Total Clips: 13 Headline Date Outlet 4-H helps build readers; grant opens opportunities for rural Brookfieldstudents 05/11/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The Colgate alumnus loans art for exhibit 05/10/2007 Observer-Dispatch, The The good, bad, boring: student blogs cover variety of topics 05/09/2007 Herald, The Support for Virginia Tech 05/07/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The Point of attack 05/07/2007 Boston Globe Grant to help bring fresh produce to the needy 05/07/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The Colgate Learns to Give 05/07/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The More college students seeking counseling for psychological problems 05/06/2007 Post-Standard Colgate group distributes grants 05/04/2007 Observer-Dispatch, The Colgate mulls gay studies minor 05/02/2007 Post-Standard - Online Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus 05/02/2007 New York Times Guiding Future Philanthropists 05/01/2007 Chronicle of Philanthropy, The They Know the Drill 04/30/2007 Post-Standard 4-H helps build readers; grant opens opportunities for rural Brookfieldstudents 05/11/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The Kollali, Sapna Return to Top Brookfield elementary students can't seem to get enough reading into their school days. So, for the past two months, they've been staying after school. The Madison County 4-H program received a $5,500 grant in December from the Central New York Community Foundation to start two after-school 4-H groups in Brookfield designed to improve childhood literacy in the district. Those groups, which have about 40 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, started meeting in mid-March and have so far been successful, said Terri Lanterman, a 4-H program educator. "Brookfield is a community that has been lacking 4-H clubs for some time," she said. "Having this in school helps out with the transportation issues, which can be a barrier in rural areas." Each Wednesday, the group meets to have a snack, read a book, and work on a related science experiment or hands-on project, Lanterman said - a book about senses and a project determining where on the tongue we receive different tastes, for example. They often take home related activities to complete with their families, she said. Fourth-grade teacher Colleen Rutherford, who has helped coordinate the program and provides her classroom for meetings, said she is pleased with the program. She said the group is already larger than originally expected and there are other children and families interested in joining. "Anything that adds to the school is a wonderful thing, and it's especially important here because this is such a rural area anyway," she said. "Anything that includes reading or listening can be tied into the (state learning) standards, even if it's not strictly aligned." She said the program also helps students develop friendships and leadership skills. Students in fourth through sixth grade help mentor and read to the younger members, she said. Colgate University junior Erin O'Keefe also participates in the program, working mainly with kindergartners and first-graders. Lanterman said 4-H planned to start a group in Bridgeport as well through the same grant, but that has not started yet. Sapna Kollali can be reached at skollali@syracuse.com or 470-3257. Grant winners Groups that received grants in the latest round of funding from the Central New York Community Foundation, announced in March, include: Madison County Children's Camp in Eaton received $8,000 to replace 20 bunk beds and 40 mattresses for this summer's group of children. Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia received $15,000 to upgrade its electrical system. For a complete list, visit www.cnycf.org . To help The new 4-H program at Brookfield school is looking for parent and community volunteers to help lead one or more Wednesday sessions. To learn more about the project and volunteer duties, call Peg Lewis at 684-3001. Colgate alumnus loans art for exhibit 05/10/2007 Observer-Dispatch, The Return to Top In honor of President Rebecca Chopp's first five years at Colgate University, alumnus and Hamilton resident Paul J. Schupf, class of 1958, has agreed to loan his collection of modern and contemporary art — which includes paintings, prints and drawings by Alex Katz, and prints by Richard Serra and Chuck Close — to the university for a special exhibit titled "Moving Pictures." This rotating exhibit will feature a compelling selection of a few important objects at a time, to be installed in prominent locations on campus for a 12-week period then replaced by new loans. An e-catalogue, to be posted on the Picker Gallery's Web site, www.pickerartgallery.org, will provide a cumulative, regularly updated record of the entire exhibit. The exhibit will begin with the loan of three masterpieces of American art: Alex Katz's "The Cocktail Party" (1965, oil on linen) and "Ada with a Bathing Cap" (1965, oil on linen) and Chuck Close's "Self-Portrait" (2005, photogravure). All three works will be on view from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the third floor of James B. Colgate Hall through Sunday, July 22. The good, bad, boring: student blogs cover variety of topics 05/09/2007 Herald, The Return to Top A sampling of college student blog postings from university-sanctioned student blog sites around the country: "Everyone learns differently. If you learn best by going to every lecture, taking meticulous notes, and if that makes you feel good, then absolutely that is what you should do. But if you learn better from readings and homework assignments, there’s nothing wrong with that either." - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, March 2. "As for my pathetic Austin social life...hmmm...not much is going on. I shall be going to Houston AGAIN this weekend. I mean, sorry to all the Austin lovers (I truly think we should NOT "Keep Austin Weird"...but whatever), but after a while 6th street gets SO old!!!!" - University of Texas student, Feb. 22. "Oh yeah! I forgot about the whole talking about school thing. Classes are gaining momentum and beginning to threaten late night movies." - Ohio Wesleyan University, Feb. 15. "It isn’t just the traveling that makes school difficult, it is also the fact that you really have to study for 2nd year interviews. At this point, companies do expect you to have some knowledge of the businesses, as well as knowledge of their firm. I feel a little bad about complaining because everyone deals with the same stresses during school, but it’s my blog so I can do what I want." - Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, Feb. 14. "Well this semester is coming to an end really fast. It’s crazy. I cannot believe finals are in a week. Where did the time go?" - Colgate University, Dec. 3. "Well that was what I spent most of my Saturday on, working on a paper, studying for a midterm, and somehow managing to get kicked out of a soccer game for no other reason than making sense and doing it loudly." - Knox College, Oct. 23. Support for Virginia Tech 05/07/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The Kollali, Sapna Return to Top Public and media relations staff members from several Central New York colleges have banded together to show support for their communications colleagues at Virginia Tech and commend them for the way they handled last month's campus shootings. The 42-page support letter, coordinated by Hamilton College Communications Director Mike Debraggio, was sent April 30 to the Virginia Tech communications staff with more than 400 signatures. Central New York representatives included Syracuse University, Colgate University, Le Moyne College, Wells College, Ithaca College and Cornell University. "College public relations tends to be a close, supportive community. We share information, best practices, and I think we realize that when a difficult situation visits one of us, it could very easily have happened to any of us," Debraggio said. Point of attack 05/07/2007 Boston Globe Larson, Craig Return to Top He is a rugged defender, one who takes great pride in denying scoring runs at the Colgate net. But Colin Hulme also savors the moments when he can take the ball and run, shift gears and go on the attack. "Colin has tremendous open-field speed. Once he gets moving, he's like a midfielder," said Colgate University men's lacrosse coach Jim Nagle of his senior co captain. "No attackman is getting in his way." That take-charge approach has served the former Framingham High three-sport standout well at Colgate, which is in Hamilton, N.Y. He has been a defensive anchor, one who was recently tabbed as the Patriot League's Defensive Player of the Year; a key player in the transition game with the ability to kick the team into the attack mode; and a highly respected leader on and off the field who has catapulted the Colgate program to its highest national ranking ever -- 16th in last week's Division 1 coaches poll. "Down the stretch, we really needed him to be our leader, and he has been," said Nagle. "He's helped take the program to a high level. He's just a tremendous player." An honorable mention All-America selection a year ago, Hulme was asked by Nagle before the season to take on more responsibility in leading the team. Anyone who watched Hulme put the Framingham High football team on his back in his final game four years ago and lead the Flyers to a riveting upset win over arch rival Natick on Thanksgiving Day, denying the Redmen a playoff berth, would not question his leadership skills. Nagle "told me not to worry about repeating my personal accolades," recalled Hulme. "My job was to make everyone else better. It's a challenge I took, and I like the position I'm in as a leader. Show your teammates what needs to be done, and I took it to heart." On the field, he has never been better. Nagle calls Hulme "probably the best clearing defender in the country, getting the ball from one end of the field to the other." Hulme traces that skill to his days as a Flyer, when then-coach Gene Zanella often gave him the green light to run upfield. "I've always been comfortable with the ball in my stick and being able to help the offense," said Hulme. "In high school, we didn't have the best team, but we were well-coached and I felt like I had to do a lot. There's a mindset of running with possession of the ball. You use your body, and other times you use more finesse, using your feet." Hulme and the Raiders put their feet to work in advancing to last week's Patriot League championship game -- another first for the program -- at Navy, but fell to the powerful Midshipmen, 15-9. Colgate (10-5) went into yesterday's regular-season finale at Syracuse hopeful that, with a win, the program would earn an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. Win or lose, Hulme has a future in the game. Last summer, he interned at Major League Lacrosse's headquarters, and with the league's recent expansion to 10 teams, he could be a midround selection in its college draft next month. Grant to help bring fresh produce to the needy 05/07/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The Kollali, Sapna Return to Top The Hamilton Food Cupboard on Mill Street is among the four grant recipients in Colgate University's Student Philanthropy Council project. The pantry plans to use its $2,200 award to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to its participants - about 100 southern Madison County families - each month. It will be the first time the pantry has had regular access to fresh produce, board co-chairman Sam Stradling said. "It's just not in our budget to purchase fresh produce," he said. "But it seems like such a good idea to give our patrons the opportunity to eat fresh foods that they might not have the resources for on their own." There is a glitch in the plan. The pantry planned to work with Green Rabbit Farm in Madison, but the organic farm's owners announced last month they are closing. Now Stradling is trying to negotiate with other regional organic farms - among them, a farm in Norwich - to continue the program. "I'm not worried at all. We have some things to figure out, but this will get off the ground," he said. "We're going to start this as soon as we have the money and all the arrangements are in place." Colgate Learns to Give 05/07/2007 Post-Standard - East Bureau, The Kollali, Sapna Return to Top In the rural Sherburne-Earlville school district, families may not have money for a lot of school materials, and their children often enter kindergarten without some basic skills, kindergarten teacher Susan Dreyer said. But this year, she did something she hopes will improve the academic and motor proficiency of the district's youngest pupils - she gave them their own set of supplies. "Some of our kids have never held a pair of scissors before. They have poor fine motor skills," Dreyer said. "We're hoping this gives them a chance to explore some things in advance and come in a little farther ahead of where they would have." Sherburne-Earlville's kindergarten program is one of four local agencies to receive funding through Colgate University's inaugural Student Philanthropy Council. Run through the college's Upstate Institute, the seminar charged nine Colgate students with exploring local philanthropy options and awarding $10,000 to local agencies according to self-established guidelines. Upstate Institute Director Ellen Kraly said the group received 16 applications that covered a wide range of topics. "They narrowed it down to a shorter list, and then they had some really deep conversations about what to do," she said. "It was a very exciting opportunity for them. . . . It really strengthened my faith in the next generation." Dreyer and three other teachers received $1,000 to put together 100 literacy bags - which include books, puppets, puzzles, crayons, clay, scissors and paper, as well as tipsheets for parents on reading and skill-building activities to do at home. She said about 86 students are entering kindergarten, but additional students could move into the district this summer. Many of the items were donated by local businesses and individuals, she said. The organizers spent about $231 for other materials, she said. Next year, Dreyer said the group plans to make separate literacy bags for students entering kindergarten and pre-kindergarten. Eventually, she hopes to add a DVD of nursery rhymes. More college students seeking counseling for psychological problems 05/06/2007 Post-Standard Cole, Nancy Return to Top College counseling centers nationwide have seen an increase in the number of students who have sought help for psychological problems, according to a 2006 survey of 337 center directors in the United States and Canada. Ninety-two percent of those surveyed said they believed the number of students with severe psychological problems has increased in recent years, according to the report, sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and the American College Counseling Association. The killing of 32 people on April 16 on the Virginia Tech campus by student gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who then fatally shot himself, has brought into question the responsibility of campus counseling centers when dealing with students who have mental health issues. "This was a horrific event, to state the obvious," said Mark Thompson, director of Colgate University's counseling center. "It raises all sorts of issues. Thank goodness it really is the great exception." Counselors in college counseling centers walk a fine line between respecting a client's privacy and ensuring the safety of the person and the campus community, said Thompson and several local center directors. Greg Eells, director of Cornell University's counseling center and president-elect of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, said a counselor dealing with students who pose a threat to themselves or others could have the students hospitalized, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and law enforcement can be called if a threat is imminent. "You do have options," he said. "It's a professional judgment call." Thompson said counselors will typically break patient confidentiality if it is determined a plan is in place that shows the individual has intent to cause harm. In the 10 years Thompson has been at Colgate, he has seen a gradual and consistent increase in the number of students seeking help from the counseling center, both in terms of the number of students that come in and the severity of the students' issues. At Syracuse University, the counseling center tries to raise students' awareness of its services through public service announcements, fliers and posters, said Rebecca Dayton, director of SU's center. "Campuses are making a huge effort to reach out, Dayton said. Colgate group distributes grants 05/04/2007 Observer-Dispatch, The Return to Top Colgate University's Student Philanthropy Seminar recently distributed $10,000 worth of grants to local organizations. * The Adult Learning Center in Utica received $1,800 to implement the "A Day in the Life" photography project that will visually document the lives of refugees as they settle in the area. The photographs will be part of a traveling exhibit. * The Thea Bowman House Kids With Promise Project in Utica was given $5,000 to provide after-school support from 2:30 to 6 p.m. for youths in grades seven through 12 who are no longer eligible for subsidized child care through the Oneida County Department of Social Services. * The Hamilton Food Cupboard received $2,200 and the Sherburne-Earlville Literacy Success Project received $1,000. Colgate mulls gay studies minor 05/02/2007 Post-Standard - Online Kollali, Sapna Return to Top Colgate University could soon join a small but growing list of colleges that offer a minor in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) studies. The university is reviewing a proposal for the new interdisciplinary minor, often referred to as 'queer studies.' The program would use select courses from the current offerings that focus on LGBTQ issues, research them and consolidate them into a minor. 'We're not creatingsomething new. What we did, really, is to formally recognize that we have a number of courses we already offer that engage in this new kind of scholarship,' said math professor Ken Valente, part of the five-professor committee that created the proposal. 'This already exists on this campus. In calling it a minor, we're giving recognition to the ideas these courses offer.' Valente, who teaches a course on LGBTQ identities, said about a dozen departments have courses that examine LGBTQ studies and research, including economics, educational studies, English, French, geography, history, peace and conflict studies, philosophy and religion, sociology and anthropology, and women's studies. Valente and religion professor Eliza Kent, another committee member, said those courses address a wide range of topics, such as how families are defined, the history of the gay rights movement, religious attitudes toward homosexuality, social norms about sexuality and government policies. Kent and Valente said the program has been designed for all Colgate students, not only those who identify with the LGBTQ community. 'Sexuality is a part of our social framework. It shapes us as individuals and as a society, and I think it deserves our attention,' Kent said. 'And in the context of other disciplines, it's a way to study how race, gender, social class, age, ethnicity, religion and sexuality intersect.' If approved, the LGBTQ minor will be the first academic program Colgate has added since 2004, when the Middle Eastern and Islamic civilization studies minor was introduced, said Dean of the Faculty Lyle Roelofs. Roelofs said there is no timeline for reviewing academic program proposals. He said the review committee will evaluate the program based on how it would benefit the students and faculty and whether the university has the resources to adequately pay for the endeavor. Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva have offered a major in queer studies for years. Other colleges with a queer studies program include Cornell University, New York University, the State University College at Purchase, Amherst College, Sarah Lawrence College, Yale University and Stanford University. Last fall,Syracuse University began an LGBT studies minor, with two undergraduate core courses and about 17 courses from 11 departments that focus on queer studies research and ideas, said Margaret Himley, the program's co-director. Unlike at Colgate, most of the courses were created to qualify for the minor, she said. She said the introductory courses offered this year were capped at 50 students with waiting lists of as many as 70. The course planned for this fall is already oversubscribed, and freshmen have not yet registered. 'It's really good to have a formal minor, but I think it's better that these ideas are infused throughout the curriculum,' she said. 'In all these classes, we have many more straight students than gay students. It's good for gay and lesbian and bisexual students to have these courses, but certainly others are interested in talking about these topics.' Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus 05/02/2007 New York Times Finder, Alan Return to Top ** Editor's note: The following story first ran in the New York Times, but was subsequently picked up by several other newspapers across the country, including the Gadsden Times (Alabama), Gainesville Sun (Florida), Hendersonville Times-News (North Carolina), Tri-Valley Herald (California), and Amherst News-Times (Ohio), among others. Peter J. Gomes has been at Harvard University for 37 years, and says he remembers when religious people on campus felt under siege. To be seen as religious often meant being dismissed as not very bright, he said. No longer. At Harvard these days, said Professor Gomes, the university preacher, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years.” Across the country, on secular campuses as varied as Colgate University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley, chaplains, professors and administrators say students are drawn to religion and spirituality with more fervor than at any time they can remember. More students are enrolling in religion courses, even majoring in religion; more are living in dormitories or houses where matters of faith and spirituality are a part of daily conversation; and discussion groups are being created for students to grapple with questions like what happens after death, dozens of university officials said in interviews. A survey on the spiritual lives of college students, the first of its kind, showed in 2004 that more than two-thirds of 112,000 freshmen surveyed said they prayed, and that almost 80 percent believed in God. Nearly half of the freshmen said they were seeking opportunities to grow spiritually, according to the survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Compared with 10 or 15 years ago, “there is a greater interest in religion on campus, both intellectually and spiritually,” said Charles L. Cohen, a professor of history and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who for a number of years ran an interdisciplinary major in religious studies. The program was created seven years ago and has 70 to 75 majors each year. University officials explained the surge of interest in religion as partly a result of the rise of the religious right in politics, which they said has made questions of faith more talked about generally. In addition, they said, the attacks of Sept. 11 underscored for many the influence of religion on world affairs. And an influx of evangelical students at secular universities, along with an increasing number of international students, means students arrive with a broader array of religious experiences. Professor Gomes (pronounced like “homes”) said a more diverse student body at Harvard had meant that “the place is more representative of mainstream America.” “That provides a group of people who don’t leave their religion at home,” he said. At Berkeley, a vast number of undergraduates are Asian-American, with many coming from observant Christian homes, said the Rev. Randy Bare, the Presbyterian campus pastor. “That’s new, and it’s a remarkable shift,” Mr. Bare said. There are 50 to 60 Christian groups on campus, and student attendance at Catholic and Presbyterian churches near campus has picked up significantly, he said. On many other campuses, though, the renewed interest in faith and spirituality has not necessarily translated into increased attendance at religious services. The Rev. Lloyd Steffen, the chaplain at Lehigh University, is among those who think the war in Iraq has contributed to the interest in religion among students. “I suspect a lot of that has to do with uncertainty over the war,” Mr. Steffen said. “My theory is that the baby boomers decided they weren’t going to impose their religious life on their children the way their parents imposed it on them,” Mr. Steffen continued. “The idea was to let them come to it themselves. And then they get to campus and things happen; someone dies, a suicide occurs. Real issues arise for them, and they sometimes feel that they don’t have resources to deal with them. And sometimes they turn to religion and courses in religion.” Increased participation in community service may also reflect spiritual yearning of students. “We don’t use that kind of spiritual language anymore,” said Rebecca S. Chopp, the Colgate president. “But if you look at the students, they do.” Some sociologists who study religion are skeptical that students’ attitudes have changed significantly, citing a lack of data to compare current students with those of previous generations. But even some of those concerned about the data say something has shifted. “All I hear from everybody is yes, there is growing interest in religion and spirituality and an openness on college campuses,” said Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame. “Everybody who is talking about it says something seems to be going on.” David D. Burhans, who retired after 33 years as chaplain at the University of Richmond, said many students “are really exploring, they are really interested in trying things out, in attending one another’s services.” Lesleigh Cushing, an assistant professor of religion and Jewish studies at Colgate, said: “I can fill basically any class on the Bible. I wasn’t expecting that.” When Benjamin Wright, chairman of the department of religion studies at Lehigh, arrived 17 years ago, two students chose to major in religion. This year there are 18 religion majors, and there were 30 two and three years ago. At Harvard, more students are enrolling in religion courses and regularly attending religious services, Professor Gomes said. Presbyterian ministries at Berkeley and Wisconsin have built dormitories to offer spiritual services to students and encourage discussion among different faiths. The seven-story building on the Wisconsin campus, which will house 280 students, is to open in August. At Colgate, five Buddhist and Hindu students received permission to live in a new apartment complex on the edge of campus this year. They call their apartment Asian Spirituality House and they use it for meetings and occasional religious events. The number of student religious organizations at Colgate has grown to 11 from 5 in recent years. The university’s Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chaplains oversee an array of programs and events. Many involve providing food to students, a phenomenon that the university chaplain, Mark Shiner, jokingly calls “gastro-evangelism.” Among the new clubs is one created last year to encourage students to hold wide-ranging dialogues about spirituality and faith. Meeting over lunch on Thursdays in the chapel’s basement, the students talk about what happens when you die or the nature of Catholic spirituality. Called the Heretics Club (the chaplains were looking to grab students’ attention), the group listened to John Gattuso talk about his book, “Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer” (Stone Creek Publications, 2006), a collection of essays and photos about prayer in world religions. “Do you need to believe in God in order to pray?” Mr. Gattuso asked. The discussion was off and running, with one student saying one needed only to believe in “something outside yourself” and another saying that “sometimes ‘Thank you’ can be a prayer.” Afterward, several students talked about what attracted them to the sessions, besides the sandwiches, chips and fruit. Gabe Conant, a junior, said he wanted to contemplate personal questions about his own faith. He described them this way: “What are these things I was raised in and do I want to keep them?” Guiding Future Philanthropists 05/01/2007 Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Brennan, Jennifer Return to Top When Kristin Caufield, a college sophomore with a longtime interest in community service, was looking for economics courses to fulfill requirements for her major, she found herself drawn to a popular new class: "Economics of Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector." The course, taught by the University of Mary Washington economics professor Robert Rycroft, offers students at the Fredericksburg, Va., institution a firsthand look at the inner workings of the world of philanthropy. Students don't just read about charities and how they operate, they select real organizations and give money away: $10,000 per class. "Even students who sign up for the course because they're more interested in the nonprofit area may not know much about how these organizations actually operate," says Mr. Rycroft. "This is a way for them to get tremendous hands-on experience." The course is one of several scattered at colleges and universities across the country, many of them supported by family foundations, that seek to foster a culture of giving among young people. Ms. Caufield and her classmates spent the fall semester learning by doing: They formed a grant-making foundation, complete with a mission statement, and solicited applications from local charities. The students winnowed down the 20 grant proposals they received, debating the merits of each. As the semester's end approached, judgment day arrived as well. The students ultimately voted to split the money between two organizations: Homes for America, a nonprofit housing group, which was awarded $7,000 to establish a Homework Club at an apartment complex the group manages, and Rebuilding Together, which was awarded $3,000 to establish a training program to teach young people home-repair and maintenance skills. Doling Out 'Real Cash' Ms. Caufield says the course gave her a new understanding of the importance of the nonprofit field — "I had no idea how many people devote their life's work to nonprofits," she says — and also changed her view of her own future. While she concedes that she hasn't made any definite plans yet, Ms. Caufield says the class inspired her to consider a career with a charity, something she had never given much consideration to before last semester. That's exactly what the philanthropist Doris Buffett hoped would happen when she came up with the idea of teaching young people about the joys of philanthropy by letting them give away real money. Since 2003, Ms. Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation, in Wilmington, N.C., has provided $300,000 to support philanthropy classes at not only the University of Mary Washington but also Cornell University, Davidson College, and the University of Virginia, all institutions where the foundation had what it calls "Sunbeams," members of its nationwide network of volunteers. Ms. Buffett, the older sister of the billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett, says her goal was to reach bright, idealistic young people and, if all went according to plan, inspire them to become philanthropists. "There's nothing like having the real cash," says Ms. Buffett, whose foundation has awarded more than $30-million since its creation in 1996, largely to charities that work to curb domestic violence and provide its victims and their children with educational opportunities. "The students get turned on to the idea of giving money away, but they also learn a lot about nonprofits and how they work," she says. "They learn to understand fund raising and how boards work, how to read a balance sheet. The best part is that the students are avidly interested, and they come up with some great ideas." Ms. Buffett's approach to the hands-on classes is decidedly hands-off; it is up to students to determine which charities will receive the money. She does, however, ask that students focus on awarding money to local groups so they will learn more about the needs of the communities that surround their colleges and universities. "Many of the students start doing things in their communities right then and there," says Ms. Buffett, noting that the courses are consistently oversubscribed. "I like to think that this is the beginning of something that will certainly outlive me." Giving for a Grade Ms. Buffett isn't the only philanthropist who is teaching undergraduates how to give money away. The Brennan Family Foundation, of Akron, Ohio, recently donated $50,000 to support a new two-semester philanthropy seminar at Colgate University, in Hamilton, N.Y., from which family member Jay Brennan, son of the foundation's creators, graduated in 1981. The grant will support the courses for five years, allowing the students who sign up to give away $10,000 each year to charities in upstate New York. Mr. Brennan said that he began to develop the idea for teaching college students about the importance of giving in 2001, after a discussion with a fellow graduate at the 20th reunion of his graduation from Colgate. As chairman of the committee raising money for a class gift, Mr. Brennan asked his classmate to consider making a donation to the institution — only to be told that the alumnus didn't feel that he "owed Colgate anything." Says Mr. Brennan, "I realized that the concept of giving back, something that's like breathing to me, was totally alien to him." That conversation soon gave rise to an inspiration: Since faculty members and administrators already have the opportunity to shape the values of the students in their charge, Mr. Brennan thought, why not incorporate the concept of giving into education? And by giving Colgate money to give away, even students who weren't yet in a position to donate to charity on their own could get a sense of what philanthropy was like. Mr. Brennan says his father, David Brennan, who made his fortune in manufacturing and is now a prominent operator of charter schools, taught him the importance of giving back. "But a lot of kids aren't taught that," Jay Brennan notes. The younger Mr. Brennan notes that while he had no trouble persuading Colgate to give the idea a try, he did run into a skeptic closer to home: his mother, who controls the family's foundation: "She was a little wary of donating money that would then go to other causes, especially since she'd have no say over where the money went." The course is now entering its second semester; students spent the fall learning about how organized philanthropy works and will spend the spring honing a mission statement and soliciting proposals from local nonprofit organizations, some of which will eventually receive some of the Brennan foundation's financial support. "I don't particularly care where the money goes," says Mr. Brennan, who notes that he played no part in Colgate's decision to focus on local charities. "I'm just hoping that we'll have an opportunity to encourage the next generation to give." A Charitable Component At Xavier University, in Cincinnati, students who sign up for courses on subjects like theology, biology, or accounting, are increasingly likely to find philanthropy on the syllabus. "The idea was to reach people who wouldn't otherwise think about philanthropy or community engagement," says Eugene Beaupre, who oversees the university's five-year-old philanthropy program. "Students who walk into these classes don't know that there's a philanthropy component." Faculty members who participate in the program must integrate a philanthropic component into the core of their courses' missions. A class on environmental biology, for example, might include a search for — and a donation to — environmental-advocacy groups in the Cincinnati area. Students enrolled in a course on computer networking might help local nonprofit groups install and make use of new technology. Participating faculty members receive $1,000 to compensate them for their extra effort, while the four courses chosen by the university each semester are supplied with $4,000 to give away. So far, says Mr. Beaupre, the program has donated more than $75,000 to local charities. "It's a vehicle that gets the students out into the community," he says. Edna Burns, president of Historic New Richmond, applied for $4,000 from students at Xavier who were enrolled in a theology course titled "God on the Underground Railroad." Ms. Burns asked for the money to pay for a walking tour and commemorative plaques of Underground Railroad stops in New Richmond, a small town 25 miles south of Cincinnati, and ultimately beat out 20 other charities, including the much more prominent National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. "The students could have split the money among several groups but they chose to give it all to us," says Ms. Burns. She says the experience was positive one, not just for her charity but for the students as well. "It was a big deal for us because our annual budget is less than $10,000," says Ms. Burns. "And the students had their eyes opened a little bit about the history of New Richmond. You might think there isn't a lot here, but even a small sleepy town can play a big part in history." Evolution of an Idea The Xavier program, and the money behind it, came to the university via Roger F. Grein, a local philanthropist and successful accountant who made his fortune investing in the stock market and gives between $500,000 and $700,000 to charity each year. In addition to supporting courses at Xavier, Mr. Grein provides money to allow students in courses at two other Ohio institutions — Chatfield College, in St. Martin, and Wilmington College — as well as at Loyola University Chicago, to participate in grant making. His goal is to see the program spread across the country. "I'll consider any university," says Mr. Grein. "Potentially it can work anywhere. It's just a matter of finding a structure and finding the charities." While Mr. Grein is now a self-proclaimed evangelist for the idea of teaching philanthropy at universities, he admits that he didn't invent the concept, but instead followed the lead of an effort at Northern Kentucky University. That project, paid for by the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation, in Cincinnati, began in 1999 with a conversation between Neal Mayerson, the foundation's president and the son of its creators, and James Votruba, who had recently become president of Northern Kentucky University, says Breta Cooper, the foundation's executive vice president. Since that initial brainstorming session, the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project has endowed five to seven courses each semester with $4,000 each for students to give away, totaling nearly $200,000. The Mayerson Foundation, which supports arts, civic engagement, and education projects, also provides additional money for faculty training and administrative costs. "From our perspective this was money that we were giving away in the community anyway," says Ms. Cooper. "To have it funneled through young people who might give money away in the future means that we're getting so much more out of those dollars." She notes that survey data collected three years after students complete the courses indicate that the philanthropy training is making a difference. "Three years out, 80 percent of the students are telling us that they've made a donation to a nonprofit since taking the class," says Ms. Cooper. "A third of them tell us that they're thinking about pursuing careers in the nonprofit sector." As for whether programs like that at Northern Kentucky University are having a long-term impact, no one knows yet. No empirical studies have been done on these college-level courses, says Dwight F. Burlingame, director of academic programs at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. But anecdotal evidence indicates that similar courses make students better evaluators of charities, says Mr. Burlingame, who has looked at philanthropy-education programs at the Westminster Schools, a private school in Atlanta. "The story that's really coming across about these programs is that they teach students how to assess nonprofit organizations so that they can make decisions," he says. "That's an important tool to have." Starting Small At Chicago's DePaul University, Laura Hartman, a professor of business ethics and legal studies, has also been teaching students about philanthropy by providing them with money to give away. Each semester, Ms. Hartman donates $50 of her own money to each of the six business ethics classes she teaches and asks her students to decide what to do with the funds. The inspiration for the gesture was twofold, says Ms. Hartman. DePaul, a Catholic university, stresses charity and its connection to urban Chicago in its mission. But Ms. Hartman also saw the small-scale philanthropy lesson as a way to help her students who are preparing for careers in the business world to become better corporate citizens. "It's very hard in an ethics class to give students a sense of how to make a real decision," she says. "We're asking them to judge the decisions of corporations and what they choose to do with their money. This puts the students in a similar situation." Each semester, Ms. Hartman asks her students to do some research into charities or causes that might benefit from the contribution. The class priorities, she notes, tend to be driven by current events, and there are often disagreements over whether the money should go to large charities versus smaller groups, or even to needy individuals. Last spring, for example, students debated giving the money to a charity that aided people made homeless by Hurricane Katrina, or to an individual homeless person. Students decided to support one person, she says: "This is a way of showing them that even a tiny bit of effort has an impact. My purpose is to allow them to see the implications so that they are better able to gauge the impact of their decisions when they make them in the larger business environment they will join when they graduate." They Know the Drill 04/30/2007 Post-Standard Knauss, Tim Return to Top If not for the helicopters, the search for natural gas near Tully might have gone largely unnoticed. Joe Heath — who has a house on Song Lake, just outside Tully — said until he saw the helicopters, he gave little thought to all the white pick-up trucks with Texas plates he had seen around town. But the helicopters, which showed up about a month ago, caught many residents’ attention. They hovered above Song Mountain and nearby areas, ferrying equipment here and there on cable tethers. As Heath and most other residents of Tully have since learned, the helicopters are here because one of the nation’s largest natural gas producers is prospecting in the area. Chesapeake Energy Corp., of Oklahoma, has sent contractors to collect extensive seismic data about a 70-square-mile area stretching from Tully west to Spafford and south into the Cortland County town of Preble. Although Onondaga County has seen sporadic gas exploration in recent years, this appears to be the most extensive and best-financed search so far. Chesapeake is the seventh-largest natural gas producer in the nation, with $7.3 billion in sales last year and operations that stretch from New York to New Mexico. The publicly traded company’s profit in 2006 was $1.9 billion, according to its SEC filings. Chesapeake also is the nation’s leading gas driller, with more than 120 rigs in the field. “We’re real high on New York,” said Scott Rotruck, Chesapeake’s eastern division director of corporate development. Bruce Selleck, a geology professor at Colgate University, said rising gas prices and improvements in seismic technology are spurring companies to take a new look for gas all across Central New York. Gas wells have been drilled here for more than a century, but a new wave of exploration has been under way for several years. “We’re seeing here locally the arrival of companies ... that have sufficient capital to really do high-tech exploration and development of these wells,” Selleck said. “Clearly, the price of delivered and wellhead gas is going up at a rate well in excess of inflation, so it’s good business to drill for gas.” Some 16 wells were started in the past year in Madison County, mostly by Nornew, a subsidiary of Norwegian startup company Norse Energy Corp., whose investors include Bank of New York and other banks. Several companies have drilled wells in Cayuga County in the past couple of years, including Chesapeake, which in 2005 bought Columbia Natural Resources, the owner of about 200 Cayuga County gas wells. Although New York state remains a minor gas producer, several recent wells in the Southern Tier have hit major reservoirs. Fortuna Energy, a subsidiary of Talisman Energy, of Canada, drilled a well in Chemung County in 2004 that produced 6.27 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2005 — 11 percent of the state’s total production, worth roughly $48 million — according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Just two months ago, Fortuna announced that it had drilled two more wells, in Chemung and Steuben counties, that are expected to produce gas at nearly the same rate. Thanks to discoveries like that, gas production in New York has more than tripled in the past five years. The sources of most of the growth are two 450 million-year-old layers of limestone called the Trenton and Black River formations. The Black River layer, and the Trenton, which sits atop it, were formed in the bed of an ancient inland sea known as the Appalachian Basin, which covered this region when it was part of the continent Laurentia, before the formation of North America, said Christopher McRoberts, a geology professor at the State University College at Cortland. Huge quantities of marine life were embedded in the limestone, which was covered by subsequent layers of rock. Fluids moving through the rocks later changed some areas of the limestone into more permeable dolostone, creating areas where natural gas could accumulate from the decomposition of organic material. Just 71 wells in the Trenton and Black River formations in New York, most drilled in the past five years, produced 80 percent of the state’s gas in 2005, the last year for which figures are available. More than 6,000 active wells in other formations produce the rest of the state’s gas, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Chesapeake is looking for gas at any depth, but is especially interested in the Trenton-Black River layer, which is 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep in the Tully area, Rotruck said. Drilling that deep can cost $4 million or more, and the decision to go ahead will not be made without a high expectation of success, Rotruck said. So Chesapeake has commissioned Dawson Geophysical Co., of Midland, Texas, to produce what amounts to a giant sonogram of the area. Dawson and its subcontractors have been working in the area for the past few months. A truck full of high-tech equipment parked on a dirt road in Preble serves as Dawson’s command center. Employees call it the “doghouse.” The doghouse is wired to a network of sensitive listening devices called geophones, which are planted in the ground like tent stakes throughout the area. At any time, there are about 1,300 geophones covering an area of roughly 6 to 10 square miles, said Eddie Garcia, Dawson’s local manager. To create a picture of the rock formations underground, Dawson crews drill 20-foot holes, fill them with 2.2 pounds of an explosive called Enviroprime, then plug the holes with bentonite clay. Some of the “shot holes,” as they’re called, can be drilled by surface vehicles, but others must be drilled with the help of helicopters, which ferry the drilling equipment to hard-to-reach locations. From the doghouse, an operator gives the signal to set off an explosion, which sends sound waves down as far as 40,000 feet. The geophones record the waves as they return. Based on how long the signal takes to return and other sound characteristics, geologists can put together an accurate three-dimensional assessment of the rock formations underground, said John Gordon, a geographical data manager under contract to Dawson. Gordon, who graduated in 1997 from Cortland State with a geology degree, said weather plays a strong role in how long the testing will take. The geophones are sensitive enough to pick up noise from rain or a heavy wind, either of which can force crews to stop testing. Seismic testing costs about $80,000 an acre on average, Rotruck said, which means Chesapeake’s bill for testing the Tully area could easily exceed $5 million. The testing is expected to be completed by late June or early July, Gordon said. In preparation for drilling, Chesapeake has leased land from hundreds of Onondaga County landowners during the past year, in towns south or west of Syracuse, from Elbridge to Tully. Lease terms are negotiable, but many local homeowners have signed five-year leases for $5 per acre per year. Leases typically call for royalties of 12½ percent of the value of any gas produced, to be split among landowners whose property becomes part of a well unit. Royalties to private landowners in New York were estimated at $53 million in 2005, the DEC reported. Rhea Jezer, who heads the Song Lake Homeowners Association, said some residents are concerned about environmental risks if Chesapeake decides to proceed with drilling in the area. In particular, she said, residents want assurance that the process poses no risk to their well water or to the health of the lake. The association hopes to coordinate a meeting at which Chesapeake officials could answer questions, Jezer said. Before drilling a well, a company must obtain a permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation, which has the authority to impose special conditions if the site involves sensitive environmental features. But Rotruck said the best assurance that the company will be careful is its need to maintain a good reputation. By doing more drilling than any other U.S. gas company, Chesapeake’s experienced operators are “like the surgeons at the finest open-heart care centers,” he said. “We have to operate with people that allow us to drill on their properties,” he said. “Reputation is precious. If we sully it in Tully, we won’t be drilling anyplace else.”