Letter From the Director

In his inspiring interview in this issue of Backstories, Senior Fellows teacher Gene Burd explains what hangs in the balance as we blindly rush to stay ahead of the new media curve: the "human touch."

Indeed, the pace of change is so dizzying one can't help but wonder how it's changing us. The Internet has made the world smaller and more connected, but it's also given us innovative ways to ignore each other. This is why Senior Fellows is as relevant as ever. In this issue of Backstories, our alumni, students and faculty all bear witness to the value of discussion-oreinted seminars with engaged peers and passionate teachers. The human touch, as Burd has demonstrated for so many years, is what Senior Fellows is all about.

Alumnus Charles Mead (Bachelor of Journalism, 1994) explains this well in his interview with current Senior Fellows student Sameer Bhuchar. He says that being "thrust into an atmosphere where challenging a premise [is] expected ...  is what we are all hoping the college experience gives us. We want the ability to think for ourselves and be able to branch out on our own and really begin to decide who we are and what we stand for." 

For nearly 25 years, Senior Fellows has been providing that atmosphere.  Face-to-face critcal dialogue has an intangible value that can't be replicated on screens or Twitter feeds. And this will be as true in the 21st century as it was in ancient Greece, from whence came Plato's "Symposium," the inspiration for our introductory seminar.

I can't wait to teach Symposium in the fall to our incoming students. We had a spike in applications this year, and based on our interviews, we have an amazing group of students eager to test their crtical voices. As excited as I am to welcome them, I lament bidding farewell to my first Symposium class, most of whom are graduating in May. (It's been real, and I hope you keep in touch!)

It's reassuring to know our graduating class has expereinced a great program over the past two years, with great speakers, great teachers and great classes. You can read about one of those classes in the Backstories article "Lessons from Life's Laboratory," written by one of those teachers, Diana Dawson. She provides a look into her series "Communicating the Human Side of Social Issues," an experiential-learning seminar that brings students into contact with the people who are living the issues they're learning about in class. 

Senior Fellows faculty have an impressive track record as teachers over the years, and this year was no exception. Frequent Senior Fellows teacher Dana Cloud won a teaching award, as did Sharon Jarvis, who's offering a Senior Fellows seminar on campaign communication to coincide with the fall election season. As for accolades, it's probably most satisfying to report that one of our top students, Alejandro Diaz-Wahl, was honored with a university-wide undergraduate research award for a project that started in his Senior Fellows seminar with Talia Stroud last spring.

One of the unexpected benefits of directing Senior Fellows has been hearing the stories of our growing list of alumni. This issue profiles remarkable alumni like Chalres Mead, Paul Leonard and Fanienne Darling-Wolf, as well as soon-to-be alumni like Alejandro Diaz-Wahl, Kelsey McGonigle and Alden Paras, all of whom are graduating this year. Thanks to all of you for your contributions to Senior Fellows and for keeping the conversation fresh and illuminating.

As for the rest of you, I hope you take a moment to send us a hello, post a comment, or tell us what you've been up to. You can email me or a past professor, or you can join our Facebook page. Also, we're thinking about hosting a reunion of some kind in spring of next year and would appreciate your thoughts as we begin planning. If you have a moment, please take a brief survey to help us figure it out. Just click on the button above.

Warmest regards,
Dave Junker