\u00a0<\/strong>George Ledger, psychology<\/h4>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ledger.jpg\")
George Ledger is one of the most surprising teachers at Hollins.<\/p>\n
For nearly 40 years he has taught psychology, specializing in cognitive science\u2014the technical subjects such as testing, patterning, abnormal psychology (which he insists is not to be applied to his colleagues). He is also tech savvy: I remember working with George on encryption programs,<\/u> going through them byte by <\/u>byte to break the copy protection. In spite of this he has, his colleague Bonnie Bowers insists, \u201cmaintained a strong and principled aversion to online platforms like Moodle and is not terribly fond of PowerPoint. You can always tell where George has taught a class, because the boards are covered with his spidery notes and complicated diagrams.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the most part, George is a solitary who likes solitary activities: fishing, a longtime passion; riding his motorcycle; wandering the halls of Dana at all hours; gardening. Unlike a lot of contemplatives, George\u2019s ruminations as often lead to exasperation as calm: He is very smart, and like a lot of smart people, he believes that problems are, at base, fairly simple; which is why he doesn\u2019t actually think he\u2019s that smart, and why he is surprised (and annoyed) that so many people just don\u2019t get it. If George had a theme song, it would be Chuck Berry\u2019s \u201c<\/u>Too Much Monkey Business.\u201d<\/u><\/p>\n
All of which is not to say that George lacks an empathetic side. The evident care he takes with plants\u2014his office is easily mistaken for a greenhouse\u2014suggests a nurturing side, reinforced if you\u2019ve ever seen him deal with children. Years ago,<\/u> George went fishing with my son and his daughter, and was very plain that \u201cthe first rule of fishing is don\u2019t drown.\u201d He is a student of the flora and fauna outside Dana (colleagues excluded) and can tell you where the foxes hang out and where the ducks nest. If his empathy seems to extend in a rather more attenuated form to students, it\u2019s because he has confidence in them: Do the work and don\u2019t drown and all will be fine.<\/p>\n
If you walk around Dana you will probably find George there, no matter the time of day: 3 (a.m. or p.m.), 8:30 (a.m. or p.m.), 5:30 (a.m. or p.m.). This confounds everyone. Several of us have discussed this, and, having dismissed the obvious explanation that he is Nosferatu, find ourselves mystified: It\u2019s possible that he moonlights as a security guard, albeit without the uniform. Perhaps he doesn\u2019t sleep and subsists on catnaps or dozing off during meetings.<\/p>\n
Of particular interest is how well educated he is: How does a cognitive psychologist make the time to read (and finish) Gravity\u2019s Rainbow<\/em>? When the faculty had a reading group that went through The Iliad<\/em>, Moby-Dick<\/em>, The Aeneid<\/em>, and Paradise Lost<\/em>, George was there every step of the way. I have had conversations with George about changing brake shoes, subatomic particles, contemporary literature, cognitive development, the friction coefficient of rubber tires and asphalt (important if you ride a Triumph). All professors at Hollins are well trained in their field, and many know a fair amount about other subjects; but to bridge the humanities-sciences divide so effortlessly is very rare. The earl of Chesterfield said that erudition should be like a watch: Keep it hidden until needed. Chesterfield would find no more devoted acolyte than George Ledger, whose depths are deeper than the vasty deep.<\/p>\nAlthough much of this goes unnoticed by colleagues, George has firmly established the confidence of the faculty. They elected him chair a few years ago, and he has served on nearly every committee, council, and ad-hoc advisory whatever for the last four decades. Unflappable, affable, direct, and funny, George has proven to be one of the most valuable faculty members during his time at Hollins.<\/p>\n
To say that he\u2019s irreplaceable is false, because someone will fill that slot; but more important, it\u2019s incomplete: George goes so far beyond what is expected in a colleague that we would need to hire three or four people to take his place.<\/p>\n
![\"divider\"](\"http:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/wave.png\")
<\/p>\n
Joe W. Leedom, professor of history<\/h4>\n
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/leedom.jpg\")
Naturally, Joe\u2019s favorite book is Moby-Dick<\/em>. The man himself is physically and intellectually imposing, truly a big fish\u2014and Melville assures us that a whale is indeed a fish\u2014in the small pond of Hollins. A colleague described him as \u201cawash in his own abundant knowledge,\u201d and I confess that I have never known a person with a wider compass of reading. Not a passive or forgetful reader, Joe is a rigorous, curious, and contrarian critic. He eagerly engages in debate with colleagues or students on an article in Slate<\/em>, a verse in the Gnostic Gospels<\/em>, a review in Rolling Stone<\/em>, a scene in Hamlet<\/em>, or the sack of Antioch in both Raymond of Aguilers and the anonymous Gesta Francorum<\/em>, whether he read the piece last night or last century. A true professor of the liberal arts and onetime holder of the Berry Professorship for excellence in teaching literature, Joe helped lead Sowell faculty reading groups on the Iliad, Catch-22,<\/em> and, of course, Moby-Dick.<\/em><\/p>\nIn many senses a Stoic, not the least his preference for lingering in the portico of Pleasants while smoking Marlboros (menthol, lights), Joe readily offers his thoughts to those willing to listen. And students do listen: only for very few admired teachers do followers create Twitter accounts like @Sh*tLeedomSays or print pamphlets like \u201cLeedomisms.\u201d Along with the fierce intellect, he can swear like a sailor and swap salty jokes at poker, which he regularly wins by combining calculation with timely bluffing. Joe\u2019s semi-annual posters for the now-defunct History Department Party are the stuff of legend, and, as with all satire, valuable documents on the Zeitgeist <\/em>of an institution. I recall the penultimate HDP when he saved us all from the county policeman who (honest-to-God!) while cracking his knuckles sneered: \u201cIt smells like a brewery here\u201d; to which Joe replied, \u201cWell\u2026you are<\/em> standing next to a full recycling bin.\u201d Wit, coolness under fire, and an eye for folly.<\/p>\nI gather that a former president blanched at Joe\u2019s election to chair of the faculty. Like Moby Dick, Joe looms mysterious and threatening from the perspective of Ahabs. And, yes, he accepts that those folks may call him by half the whale\u2019s name. But the man is surprisingly gentle, be it playing fetch with the dogs for hours on Tinker Beach with [Professor Emerita of Biology] Harriet Gray, putting on gloves to load [the late Professor of English] John Cunningham\u2019s furniture into a van (\u201che can never be truly said to handle us without mittens\u201d), or floating across the stage in a gondola for the Hollins production of Nine<\/em>. He displays a sensitivity for the polite and the ceremonial that comes, perhaps, from having an English mother and an easygoing family. Principled, precise, and fair even to those who might wish him ill, Joe possesses an understanding of the theories and practices of Roman and English law that any jurisconsult would envy. With all his equanimity, had he not been an academic, I think he would have made a fine judge. I heard that growing up Joe worked on an oil rig and read Shakespeare on breaks. Indeed, \u201cvery like a whale.\u201d<\/p>\nGeorge Fredric Franko, professor of classical studies and chair of philosophy and classical studies<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong>Bob Sulkin, photography<\/h4>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sulkin.jpg\")
Bob was hired in the summer of 1980, with a recent M.F.A. from the University of Iowa and a portfolio of photographs that were unique and distinctive. He drew on his negatives to accentuate forms and rhythms. This tactic was often considered a destructive way to create a photo, as the integrity of the negative was considered sacrosanct. Since his University of North Carolina\u2013Chapel Hill undergraduate work was in history, he brought a different mindset to making photos.<\/p>\n
Bob was an immediate success as a teacher, and he became a valued colleague. He proved to be an able administrator, too, as he revitalized and reorganized the January Short Term, keeping it a signal feature of Hollins\u2019 experiential model of education.<\/p>\n
Bob was innovative in his thinking about the content of classes and explored such topics as cell phone and scanner-based image making. Almost everyone has a smart phone, he reasoned, so let\u2019s learn how to use it for more than taking a selfie.<\/p>\n
He initiated and taught the History of Photography course, which began with innovations in the 19th<\/sup> century and ended with the most avant-garde works. Bob has been a valued mentor to many students in the art department and beyond over the decades, and I had often heard them express their appreciation for his insights and support.<\/p>\nI too learned much from Bob about the content embedded in the art of photography. In the summers when [the late Professor of Art] Lewis Thompson, Bob, and I shared studio space in the old Parsonage on the hill, we would discuss ideas about perception, perspective, and the imagination of space in art.<\/p>\n
His own work has evolved into complex studio constructions of implied dramatic narrative, which brought out his interests in popular culture and history to reveal themselves in his imagery. His extensive bodies of work have garnered critical attention in numerous exhibitions, including at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n
Bob\u2019s legacy to Hollins derives from his long and dedicated service as teacher, mentor, and colleague. I am so pleased to see that he will have the time in his retirement to focus on his creative life in his studio. I am eager to see what comes next.<\/p>\n
Bill White, professor emeritus of art<\/strong><\/p>\nIt was my privilege to be Bob\u2019s colleague in the art department for 25 years. His inquisitive spirit and broad knowledge of photographic possibilities and traditions shaped the content of his courses and his dedication to bringing the art world to Hollins.<\/p>\n
He provided students with in-depth experiences in a broad range of studio and art history courses, including analog and digital photography, often focusing on alternative processes and methods for creating images. In his interactions with students there was always a sense of mutual respect and encouragement. His knowledge of photographic possibilities and traditions was combined with an emphasis on each student\u2019s talents and concerns.<\/p>\n
His legacy outside the classroom includes countless contributions to the cultural life of Hollins. He curated numerous exhibitions of nationally recognized photographers for the gallery program and brought many artists and curators to campus to speak, meet students, and visit classes. He was instrumental in designing the outstanding photography facility in the Wetherill Visual Art Center. On two occasions, he sponsored a photography festival that featured a themed approach to contemporary photography, facilitating an exchange between students and the artistic community.<\/p>\n
Bob\u2019s modest and enthusiastic approach to art always created an appetite for further exploration of ideas, whether you were a student or faculty member. His own photographs evolved into studio assemblages themed on identity, culture, metaphysical machines, and prototypes. He invented imagined worlds from the most unlikely objects, using a view camera to photograph his constructions. Each semester he roamed the design studio, where the detritus of art making remained after the students left. I learned how the camera lens transforms items like dirty plexi, odd artifacts, paper, rope, foam, foil, shards, wheels, or plaster into something new by watching him select objects for his use. There are only a handful of artists who change the way you see and make art in your lifetime. Bob is one of those individuals who changed me.<\/p>\n
Jan Knipe, professor emerita of art<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five faculty members retire at the end of the academic year. What follows are tributes acknowledging their immeasurable contributions to Hollins. Jean Fallon, French It is an honor and privilege to write this tribute for Jean Fallon, professor of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-8578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-spring-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8578"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8587,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8578\/revisions\/8587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/fallon.jpg\")
It is an honor and privilege to write this tribute for Jean Fallon, professor of French, on the occasion of her retirement from Hollins. Jean joined the faculty in 1990. During her estimable career, she has been an active scholar, publishing two books, and has contributed new and interesting courses to the curriculum. Those of us who have had the pleasure of observing her teach can attest to the fact that she is a creative, high-energy, passionate, funny, and engaging professor. Her students love her teaching style and have been inspired by her love of French language and culture, as evidenced by the following remarks:<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/larsen.jpg\")
Strangers passing Jeanne Larsen on the sidewalk can\u2019t be blamed for doing a double take.<\/p>\n