Need To Get A "Life After Liberal Arts"? Here's How

Chestertown, MD, September 3, 2002 — The Washington College Alumni Council will host its Fall LIFE AFTER LIBERAL ARTS (LALA) symposium on Saturday, September 14, 2002, at 2:00 p.m. in the Hodson Hall Study Lounge. LALA programs are designed to bring to current Washington College students and graduates a panel of successful alumni who share their experience and relate the factors that influenced their career paths and goals. This Fall's LALA panel will feature alumni in the fields of environmental education, lobbying, and estate and financial planning. The public is invited to this free event.

Erin O'Neal '91 is Director of Education for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Working from the Foundation's Philip Merrill Environmental Center in Annapolis, MD, O'Neal is responsible for training field staff educators and planning summer courses for teachers on the Chesapeake Bay. An American Studies major, O'Neal's first job after graduation was as assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach at Towson State University. She currently serves on the College's Visiting Committee.

Alumna Brigid Kolish '98 is a legislative assistant for Van Scoyoc Associates, Inc., where she supports clients in healthcare and biomedical research and their related funding issues. Before joining VSA, Kolish served as a legislative assistant for appropriations in the office of Representative Alan B. Mollohan, a senior Democratic member of the House Appropriations Committee from West Virginia. During her three years with Rep. Mollohan, Kolish managed his work on the Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary; and District of Columbia Subcommittees while tracking the Agriculture and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bills. Before joining Mollohan's staff, Kolish, a native of Baltimore, interned for Maryland State Senator Perry Sfikas during the 1998 Maryland General Assembly. She earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Washington College, where she served as president of the Student Government Association. She is currently a member of the College's Alumni Council.

Geoffrey M. Rogers '80 earned his bachelor's in political science and served as a class president and member of the SGA while at Washington College. He is currently executive vice president and director of Delaware operations for The Glenmede Trust Company, N.A., where he oversees the day-to-day operations of Glenmede's Delaware office, which he launched in June 1999. Rogers brings more than 18 years of estate planning and financial services experience to this position, and prior to joining Glenmede, he served as vice president for Scudder Private Investment Counsel, responsible for new business development. Rogers has also served as a vice president with the Wilmington Trust Company, and Delaware Trust Company. In addition to serving on a number of professional organizations, he is President of the Board of Trustees for Sanford School, Chairman of the National Foundation of Open Space and Facade Preservation, and Director of the Delaware Council on Economic Education. He and his wife, Sheryl, are the parents of freshman Geoffrey Rogers, a member of the Class of 2006.

Bohemian Rhapsody: Alumni to Discuss Careers in the Arts during Fall Family Day

Chestertown, MD, October 18, 2001 — Washington College's Alumni Council will host a Life After Liberal Arts Symposium to coincide with Fall Family Day on Saturday, October 27 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in the Norman James Theatre, William Smith Hall. Students, parents, alumni and the community are invited to this event to interact with and learn from alumni who have put their degrees to good and sometimes unusual use in the working world. This symposium will focus on "The Performance of a Lifetime: Careers in the Arts" and will feature alumni John Harris '94, Vicco Von Voss '91 and Michele Volansky '90 discussing the challenges, lessons, opportunities, and successes that they have encountered through careers in the arts. Drama Department Chairman Dale Daigle will moderate the event.

John Harris, a 1994 graduate in music, is a trombonist who decided to pursue a career in business, joining an Annapolis-based company manufacturing and marketing small wooden boat kits. He eventually bought the firm, Chesapeake Light Craft Company, and has made it one of the largest wooden boat kit companies in the nation, but he has not given up his love of music. John pursues a second career as a jazz musician and has created a small jazz ensemble that plays at music festivals, including Chestertown's Saturday Evening Concert series. John credits Washington College with fostering his love of the arts while helping him develop writing skills and business acumen.

Vicco Von Voss is a 1991 graduate who majored in art. During college, Vicco worked with a local furniture restorer and discovered his love of wood, bringing natural forms into functional existence. After college, Vicco began a three-year carpentry and furniture-making apprenticeship in Germany and returned to the Eastern Shore to pursue his dream as a master furnituremaker. Vicco credits the art department with encouraging his love of the visual arts and natural forms, an appreciation that inspires the function and unique aesthetics of his handmade furniture.

Michele Volansky is a 1990 graduate who currently works for the Philadelphia Theatre Company and lectures in drama at Washington College. An English major with a devotion to theatre, Michele pursued a masters in theatre and dramaturgy from Villanova University. She has been a guest dramaturg at the Atlantic Theatre Company, Victory Gardens and Next Theatre, in addition to serving on the staff of Actors Theatre of Louisville and as dramaturg/literary manager at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Her play "Whispering City" was produced as part of the Steppenwolf Arts Exchange Program in 1999, and she is currently at work on a musical adaptation of Thulani Davis' novel "1959". Michelle serves on the advisory board of" Theatre Forum" magazine and is an artistic consultant for the Chicago-based Serendipity Theatre Company.

Life After Liberal Arts is sponsored by the Washington College Alumni Council.

Alumni Return with Advice for Life after Liberal Arts

Chestertown, MD — Successful Internet entrepreneurs will return to the school that gave them their foundation for success at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday March 23, in the Casey Academic Forum on the campus of Washington College. Linda Ferguson '88, Eva Kaplan-Leiserson '98 and Brandon White '94 will talk about how their liberal arts background helped them in their current careers and will answer questions from Washington College students.

Linda Ferguson is the president and CEO of Relicorp, Inc., a web development company. Relicorp Inc. is also the parent company of CoolOldStuff.com, an on-line antiques and collectibles shop where Web surfers can buy vintage clothing, pottery, jewelry, and other scarce items.

Eva Kaplan-Leiserson is the English and Reading Department Chair for Tutornet, an on-line real-time tutoring company. The start-up firm is "the Internet's first virtual classroom designed to connect real teachers and students from their home, school or anywhere there is Internet access."

Brandon White owns worldwideangler.com, a complete Internet fishing site offering products, articles, advice, and links to fishing magazines and sites from all over the world.

Life After the Liberal Arts was organized to offer current Washington College students an opportunity to interact with and learn from alumni who have put their degrees to good and sometimes unusual use in the working world. This is the second year the symposium has been offered. Each year features a different field of endeavor.

The symposium is sponsored by the Washington College Alumni Council.