A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

Members of Class of 2009 Give Back in Their Own Ways
With a 72 percent participation
level, the Class of 2009 came together
to present Colby-Sawyer with a senior
class gift of $755. The effort catapults
the class into the top five senior gift
campaigns within the last 15 years
according to Mike Gregory, assistant
director of Alumni Relations and
Annual Giving.
The 115 seniors who contributed
to the gift campaign demonstrated
that gifts of any size are welcomed
and make a difference. The top priorities
were green initiatives to support
the college’s efforts to move toward
sustainability and new team or athletic
photographs to display in the Dan and
Kathleen Hogan Sports Center.
Other top categories were scholarships
and unrestricted funds, followed
by gifts designated for student life,
technology, campus maintenance,
teaching and learning, and the library.
Class advisor Kristine Macagba
worked with gift committee members
Colin Bellavance, Megan Comolli,
Katelyn Kimball and Nicole Poelaert
Fine and Performing Arts Professor Jon Keenan spent a month
at Kyoto Seika University last summer as the recipient of a
Fulbright scholarship in art and anthropology. He represented
the United States as a visiting artist, scholar and teacher.
The Fulbright Program, the U.S. Government’s flagship
international educational exchange program, seeks to
increase mutual understanding between the citizens of the
United States and the rest of the world.
“As a Fulbrighter, Professor Keenan joins the ranks of
distinguished scholars and professionals worldwide who are
leaders in the educational, political, economic, social and cultural
lives of their countries,” says Sabine O’Hara, executive
director for the Council of International Exchange of Scholars.
As part of the Fulbright Specialists Program, Professor
Keenan taught classes in ceramics, Japanese art history and
anthropology. His lectures focused on ceramic art and its history
and contemporary practice in the United States and in
Japan. He also provided demonstrations of his research and
creative work. He pursued his research interests in Japanese
President Tom Galligan holds the big check from the Class of 2009.
to drive the giving.
This is the second year that seniors
have chosen to present the college
with funds instead of the traditional
single physical gift. While past classes
have presented Colby-Sawyer with
Professor Jon Keenan Visits Japan as Fulbright Scholar
items such as the Adirondack chairs
that grace the quad, the flexibility of
their gifts’ destinations was popular
with 2009 graduates and provided
them the same giving oppor tunities
they will have as alumni.
art history by investigating the role of Buddhist patronage of
the arts, past and present, and the ways in which Buddhist
traditions have found expression in Japanese arts.
“My Fulbright experiences in Japan will inform my teaching
at Colby-Sawyer in a direct and significant way and keep
me current in my field,” Professor Keenan says. “I also hope
to build on Colby-Sawyer’s relationships in Asia and establish
connections that could lead to academic exchanges for our
students and faculty.”
Professor Keenan is the third Colby-Sawyer faculty member
to receive the prestigious Fulbright award. He joins John
H. Callewaert, former director of the Institute for Community
and Environment, in 2007 and Joseph C. Carroll, professor of
Social Sciences and Education, in 1992.
“My work in Japan was a collective learning experience, a
dynamic process in which ideas, perceptions and techniques
were shared,” said Professor Keenan. “I am both honored
and grateful for the opportunity to have served as a
Fulbright Scholar.”
WINTER 2010 7