Nathan “Ben” Herz, OTR/L, MBA, OTD, CES
Founding director, doctor of occupational therapy program, Mary Baldwin College

Occupational therapy called when Herz was in the Army and he quickly answered. “What’s drawn me to the profession has been the different people I treat, helping them be independent in life, and then witnessing the outcomes. It takes a unique personality to do what we do,” he said.

Once back in the civilian world, Herz earned his bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy, then his MBA and, soon, academia felt like the right place to be. Herz joined Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, Va., in 2000. “I just got a card from a former student about what makes a person a hero,” he said. “I don’t see myself that way at all. I’m here to help prepare them for the future. My teaching is my first priority, and making sure students get what they need is what’s made me successful for 31 years.”

Later, at Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Herz began to carve his niche in movement disorders and degenerative diseases, treating clients in the movement disorder clinic. He earned his doctorate in occupational therapy from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., in 2004.

Herz has conducted four studies with the Nintendo Wii, funded by the National Parkinson Foundation, and one with Wii Fit. Participants engaged in simulated tennis, bowling and boxing. In one study, they made notable improvements in rigidity, movement, fine motor skills and energy levels, and their levels of depression decreased to zero, he said. One participant was able to walk down the aisle in his daughter’s wedding, while another stopped using a cane.

“People said they were moving better, feeling better, that their quality of life improved,” he said. “From a clinician’s standpoint, it was remarkable. I think games systems will play a major role in rehab. With OT and PT and allied health sciences, we’re not here to find cures, but to slow the disease process down.”

Appointed founding director of the doctor of occupational therapy program and professor at Mary Baldwin last November, his arrival came shortly after groundbreaking for the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences in Fishersville, Va. The campus is scheduled to open in June 2014, and Herz’s program is in the accreditation process.

Starting a new job, with a new title, a new doctoral program and a new facility motivates Herz to do even more. “My hope is for a really innovative curriculum and an interactive, integrated type of approach.”

And about that new degree program: “Ask me two years ago, I might have said we don’t need a doctoral degree. Now there are six doctoral programs in the country. Having it will give us an advantage in legislation, at places at the table we might not have had — like in mental health. ‘Doctor’ has a specific connotation,” said Herz.

The professor, clinician and researcher thanks academia for allowing him to mold the future of the occupational therapy field through his students. “It keeps me sharp with lifelong learning. Seeing results drives my clinical side, and keeping my professional skills current makes sure I can talk the talk and walk the walk.”

As for the future, he’s ready to take on the world, from Virginia. “Not me, but I’d like for us to have one of the top programs in the country. That’s my vision — and it’s going to take lots of people to do that.”

Rich’s paintings emerge from an interest in unoccupied space and the ambiguity that exists in this emptiness. She says the following about the paintings in the exhibition: “I am interested in the unoccupied space within man-made structures, and the ambiguity that exists in this emptiness. In this body of work I extract these fragments of space from iconic art museums and institutions. Within each of these spaces, I explore the interplay between absence and presence through the practice of painting. Seen together, the individual works in this exhibition become a newly created space, where one can experience both absence and presence.”

A reception will be held for the artist on Monday, February 11, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Hunt Gallery. The public is invited to attend. Hunt Gallery is dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary work in all media by regionally and nationally recognized artists. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the college’s academic year. Hunt Gallery’s schedule for the 2012-2013 academic year can be found
here.

Mrs. Davis attended Charleston schools, The Greenbrier College for Women in Lewisburg and Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va. Mrs. Davis served almost 20 years on the board of trustees of Mary Baldwin. In 1971 she was honored with the Emily Smith Medallion, the distinguished alumna award. In 1995 she received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, presented among various schools for service, character and spiritual contribution. She also served on the WVU Foundation board of directors and undertook various fundraising activities on behalf of WVU, especially the Mary Bab Randolph Cancer Center. For many years she served as the head of the Associates (Spouses) for her husband’s Princeton University Class of 1950 and was an active reunion participant.

Mrs. Davis was a lifelong dedicated volunteer and community activist undertaking numerous local, regional and national leadership roles. In the 1960s, despite her Republican roots, she also actively campaigned with and supported her husband as a Democrat in the West Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate. Her only notorious disagreement was his vote in favor of daylight savings time when it began as a state option. It passed by one vote — and she was known never to have changed her clocks and perpetually ran on standard time.

A person of strong faith, she was especially active in her church communities. Raised in her parents’ First Presbyterian Church in Charleston, she became an Episcopalian upon marriage. A Sunday school teacher and Guild member, she was the first woman to serve on the vestry of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church and among the first to serve in the diocese. She also served in many Episcopal volunteer positions, including president of the West Virginia Episcopal Church Women. She was especially proud of her Emmaeus Chapel project, a mobile chapel able to travel throughout the state to promote the growth of the church. She served as a special lay assistant (and frequent tennis partner) to Bishop Wilburn Campbell and received a Bishop’s Certificate of Commendation. Interested in national Episcopal Church activities, she was active in support of the building of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and served as national vice chair for the Cathedral Board. In 1984 Mr. and Mrs. Davis built a home at The Greenbrier, where Mrs. Davis became a full-time resident following the death of her husband in 2004. During the 1980s and 1990s she was active with St. Thomas Episcopal Church in White Sulphur Springs. In the late 1990s she returned to her Presbyterian roots, serving as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of White Sulphur Springs and as an active Circle member traveling throughout the state on the Commission on Ministry.

In Charleston, she was active in many organizations. Her early interests included serving as a volunteer aide in Charleston public schools and as a board member of the Humane Association and the Red Cross. She also served as an early UNICEF liaison (undertaking a special study trip with the UN to Guatemala). A music lover, accomplished pianist and accordion player, she volunteered with the Community Music Association and the Light Opera Guild. An avid gardener, she was president of the Briar Hills and the Kanawha Garden Clubs, also serving on committees with the national Garden Club of America Board of Gardeners. The Junior League may take credit for some of her leadership skills and she served among other positions as president of the Charleston League and in some national committee roles. A descendant of very early-18th century Virginia settlers, she was a strong patriot and active in the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. She served for many years as president of the NSCDA resident in West Virginia, on the board of regents for Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason (patriot and drafter of the Bill of Rights), as regent for Sulgrave Manor (the English homeplace of the Washington family) and was also on the board of Dumbarton House.

In White Sulphur Springs Mrs. Davis was privileged to serve on the board of the library and Main Street and also in Lewisburg with the Greenbrier Valley Theatre. Her generosity and hospitality won her friends from all walks of life. She was a more than 50-year member of Edgewood Country Club, Farmington Country Club and a longtime member of Coral Beach and Tennis Club, The Greenbrier Golf and Tennis Club and the Sulgrave Club.

Above all else she was a devoted friend, loving and loyal wife, mother and grandmother. She is survived by her two sons, James Hornor Davis IV, his wife, Frederica Miller Davis, of Charleston and Aiken, S.C., and their daughters, Frederica Morgan Davis of San Francisco, Calif., and Faith Maxwell Davis of Boulder, Colo.; Lewis Caldwell Davis and his partner, Elizabeth Cromwell Secor, and his daughters, Paget Tilden Davis, Warren Caldwell Davis and Baird Brittingham Davis of Wilmington, Del. She was predeceased by her younger brother, N. Baxter Shaffer Jr. and his wife, Nancy White Shaffer Barker, and is survived by her nephew and godson, Nathaniel B. Shaffer III of Portland, Ore., and his family.

The family extends special gratitude to Mrs. Stuart Ann Hanna, her extraordinary caregivers and the many members of The Greenbrier Hotel community who made her life special.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, December 29, at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of White Sulphur Springs, 201 West Main St. A memorial service will also be held in Charleston on another date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice Care, 223 Maplewood Ave., Lewisburg, WV 24901; the Greenbrier Valley Theatre, 113 E. Washington St., Lewisburg, WV 24901; or to a charity of the donor’s choice.

Published by The Charleston Gazette on behalf of the Davis Family

The work in “Plowed” is comprised of eleven recent drawings in which the following materials are employed: etching ink, flaked graphite, marble dust, linseed and mink oils, and gold leaf. Each of these is used with a keen respect for its unique physical and optical qualities. Attentive to the physicality of the media and the various gestures of his creative process, Adair’s goal for the drawings is for them to function self-reflexively and self-critically. He states: “[t]he drawings do not refer elsewhere. [E]ach is a referent to the actions involved in its construction.This includes the white border (joint compound) and the hand-built frames.”

A reception will be held for the artist on Monday, January 14, from 4:30-6:00 p.m. in Hunt Gallery. The public is invited to attend.Hunt Gallery is dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary work in all media by regionally and nationally recognized artists. The Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the College’s academic year. Hunt Gallery’s schedule for the 2012-2013 academic year can be found online at: http://www.mbc.edu/arts/huntgallery.php.

Graduation robes or “academic regalia” go back to the Middle Ages. The first European universities were started about the time the great cathedrals were being built, and they were also church-related. In those days, most men wore some form of hose (tights) with a gown — short for informal wear and long for formal wear — over them. The clergy, and the students in the new universities, wore black gowns because black did not show ink stains, and these were their ordinary garments during their days of taking notes and copying out texts with a quill pen and a horn of liquid ink.

A detachable hood was part of the standard medieval dress as well; it hung over the shoulders and could be pulled up over the head to keep the sun or rain off, or pulled off with a little rear extension called the liripipe and allowed to hang down the back. Originally the hoods too were black.

By the Renaissance, hats were in and hoods were out. Most hats were soft, flat bags like a tam. The larger ones needed a cardboard stiffener to keep them from falling down over the wearer’s eyes. In the eighteenth century in Oxford, poor undergraduates asked the tailors to leave off as much fabric as they could, so the cardboard stiffeners were all that remained. People thought they resembled the boards masons carried on their heads when working so the term “mortarboard” came into use.

Also in the eighteenth century, hoods became more colorful and were often made in colors that indicated the particular college or degree. Ornamental tassels were added to the mortarboards and generally worn (after graduation) hanging off the left side to keep a clear view of the writing hand. The whole regalia — cap, hood and gown — was worn to all lectures and at all formal college functions right up until the nineteenth century, and in many English colleges the gown is still worn by students attending classes. At Mary Baldwin, seniors put on their caps and gowns for the first time on Founders Day of their senior year, and add the hoods, which are lined with Mary Baldwin’s white and yellow colors, at commencement. The white facings represent the liberal arts. Specialized degrees all have their own different colors, but the liberal arts, like white light, is composed of all the colors.

—Lundy Pentz, Associate Faculty Marshal

Bachelor’s Degree Candidates | Master’s Degree Candidates

FACULTY REGALIA

ROBES:Baccalaureate and master’s level gowns are usually black and are untrimmed, with the sleeves of the master’s gown generally longer. Velvet panels down the front of the gown distinguish doctoral gowns, which may be black or a school color of the university granting the degree. Three horizontal velvet bars, usually of the color representing the wearer’s degree, also mark the doctorate.

CAPS:Only doctoral caps may be made of velvet.

HOODS:The length of the hood indicates the degree, with the bachelor’s being three feet long, the master’s three and one half, and the doctoral four feet. The color of the lining indicates the university at which the degree was earned and is usually the school color.

The border of the hood indicates the academic discipline in which the degree was earned, as follows:

ACADEMIC REGALIA FOR GRADUATING SENIORS

BACHELOR’S DEGREE CANDIDATES

MASTER’S DEGREE CANDIDATES

Gowns worn by candidates for the Master of Arts in Teaching and the Master of Letters in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance degrees are longer than the ones worn by the bachelor’s degree candidates, as are the bat wing–shaped sleeves. The hood is different, too: It is longer than the one that is worn by those who have earned the bachelor’s degree. The lining is yellow and white, Mary Baldwin College’s official school colors. The trim is white for both programs, because both are based in the liberal arts (see “ Faculty Regalia ”)

A significant contribution from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation will fund a common area on the third floor of Pearce Science Center and propel additional fundraising for the building’s multi-million-dollar renovation.
The foundation’s recent $2 million commitment — representing close to one quarter of the funds remaining to be raised for the overhaul of Pearce Science Center — will help renovate the third floor, which includes academic areas and key communal spaces that are most frequently used by students regardless of their academic major and by the wider community. The 6,500-square-foot space will require the Pearce project’s most extensive demolition and reconstruction and will be named in memory of Leona Carpenter ’35.

“The Carpenter Science Commons will signal a revitalization of scientific learning with research-oriented displays and collections showcasing the vibrant learning environment,” wrote Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dan Layman as part of the proposal to the Carpenter Foundation.

Plans call for the building’s main entrance from campus to open onto the Commons, where students and faculty can meet en route to class, labs, or the new science library. The space will demonstrate that scientific study is integral at MBC and position the college to recruit and educate young women who will contribute to medical and scientific discovery in the 21st century, according to the proposal.

“We often say that our students ‘learn by doing,’ and that is facilitated when those students can collaborate with their colleagues and professors … in receptive spaces in the science building,” said Paul Deeble, associate professor of biology.

The first phase
of renovations in Pearce — the only major change the building has seen in its 40-year history — was completed in December 2011. A $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation and $775,000 from donors made it possible to create new classroom and lab space on the second floor; update heating and cooling, electrical, and technological systems; painting; replace cabinets, floors, and light fixtures; and install a new water line, modified sewer line, and a new acid neutralization system. Work on the second, and final, phase of the Pearce renovation is scheduled to begin in summer 2014. In addition to the Carpenter Commons, Phase II will address research and classroom areas for supramolecular chemistry and materials science.

Generating approximately $8 million in new donations to ensure the completion of upgrades in Pearce is a critical component of the college’s $80 million comprehensive fundraising effort, Ever Ahead: The Campaign for Mary Baldwin College.

Established in 1975, the Carpenter Foundation is an independent organization whose main interests include the arts, education, theological education and health. Currently led by Leona Carpenter’s daughter Ann Bowman Day ’74, the foundation has generously supported MBC for decades; the most recent contribution brings the organization’s total giving to more than $11 million. The foundation’s early gifts included funds for the late-1980s renovation of Carpenter Academic Building and to establish an endowment that supports the college chaplain, the Carpenter Quest Program, and the Preparation for Ministry Program.

The foundation provided generous funding to help establish the Master of Letters/Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare and Performance and underwrite the program for several years. In addition, it was vital in creating and endowing the Health Care Administration Program, which helps to support student scholarships as well as the Carpenter Lecture series.

Mary Baldwin College has reached a milestone in establishing graduate programs in health sciences and in the overall growth of the institution.

This week, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
(SACS) Commission on Colleges voted to clear the way for MBC to become a Level Five institution and award doctoral degrees in up to three academic or professional disciplines. The decision helps facilitate the establishment of doctor of physical therapy (DPT) and doctor of occupational therapy (OTD) programs in the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences (MDCHS), planned to open in 2014.

“Attaining accreditation as a doctoral institution is a significant milestone in the history of Mary Baldwin College,” said Lyn McDermid ’95, chairwoman of the MBC Board of Trustees. “Through the years we have stayed ahead of the curve through hard work and with an entrepreneurial spirit. The establishment of Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences, the latest demonstration of that spirit, takes the institution to a whole new level. The SACS approval of our change in status is exciting and gratifying.”

MBC President Pamela Fox first delivered the news to faculty and staff via email from Texas, where she attended the annual meeting of SACS, the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. In her message, Fox thanked the team who worked in quickly to submit the ambitious proposal by October: Lew Askegaard, dean of institutional research, associate dean of the college and registrar; Linda Stanford, founding vice president of MDCHS; Lisa Shoaf, director of physical therapy; and Martha Modlin, project administrator for MDCHS.

The last time MBC achieved a new level of accreditation was in 1991 with the advent of the Masters of Arts in Teaching program. The leap from Level Three, or master’s-level university, to Level Five is a major step, Askegaard said, adding that the process was carried out in record time and involved the addition of not one additional program, but two programs, plus the establishment of a branch campus, the first for MBC.

“This was extremely unusual and extremely ambitious and to do it in six weeks is unprecedented. Level Five is the hardest level to make,” Askegaard said.

While there is much to celebrate, the final approval from SACS won’t be official until a site visit to the new campus in Fishersville in the 2014–15 academic year. MDCHS administrators also have initiated and continue to work within the appropriate processes for each new graduate program, including a master of physician assistant studies program, to become accredited by the organizations that govern each discipline.

Mary Baldwin College alum Capt. Eva Bratschi, officer in charge of the U.S. Army ROTC unit at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) and Texas Southmost College, recently returned from a three-week mission to the Togolese Republic
in West Africa.

“Our mission was twofold: to assist the Togolese military cadets in their English studies and to build relationships between the future leaders of our two countries,” Bratschi said.

As the mission team leader, Bratschi led 10 ROTC cadets from various American universities in the summer Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency
program that began July 4 with training and medical processing at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

“This was an opportunity of a lifetime, enabling our cadets to work on their skills to become dynamic leaders while being evaluated in an international environment,” Bratschi said. “Programs such as this cultivate teamwork, diplomacy, and peace.”

Bratschi received her B.A. in political science in 2003 from Mary Baldwin. Currently working on her master’s degree at UTB in bilingual and bicultural education, she is scheduled to graduate in December 2013. In January 2010, Bratschi was appointed ranking officer of the campus Army ROTC unit.

Bratschi and the cadets arrived in the seaside capital city of Lomé, where they met their security team that included two drivers and a medical doctor. They received a briefing from U.S. Embassy Liaison Officer Arthur Bell, and the next day boarded a van for the drive north to Kara.

“For the entire five-and-a-half-hour drive, we followed our motorbike escort with its siren blowing,” Bratschi said. “Thankfully, the road was dry, because, as we experienced later, the drive can take up to eight hours on muddy roads. Everyone was relieved to finally reach our hotel in Pya, just outside Kara. It was small and simple, yet comfortable.”

In Pya, the U.S. cadets spent a large part of each day working with the Togolese cadets studying English at the military training compound. Aside from language study, both groups of cadets participated in team building activities that included daily physical training exercises. One particularly memorable activity, Bratschi said, was accompanying the Togolese cadets in their climb up a nearby mountain, a traditional endeavor that takes place before the Togolese cadets receive their commissions.

“I think the informal time our cadets spent together outside the classroom was especially helpful for the Togolese to experience casual, conversational English,” Bratschi said. “Over the three weeks, the students became more comfortable with one another, sharing stories and photos of their families.”

Each of the ROTC cadets was assigned a specific role — chaplain, public affairs officer, finance officer, academic liaison officer, supply officer, administrative officer, evaluation officer, health officer, and event coordinator — that they maintained throughout the mission. The role of squad leader was reassigned every day on a rotating basis. In the evenings after dinner, Bratschi wrote her cadet evaluations while the cadets worked on their research papers, taking turns using the intermittent Internet connection.

At the end of their mission, the ROTC cadets and their Togolese counterparts participated in a military awards ceremony when the language students received their certificates and tokens of appreciation from both sides were exchanged.

“We returned to the U.S. on August 9 after a successful mission,” Bratschi said. “Our cadets received first-hand exposure to another culture, and I feel the Togolese cadets benefited with not only increased language skills but also by broadening their understanding of Americans.”

– Story courtesy of the University of Texas Brownsville.

A pair of nautical tales with extreme storms, these shows leave their respective
seafarers stranded on remote islands. The Tempest has music, magic, a love story, and revenge, all led by the exiled Prospero and his spirit servant Ariel. The Sea Voyage also consists of a love story, along with shipwrecked French pirates, castaways, an island full of Amazon women, and wannabe cannibals.

Roving Shakespeare uses clever staging and minimal properties in their original telling of these tales. What makes these shows particularly unique, is that they involve
splitting the company into two casts of five actors who then portray all the characters in each show.

Deb Streusand directs The Tempest starring AJ Sclafani, Monica Cross, Stephanie Tschetter, Elizabeth Rentfro, and Rachel Ratkowski. Angelina LaBarre directs The Sea Voyage with Bobby Byers, Liz Lodato, Brian Maxwell, Jamie Weaver, and Jarom Brown.

“The five actors fill the stage, become scenery, and create a soundscape in more imaginative and stimulating ways than if there were a full cast of actors on the stage with a full set,” LaBarre said.

The Tempest opens December 9 and The Sea Voyage opens December 11. Both performances begin at 8 p.m. at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton and are “pay-as-you-like-it” shows, with half of the proceeds being donated to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

Roving Shakespeare also invites schools, communities, performance venues, or any
interested party to book them for their season opener, The Comedy of Errors, along with optional educational workshops, through March. Their season continues with King Lear on January 28 and As You Like It on March 18 — all dates hosted at the Blackfriars Playhouse. In the spring, fans can catch the Roving Shakespeare Festival Season Finale of shows at the Blackfriars, March 31–April 2.

Contact Roving Shakespeare’s booking manager Rachel Ratkowski at 301-442-4738 or rovingshakespeare@gmail.com, “like” Roving Shakespeare on Facebook , or follow them on Twitter for more information and ticket discounts.

Roving Shakespeare is a mobile theatre company that combines MFA students’ diverse regional backgrounds and shared knowledge of early modern theatre to bring the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries to audiences.