President Shawn Mullen called the meeting to order a few minutes after noon and introduced Colleen Rogers Messenger (Central College alumnus) to provide the inspirational message which quoted The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from a speech that he had given at Central College in 1967 that included the famous phrase about the length of the moral arch of the universe and his faith that it bent towards justice for all. (Note that RCDM member and Central College graduate Will Hoekman was attending Central College at that time and heard and met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) President Shawn called former president Skeet Wooten to the podium to recognize visiting Rotarians and guests.
Next, President Shawn recognized Mark Babcock director of the Central College Chamber Choir who led the group in three soulful songs. Then he asked Dale Vande Haar, a Central College alumnus to introduce the day’s speaker, Dr. Mark Putnam a native of Endicott, New York who earned an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Nyack College in New York and his graduate degrees in Education from Columbia University in New York City. Dale listed more than a few local and state-wide boards that President Putnam served on in the past nine years and concluded with mention of his wife, Tammy, and their two daughters: Emma and Greta.
President Putnam opened by taking issue with two prevailing trends in higher education. The first: Higher ed is not a human enterprise. To Putnam it is the quintessential human enterprise, the goal of which is learning how to be humane, how to think, how to reason, solve problems, and most of all communicate with fellow human beings. The second issue is the prevailing opinion that higher education is too expensive. His short answer to that opinion: the alternative is much more expensive and cited community building and civic virtue as the double helix of higher education at Central College where 97% of students have a residential experience during their four years. In answer to two questions, Putnam noted over 50% of Central students took advantage of study abroad opportunities in Vienna, London, Wales and Spain. He also cited Central’s emphasis on community service at home which led to Floyd Hammer to comment that the frequently mentioned STEM could also be defined as: “Smile a lot. Tell the Truth. Have empathy for others and move [take action to make the world a better place to live,] which he believed President Putnam had done successfully on all four points. President Mullen concurred and announced our meeting was adjourned.
Watch the Central College Chamber Choir here:
Video Sep 20, 12 21 14 PM from Suzi Torkzadeh on Vimeo.