Art Institute of Chicago internship gives student valuable museum experience

Andrew Schaeffer ’14 is getting first-hand experience in the operations of a large museum, working with famous art and visitors from around the world. While he leads tours every day, he gets a glimpse of a career that he hopes is in his future.

Schaeffer was chosen for the 2012 Catherine McCaskill Clark Internship at the Art Institute of Chicago. Funded by alumna Amanda Fox ’67 and her husband Matthew Fox, the internship allows a Randolph student to work at the museum for about eight weeks each summer. It is one of several alumnae-sponsored internships at Randolph College.

“The opportunity to intern at the second largest museum in the United States was too exciting to pass up,” said Schaeffer, a Randolph art history and museum studies major from Greenlawn, N.Y.

The Art Institute of Chicago is home to famous works of art such as French impressionist Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte and American Gothic by Grant Wood.

The internship started with two weeks of intense training, which Schaeffer wrote about in a blog that the docent interns are keeping this summer. Then he started leading tours for groups of children, families, and adults.

Schaeffer spends most of his time leading tours and researching art to include in later tours. “The most important thing I have learned is that no tour can ever be replicated exactly,” he said. “Every tour group is unique in terms of its makeup of people, ideas, and cultures, causing each tour to be different. You need to be on your toes.”

Schaeffer also attends meetings with offices and departments throughout the Art Institute so he can learn more about how a large-scale museum operates. The experience is helping him prepare for his goal of working for museums after college.

Student Center Renovation Update: June 26, 2012

The $6 million Student Center renovation continues to progress. Window installation and work on the two-level cardio center and third-floor theatre have brought big changes to the interior and exterior of the facility.

Check out the latest photo slideshow here:

http://web.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/slideshow/june26/index.html

 

Alumnae and alumni invited to complete survey

Graduates of Randolph College and Randolph-Macon Woman’s College have the chance to help the College measure the long-term impact of their undergraduate education through a new survey.

John Keener, director of institutional research, planning, and assessment at Randolph College, recently e-mailed alumnae and alumni to share a link to the new survey. Coordinated by the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, the survey will help the College understand and track the the impact of the liberal arts education and college experience offered here.

The survey is open to all alumnae and alumni of the College. If you would like to participate, but have not received an e-mail with the link, please e-mail or call Heather Ayers Garnett ’86: hgarnett@randolphcollege.edu, or 434-947-8102.

Thank you for your participation.

Alumna shares solar cell research and grad school experience with Randolph students

The sun hits the earth with enough energy every year that it could power every home and electrical device on the earth. So why do we not convert more of that energy into electricity?

“The simple answer is that solar cells are expensive and not particularly efficient,” Kacey Meaker ’08 recently told a group of Randolph College students. “How do we solve that?” she asked.

Watch this video to learn more about how Randolph faculty and programs helped Kacey Meaker prepare for graduate school.

Meaker is investigating ways to make better solar cells in pursuit of her Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. This week, Meaker spoke at a seminar that was part of Randolph College’s Summer Research Program.

Meaker said that solar cells would have to cover about 0.2 percent of the earth’s land mass in order to produce enough electricity to power the whole world. That is roughly half the size of Texas. Her graduate school research focuses on nanophotovoltaic molecules—substances that produce electric energy from light—in hopes of finding less-expensive materials for solar cells. “You can cover half of Texas if you can find the right molecules that are cheap enough,” she said.

Meaker participated in the Summer Research Program as an undergraduate student at the College. In one of those projects, she helped Peter Sheldon, a Randolph physics professor, research the science of roller coasters. During the Summer Research Program this year, Sheldon, Meaker, and Tim Slesinger ’14 are continuing the roller coaster research, which will culminate in a book.

Meaker gave students some advice about deciding whether to pursue graduate studies, preparing for graduate school, and choosing a school to attend. She said that the Summer Research Program provides a good glimpse into graduate school life.

“It’s like Summer Research all year round,” Meaker said. “This summer is a good opportunity to see whether you would like to go to graduate school.”

Recent graduate wins coveted prize for short fiction

A member of the class of 2012 has won a prestigious prize for a story she wrote while at Randolph College.

Sara Taylor ’12 was awarded the Stony Brook Short Fiction Prize, which comes with a $1,000 cash award and free admission to Stony Brook University’s Southampton Writer’s Conference. Her winning piece, “Chloe’s Story,” was a part of her senior honors project.

The story tells of a girl navigating her way through life fraught with economic hardship and abuse while watching over her younger sister. “You could say that it’s about wild dogs and defending what’s precious to you, but it has a wider meaning in the context of the complete collection in which it belongs,” Taylor said.

Taylor said she was honored, but surprised, to learn that she had won.

She has been a writer for much of her life. “When I was first old enough to handle a pencil, I started making picture books out of legal paper and lots and lots of staples,” she said. “When I was 11, I wrote my first novel (it was terrible) and just kept going from there.”

Taylor chose to attend Randolph College specifically for the creative writing major offered by the English department. Her classes helped her become a better writer by exposing her to excellent writing and demanding that she produce high-quality work.

Bunny Goodjohn ’04, an English professor and director of the Writing Program, said Taylor strengthened her writing talent by participating in creative writing classes and Randolph’s study abroad program in Reading, England. “Her characters are real and multi-dimensional,” Goodjohn said. “She throws herself into research; Sara’s a writer who prides herself on handing over authenticity.

“I know  I am going to find Sara’s name on the spine of a good book in the not-too-distant future,” she said.

During her senior year, Taylor worked with Goodjohn on a collection of stories for an honors project. “Working with her is what took my writing from technically adequate to worth submitting to publishers,” Taylor said. “She's also one of the most encouraging people I've ever met.”

This fall, Taylor will begin earning a master’s degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. She hopes to find a literary agent and get a book contract in the next few years.

Student Center Renovation Update: June 13, 2012

Construction crews have been busy installing windows and drywall in the Student Center during the past week. Check out the newest photos of the $6 million renovation here: http://web.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/slideshow/june13/index.html.

A view from the new WWRM deejay booth. The glass booth will overlook the first floor.

Drywall is being installed on the back of the third floor theatre area.



Window installation on the third floor.



Window installation on the second floor.

Summer Research talk gives behind-the-scenes look at stage design

Unlike many pursuits, theatrical design has to be more than a hobby, according to Christopher Otwell, a theatre professor, scenic designer and technical director for Randolph College’s theatre program.

“To have success, both personally and professionally, you have to have a lot of commitment. For scenic design, you truly have to give a piece of yourself,” Otwell said in a Summer Research seminar. He walked students, faculty, and staff through a discussion of the stages of a set design.

Christopher Otwell used his design for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
to demonstrate the need for research in stage design. He had to learn about
the workings of mental institutions to make the set accurate and compelling.

The first step to great scenic design is to read the play. “You have to know that play from inside and out,” he said. It helps to think like an actor and a director because the stage needs to provide both atmosphere and physical space for every scene, entrance, and exit for the show.

“After reading the play, you have to research,” Otwell said. “Every play is going to have a time and a place that it takes place in. It’s going to have a world that it occurs in.”

Otwell said scenic design requires factual research to help designers understand the play’s historical and geographical setting which must be recreated on stage. It also involves inspirational research to spark creative ideas. He showed collections of hundreds of pictures that he has reviewed and saved to help him develop ideas for scenic designs. He also displayed images of sketches, renderings, and models he has created while designing sets for various plays.

Otwell’s speech was part of a series of weekly seminars scheduled for Summer Research Program participants and other students, faculty, and staff on campus to learn about the ways research intersects with various fields of study.