1964

Welcome classmates! 1993 is upon us. A new year, a new administration, and a reunion. First things first keep the dates June 14-17 open for the reunion. Pay your class dues, and be as responsive as possible to our class agents!

I called Jim Bell and was lucky enough to get hold of his wife of 27 years, Roberta, who is an economics professor at Danza College in Coopertino, Calif., near San Francisco where the Bells live. I learned much from her about our very modest classmate. Following Dartmouth, where he worked with Professors Kemeny and Kurtz as one of the key members of the Basic Language Project, he has worked in the computer field and has now been with Hewlett Packard for 12 years. Jim is presently HP's Director of Corporate Alliances (directing relationships with other companies and industries), a critically important and wideranging position which takes him to Asia, Europe, and Boston quite frequently. Jim has worn many hats at HP and professionally: he has been HP's engineering manager; president and CEO of the Precision RISC organization; chairman of the board of Uniforum, an association of 7,000 professionals; HP's director of X/Open, an international computer operating system standards organization; and in his spare time now is trustee of a foundation connected with Massachusetts General in Boston and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The foundation's purpose is to provide patients nationwide with information about alternative medical procedures so that they may make informed decisions about their treatment. Jim has stayed close to what is important to him, the computer field and his family, since leaving Dartmouth. Roberta describes Jim as a truly happy person who loves his job, who has the ability to communicate and bring people together. Job satisfaction, love and respect, and" pride in his family and friends make Jim a lucky man indeed. Jim and Roberta have two children, Jennifer (Harvard '91) and Christopher (Dartmouth '93) who will be graduating during our reunion week. Chris is a multi-talented student double-majoring in computer science and religion. He is a creative computer guru: he won the John Kemeny Prize last year for his creation of a computer software program.

Roberta and Jim remember the choice of "The Bird is the Word" as the worst song of 1964 and are hoping for a ballot on this important topic at our reunion.

Slade Backer reports from California that he is a director of the Center for Developmental Studies. He started teaching at Berkeley 15 years ago and then moved on to the Center to work in the field of educational curriculum reform. The Center is a not-for-profit organization, affiliated with Berkeley and other educational and professional institutions, which develops new interactive experiential approaches to teaching and curricula in social sciences, history, and the environmental sciences. The initial emphasis was on restructuring teaching methods at the college level, but emphasis is now shifting to public high-school education. Slade is fascinated with this important work that is geared toward improving our national educational system. Many teacher graduates of courses sponsored by the Center and Berkeley have introduced the new methods at their schools around the country. While he acknowledges we have a long way to go, he is cautiously optimistic that change can be effected and that a new emphasis on education's importance will be recognized. Unfortunately, Slade and family (two of his children are '90 and '91 graduates of Dartmouth) will not be able to attend the reunion as Slade will be attending his youngest's junior-high graduation and teaching a seminar for teachers in Ireland this summer.

Remember our 30th June 14—17. Untilnext month.

P.O. Box 890, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043