Rod Brown tells us about his Williams Experience:

My first day as a freshman at Williams began on a somewhat surprising note.  One of my roommate’s parents was an effusive lady from North Carolina.  For a Long Island kid who had no experience with a southern accent, but determined to be very polite on first meeting my roommate’s parents, I found myself vigorously nodding my head as she spoke to me. I realized after a few minutes that I did not understand a word she was saying, but I kept responding “Yes Ma’am.”  For all I know, she was saying “You are a complete idiot.”  “Yes Ma’am.” Who knows?  In any event, no permanent damage; the roommate is a friend to this day.

I was a first generation scholarship student at Williams.  The difference between my high school and Williams, both academically and socially, was both striking and challenging. My ability to focus on addressing these challenges was largely overtaken by the political events of the day.

1967 was an unusual year.  The Vietnam War dominated the news.  I became quite active in working for Gene McCarthy’s presidential primary campaign, canvassing in Massachusetts and then New Hampshire.  At that time, one often had to explain that “Gene” was not to be confused with “Joe.”  I still remember at one house the poignant experience of speaking with a woman who had lost her son in Vietnam.

I also attended with classmates and acted as a marshal at a demonstration in Washington, D.C.  A former Williams graduate put us up at a school he headed.

In all, it was a strange time to be “at Williams.”  Physically, I was there, but for all my time at Williams my basic focus was on the outside world.  Virtually every evening, the news reported “body counts.”  For better or worse, during my time at Williams, I never felt that I truly experienced being “in college.”  Things culminated in 1970, when the Spring semester ended abruptly and protests against the War took center stage.

At that point, I had decided to study philosophy at the University of Heidelberg. I had realized by my junior year that no matter what course I took, I would still write philosophy papers. Virtually everyone I was reading in philosophy had originally written in German.  I was inspired by the philosophy and political science courses I took at Williams, especially with Prof. Kurt Tauber, to focus on political philosophy.  Williams had given me a deep love for learning, so off I went to Europe, having designed my own senior year abroad program.  I graduated in abstentia, and spent an additional year to obtain a Masters in Philosophy.  The final irony is that, although during this time I was physically away from Williams, I carried then as I do to this day, the learning ethos of Williams.

John Ackroff reflects on the value of a Williams Education:

I took an early retirement from Lucent in 2001.  There was really no choice; it was either resign on a particular Friday, with enhancements that would increase the pension payments and health care benefits (which would be drastically reduced later), or be laid off the following Thursday.  I took the retirement, applied for unemployment benefits, and the ruling from the State of New Jersey (there were lots of us in this boat) was that while we “retired voluntarily” we really had no choice, given the alternative.  The ruling also said that since we were collecting pensions toward which we didn’t contribute, our unemployment payments would be reduced by the amount of the pension.  I was happy to learn that my pension was greater than what unemployment would pay.

I spent about six months looking for work in telecom.  There were opportunities, but many at salaries I would not accept.  I felt my time and knowledge in the industry, let alone contacts, were worth more than they were offering.  So I did not take any of these offers.

I was offered an opportunity to teach at my local County College.  After the Lucent buyout offer was made, one of my co-workers told me that her husband was chair of the Psychology department of the college, and I might be able to teach for him.  The three of us had lunch one day, and I think that was my job interview – I was offered a couple of classes there.  I took that up, at the princely salary of $1,500 per course.  While I was there, Karen’s lab supervisor found an ad for a position at Rutgers.  I followed that up, and, long story short, finished my career at Rutgers.

The interesting thing is what happened while I was at the County College.  There was a local event for students who had been admitted to Williams, along with their families, to encourage them to accept their offers.  I was asked to attend to help these folks decide that Williams was for them.  So my first thought was “Okay parents, tell your kids to go to Williams, so when they’re laid off at 50 they can accept a low-paying job”.  Not a good sales pitch.  But then I thought about it a bit more, and realized that the message was “Tell your child to go to Williams so that when he or she has to re-invent him- or herself, he or she can.”

For my first job, at Bell Labs, part of the reason I was hired was that a person with my background could figure things out and solve problems.  I credit Williams for helping me with this.  My time and work in graduate school gave me extra letters after my name, but didn’t really teach me anything substantive.  (For a time, I knew by heart the logarithms for integers 0 – 20 to four digits, but that doesn’t get you much at Starbuck’s.)  But it was at Williams that I learned how to solve problems.  The greatest lesson I learned, which I tried to pass on to my students, was from Richard Rouse:  if you don’t ask the right question, you’re very unlikely to get the right answer.  Understand what the real problem is that you’re trying to solve, not just its surface manifestation, and go after that.  I think it was my training to do that that led Bell Labs to hire me in the first place.  From Bell Labs, I was moved to AT&T Bell Labs, then AT&T, then Lucent, and now we’re back where I started this tale.  But Williams played a part in all the phases of this story, and my experiences there helped me through each one.

By that time, I was in my third year at Rush Medical University in Chicago. My reason to return to medicine was partially to reattach myself to my original dream of becoming a doctor, and partially to secure a better future for a life with Mica. The main reason, however, was to allow me to travel the world with a medical degree, caring for the sick of developing countries under the aegis of groups like the World Health Organization. Along the way, I did have opportunities to work in Kenya, Africa in Medical School, as well as Haiti during my residency in surgery. Mica made it quite clear, however, that international travel to developing countries was a non starter and not what she had in mind.

By my third year in medical school I was intrigued by cardiac surgery. From observatory rooms overlooking the operating theaters at Rush, I watched some of the greatest surgeons in the world. I was hooked. All I wanted to do was become a cardiac surgeon.

Duke University has one of the best residency programs in General and Thoracic surgery in the country. I rotated there as a medical student for one month in the Fall of my senior year. Duke’s chief of surgery at the time was David C Sabiston MD, and he offered me a position for the following year. I had done well in medical school, with top marks in my studies and the award of Alpha Omega Alpha, the honorary medical school society. I was also a father to our first child, David, an even bigger honor.

In 1976 Mica and I moved to Durham, North Carolina. We were blessed with our second child, Juliana, in 1978. I finished my residency in 1985. Those 9 years at Duke were grueling, but formative, and meant to groom me for an academic career in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Two years were spent in the lab of cardiac surgeon Andrew S. Wechsler, MD and the cardiac pathologist Robert B. Jennings MD. I published 37 papers and delivered presentations in several national meetings.

In 1985 we moved back to Chicago where I became an assistant professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center. That year was spent teaching, operating, and organizing a laboratory. It was too much for the family to bear. I was never home. We made the decision to abandon academia and begin private practice.

We wished to remain in the Midwest, and the best opportunity at the time was a newly developed cardio-thoracic group, East Michigan Cardiovascular Surgery, PC. In 1987 we moved to Midland, Michigan, 30 miles north of Saginaw where the practice resided. I broke off from that group the following year, starting my own practice that grew to a 6 member group by 2000. I was the chief surgical officer of the group, Great Lakes Cardiovascular Surgery, PC. It served the entirety of Mid Michigan. The times were busy and productive.

In 2000 our surgical group joined several groups of cardiologists in the Midland/Bay City/Saginaw area to become a large 30 physician member organization called Michigan Cardiovascular Institute. This splintered for a number of reasons in 2010. Prior to that in 2007, I was asked to start a new open heart program at the hospital in Midland, just four minutes by foot from our home. Thanks to a devoted group of professionals, the practice in Midland has grown to become the busiest thoracic and cardiovascular service in the area, with two cardiac surgeons and one general thoracic surgeon. It is incredibly fun to come to work each and every day. I am surrounded by the best. I remain busy operating, but am looking to retire to something different.

I have held a number of leadership positions, such as President of the Saginaw Medical Society (1998-1999) and President of the Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons (2017-2019). Getting close to retirement, I know full well that if I wish to maintain my relevancy in medicine, I need to know more about the changes in healthcare from an administrative and leadership perspective. As a result I enrolled in the Masters Program in Healthcare and Leadership at Saginaw Valley State University. I received my Masters in Healthcare Administration in 2018. My plan is to eventually work as a consultant in some aspect of team building and the improvement of the patient experience. Both are areas to which I have devoted my professional career.

Our children, David and Julie, went to high school at Detroit Country Day School. From there, David entered the class of ’97 at Williams, and Julie the class of 2000 at Denison. During our time in North Carolina, Mica received her BS in interior design at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. In Midland she quickly became a well known and busy contract designer and artist. She has since abandoned interior design and spends her time with her art work. David has gone on to Hollywood where he is busy cinematographer. Julie has her own Barre 3 studio in Washington DC. Both have wonderful spouses, and Mica and I are the proud grandparents of 2 beautiful, energetic boys from Julie and Peer, and one amazing granddaughter from David and Amy.

My free time is spent enjoying time with Mica, our children and grandchildren. I love fly fishing. In addition, I sing at the top of my voice as a choir member of our church. This fall I will be joining the Midland Community Orchestra as a second section violinist.

At the same time, I keep reminding myself that there is nothing wrong with retirement…as long as it does not interfere with life.

November, 2019

Williams, for me, is a love story that began fifty-three years ago and it has unfolded in very meaningful chapters ever since. I had a vague sense of family tradition, as my grandfather, Beverley Montague Eyre (Old BM, Class of ’13) and my uncle Bill Eyre (Class of ’47) were graduates, however many other alumni whom I admired sparked a more acute interest in Williams during my high school years. I was probably not your typical Williams candidate of the 1960s. My father did not go to college, and my mother got her college degree(s) after I was in elementary school, working two jobs as a school nurse and as a nursing supervisor in our local hospital. She was the primary source of income for our family. My parents both worked hard and instilled in me a real work ethic. I started a paper route at age 10 on my bike, had a regular clientele for Charles Chips, and at a very young age I started doing the billing and racket stringing for the local club pro in exchange for tennis lessons. At age 15, I started teaching tennis. When I spoke with my high school guidance counselor about colleges, I recall that she only mentioned the schools in the New York State public system. I had a different idea, and during the summer after my junior year, I drove to Williamstown from Long Island armed with my high school transcript. As I drove up the Taconic Parkway, I was entranced by the beauty of the mountains and the Purple Valley. The campus looked like what I envisioned a college should be. Those were the halcyon days where Fred Copeland was able to offer me admission during the interview, and I never looked back. I think he knew that the Berkshire Symphony needed a tuba player.

My four years at Williams were marked by what seemed like endless science labs, wonderful friendships, and a deep appreciation of the art department. Lane Faison became my mentor and the greatest lifelong influence on my interest in writing.

The summer after graduation, Sean Sloane (tennis coach) put together a staff of Williams tennis players to teach at the Laver-Emerson-Stolle adult tennis camp at the Mount Washington Hotel. There was one female staff member who became ill before the start of the camp and Katie Jacobs (’73) got a last minute call from Sean. I met her the day she arrived at the hotel and decided that day that this was the woman I would marry. We returned to the camp the following summer as husband and wife. It didn’t hurt that her father, Paul Jacobs (’39), was a devoted alum. In his eyes, Williams men could do no wrong.

After medical school at the University of Virginia, we returned to the Boston area for my residency, and I never wanted to leave the intellectual and medical environment that I experienced. I had a very gratifying career that spanned being a division chief at several Harvard teaching hospitals, establishing a basic science lab, and having a very busy urological surgery practice from which I just retired this June after 39 years. With five years of funding from the NIH many years ago, we studied HIV in the male reproductive tract, publishing many findings that were considered controversial then but have become solid scientific knowledge today. I served our national organization on several committees over the years (ethics, investment, nominating) and was president of the New England Section of the American Urological Association in 2007-2008. However, what makes me most proud is the two generations of urologists I have mentored during their residencies, and the countless number of patients whose lives I have been privileged to impact in a meaningful way. This includes three Williams professors with various cancer diagnoses.

Our three sons all graduated from Williams and two of them married Williams classmates, so there might be some pressure for our grandchildren (5 now, 6th due in February) to at least look at the school.

Since retiring four months ago, I have continued to do some writing (a new chapter on the Genitourinary System for a legal malpractice reference volume, revising chapters I wrote for UpToDate) and advising at Harvard Med School. I am tremendously excited that I will be spending January in Williamstown as an adjunct faculty member teaching a Winter Study course on Ethics in Surgical Practice. I will also be working with the college art museum on a collaborative effort they have established with some medical schools to teach students how to critically look at and describe works of art to help them develop communication skills. This opportunity to give back to the college I love and to impact young minds in a meaningful way is beyond gratifying, as I feel that Williams was one of the most important influences on the trajectory of my career, and, frankly, on my adult life.

During the times we have been able to gather as a class in Williamstown in recent years, I have been moved to hear about the successes and adversities that many of us have faced with grace and wisdom. It has also been painfully obvious how much we miss and treasure those classmates who we have lost. As we approach our 50th, we have much to be proud of and much to be grateful for. Let’s have a fabulous reunion in 2021.

50th Reunion
November 20, 2019

What are the experiences/lessons of a Williams College education from 1967-1971 that continue to engage the mind with regret and/or satisfaction? I have two.

When Frank Thoms, the College’s Athletic Director (1968), chose to replace the outgoing head coach of the football program with a candidate from the coaching staff at Ohio State, a Division I powerhouse, some questioned the “out of character” hire. It was not only the distinct difference in the caliber of football between Ohio State and Williams, but the perceived alignment with a coaching staff’s creed that enabled athletes to travel a path to football professionalism through an “academic lite” structure versus a route through the chemistry lab to a liberal arts education. This creed, although operating at a low level at Williams, tore at the program.

What strikes me about my experience as the captain of the 1970 football team is the subtle way national and collegiate events influenced foundational elements forming the concept of a team. This included: trust in and allegiance to one’s coaches and their position of authority, trust in one’s teammates’ commitment and a shared belief in the sanctity of the definition of the student athlete. Campus backlash against authority figures prosecuting the Vietnam War and Black protests for greater cultural and academic presence fractured a series of beliefs. Within that environment distrust found ample targets. Elements of disrespect by teammates and some alumni, although not prevalent, festered to impact the atmosphere by the time of our Senior year.

The fractures on the football team were certainly evident to me and certainly to the Administration. I knew of the Administration’s awareness when toward the middle of the season I was picked up after practice at the Cole Field House by Frank Thoms and driven to Berkshire House for dinner. This was a consistent occurrence on a weekly basis when I was interviewed for information regarding the coaching staff, my teammates and a general gathering of information for him to assess the tenor of and problems with the program. I found this to be unsettling as protecting loyalties to teammates, the coaching staff and the program itself necessitated discretion without losing my sense of honesty and integrity. I felt the weight of responsibility and even more so when the season ended and a two-hour session with President Sawyer left me aware of my part in an eventual firing of the head coach.

I came to understand the uncontrollable environment at the time and make peace with the actions of teammates, coaches and the Administration, all influenced by a national, gradual descent into a state of disorder. My early regret regarding an inability as the captain to create a more cohesive experience between athlete and coach continues to recede as we approach our 50th reunion.

When I think of where within the Williams education I find an experience of lasting impact, I note it had nothing to do with the discipline of a major, a high profile professor or a campus society, but rather exposure to an under the radar personality and a chance topic for Winter Study. “It’s like the camel that’s carrying a 500 pound load, what’s a few more tin cups.” This was the response of Professor Larry Beals, when after procrastinating till the last week of registration for Winter Study without any idea of what to pursue, I asked him if two of us could study the writings of William James and would he sanction it with the Registrar.

Not yet appreciating the magnitude of the author’s mind, I spent that winter largely in Stowe, VT skiing and reading some of James’ prolific writings. I remember writing a paper on the “Dilemma of Determinism”, a short article James penned regarding free will. There was nothing stellar about my paper, but the introduction to James and some of the “big” philosophic questions surrounding the human condition continues to be a part of my intellectual conversation and interest.

And, this conversation often includes a classmate with as much interest in the “big” questions as my own, who once gave a graduation address at the University of Vermont Medical School with the subject, “Is Compassion Innate?” We have disagreements over the answer to this question, but it is in the formulation of one’s arguments while relying on one’s experiences that is the hallmark of continuing education.

Professor Beals discussed the idea of continuing education during a tutorial I was taking on James. He was pensive and graduation addresses came up as a vocal forum. He mused about the subject he would address should he be asked to give such to a Williams’ class. His viewpoint was a combination of sagacity and opinion on the educational march of an individual post Williams. His theme was tethered to the responsibility of the Williams grad to continue to pursue issues, reading and other forms of endeavor that augmented the Williams experience. This was not necessarily for the common good, but as a bastion against what he considered would be a waste of a Williams College experience.

This exposure to Beals and James, a spontaneous decision more truthfully an attempt to skirt academic difficulty, has led to readings and exposures not only to William James, but a host of other notables that were part of James’ fertile, concentric, intellectual circle.

LETTER TO A GRADUATE

JUNE 1971

Young Dave:

Congratulations on reaching this milestone in your life. 

There have been a number of events that you have witnessed in your life to date:

• Four years on a campus in the rural splendor of NW Massachusetts
• A great liberal arts education from experienced teachers and not TAs
• The introduction of co-education at Williams
• Change to a new 4-1-4 academic year in order to expand opportunities to take courses out of the ordinary
• A war in Indochina
• Demonstrations on campus challenging racial equality
• A vote to close the College to protest the war effort
• The lack of fraternities (??)

In addition, the last four years were, in many respects, the last extended period where you had the time and opportunity to interact with people with different perspectives in a common environment.  I hope that you took advantage of some, or all, of those opportunities.

But there are many adventures that lie ahead in the next few decades.  Here are things to consider in the years to come.

Personal Issues

• Find a partner to share your life. From my perspective, that partner should be your intellectual equal and a true individual. Keep in mind that a long-lasting relationship will evolve over time, so factor that into your consideration.
• If you decide to have a family, spend time with your children as you share the child-rearing duties with your partner. Providing moral direction to the next generation, beginning at a very early stage, is crucial for a successful society.  If you are then blessed with grandchildren, make time for them also.
• Reflect often on your belief system. But maintain an open mind when you confront the well-reasoned beliefs of others.  Your beliefs can evolve without the loss of your moral compass.
• Continue to expand your horizons and grow your mind. Learning should be a life-long pursuit
• Take care of yourself physically and emotionally.

Career and Leadership

• Now that your collegiate studies are done, you may want to find a First Job to get the experience of actually working. Summer jobs do not count, for people can do just about anything for 9-10 weeks.  I recommend you take such action before you decide on the final path for your life.  That First Job, lasting several years at least, will enable you to develop some skills that may serve you for many years.  You will realize that there are others who are relying on you to do your share of the assigned work.  You need to “show up” and perform; getting a friend’s notes from class is no longer an option or viable solution.
• If you have the chance, seize any opportunity to become a leader of even a small team of workers. When you try to lead others, you will discover things about your own character as well as the character of others.  Some people need little direction to accomplish a given goal once it is identified.  Some people require constant monitoring to stay on task.  Maybe you will find out which group defines your personal approach to finishing a given task.
• Find a job (or maybe a series of jobs) that you enjoy performing for your career. Linking your work with something you actually enjoy doing will help you obtain and then maintain emotional equilibrium.
• Spend the time to develop and hone your job skills. But also remember that few headstones state “Here lies Willie who worked a lot of hours.”  Balance is the key, with the understanding that a pendulum is “in balance” over the long-run but can appear to be out of sync at any given moment.

Social Contribution

• Find something to do outside of your daily work environment and external to yourself in order to contribute to society. Such activities could be in a wide range of areas such as sport, the arts, faith-based activities, political activities, or something totally different.   Then become involved with the organization in an effort to make it a better place.
• Share the bounty that you are blessed to receive.
• Few people truly make it on their own. Become a mentor to someone or a leader of some group.  Most people have help from others along their path of life.  Help maintain the network of the many unnamed mentors and leaders who provide the glue for society.
• Look for opportunities to impact the lives of others by setting a good example for proper behavior. Others are watching when you are out and about.  Try and maintain a good example on “the important things,” remembering that no one is perfec

General

• Trust me, you do not need as much “stuff” that you have gathered and will be gathering during your life either alone, with a partner, or with a family. Start curtailing your consumption at an early stage.  You never see a hearse with a carrier hitch pulling a U-Haul.

Good luck on living your own, individual life. 

Maybe I will check in at your 50^th reunion.

Older (and wiser?)

David C. Olson

Jamaica Plain, MA

August 2019