successes to more accurately describe the power of the education we offer.”

Scott will serve on the president’s cabinet, working closely with university leadership to perform a job she knows very well.

“In its simplest form, my job is chief storyteller, and I consider it a privilege to discover and help tell the transformational stories of liberal arts institutions,”

Megan Scott, Lawrence University’s new Associate Vice President of Communication

“In its simplest form, my job is chief storyteller, and I consider it a privilege to discover and help tell the transformational stories of liberal arts institutions,” said Scott. “I have always admired Lawrence University, and I was even more impressed by the institution, its staff, students, and leadership as I moved through the interview process. I am truly honored to join this vibrant community and am excited to get to work telling the Lawrence story.”

Scott will transition to Lawrence with a couple of shorter visits to campus over a six-week period, starting with Lawrence’s annual matriculation convocation and its first faculty meeting of the year on September 13. She will join the campus community full time on October 29.

Scott will be joined in Appleton by her spouse, Brian, a high school Latin and English teacher, and their daughters, Clara (11) and Willa (5).

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.”  Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

In 1847, shortly after Amos Lawrence commissioned three Methodist ministers—William Harkness Sampson, Henry Root Colman, and Reeder Smith—to establish a school on the land he owned in the Wisconsin Territory, he needed to tell the world about his fledgling college.

And so it was that Rick Peterson began his career as Lawrence University’s media relations director.

Or so it seems, now that the university community reflects upon Rick’s tenure as he prepares to retire from Lawrence University on Friday, August 17, after nearly 39 years of service.

Lest you reach for your calculator, that’s 23% of the years that Lawrence has operated.

Rick joined the Lawrence staff in December 1979, after Lee Ester, then Lawrence’s director of public relations, lured him away from the Kaukauna Times, where Rick had been covering sports for 18 months after graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. The Oak Creek (Wis.) native’s first day on the job came just two weeks after Richard Warch had been inaugurated as the fourteenth president of Lawrence University, which he would lead for 25 years.

Nearly four decades, two presidents and thousands of articles, stories, and press releases later, Rick Peterson stands on the threshold of retirement leaving a legacy of advocacy for the university that few have matched.

Dependable and dedicated

Mark Burstein, Lawrence University president, knows that Lawrence will miss Peterson’s touch. “Rick has a clear sense of Lawrence’s strengths that comes out in everything he writes or prepares about the university,” says Burstein. “It’s a unique gift that is irreplaceable.”

When asked her impressions of Rick’s contributions to Lawrence, Beth DeStasio, Raymond H. Herzog Professor of Science and Professor of Biology, enthusiastically leads with, “Well, I just love Rick.” She adds, “He is one of the hardest-working people at Lawrence, always digging for more information because he truly wants to know what he’s writing about—and he’s really been able to capture the essence of Lawrence in everything he’s written.”

“He’s one of the most dependable, hardest-working colleagues I’ve had in my long tenure at Lawrence.”

-Cal Husmann, Vice President for Development

That dependability made a big difference with local media, with whom Peterson built a strong relationship. Ed Berthiaume, news director of the Post Crescent, worked with Rick for 25 years, and praises his reliability, accuracy, and honesty, even when the story may not be flattering about the university. “If Rick didn’t know the answer to something, he would work to find us someone in the community to connect with.”

Berthiaume notes that this kind of collaboration is unusual, “The way Rick treated people here at the Post Crescent was always professional and always respectful—and it helped forge a good relationship.”

A human touch… with a twist

Peterson used his gift for writing not just for telling the Lawrence story, but for bringing joy and delight to his colleagues and friends.

Liz Boutelle, one of the university’s art directors, has worked with Rick for 18 years and says she’ll miss his thoughtful gestures. “Everybody that knows him would get a birthday card from him,” she says, adding with slight amazement, “And not just a birthday card, but one with a big paragraph personalized to each person.”

“When he sent you a note, it was with perfect penmanship and always in a straight line like he wrote it with a ruler,” says John Tharp, former Lawrence University men’s basketball coach.

Tharp remembers how Peterson, who has been a scorekeeper at Vikings games for years, would come down to the team room in Alexander Gymnasium before basketball games just to sit with him. “He would have his lunch bag with him, and he and I would sit and talk while he was eating his lunch, and we would laugh.” Tharp adds, “I think it was his way of keeping me calm and relaxed. It was always a treat. He would say, ‘Good luck, Johnny,’ and then walk out that back door.”

Joe Vanden Acker, Lawrence sports information director, says he holds the job that Peterson invented as the university’s first SID. He learned a valuable lesson from Rick early in his tenure. “Rick was in my office. I was finishing a can of soda pop, and put my can in the garbage. Rick said, ‘Wait, there’s a spot for those,’ and he took me back to his office, and opened his closet, where there was a cardboard box where he was saving the cans.” Vanden Acker adds, “He was running a recycling program before Lawrence even had one.”

Ariela Rosa worked as an intern for Peterson from 2015 to 2016, and notes that she learned important lessons in that role. “I came to his department without any experience in journalistic writing, and Rick was always very patient with me, not interested in just fixing mistakes but in trying to explain why we do things the way we do them.”

Her work with Peterson prepared her for her current role as Lawrence University’s associate director of corporate, foundation, and sponsored research. She notes, “When I arrived to Rick as a student, I was always in a rush. But after working with him, I slow down more, am more careful, and double- and triple-check my work.”

She says that working with Peterson had an additional—and unexpected—benefit, “I received a world-class education in classic rock from Rick.”

And how did this education come about? “My fondest memories are of him playing 103.1 WOGB from clock-in to clock-out, with him quizzing me almost daily.”

Behold the power of Peterson

“The Lawrence community will miss Rick,” says Ken Anselment, Vice President for Enrollment and Communication, “And I will miss him personally.”

Anselment adds, “Rick brought a style, voice, and sense of humor to the Lawrence stories he has written for decades. That combination of energy, production, and persistence is a gift to behold, and we are fortunate and grateful to have beheld it for so long.”

Despite it being closed for the summer while most students are on break, the Viking Room will temporarily reopen its doors to Rick’s friends and colleagues from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, August 16, to celebrate his retirement.

Rick Peterson may have written thousands of stories about Lawrence over his nearly four decades here, but Lawrence wrote this one about him.

Listening to great original music by a wide variety of artists is, of course, what Appleton’s Mile of Music is all about.

But the opportunity to personally engage in music, a unique feature of the four-day festival, aah, that’s what red lines Leila Ramagopal Pertl’s excitement meter.

As the music education curator for the Mile of Music, Ramagopal Pertl will oversee a 28-person team of music educators, most with Lawrence ties, that will conduct 40 hands-on music-focused workshops during the festival, which runs Aug. 2-5.

This year’s festival — Mile 6— will feature 900 live performances by 208 artists/bands from 29 states as well as Washington, D.C., and Canada at 70 venues along College Avenue and the Fox River.

The interactive, education workshops designed for both the young and the young at heart range from Balinese gamelan and Ghanaian drumming and dance to didjeridu and ukulele.

“I’m so excited to see the growing number of people who schedule their Mile of Music education events ahead of time,” said Ramagopal Pertl, a 1987 Lawrence graduate and music education instructor in Lawrence’s conservatory of music
who has led the music education team since the festival’s inception along with her husband, Brian Pertl, dean of the Lawrence conservatory.

“Lawrence music education is not only providing hands on, music-making events to our public, but, in fact, is helping to change a mindset about who is musical and who is not,” she added. “We are all musical beings whose life experience must often be perceived and expressed in musical ways. When our Lawrence community, and especially our Lawrence music education students, contribute to this awareness and active process, their influence goes far beyond this campus, and, indeed, far beyond our own Fox Valley.”

At last year’s festival, the music education team engaged 5,000 participants in the workshops. Ramagopal Pertl hopes to increase that number by at least 500 this year.

New for Mile 6 will be a reinvention of a festival staple, the Great Mile of Music Sing-a-Long. This year’s sing-a-long will celebrate rich music diversity with culture leaders from all corners of the Fox Cities teaching songs from their traditions, including Oneida, Congalese and Latino cultures.

Jaclyn Kottman, a 2012 Lawrence graduate and a choral music educator in the Appleton School District who serves as the director of operations for the music education team, calls the annual sing-a-long “a touchstone of the festival weekend.”

“We felt this year’s sing-a-long was an important opportunity to shine a spotlight on the rich musical and cultural diversity of the Fox Cities,” said Kottman, who also teaches voice and conducts one of the girl choirs at the Lawrence Academy of Music. “By lifting up these songs alongside the more traditional sing-a-long tunes, we’re broadening the concept of what ‘the music of our community’ sounds like on the Mile and beyond.”

José Encarnación, director of jazz studies at Lawrence and one of the country’s top jazz saxophonists, will trade his instrument for his dancing shoes. He and his wife, Marisol, will showcase their superb salsa dancing skills in a pair of workshops.

Singer B. Lilly, who graduated from Lawrence this past June, will both perform during the festival and lead a pair of workshops on songwriting. He describes his musical style as “soulful, coming from a pure place.,,influenced by the transparency of the Motown era. It is intentional and raw.”

“His artistry has a depth of thought and honesty that I find stunning,” said Ramagopal Pertl.  “I’m looking forward to how he brings these qualities out in others.”

Another performer/education team member are the members of Porky’s Groove Machine, a seven-member band of all Lawrence graduates who call themselves “(unofficially) licensed providers of environmentally sustainable nerd-funk.” In addition to seven (7!!) performances during the festival, Porky’s will help groovers of all ages get their funk on in a pair of workshops.

“Being Lawrentians, the members of the band are not only top-notch performers, they are also first-rate music educators,” said Ramagopal Pertl.

New to the music education team this year will be an eight-person contingent of aspiring music educators from local high schools known as the MET Ambassadors, who Ramagopal Pertl described as “on fire about the positive effects of music education and excited about making music with their community.”

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.”  Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.