Watch Randolph College’s Happy music video

We had a lot of people participate in our recent music video set to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.

Randolph College community members all over campus—including our campus abroad by the University of Reading, England—showed that they have something to sing, dance, and smile about.

Randolph Mathletes Finish Strong in National Competition

(left to right) Pujan Shrestha ’15, Hart Gillespie ’15, Zhe Zhang ’15,
Si Thu Aung ’16, Marc Ordower, Duc Dang Dinh '16,
Nam Hoang '15, and Tung Tran '15

A team of Randolph College students recently scored in the top fifth of all participating colleges and universities in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, a prestigious and famously difficult contest of mathematical skills and creative reasoning.

Randolph ranked 106th out of the 557 participating institutions. Individually, Nam Hoang ’15 earned special distinction by placing 266th out of the more than 4,000 competing students.

All eight Randolph students who competed scored in the top half of all participants. Five were in the top third. Two were in the top quarter.

The team consisted of Tung Tran ’15, Hart Gillespie ’15, Tu Nguyen ’15, Pujan Shrestha ’15, Zhe Zhang ’15, Nam Hoang ’15, Si Thu Aung ’16, and Duc Dang Dinh ’16.

Marc Ordower, a Randolph College mathematics professor, offers a course in Mathematical Problem Solving aimed at students who wish to participate in competitions such as the Putnam.

The Putnam is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious undergraduate mathematics competition in North America. Students from institutions in Canada and the United States participate by taking a 12-problem test. Questions on this proof-based exam are meant to test originality as well as technical competence, covering topics from linear algebra to graph theory. The questions can typically be solved with only basic knowledge of college mathematics but require extensive creative thinking.

The competition takes place in early December, with the results being announced in the spring.

Randolph hosts kickoff for Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit

Randolph will help launch the first Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit with a screening of the documentary Growing Cities on Monday, April 14.

The summit will bring more than 100 people from around Virginia to Lynchburg to learn about ways to foster sustainable urban farms. Michael Van Ness, the executive director of the local, nonprofit farm Lynchburg Grows, asked Randolph College to host a viewing of Growing Cities to provide a national perspective on the issues the summit will address.

The College’s ongoing work in the field of sustainable food—including the growth of the Randolph College Organic Garden and student/faculty research on the topic—made him want to hold the film viewing here, Van Ness said. “Randolph has been going in this direction for a number of years, and we just thought it was a natural fit,” he said.

Growing Cities is a documentary about urban farming across the United States. It follows two filmmakers around the country as they interview people and show the ways urban agriculture promotes economic development and improves nutrition.

“It’s an inspiring film,” said John Abell, a Randolph College economics professor whose research focuses on the economics of sustainable food supplies. “It lets you know what the possibilities are. It shows lots of youthful enthusiasm for the whole farm-to-table movement.”

The screening will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Smith Hall Theatre. Hor d’oeuvres, including some local produce, will be served in the Alice Ashley Jack Room on the second floor of Smith Memorial Building beginning at 5:30 p.m. Abell will lead a discussion about the documentary.

For more information about the Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit, visit http://www.vaco.org/event/virginia-urban-agriculture-summit/

Kelley Swain ’07 publishes three books in 2014

Behind Randolph’s Red Brick Wall, Kelley Swain ’07 pushed pens and critiqued poetry with the writing group “the Quill Drivers.” Now across the Atlantic Ocean, she continues her prolific writing.

In fact, the London author is publishing three books this year.

photo credit: Marcos Avlonitis

In March, Valley Press published Opera di Cera, a poetry collection written as a series of monologues about the creation of the anatomical Venus, a life-sized waxwork figure she saw at a museum in France.

This spring, Cinnamon Press will publish Atlantic, a collection of poems that she has worked on since 2009. Although much of Swain’s writing addresses the history of science, Atlantic is more introspective. “It is a very personal collection which engages with family, grief, exile, and love,” she said.

Swain’s first novel, Double the Stars, will debut in September. Also from Cinnamon Press, the historical novel is about Caroline Herschel, an astronomer best known for discovering comets.

These books follow Darwin’s Microscope, her 2009 poetry collection about science history, and two volumes of poetry she has edited.

She said there are a couple of factors that led to her prolific success. “Half of the answer is hard work and discipline. If you want to be a writer, you have to write,” she said. “The other half is having an astonishing system of support. Since writing my first poem at the age of seven, my family, teachers, friends, and relationships have been supportive and constructive in my aim to become a writer, and this support has made all the difference in the world.”

Swain said a lot of that support came from friends and professors at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. She said the faculty encouraged her interests in writing as well as science and helped her develop her talent and understanding. “I would not be the writer I am today without them,” she said.

Swain added that the liberal arts curriculum prepared her for life after graduation and her position at the Imperial College of London, where she teaches medical students about the confluence of science and the arts. “Though we used to joke that graduating from a liberal arts college with a degree in English would lead to dubious job prospects, it is exactly that unique educational background which has led to my being a guest lecturer at one of the top science universities in the world,” she said.

You can learn more about Swain’s work, and read excerpts from Opera di Cera and Atlantic, in an interview in the Inpress Catalogue.

Randolph professor and student research the reality of hunger and poverty

A Randolph professor is exploring the nexus between poverty, hunger, and food in Lynchburg in hopes that his research will generate discussion and solutions.

“My sense is that most people don’t know about the extent of hunger and poverty in this city,” said John Abell, an economics professor. “I’m hoping to draw some awareness to this issue and to start a conversation.”

Abell has a strong personal interest in local food produced with sustainable practices; he grows much of his own food while purchasing more from farmers at a local market. But his interest in social issues related to food grew when he and a group of Randolph students studied the economics of a Lynchburg food desert in 2011. Their data demonstrated the difficulty some city residents had with obtaining nutritious food at affordable prices. Abell wanted to conduct further research about how poverty and limited food access relate to each other.

He is analyzing a variety of data—such as income levels, educational attainment, and participation in government assistance programs—for different neighborhoods in Lynchburg. Abell is publishing videos and insights about the research on a new website. Eventually, his blog will shift focus toward the economics of the solutions he is discovering.

The website includes video interviews with people who have firsthand knowledge about local hunger and poverty, including people who have lived for years in impoverished neighborhoods as well as people who work at nonprofits that seek to provide food to those in need.

Teague Nelson ’14, a history major, is producing the videos for Abell. While it has given him an opportunity to practice skills he picked up in a digital filmmaking class, the project also helped Nelson learn about social and economic issues. “I think it’s a really important issue,” he said. “There are a lot of people working on it, but it needs a lot more attention and a lot more needs to be done.”

Abell’s research also includes potential solutions that go beyond distributing donated food to those who need it, but focus on helping to decrease hunger by decreasing poverty. “I wanted to think about creative ways that food could be used in creative solutions,” he said. “I’m looking at solutions from around the country, including urban farming and community gardening, where food is out there to create legitimate economic development.”

To learn more about Abell’s research, please see http://lynchburgfood.go.randolphcollege.edu/

Students create podcasts expounding Greek myths

Randolph students are taking the study of ancient mythology to another level with a series of podcasts that tell the varied stories of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, monsters, and epic adventures.

Amy Cohen, a classics professor and the director of the Center for Ancient Drama, assigned students in her Classical Mythology class to research lesser-known myths and record broadcasts. Dubbed the Mythcasters, the series includes a show every Wednesday evening on Randolph College’s student-run radio station, the WWRM, followed by a rebroadcast on Saturday morning.

The show’s archive can be heard at http://wwrm.org/

Samantha Strickler ’17 said she was nervous about the idea of recording a radio show,  but it turned out to be a fun way to learn about the myths.

She and Elizabeth Dean ’16 worked together to produce an episode about the myth of Admetus and Alcestis. (You can listen to their episode here.) By researching the myth and reading different versions of the story, Strickler learned about alternate endings, the way that myths handle time and story progression, and other details that she would have not learned otherwise. “We wanted to get more in depth about it,” she said. “We found out all these different things that we would not have learned if we had just read it once and then retold the story.”

Other stories explained by the Mythcasters this semester include the stories of Daedalus, Chimaera, Orion, and more.

This week, the one group of Mythcasters will explain the story of Hermione, followed by another group with the myth of the Harpies.

Spring Dance Concert features works by students and professional choreographers

Four Randolph College seniors spent much of their time this semester perfecting the spins, leaps and music selections for dances they have choreographed for the 2014 Spring Dance Concert.

Unlike the fall showcase, which features solely student work, the Spring Dance Concert is an opportunity for graduating seniors to show their choreography next to dances created by professionals.

“We have been preparing for this concert since the beginning of the fall semester,” said Lauren Boegert ’14. “It is both terrifying and exciting because our choreography goes up against professional work.”

This concert features pieces choreographed by professional choreographers such as Takehiro Ueyama, the director of Take Dance; Lori Belilove, director of the Isadora Dance Company; Walter Kennedy; and Randolph dance faculty in addition to the works choreographed by seniors majoring in dance.

Boergert created her piece, titled “Uninhibited,” to convey a sense of openness, vulnerability, and taking chances. “I struggle with openness and wanted to choreograph a piece about something difficult,” she said. “I thought it would be a good challenge.”

Beginning dancing when she was three, Boergert always favored ballet and did not have experience with modern dance. Her focus changed as she gained experience with modern dance at Randolph. “I like to think of myself as a modern dancer after my four years here. I don’t hide behind my technique as much,” said Boergert.

Senior dance major Chloe Tong said that she is most proud of being able to look at her choreography for the Spring Dance Concert and say, “I made that.” Her dance for the Spring Concert, “Everything Happens for a Reason”, focuses on how families act as one working unit.

Samantha Suzuki ’14, another senior earning her BFA in dance, choreographed the dance “M.A.D” for the Spring Dance Concert.

Suzuki’s piece is inspired by the poem “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost. “I am most proud of the fact I was able to overcome my fears of choreography for male dancers,” she said. “In years past I have shied away from choreographing for male dancers because it felt very different and unnatural for me. The fact my first section movement looks strong and masculine and still has my aesthetic vibe to it makes me very proud.”

Angelina Carilli ’14 choreographed the dance “An Affected Mind” for the concert. The dance depicts the way drugs affect people’s minds.

The Spring Dance Concert will feature a total of 12 dances, individually crafted by 11 different choreographers.

The Spring Dance Concert will be held at 8 p.m. Thursday–Friday in Smith Hall Theater. General admission is $8, student admission is $4 and children 12 and under can attend for free.