Alumni Profiles
- Camille Baughn-Cunningham, ’84
- Suzanne Baum, ’87
- Marty Billingsley, ’77
- Erwin Chemerinsky, ’71
- Arne Duncan, ’82
- Christopher Harper, ’92
- Dave Kaleta, ’95
- Lily Koppel, ’99
- John Krug, ’85
- Michael Moses, ’81
- Barbara Natof Paget ‘61
- Bill Parsons, '61
- Brenda Williams Payton,’69
- Thomas Piane, ’95
- Andy Rosenband, ’99
- Robert Stepto ‘62
- Mari Topel, ’07
Barbara Natof Paget
Pampering for the body and soul
For years, Barbara Natof Paget, ’61, served as a volunteer for Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Highland Park Hospital, developing support programs for one of the hospital's surgeons to share with cancer survivors. When the surgeon, himself a cancer survivor, passed away, Ms. Paget was determined to continue her work.
So five years ago, when she heard about a spa in California offering a day of free services to cancer survivors, she was immediately interested—and involved. “I knew I could do that,” says Ms. Paget. She contacted the owner of Femmes, her spa in Highland Park, who agreed to participate.
After three successful years on the local level, Ms. Paget was onto bigger plans. She enlisted the help of State Representative Karen May (married to Morton May, ’61), who, along with Senator Susan Garrett, introduced legislation to have the first Tuesday in December declared Cancer Survivor Beauty and Support Day in Illinois for men, women, and children cancer survivors.
By the time the bill was passed in both the House and Senate, Ms. Paget was already hard at work contacting dozens of salons and spas. The pivotal moment came during a conversation with the president of the Great Clips Illinois Co-op, who pledged the support of his franchises. On December 4, more than 100 participating salons and spas in Illinois and a number of other states—including more than 80 Great Clips locations—provided complimentary services ranging from massages and manicures to haircuts and make-up consultation for more than 1,000 individuals.
It is the Great Clips nationwide network of 2,600 salons that Ms. Paget believes will provide a springboard to her next goal: nationwide participation. Toward that end, she claims to have already obtained the support of several legislators, including Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Mark Kirk.
“Offering support to those diagnosed with cancer is extremely important,” says Ms. Paget, who emphasizes that the event is both for individuals who have recently completed treatment and for those diagnosed decades ago. “This event provides a unique opportunity for survivors to come together and share their experience and their strength,” she says.
Ms. Paget describes the response she’s received from survivors and their loved ones as “overwhelming,” and says that her Lab experience helped make it possible. “I feel that it was in part my 13 years at the Laboratory Schools that gave me the confidence to pursue my dream and to see it become a successful reality.”
Robert Stepto
Teaching a new way of looking at literature
During his Lab days, Robert Stepto, ’62, had his sights set on the visual arts. It was an ambition born of a savvy bargain made with his mother several years earlier, in which he had happily agreed to attend art school in exchange for quitting piano lessons. However, his career path was quickly rerouted after a literature course taken his sophomore year at Trinity College. “We read Madame Bovary and The Red and the Black, and suddenly literature came alive for me,” says Dr. Stepto.
After attending graduate school at Stanford on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and obtaining his PhD in 1974, he accepted a position at Yale. More than three decades later he holds a tripartite position as professor of African American Studies, American Studies, and English, and serves as chair of Yale's African American Studies Program.
As an instructor, Dr. Stepto describes himself as an Americanist who is also an African-Americanist. “Many professors would make sure to include some African-American literature in an American literature course,” he notes. “Why not think the other way, too?” One of his favorite unconventional literature pairings is Nella Larsen’s 2004 novel Passing and The Great Gatsby.
Dr. Stepto has published three books, including a memoir, Blue As The Lake (1998); From Behind The Veil: A Study of Afro-American Narrative (1979; 1991); and The Selected Poems of Jay Wright (1987). But while his teaching and writing career flourished over the years, he found no outlet in the classroom for his love of the visual arts—that is, not until he attended an exhibit of African-American print art from the 1930s and 1940s. “I kept seeing images I wanted to use in the classroom,” explains Dr. Stepto.
He began incorporating book design and decoration into his literature studies, and says he now strives to make the visual text as integral as the written text. “Decades ago I was told I had to choose between the visual arts and literature,” he recalls. “To realize I could be in touch with all of my interests and bring them into the classroom has been very rewarding.”
Dr. Stepto says he hopes to convey to his classes the pleasure that can be derived from literature. “There are times now when I will simply stop and say, ‘Wasn’t that a terrific poem?’ Sometimes that just needs to be done.”
Erwin Chemerinsky
Testing the limit of the law school
Having spent the past three decades establishing himself as one of the nation's top legal minds, Erwin Chemerinsky, ’71, has decided to take up professional juggling.
A full-time professor of law at Duke University, this past fall he was named founding dean of the University of California at Irvine's Donald Bren School of Law, which is scheduled to begin classes in fall 2009. “It certainly requires a lot of juggling,” acknowledges Mr. Chemerinsy, who has already begun recruiting founding faculty and senior administrators for the new school—a task whose importance he does not underestimate. “The selection of an outstanding founding faculty is the most important thing I can do as dean,” he says.
After receiving his JD from Harvard University, Mr. Chemerinsky worked at DePaul University College of Law, then spent 21 years at the University of Southern California Law School before joining Duke's faculty three years ago. While he expresses great respect for each of those institutions, he is also quick to point out the importance of differentiating the new school from existing programs. “I think if we just replicate other great law schools we haven't succeeded,” he notes. “We don't need another law school that's just like all the others. The opportunity we have is that we're not constrained by what's been done in the past.”
Two distinctive aspects of the curriculum Mr. Chemerinsky plans to implement are an interdisciplinary approach, tapping the experience of faculty with diverse areas of expertise; and experiential learning, which will provide students with valuable clinical experiences. “I always have been astounded that medical students treat patients, often from early in their training, but many law students never see a client until they graduate,” he says.
Mr. Chemerinsky credits his Lab experience with showing him how life-changing an educational experience can be. “I came from a working-class family on the South Side, and my parents had no relationship to the University of Chicago,” he explains. “For me, going to Lab was truly an intellectual awakening, and other than my parents, no one in my life has had a greater effect on me than Earl Bell.”
It is the opportunity to have an impact of similar magnitude that Mr. Chemerinsky finds most exciting about his new role. “This is a chance to be part of something that will last long beyond my career, and even beyond my life.”
Lily Koppel
A journal through time
As a writer for the New York Times, Lily Koppel, ’99, knows that good stories are often found in unlikely places. Four years ago, that place turned out to be a Dumpster outside of her Manhattan apartment building. From an old steamer trunk designated as trash by building management, Ms. Koppel salvaged an anthropological treasure: a red leather diary kept by a young woman in the 1930s.
Twenty-two-year-old Ms. Koppel was instantly drawn into the young woman’s world through her impassioned daily accounts of a life filled with art, literature, music, and relationships. “It spoke to me like very few things had,” Ms. Koppel says. “I felt I knew her. It was like traveling through time.”
For three years, the diary sat in Ms. Koppel’s bedside table drawer while she worked as a news assistant and writer for the Times. When one of her articles led her to a lawyer who specialized in finding missing persons, she called on him to track down the journal’s owner—an example, she says, of an investigative nature nurtured during her 13 years at Lab. “I was always encouraged to explore subjects intimately and make discoveries on my own,” she recalls. “The diary could have remained locked in a trunk. It was important for me to tell its story.”
Her search resulted in reuniting ninety-year-old Florence Wolfson Howitt with her journal, a moment recounted by Ms. Koppel in her 2006 New York Times cover story, “Speak, Memory.” She has spent the last year writing her first book, The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal, published by HarperCollins for release this April. Calling it “part biography, part memoir,” Ms. Koppel explains, “It’s a story about the young woman’s rich intellectual and emotional life found in the pages of her diary, and our connection across time.”
Since the publication of the article, Ms. Koppel has received requests from men and women around the world offering to send her their diaries. The book is a reminder, she says, of the important stories that lie beyond the realm of celebrity. “This is an extraordinary story, one of many out there,” she says. “I feel fortunate to have been able to reveal Florence’s remarkable life.”
An audio slide show account of Ms. Koppel's meeting with Florence Wolfson Howitt can be accessed at www.nytimes.com/koppel
Andy Rosenband ’99
Roll Model
As a third-year midfielder for the Chicago Storm, a major league indoor soccer team, Andy Rosenband, ’99, knows his way around the field. And thanks to his continued ties to U-High, he’s also getting quite a bit of practice on the sidelines.
During Rosenband’s first year with the Storm, he was approached by U-High varsity coach Mike Moses, who asked Mr. Rosenband if he’d be interested in helping coach the school’s junior varsity team. “Andy is living proof to the student athletes that hard work can help you reach your goals,” says Mr. Moses.
Three years later, the combination is still a winning one. “I love coaching,” says Mr. Rosenband. “Bringing soccer to the school is a way in which I can give back, and it’s fun seeing the kids get better each year.”
Asked about his coaching philosophy, Mr. Rosenband points to his U-High student days. “It was an amazing experience to meet so many different kinds of people. Now when I’m coaching, I try to get to know everyone’s individual personality and character so that I can help each of them play their best.”
His work at the high school level may actually be helping his professional play as well. Having left Ohio State in his senior year for the opportunity to play professionally, Mr. Rosenband now finds himself with more experience than many of his teammates. “Normally I like to lead by example and let my play speak for itself,” says Mr. Rosenband. “I’m working on becoming more vocal, more of a team leader. Coaching helps you learn those skills.”
Off the field, Mr. Rosenband has his sights on a different kind of goal: the completion of a bachelor’s degree in business from DePaul University this December, after which he plans to enter DePaul’s MBA program. “I’m so excited to finally be getting my degree,” says Mr. Rosenband. “I still get to play and coach, so it’s the best of all worlds.”
Brenda Williams Payton,’69
Taking a Closer Look
After twenty-five years in the city, Oakland Tribune columnist Brenda Williams Payton, ’69 considers herself a bona fide Oaklander. She says that in some respects, her West Coast home does not differ significantly from her Chicago roots: “Oakland has a real down-to-earth quality about it. It’s unpretentious, like Chicago.”
Other characteristics of the city still impress her. “After all these years I still find myself amazed by Oakland’s diversity, and by how a lot of people here take it for granted,” says Ms. Payton, who recently wrote a column on the topic after observing the easy interactions between shoppers at a local grocery store. “It’s interesting to be able to help people see something they otherwise might not even notice, and to express my own appreciation for it.”
Ms. Payton’s skill for finding the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary also led to one of her most memorable stories. She wrote a five-part series about the homicide of a young man in the area who had been known as a drug dealer—not exactly an uncommon story for any reporter covering a metropolitan area. Approaching it from the ripple effect a homicide has on the people around the victim, she interviewed people who had come into contact with the young man, from the first responders to the surgeon to his sisters and pastor.
“I knew it was going to be a good story,” says Ms. Payton, “but when I actually did it, it was fascinating to see just how complex this kid’s life was, and the range of effects his death had on people. When you take a closer look, you find complexity everywhere.”
When Ms. Payton is not using her laptop to express herself, she can often be found doing so on the dance floor. After connecting with a creative art center in her mid-twenties, she has spent the past three decades studying modern dance, as well as various forms of African, Brazilian, and Haitian dance. “It’s an interesting counter to writing because it’s not verbal,” she says. “On the other hand, it’s about finding your rhythm, which is exactly what good writing is all about.”
Bill Parsons, '61
Building a Better Future—Through History
It was the winter of 1991, and Bill Parsons,’61, was enjoying the flexibility of his work as an educational consultant and writer. Then he received a phone call from administrators of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., which was set to open in 1993. “They suggested I come down and help them think about education,” says Mr. Parsons.
Five minutes into the meeting, he was hooked. “The director placed a piece of blank paper on a table in front of me,” Mr. Parsons recalls. “He said, ‘We have funds for education, and I care as much about underserved communities as I do about New York City. Give us an approach for how to go about creating a program.’” Mr. Parsons was thrilled. “It was like being a kid in a candy store,” he says with a laugh. “From the start, we wanted to take history and not just remember it, but use it to create a better world.”
Serving as the museum’s director of education until his promotion to chief of staff in 1996, Mr. Parsons—a former high school teacher—says he approached the museum’s 400 staff and 300 volunteers like “a big classroom,” paying close attention to how to engage them individually while keeping his eye on the museum’s mission. Mr. Parsons attributes this lesson to his Lab days: “There was a lot of respect for individual students, but at the same time there was a great concern for the community as a whole.”
Of course, technology has played a vital role in the museum’s global reach. “Our website is getting responses from over 100 countries a day,” notes Mr. Parsons. “We work hard at figuring out how to use technology to create and sustain a dialogue—getting people from Kansas talking to people from Moscow. The frequency of contact often makes all the difference in sustaining national and international outreach.”
Mr. Parsons and his staff are constantly searching for new ways to use technology as an educational tool, such as through a recent partnership between the museum and Google Earth that allows viewers to learn about and even physically see the impact of atrocities occurring in Darfur. “It gives these issues much more immediacy,” says Mr. Parsons. “It also places accountability on the perpetrators. They can’t deny what’s going on when you can see it right in front of you.”
Faced with such bleak realities each day, Mr. Parsons admits that the world has many serious problems, but says he also believes that the museum is helping people to face—and respond to—global issues. “The reward for any educator is to see individuals get educated, get concerned, and then get involved,” he explains. “When you see that happen with tens of thousands of people, you feel hopeful for the future.”
Mari Topel, ’07
This Girl’s Got Game
Take a look at U-High’s varsity baseball team roster and you’ll see something you won’t find on any of Illinois’ 665 varsity teams—a girl’s name. Before graduating this spring, Mari Topel, ’07, played baseball throughout her Lab high school career, winning recognition for her skills as a catcher who calls the pitches and the defensive plays, bats .280, and has a .350 on base percentage. This spring, she received the Laboratory Schools Coach’s Award for baseball and an All-ISL Honorable Mention.
As her coach, Keronn Walker, told Channel 2 News, “She’s not just good for a girl. She’s good for a catcher.”
Mari certainly has confidence in her own skills: “I get really cocky when I play and it overrides my shyness.” But she emphasizes that if it were not for her teammates, she never would have been able to stick with playing on a boy’s team. “When I was a freshman, the team was really good about it, really supportive in lots of subtle ways, treating me as an equal. I couldn’t have asked for a better team, and I couldn’t have made it without them,” she says.
The Laboratory Schools’ approach to athletics may be one of the factors that allows students to test the waters and to behave in an inclusive manner. “The no-cut policy encourages participation but doesn’t mean we aren’t competitive,” says Lab’s Director of Athletics David Ribbens. “It’s an idea that is very compatible with the ideals of the Laboratory Schools.”
“When you play baseball,” says Mari, “you know exactly what you need to do, what needs to happen. And in life it’s just not like that. But in baseball it is.”
That type of wisdom should serve Mari well when she attends the University of Rochester, where she has been recruited to play on the women’s softball team.
Arne Duncan, ’82, Receives Alumni Accolade
Arne Duncan, ’82, the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), received Lab’s Distinguished Alumni Award this past June. He is the first person who holds an educational leadership position in the public sector to receive the award. He joins eleven previous recipients, who work in such fields as law, medicine, government, finance, and the arts. The award, the highest honor for a Lab alum, is given in recognition of a graduate’s outstanding contributions to society through their professional or personal life. The recipient is someone who has a reputation that enhances that of the Schools’ and who serves as an exemplar to Lab students, alumni, faculty, and friends.
“Lab is what great education looks like,” says Mr. Duncan. His experience at Lab has heavily shaped his vision of what all children deserve educationally, although he is quick to underscore the vast differences between the resources at Lab and those for students in the nation’s third largest public school system.
Mr. Duncan has been immersed in education his entire life. He spent much of his childhood either at Lab or with his mother at the Sue Duncan Children’s Center (SDCC), an after-school program in North Kenwood that she founded in 1960. The SDCC still provides a place for inner-city children to go for everything from homework help to meals and sports.
Describing educational inequity as “immoral,” Mr. Duncan has committed himself to improving a dire situation in which Illinois ranks 49 out of 50 states for educational funding.
Mr. Duncan became the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools after serving as the deputy chief of staff under previous CPS CEO Paul Vallas. Prior to joining CPS, Mr. Duncan and his sister, Sarah Duncan, ’85, led the Ariel Foundation (now the Ariel Education Initiative), where they worked to create opportunities for inner-city children on the South Side of Chicago.
Alumni return to Lab as faculty and staff
Over the years, a number of Laboratory Schools alumni have returned to Lab as faculty and staff members. Asked what drew them back to campus, they cite the unique, intellectually stimulating environment and the energy of Lab students. These eight Lab alumni currently serve on the staff:
Camille Baughn-Cunningham, ’84
Ms. Baughn-Cunningham returned to Lab this September as a U-High class counselor. Lab is a true tradition within Ms. Baughn-Cunningham’s family: her daughter is in the second grade, her husband and brothers-in-law attended Lab, and her father-in-law is a former Lab teacher and principal.
Suzanne Baum, ’87
After living for a year in Seville, Spain, Ms. Baum first returned to Lab in 1993 as a part-time Spanish teacher. The following year she was made a full-time French and Spanish teacher, a position she held until her family’s move to Madrid. She has been back teaching French and Spanish in the Lower, Middle, and High Schools since 2004. On teaching at Lab, she says, “I enjoy, first and foremost, the students, who are enthusiastic and hard-working and have a desire to learn.”
Marty Billingsley, ’77
In 1992, Ms. Billingsley was living in Europe when she inquired about working as a supervisor at Lab’s day camp. That position led to a one-year post teaching computer science and, in 1994, a full-time position as a computer science teacher in the Middle and High Schools. Her twin girls, Alex and Andie, are first graders and third-generation Labbies.
Christopher Harper, ’92
Mr. Harper rejoined Lab after working as an entrepreneur and in the corporate sector. He co-teaches AP Economics, coordinates U-High's testing programs, and supervises peer leaders in the Community Service Program, among other things. Mr. Harper coaches U-High's cross-country and track-and-field teams. He also serves on the executive board of Camp of Dreams, a nonprofit that provides school-year academic enrichment and a summer overnight camp experience to kids from low-income communities.
Dave Kaleta, ’95
After a stint substitute teaching at Lab, Mr. Kaleta joined as a full-time assistant Kindergarten teacher in 2003. For the past seven years, he has also served as associate director of the Adventure Kids Day Camp. Mr. Kaleta returned to Lab because he appreciates the N-12 experience and the opportunities it creates between disciplines.
John Krug, ’85
Mr. Krug began working with the Lab Information Systems group in 2002 as a part-time technical support coordinator. Today he holds the position of systems administrator. Mr. Krug is connected in many ways to the University of Chicago community: he lives in Hyde Park; he, his wife, and his parents all attended the University; his mother worked for the Press; his wife currently works at the Regenstein Library; and his daughter attends the Nursery School.
Michael Moses, ’81
Mr. Moses returned to Lab in 1990. His focus is on physical education across the Schools, and he is at the helm of the Lab soccer program, serving as coach of both the varsity boys’ and varsity girls’ soccer teams. His mother taught third and fourth grade science for 21 years at Lab, and his father was an art history professor at the University of Chicago.
Thomas Piane, ’95
After playing Division III baseball and soccer at Ripon College in Wisconsin, Mr. Piane returned to Lab in 2000 as a physical education teacher. He has taught physical education to Lab kindergarteners and to students in grades 3-11. He coached the varsity boys’ baseball team for five years and currently coaches the J.V. boys’ soccer team. In addition, Mr. Piane is an assistant baseball coach at North Central College in Naperville.
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