Grads

On April 30 Anna Shuleit Haber (MALS’05) gave a lunchtime presentation, followed by a discussion titled “Finding Your Way: Creative Possibilities and Challenges after Graduation.” The graduate career services and opportunities program, the MALS program and the MALS Alumni Coun- cil sponsored the event. She was introduced by Meghan Menon (MALS’14).

Anna is a visual artist whose work lies at the intersection of painting, drawing, installation art, architecture, history and a sense of com- munity. Her works have ranged from museum installations to large-scale projects in forests, on uninhabited islands and in psychiatric institu- tions, where she uses extensive sound systems, multitudes of flowers, bodies of water, mirrors, antique telephones and neuroscience technolo- gies. Before entering the MALS program she studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2006 she was named a MacArthur fellow for work that has “conceptual clarity, com- passion and beauty.” The MacArthur fellowship is awarded to individuals who show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work. Anna also served as a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University.

At the presentation Anna showed some stun- ning slides of her work, including her portrait of a craggy face painted on the side of a University of Massachusetts library. The face was mirrored in a reflecting pool where it was at the mercy of the weather and a flock of ducks, which routinely swam through it. We also saw her installation of old telephones on 100 trees at the MacDowell Colony and gorgeous wall murals she painted at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

In response to a question about her first paying job after the MALS program, where she explored possibilities for her future with a con- centration in creative writing, she described re- sponding to a newspaper ad. It resulted in a job of mostly manual labor working on The Gates installation in New York’s Central Park. Since she was a German citizen with a student visa during her studies, she was very helpful in describing the regulations and pitfalls she encountered with her visa to current students attending her talk. It was a memorable afternoon.

Plans are currently underway to form a school of graduate studies at Dartmouth. The dean of graduate studies, F. John Kull, describes this as a way to create and support research and scholarship opportunities. As a result of these plans, the MALS Alumni Council reception for new alumni was held with the other graduate departments following the graduate studies in- vestiture ceremony on June 13, the day before Commencement. At the ceremony MALS chair Donald Pease awarded the Byam Shaw-Brown- stone MALS Thesis Excellence awards. The Creative Writing Award went to Mi-Kyung Shin (MALS’15), with an honorable mention to Arsa- lan ul Haq (MALS’15). Daniel J. Jantos (MALS’15) earned the Cultural Studies Award, Sebastian C. Galbo (MALS’14) was awarded the General Lib- eral Studies Award and Janak N. Padhiar (MALS ’14) won the Globalization Studies Award. The reception for graduates, faculty and guests was held on the Baker Library lawn. Members of the MALS Alumni Council manned the champagne table. Pouring the bubbly were Stephan Cantor (MALS’09) and Maggie Montgomery (MALS’99). Invaluable assistance was given by Mike Beahan (MALS’97), Ben Bolger (MALS’04), Judy Chypre (MALS’99) and Linda Landrigan (MALS’97). A spe- cial thanks goes to Skylar Smith (MALS’15), who not only served as class marshal for the MALS graduates but also had the foresight to bring her father to the reception. He proved instrumental in the swift removal of the corks from the bottles.

175 Greensboro Road, Hanover, NH 03755: (603) 643-3789; m.jane.welsh.gr@ dartmouth.edu