Lawrence University News

One of Lawrence University’s most beloved teachers and, with 61 years, the longest-serving faculty member in the college’s history, Professor Emeritus of German Dorrit Friedlander, died peacefully Thursday evening, Nov. 14 at her Appleton home after a battle with liver cancer. She was 88.

Friedlander  joined the faculty in 1951 for what was supposed to be a one-year appointment and never left.  She taught both German and Spanish for her first seven years before focusing solely on her primary passion, German. Although she officially retired in 1993, she continued to teach at least one course each year up through the fall of 2012.

A dedicated but demanding teacher, Friedlander always held her students to high standards, both in the mastery of good German as well as the manners of good living and she insisted that civility and kindness prevail. Known affectionately to generations of students as “Tante Dorrit” or “Frau Friedlander,” she won the admiration and affection of students through the personal interest she showed each of them as well as the delicious cheesecakes she made.

Her teaching prowess was honored in 1980 when she was recognized with Lawrence’s Excellent Teaching Award. In presenting her the award, then President Richard Warch praised Friedlander for her “commitment to teaching and devotion to the university, qualities that make Lawrence a place of distinction.”

Friedlander’s love of teaching extended beyond the campus borders as well. She was instrumental in establishing Lawrence’s first foreign language study program in 1967, a venture in Bönnigheim, Germany, and was a frequent and popular director of the college’s study-abroad programs in Eningen and Munich, Germany.

She proudly embraced the role of university matriarch in various forms, overseeing faculty office assignments in Main Hall for many years and making sure the receiving line at the annual year-opening reception for new faculty moved along at an acceptable pace. Each fall, Friedlander organized the Main Hall holiday collection, providing a year-end bonus for the building’s staff in appreciation of their efforts throughout the year.

She also served as a “house mother,” first at Sage Cottage, a former women’s dormitory (now the International House) and later at Ormsby Hall. Long after the practice of house mothers ended, Friedlander continued to regularly reserve a lunch table in Lucinda’s for Ormsby students so she could stay connected. She diligently supported her students outside of the classroom as well, often attending their recitals, theatre performances and art exhibitions.

During her life, Freidlander’s genuine affection for people helped her cultivate a large and very diverse group of friends from around the world and from all walks of life.

Born in 1925 in Berlin, Germany, Friedlander and her family fled the Nazis in the late 1930s, catching one of the last boats leaving Germany and winding up in Havana, Cuba as a young teenager. She emigrated to the United States in 1940, resettling with her family in Mississippi.

She attended the University of Cincinnati, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Romance Languages and a master’s degree in German. She spent a year teaching German and Spanish at the University of Oklahoma before coming to Lawrence.

Friedlander was a member of Delta Phi Alpha, a German honorary society, the American Association of Teachers of German, the Modern Languages Association, the Pan American Club and the American Association of University Women.

She is survived by three nieces: Rabbi Ariel J Friedlander, London UK; Michal S. Friedlander, Berlin, Germany; Noam I. A. Friedlander, Los Angeles; a great niece, Orlia Friedlander Ben Hur, Berlin, Germany; a sister-in-law, Evelyn Friedlander, London UK; and cousins in Colorado, New York and Israel.

Services will be held Sunday, Nov. 17 at Brettschneider-Trettin-Nickel Funeral Chapel, 606 N. Oneida St., Appleton. Visitation at 10 a.m., service at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, she  requested memorial contributions be made to Lawrence’s Dorrit Friedlander Scholarship Fund.

Lawrence will celebrate Friedlander’s remarkable life and spirit with an on-campus memorial service at a day to be determined.

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 Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

In an effort to help combat hunger in the Fox Cities during the upcoming holiday season, the Lawrence Conservatory of Music is dedicating three November concerts — Nov. 15, 17 and 21, all in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel — to benefit the St. Joseph Food Pantry. The concerts are being presented in partnership with Music for Food, a national program for local hunger relief.

Audience members are encouraged to make a charitable donation — monetary or a non-perishable food item. All monetary donations are tax deductible, with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly to St. Joseph Food Pantry.

“Musicians often seem to exist in a bit of an ivory tower. It’s such a pleasure to be working with an organization that is using music to help address some of the social ills in our own community,” said Lawrence Professor of Music Catherine Kautsky, one of the organizers behind the program.

Music for Food is a musician-led initiative founded in 2010 by violist Kim Kashkashian in collaboration with the New England Conservatory. Concerts raise funds and awareness to combat  hunger, empowering musicians who use their artistry to further social justice. Since its launch, Music for Food has provided more than 80,000 meals to those in need through concerts in Boston, New York, Sacramento as well as several other locations.

The Lawrence choirs open the Music for Food events Friday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. The concert includes Viking Chorale singing England’s praises with music by Handel, Britten and Craig Hella Johnson. Cantala women’s choir travels from the Republic of Georgia to Ireland (via Austria) with works of Taktakishvili, Schubert and Betinis. The Concert Choir performs music of masters old and new, including Monteverdi, Forrest and 2011 Lawrence graduate Alex Johnson.

Guest artists include the Lawrence Baroque Ensemble, 2000 Lawrence graduate Carrie Henneman Shaw, soprano and 2010-11 recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, 1987 Lawrence graduate Leila Ramagopal Pertl, harp, and Associate Professor of Music Matt Michelic, viola.

Other Music for Food events include the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra, Sunday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. The concert will feature guest artists Rebecca Salzer, visiting assistant professor of dance, and 1989 Lawrence graduate Matt Turner, cello.

On Thursday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m., the Lawrence Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band will be joined by the Improvisational Group of Lawrence University (IGLU) in an 8 p.m. concert featuring Andrew Boysen’s explosive “Frenzy,” Vittorio Giannini’s wind band classic Symphony No. 3 and American composer Libby Larsen’s 2005 work “Introduction to the Moon.”

In conjunction with the conservatory’s Dean’s Advisory Council, future Lawrence concerts will be designated Music for Food events in coming years.

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 Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Both ends of the jazz spectrum will be represented Nov. 8-9 when Lawrence University hosts its 33rd Jazz Celebration Weekend.

Grammy Award-nominated vocalist Kate McCarry, a four-time “Rising Star” honoree by Downbeat magazine, kicks off the weekend Friday while the legendary fusion quartet The Yellowjackets close the weekend Saturday evening. Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Tickets, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors and $17-15 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 920-832-6749.

The Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble and the Lawrence Jazz Band will each perform a free and open to the public concert Saturday, Nov. 9 at 1:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel as part of the weekend activities.

McGarry, who grew up in Massachusetts and now calls New York City home, has released six critically acclaimed albums. Her fifth CD, 2008’s “If Less Is More, Nothing Is Everything,” featured a mix of jazz standards, Brazilian songs and pop/rock covers. It her earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Vocal CD. Her most recent release, “Girl Talk,” in which she pays homage to her favorite female jazz vocalists, landed on more than 20 “Best of 2012” jazz critic’s lists.

Fred Sturm, director of jazz studies and improvisational music at Lawrence, said McGarry’s talent allows her to seamlessly traverse genre borders.

“In addition to her mastery of the jazz repertoire, Kate’s equally comfortable singing American songbook standards of George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, Broadway classics, the singer/songwriter hits of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, the Latin tunes of Luciana Souza and Toninho Horta, and the pop tunes of Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Björk,” said Sturm. “She’s performing and recording with a broad range of cutting edge artists in small groups and big bands, and she’s a renowned vocal jazz teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music. We’re blessed to have such an eclectic artist gracing our Lawrence Jazz Series.”

The Yellowjackets, two-time Grammy Award winners among their 17 nominations, have been a mainstay of the jazz world since their founding in 1977. Comprised originally of top-notch Los Angeles session musicians, the band has featured various lineups over its 30-plus years history, with keyboardist Russell Ferrante the lone remaining original member.

Dubbed “the most adventurous quartet in contemporary jazz music” by All Music Guide, the ensemble has produced 26 albums since 1981, including the just-released “A Rise in the Road,” which reviewer Ian Patterson described as “melodically seductive throughout.”

“Few international jazz/fusion acts have enjoyed so much popular success and have continuously maintained such high performance standards,” Sturm said of the Yellowjackets. “For more than three decades, the Yellowjackets’ personnel has been comprised of some of the best players in the world and respected by the rest. Their compositions, live performances, and recordings have been remarkably — and consistently — strong and artful. The current quartet is superb, and they’ll no doubt light up the Lawrence Chapel with their appearance.”

In addition to the headliner concerts, more than 750 middle and high school students from throughout Wisconsin and neighboring states will attend Jazz Celebration Weekend to participate and perform in the 35 educational jazz clinic sessions on campus. Visiting educational clinicians will include two Lawrence graduates, pianist Laura Caviani from Carleton College and composer/trumpet player Kyle Simpson from Washington & Jefferson University.

Other clinicians include trombonist Milas Yoes from Phoenix College, percussionist David Hagedorn from St. Olaf College and Dave Rivello, director of the New Jazz Ensemble at the Eastman School of Music.

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 Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Ruth Bateman, associate professor emerita of physical education at Lawrence University, lost a valiant battle with renal failure on her birthday, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013 in Hot Springs, Ark.  She was 89.

A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Ruth spent 34 years on the Lawrence faculty (1953-87), retiring as the chair of the physical education department. She was awarded an honorary master of arts degree at the 1987 commencement ceremony.

Ruth coached the women’s track team in its early stages as a varsity sport as well as the women’s field hockey team. She also served as assistant director of the Buchanan Kiewit Recreation Center when it opened in 1986. With the emergence of varsity intercollegiate sports for women, Ruth was instrumental in creating the organization Women In Support of Athletics at Lawrence and created its acronym, WISAL. She also spearheaded numerous student and faculty ski trips.

After she retired, Lawrence established the Ruth Bateman Award in her honor, which annually recognizes excellence in scholarship, athletic ability and leadership by a woman athlete.

She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Boston University and taught in Laconia, N.H., and Denver, Colo., before coming to Lawrence.

Ruth was an avid skier, loved sailing and playing golf, badminton and bridge. She was a dedicated sports fan and rooted loyally for the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox. She was known for her quick wit, sense of humor and direct manner.

In the early 1950s, Ruth purchased land on Lovell Lake in Sanbornville, N.H., and later had her beloved cottage built there. She spent many of her summers there, enjoying the lake’s beauty and being a fierce competitor in the weekly sailboat races. Prior to her retirement from Lawrence, she purchased a home in Hot Springs Village, Ark., where she built her dream home on Lake Desoto. In retirement she divided her time between her two “lakes.”

A member of Village United Methodist Church, Ruth was preceded in death by her mother, Cora Proulx Taylor; her father, Harry Taylor; and her husband, Lewis C. Bateman. She is survived by her daughter, Robin Ruth Sturis of Punta Gorda, Fla.

A memorial service for Ruth will be held in Sanbornville, N.H. at a future date to be determined. Memorials in Ruth’s honor can be made to the Lovell Lake Association, P.O. Box 232, Sanbornville, NH 03872 or to a charity of their choice.

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 Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.