Class Notes 1971 “While some are thinking about retirement, I’m still going strong,” writes David Dickinson, who has been named Margaret Cowan Chair of Teacher Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. “I also took on the role of associate dean for research and strategic planning, in addition to my faculty duties.” David’s research focuses on the role of language in literacy development, especially in children from low-income backgrounds. “I am also guiding an interesting Vanderbilt effort to develop a high-quality bilingual preschool and primary grade school in Abu Dhabi,” he adds. institution La MaMa. There, he has brought countless productions to life, including a beloved, 10-year-old contemporary dance festival called La MaMa Moves, a series of seasonal variety shows (eg., Springtime in Nickyland, Christmas in Nickyland, etc.), and a gay performance series called Squirts. A longtime writer and performer, Nicky was a key figure in New York’s avant-garde theater scene of the 1980s—a scene rich with artistic triumphs at a time when AIDS was ravaging its ranks. In 2013, Nicky was part of the five-member panel that decided the recipi- ents of the Obie Awards. At the time, he was called “a godsend to the theater” by Theatermania columnist Michael Feingold. “He never stops caring passionately about the art,” wrote the columnist, “and he never stops seeking out new artists in every area and every aspect of the work.” 1974 Jeffrey A. Blakely spent January 2015 in Oberlin directing a winter-term project on the archaeology of biblical Judah. He also attended a few Oberlin swim team meets to watch his daughter, Alice ’17. n Larry Kutner was appointed executive director of the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies Program at Stanford University. “It’s an amalgam of all of the programs Stanford University offers to high school, middle school, and elementary school students, such as an online high school, summer enrichment courses, a youth orchestra, and biomedical research experi- ence,” Larry writes. He and wife Cheryl recently moved to San Carlos, Calif. n Joyce White was named executive director of the Institute for Southeast Asian Archaeology in October 2013. In March 2014, she gave a keynote address—“Hot Pots, Museum Raids, and the Race to Uncover Asia’s Archaeological Past”—at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. Previously, she was associate curator for Asia at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. She is also an expert witness for an ongoing federal probe of prehistoric Thai artifact smuggling. 1975 Dzvinia Orlowsky Hoffman was named co-poet of the year for 2014 by the Ohio Poetry Day Association, an honor presented annually since 1976. Dzvinia won for her poetry collection Silvertone; she spoke and SAVE THE DATE! NOVEMBER 6-7, 2015 DA CAPO: CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF COLLEGIUM MUSICUM AT OBERLIN Collegium Musicum alumni are invited back to campus to celebrate a quarter century of singing together under the direction of Steven Plank and the strong bonds to one another that have followed from that experience. The weekend will include a banquet on Friday night, rehearsals of the Reunion Collegium Choir, and a Saturday night concert by the reunion ensemble, followed by a recep- tion. More information will be shared as it becomes available. For now, please join the Facebook group “Oberlin College Collegium Musicum 25th Anniversary Reunion.” Mark your calendars and save the dates! 1972 Russell Malmberg is associate dean in the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “My responsibilities have been research and graduate education, but they have changed to include facilities oversight,” Russell writes. He was recently named a university professor as well. He enjoys staying in touch with class- mates Doug Anderson and David Shipley around the UGA campus. 1973 A professor for 30 years at the Manhattan School of Music, Edward Green edited the newly released Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington and has given several public talks on the composer, including one in May 2014 at the Museum of the City of New York. There, he discussed how the key to appreciating Ellington’s music lies in the principle of Aesthetic Realism, stated by the philosopher Eli Siegel: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.” In November 2014, Guitar Quartet of Norway, which includes Edward’s “Quartet for Guitars.” His Symphony for Band was commissioned in 2012 by a consortium of 13 concert wind ensembles and has since been performed widely across the country. He also just completed another symphony, this one to premiere in May by the Catskill Symphony Orchestra. n “I had a very, very, very special time in my five years at Oberlin, working towards a double degree in theater and piano performance,” Nicky Paraiso writes. In the four decades that have passed since then, Nicky has been a tireless impresario and artistic mentor in New York’s Off-Off- Broadway and dance scene—especially on the “Arts Block,” a stretch of East Fourth Street in the East Village, home of the venerable The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington Edited by Edward Green Edward wrote an introduction for a Siegel essay, “The Star-Spangled Banner as a Poem,” in Choral Journal. He remains an active composer too: In April 2015, Albany Records will release a CD of the Corona 32