Letter from Diana Davis '07

Dear Professor Wagner,

I recently learned that Sheafe Satterthwaite's contract has not been renewed. I think that this is highly unreasonable, and that it is very unfortunate for Williams students, and I urge you to reconsider this decision.

When I was considering courses to take in my senior year at Williams, I flipped to the section of the course catalog labeled "experiential education." I had just returned from the Williams-Mystic program, where I found that experiential education was a great way to learn, and I wanted to continue it at Williams. I saw Sheafe's course listed, and I recalled a friend of mine talking at length about a course she was taking with Sheafe, when we were both first-years. She had described how Sheafe took the class to various towns in New York state, and she had really enjoyed it. So, I signed up for the course.

Sheafe's course was one of my most memorable learning experiences. When I see windmills, I think of the time Sheafe took our class to a wind farm to see the windmills up close. I can tell if a house I am looking at has been converted from a barn, because Sheafe taught me how. My mother frequently talks about the paper she wrote while I was in his course, because Sheafe was so interested in her experience growing up on the farmland of Nebraska that my mom was inspired to write down her recollections and share them with him. When I think of the stock market, I am reminded of the class we had with a rancher from the midwest on speakerphone; the rancher told us about commodities like hog and wheat prices, and about sheep herding out west, and we asked him questions from our classroom in Lawrence Hall.

I first met Sheafe at one of my first races on Williams' indoor track team my junior year. I had never met him before, but for whatever reason he was interested in the track meet, so he was there, and we struck up a conversation. It turns out that he had been friends with my high school advisor. This was not a coincidence; Sheafe seemed to always know a friend of your friend, and he was interested in whatever topic you were talking about. When I took his course, Sheafe took each of us to a coffee shop and asked us, "what interests you?" Tellingly, when one of the students turned the same question back on him, Sheafe found it a very interesting question, took several days to reflect on it, and produced a document exploring the question and weaving in our classmates' responses to the same question.

Sheafe's courses should not, perhaps, be listed as in the art history department; they should, rather, be listed as "interdisciplinary" or "geography" or simply "experiential education." The purpose of Williams is not solely to learn course content; it is also to foster a love of inquiry and a passion for learning. This is what Sheafe does. His excellence at modeling curiosity to students is unmatched at Williams, except perhaps by Ed Burger. To lose one of the few professors at Williams who teaches by example in this way would be a travesty.

If a student signs up for Sheafe's course expecting an experience similar to other classes at Williams, he or she will be sorely disappointed. I imagine that these students form the basis of the poor evaluations that have led to Sheafe's contract not being renewed. Please do not let a few students' mismatched expectations prevent other students from having this educational opportunity.

Thank you for your time,

Diana Davis '07