Reed Magazine: November 2000 > News of the College

The Hidden Ivies

Reed is one of "30 colleges of excellence" profiled in the new college guide The Hidden Ivies (Cliff Street Books, 2000). Based on surveys and interviews with students as well as college presidents, deans of faculty, and others, authors Howard Greene and Matthew Greene present an inside perspective on 30 residential liberal arts colleges that "provide an outstanding educational experience for the gifted college-bound student and provide the foundation for life after graduation."

Noting that the college has resisted falling sway to curricular trends and fashions, the Greenes write that "Reed has remained true to its original mission to provide intelligent, intellectually passionate young men and women with a first-rate education in an atmosphere of free inquiry and reflection. Any changes in programs or requirements over the decades have had to meet the test of this philosophy. . . . A premium is placed on the quality of teaching and advising since intellectual dialogue and study is the key point of the Reed experience."

Other schools profiled in the guide include Amherst, Barnard, Bowdoin, Haverford, Pomona, Swarthmore, Vassar, and Wellesley.

Seth Ulman, 1920-2000

Seth Powers Ulman, a Reed faculty member from 1959 to 1973, died in Julyat age 80 in Monterey, California, after a long struggle with cancer. He came to Reed as a professor of literature and director of theatre; when he retired, he held the position of professor of theatre. While at Reed, he directed many productions, one of which starred both Eric Overmyer '73 and Lee Blessing '71, now both notable playwrights. Ulman was also active outside Reed, delivering many lectures about various aspects of theatre, including Japanese Noh, to the Portland community.

Ulman received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of California- Berkeley, where he taught as an assistant professor of dramatic art before he joined the Reed faculty. He also served as a Fulbright visiting professor of English and drama at Waseda University in Japan from 1956 to 1958. Ulman visited Reed in 1997 and gave his last performance on campus, a one-man show on Walt Whitman. Craig Clinton, professor of theatre, wrote of this performance: "The theatre was crowded the evening ofhis performance. Former colleagues were on hand, as well as a great many of Seth's former students. The performance was enthusiastically received, and following his presentation he was warmly greeted by persons he had not visited with in many years."

Tom Dunne, professor of chemistry, recalls that "Seth's one-person theatre department was a very active one. . . . Seth always attracted a student complement of appropriate size with excellent results, in my opinion-wonderful productions followed, in some cases, by captivation toward outstanding careers in theatre."

For more information on the web about Ulman, visit www.leeanne.com/ sethulman. You may email reminiscences or infor-mation about his life or work to Lee Anne Phillips at leeanne@voxeo.com.