News in Brief

Beloit Dancers Featured in ACDA Gala

The American College Dance Association honored two Beloit College dancers and their professor last March at the ACDA North-Central Conference at Iowa State University. Sarah Miller’15 and Santiago Quintana Garcia’15 were selected to perform at the conference’s Gala Concert, which recognizes excellence in choreography and performance. “Physical Manifestations of Assent,” a duet between Miller and Quintana, was choreographed by Professor of Dance Chris Johnson. It was the only piece selected by the adjudicators from a small school dance program. Others featured in the Gala included the University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, and Columbia College in Chicago.

First Giving Day Nearly Doubles Goal

Beloit held its first Giving Day on April 22, with a modest fund-raising goal that neatly referenced the date on the calendar: Raise $22,000 on the 22nd of April.

By the end of the day, however, 241 alumni, parents, students, and friends rallied to almost double that goal, giving nearly $41,000 to the Beloiter Fund, also known as the annual fund. These resources will fund scholarships, efforts to renew the historic core of campus, the senior class gift, and the unrestricted fund, which is directed to where the need is greatest. Alumni and friends got the word out about the inaugural Giving Day through social media and videos that amplified pride in the college and were easily spread through networks of friends and classmates.

Humans’ Best Friend

On May 11, animal-loving members of the college community were invited to bring their dogs and cats to the Chapin Quad for “pet therapy.” The idea behind this popular event is to raise the spirits of students during the intermittent stress of finals week. Here, a dog named “Benji,” owned by Molly Schulting’15, gives some love and attention to students who gathered on Chapin Quad.

Where are They Now?

A First Destinations survey, conducted by Beloit’s Liberal Arts in Practice Center, examined the first employment and graduate school destinations of 2014 Beloit graduates. Overall, 84 percent of the class of 2014 was engaged in full-time work, education, or service within six months of graduating, outperforming the national average by 2.5 percent. The underemploy- ment rate for Beloit College graduates was half the national average, when compared with statistics released by the Economic Policy Institute. Significantly, 15 members of the class relocated to other countries to pursue opportunities.

The survey was distributed last October to 268 graduates and had a response rate of 69 percent.

Other News in Brief

• The 2014 Beloit College women’s cross country team had the highest team GPA (3.84) nationally in the NCAA Division III, while the men’s team ranked in the top 50 percent in GPAs (3.32). Both teams earned recognition from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as 2014 All-Academic teams.
• Beloit College received a bronze rating for its 2013-14 sustainability efforts on its first submission to STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System). The transparent, self-reporting framework allows colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance in a variety of categories and identify areas for improvement.
• The department of modern languages and literatures and the Office of Development & Alumni Relations have established a scholarship fund to honor Jack Street, who logged 54 years of teaching French and Italian at Beloit before retiring this May. The fund will support first-generation students who pursue advanced study of a foreign language. A link with details can be found at: http://t7n.szdingyi.net/giving/.
• Beloit will offer “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx mantra, when the city and college bring a TEDxBeloit event to campus on Aug. 28. Details were still taking shape at press time.
• Beloit’s Sustained Dialogue program has grown exponentially since it started in fall 2013. Designed to develop student leaders who engage differences as strengths, it began with two student groups and 32 participants. By spring 2015, 112 people were involved on campus: four student groups with 52 participants and four faculty/staff groups with 60 participants. This spring, alumni donors and trustees funded a dedicated coordinator for the program for the next two years.
• President Bierman alerted the college community to a June Washington Post story about sexual assault on college campuses. He urged everyone to make time to read “One in Five College Women Say They Were Violated,” which resulted from a survey by the Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The main part of the article centered on the experiences of two Beloit alumnae, a mother and daughter, who were both assaulted as students. “While I am proud of the work we have done to prevent and respond to sexual assaults on our campus, our work is far from finished,” Dean of Students Christina Klawitter told the Post.
• Two 2015 graduates were selected to receive highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Awards for international exchanges. Katherine Atkinson’15 of Leverett, Mass., will serve as an English teaching assistant in Russia. Margaret Kepley’15, of Falls Church, Va., will serve as an English teaching assistant in the Slovak Republic.