Round the Girdled Earth

Every fall, earth sciences professors lead students during a term-long field trip known as "The Stretch." The popular program strives to stretch the mind—these students from the 2000 trip explored geological formations at Arches National Park in Utah—but its name is actually derived from women's underwear. According to the late professor Richard Stoiber '32, the program, which began in 1958, took its playful name from a widely advertised innovation introduced that year: a girdle with revolutionary three-way stretch. Photograph courtesy of Todd Myse, Adv'01