Vassar Hosts Business and Political Leaders for Inaugural Community Breakfast
Two members of the Vassar faculty shared stories about their academic careers at the College’s inaugural Community Breakfast on February 10 at The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts, adjacent to the campus. More than 50 business and political leaders, along with others from the surrounding community, attended the event hosted by President Elizabeth Bradley.
“I hope we are at the start of a tradition to gather here from time to time, as we are truly at our best when we are in community with others—when we can learn from each other, inspire each other, and make our community better,” Bradley said in her opening remarks.
Speakers at the event were José Perillán, Associate Professor of Physics and Science, Technology and Society, and Candice M. Lowe Swift, Professor of Anthropology and Faculty Director of Teaching Development. Bradley said Perillán and Lowe Swift were chosen to speak “about what is new and we think exciting in the classroom and the Vassar campus.”
Wesley Dixon, Deputy to the President, served as the event’s moderator. He said members of the Vassar faculty had been chosen to speak at the inaugural Community Breakfast because “we wanted to demonstrate what’s happening in Vassar’s classrooms, focusing on our educational mission.”
Perillán told the participants he had shared interests in science—particularly the history of science—and religion as an undergraduate. Gradually, he came to see his role in academia as someone who thinks about the role of storytelling in the teaching and practice of science and technology.
Perillán earned a joint PhD in physics and the history of science, which came with the real risk that he might not land a job in either field with this kind of academic background. “But I was fortunate. It was my calling to think about storytelling in the history of science, while also teaching physics,” he said. “Now I have this great job, and the wonderful thing about a place like Vassar is I’m able to teach quantum mechanics and introductory physics, and still . . . teach the history of science. That’s the gift of a multidisciplinary, liberal arts approach.”
Professor Lowe Swift said her academic path to anthropology began by studying in Leningrad in what was then the Soviet Union, “and there I lived in a residence hall with people from all over the world, from countries I never knew existed,” she said.
Lowe Swift got her first job working with Jewish and Muslim refugees from Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Serbia in Chicago. “Talking to them and hearing their stories is actually what got me into reading anthropology, reading about where people were coming from and the stories that brought them there,” she said.
Lowe Swift then discussed her teaching experience at Vassar, noting that one of her favorite courses involves collaborating with members of the local community to teach her students about food and culture. “Every Friday or so, we would go out into the community, and [the students] would do a lot of volunteer work on farms, and we went to vineyards, went to all kinds of places all along the farm-to-table pipeline,” she said. “It was a collaboration, a community, and seeing what it is that we could learn from each other.”
As the event concluded, President Bradley said she hoped the community dialogue that began at the breakfast would continue. “We’re so glad you came to spend this time with us,” she said.
Dixon said he had been impressed with the faculty members’ presentations. “Thank you both so much for your generous thoughts and reflections this morning,” he said. “You spoke about learning in community, and you demonstrated it here on the stage today. So I’m grateful that you were able to do that with me and with the room here. I have to say, I certainly want to go back to school and be in your classes, and I think some in the audience might feel the same way.”