Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2009 - (Page 13)

ARTS & CULTURE bookshelf THE BEST EDUCATION FOR YOUR BUCK As a “faculty brat,” Peter Feaver ’83 learned how to get the best out of his experience as a Lehigh University student from his father, Douglas Feaver, former professor of classics. As a result, Feaver says, “I had a great education at Lehigh.” But as the Alexander F. Hehmeyer Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University and Director of the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, Feaver found that many students had a difﬁcult time negotiating the transition into the academic world. Across the street, Sue Wasiolek, Duke’s assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students, was noticing the same thing with her students. “We had observed that students were coming to Duke, paying all this money, and not really getting as good of an education as they should, because they were not making good choices,” Feaver says. “At the same time, there were other students who were getting a fabulous education, because they were making good choices. “There was a wide variance in the quality of education, even at the same school.” So after talking about the idea for nearly a decade, Feaver and Wasiolek enlisted the help of Feaver’s friend and former student, Anne Crossman, a freelance writer and poet, to write Getting the Best Out of College (Ten Speed Press, 2008). The book is a departure for Feaver, who has advised the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush during times of crisis and gained renown for his research on security issues and civilian-military relationships. In a clear, concise style, Getting the Best Out of College advises students on such topics as living in a dorm, relating to those at home, navigating the social scene, and gaining the best possible education. The book is informed by Feaver’s own experiences at Lehigh, including singing in the choir under the tutelage of Steven Sametz, professor of music and choir director, who arrived at Lehigh the same semester as Feaver. “It was wonderful. We sang extremely difﬁcult music, and we did very innovative things. We were the guinea pigs,” says Feaver, who hopes to one day sing again in a choir. The international relations major was adventurous in his studies as well as his singing, and he frequently dabbled in fields outside his major. Feaver earned a minor in French, although he could not speak a word of the language before he entered Lehigh. His great books class taught him the foundations of Western thought, and he even attempted engineering physics and ﬁnancial accounting and succeeded in both. Feaver also developed a good rapport with his professors, including Carey Joynt and Zdenke Slouka, who taught international relations, and finance professor Stephen Buell ’70, ’71G, ’77G, now co-director of Lehigh’s Integrated Business and Engineering Honors Program. Buell would see Feaver at the gym, and he remembers him as a “pleasant, happygo-lucky, very high achieving” student. Through the encouragement of Joynt, Buell, and other professors, Feaver enrolled in graduate school at Harvard University, where he earned his Ph.D. “He was destined for grad school,” Buell says. “It was the life he knew, and the life he enjoyed.”—Becky Straw L.A. THEATRE WORKS PRESENTS WAR OF THE WORLDS AND THE LOST WORLD Luck comes in threes this year: Friday is the thirteenth day of February, March, and November. Fortunately, paraskavedekatriaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th) will not prevent Zoellner Arts Center from hosting a thrilling show in Baker Hall. On March 13, L.A. Theatre Works will present two of the best-known stories heard on radio, H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. America’s foremost radio theater company will retell Wells’ story of a Marian invasion, which caused nationwide panic when it ﬁrst aired. Afterwards, audience members will hear about a jungle inhabited by dinosaurs and ape-men in a pulp adventure written by Sherlock Holmes’ creator. winter 2009 13

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Lehigh Bulletin - Winter 2009 Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Research Arts & Culture Sports Teaming Up to Tackle Global Challenges Positively 4th Street A Sweet Job From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News

Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2009

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