Mula, Graf take Commons positions

The fall of 2011 will usher in new faces for the Head of Brainerd Commons and the Head of Cook Commons.

Stefano Mula, assistant professor of Italian, will be taking over as Cook Commons Head for C.A. Dana Professor of Italian Patricia Zupan during her year-long sabbatical. Professor of German Roman Graf will be the new commons head for Brainerd, taking over for Robert Schine, Silberman professor of Jewish studies.

Zupan has served as head of Cook Commons since 2000. She will be taking a year off to work on her book-length study, “Dante’s Image of Rome.” She will be working both at the College and in Italy, specifically in Florence, Rome and Siena.

Zupan said her interest in being a commons head sprung from her work as a professor of Italian at the College.

“I became a commons head first because as an Italian professor, I am steeped in the living-learning philosophy of the Italian School and the Middlebury Language Schools,” said Zupan. “I am very familiar with the creation of environments that respond to a fully-dimensional development of students, and that intend to empower students to take responsibility for their living-learning communities.”

Zupan also attributed her desire to be a commons head and her success as head of Cook Commons to the support of her family.

“Honestly, I became a commons head because my whole family was committed to the project,” said Zupan. “My late husband, Franco Ciccone, and even my then-teenaged daughter Marisa were very enthusiastic about the possibility of our family being involved with the College in the building of intellectual and interpersonal community across the generations.”

While Zupan is gone, Mula will continue to host many of the events she has sponsored over the past 11 years such as Cook community dinners in Atwater. Mula will also maintain close relationships with members of Cook Commons, particularly with the Commons Residential Advisor (CRA) and Cook Commons Council.

Zupan is confident in Mula’s ability to be a successful commons head.

“Professor Mula has been an active member of our commons for his whole career here, bringing both faculty and student centered intellectual and cultural programming to Cook Commons,” said Zupan. “He understands the living-learning connections so important to the commons and the College.”

Mula said that the commons system has interested him since he arrived at the College in 2002. He particularly appreciates the way the commons work in bringing together students and colleagues.

“The first year or second year that I was here, Ron [President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz], who was the vice president by then or maybe provost, sent an email saying that my name had been mentioned by some students as a suggestion for somebody who could take on a commons,” said Mula. “So it goes back to 2003 or 2004. It’s been something that’s been on my mind since then.”

While Mula will only be substituting for a year, Brainer Commons Head Robert Schine will be permanently leaving his position after five years of service.

He will be on academic leave through 2012, studying the function of Hebrew language in Jewish culture, working in Jerusalem and Berlin. Although Schine will return in 2012 to teach, he will not be returning to his position as Brainerd Commons head.

Instead, Professor of German Roman Graf will be taking over. Graf admitted that his opinions of the commons system have changed over time. He remembers when the College was first proposing the idea of a commons system.

“We wanted to create a bridge between the classrooms and the personal lives of the students that would enable them to carry what they learned in an academic setting into their personal lives as well as to include their personal experiences into an academic setting,” said Graf. “The commons system seems to establish this connection. I believe in this connection and am excited to be able to contribute to it in this new role as commons head.”

Among all of his goals, however, Graf said the most important is supporting his students.

“Foremost, I would like to start thinking about goals and planning for the next few years with the needs of the students in mind,” said Graf. “I do not want to add to the already busy schedules of our students but integrate what they do academically with their preferred social outlets.”

Graf said that he will continue the traditions of Schine, such as the informal tea gatherings at the Brainer Commons house and events during senior week.

“Thanks to his [Schine’s] creativity and initiative, I don't have to start from scratch,” he said. “But I do have some ideas of my own.”

Graf recognizes the power of his new position.

“As long as we are actively striving to improve ourselves, we cannot go wrong,” he said. “The commons is an excellent setting to convert these thoughts into reality. That is what attracts me most to this new position.”

With a smile, he added, “And of course the parties.”

 

 

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