Reed Arts Weekend: "Boundaries, borders, intersections"

The ninth annual Reed Arts Weekend (RAW) in February explored the theme "Boundaries, Borders, Intersections." RAW is run by a student committee, headed by a student coordinator: this year Sarah Hamill '00 was in charge of this successful festival, which gains wider recognition each year.

Featured artists were Sarah Jacobson, who has been called "San Francisco's bad girl filmmaker" and "the queen of underground cinema"; Ntozake Shange, award-winning author of the Broadway hit For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf and one of the country's most celebrated black writers; Hollis Taylor, a versatile violinist known best for her work with Mason Williams and her recording Twisted Fiddle, with guitarist John Stewart and bassist Phil Baker; experimental theatre artist Drew Pisarra and dancer Jennifer Allen; and puppeteer Chris Green, of the Kambing Na Isang Pa-a Shadow Play Theatre, who collaborated with Reed students on his performance.

The artwork of many talented students was displayed around campus during the week, including installations, photographs, paintings, and sculpture. R<





Reed receives Kaul Foundation award

Reed College was recently selected for the Award for Excellence and a gift of $125,000 from the Kaul Foundation. The gift will be used to further endow a student research fund established in 1996, an important goal of the five-year Campaign for Reed College. A faculty committee reviews student proposals and makes awards from this fund. An endowed student research fund--a long-standing priority of the college--will ease the financial restraints that often prevent Reed students from pursuing advanced independent research and scholarship.

The college was selected for its commitment to maintaining the highest undergraduate intellectual standards in the country, with a demanding curriculum emphasizing student research and the development of critical thinking and analytical skills.

In acknowledging the award, Reed president Steven Koblik said, "We are very grateful to the Kaul Foundation for this award and for the recognition of Reed's status among American institutions of higher learning." The Kaul Foundation cited the following outstanding achievements that led them to give Reed the award:

  • Reed College was recently called "the most intellectual college in the country" by Loren Pope, former higher education editor of the New York Times. Within the context of a structured curriculum, highly motivated, independent, and talented students work together with dedicated teachers in a common quest for knowledge. In a one- time survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute, Reed College was ranked first in the nation in "faculty commitment to teaching."
  • Students come to Reed from all across the United States and from several foreign countries. This year's entering class had the highest average SAT score in the history of the college (1340 combined math and verbal), and seven percent were their class valedictorians.
  • Reed's curriculum is highly structured and combines a demanding set of general requirements with in-depth study in a major field. Hallmarks of a Reed education include a year-long humanities program, a junior qualifying examination in a major field, and a senior thesis complete with oral defense. It is not unusual for faculty members and students to collaborate on scholarly papers, and Reed faculty research is often done with undergraduate participation.
  • Reed College has produced 30 Rhodes Scholars (only one liberal arts college in America has produced more). It ranked second in the nation for the percentage of students who go on to earn doctorates in the social sciences, and third in the nation for the percentage of future Ph.D.s in the sciences and humanities. Eight of every ten Reed graduates continue their education in professional or graduate schools.
The Kaul Foundation, of Fairfax, Virginia, was created by Ralph Kaul '35, of Tampa, Florida, for the purpose of encouraging and rewarding excellence of national significance in scientific, health and safety, literary, fine arts, and educational endeavors. r


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