A changing campus: Top four changes on campus
Graham Johnson, Staff Reporter
May 8, 2012
Filed under Campus
This year, I will officially become an alumnus of Carthage College. In many ways I shall be leaving a campus much different from the one to which I arrived. Thanks to the leadership of President F. Gregory Campbell, the inspiration and hard work of our professors and other faculty, not to mention the creativity of our amazing student body, Carthage College has proven that education is part of a process that changes and reexamines itself to ensure that each generation has more opportunities than the last.
Student Union
Without a doubt, the most recognizable change has been the completion of our new Student Union. I do not think that future Carthage students will ever be able appreciate their good fortune at having this building in their midst. Not only do we have a Mexican restaurant, wing café and Seattle’s Best Coffee that was not here in 2008, but students have a comfy lounge with a fireplace where they can study, hang out or enjoy a great game of pool. And the upstairs movie theater makes our weekly movie nights much more comfortable compared to the viewings in the Todd Wehr Center which I experienced.
New Faces
In addition to new buildings, Carthage has been blessed with the addition of some wonderful new faculty. Each year, we welcome new Target Language Experts to our academic family, but there have also been changes to our permanent faculty. When I was a freshman, our college pastor was a gregarious man named Harvard Stephens, who was named Senior Pastor at Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands last August. Though I am sad to see him go, we are proud to have as his successor, Rev. Ross Larson. The Carthage faculty has also added to its ranks, extraordinary scholars such as Julian Hendrix, Assistant Professor of Classics and History, and Paul Diduch, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Western Heritage and Political Science.
The Oaks
If any of you happen to walk by the south side of campus, please take time to thank or show appreciation to the dedicated construction workers who have expanded the Oaks Residential Village. Thanks to these hard-working men, Carthage will be able to provide housing to a larger student body, and I think every person associated with the school owes them a debt of gratitude. In addition to the dormitories themselves, construction is currently underway on a stone sitting area inside the lawn between the buildings. This will be a wonderful place for students to sit down to relax, read or hold meetings. The campus is running out of space, but I am sure that as I return as an alumnus in future years, the school will have somehow found room to continue the rich architectural tradition that has come to epitomize its drive for success.
Meet the News Boss, Same as the Old Boss
I know that any future visit to Carthage will not be the same without knowing that President Campbell is at the helm. His successor has been found in the person of Gregory Woodward, former dean of music at Ithaca College. I wish Dr. Woodward well and expect his tenure to be one which adds to the majesty of this fine institution. But for me personally, Carthage will always be a Campbell institution. As a student, I have attended two lectures by Campbell, who once served as a professor of history. The first lecture was on Goethe’s “Faust” and the second on the ways in which the study of history can help one to become a true leader. President Campbell has always been an active participant in Carthaginian festivities, like the Hanniball, during which I had the honor of playing him in a comedic skit. For better or for worse, this school will not be the same without seeing that bright red jacket walking beneath that shiny white hair.