Powerhouse field named for Bill Flanagan, Mackey Chair Lynda Barry, and more news in brief

Commencement

Beloit’s 172nd Commencement unfolded on a perfect spring day on May 15, the first large-scale celebration of graduation in two years — after the pandemic pre-empted, then altered Beloit’s traditional ceremony on the Middle College lawn.

Credit: Andy Manis

The class of 2022 reveled in coming together with families, friends, faculty, and staff, and President Bierman remarked that no one would take such a gathering for granted again. “It is great to be here all together in all three dimensions!” he said.

Flanagan Field

Credit: Tom HarrisThe college has installed signage designating the light-filled turf fieldhouse in Beloit’s Powerhouse “Flanagan Field.” Naming the field in Bill Flanagan’s honor was possible through gifts from the 1889 Council, which supports athletics, along with gifts from Flanagan’s many fans among alumni, faculty, and staff.

Flanagan served as dean of students for three decades and capped his career as executive advisor to the college president.

Lynda Barry to Teach at Beloit

Credit: Lynda BarryLynda Barry will hold Beloit’s 2023 Mackey Chair during the spring semester.

The celebrated graphic novelist, cartoonist, teacher, and recipient of a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship has authored 21 books, written columns in Esquire, Mother Jones, and Salon magazines, and created Ernie Pook’s Comeek, a seminal comic strip that was syndicated across North America in alternative weeklies for decades.

Ice Fishing

A group of 11 Beloiters, many of them international students, joined professor Chris Fink last February for a classic Wisconsin winter activity: ice fishing.

The professor of English, writer, and avid fisherman says two students approached him wanting to try the sport. They recruited the rest of the group to go to a small lake on a day that recorded a high temperature of 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

Although ice fishing is a popular winter activity in Wisconsin, Fink says only one of the students had ever ice fished before. “I think I managed to help every student catch at least a couple of fish, including that nice three-pound bass caught by Sammy Schachter’23 from Brooklyn, N.Y.,” Fink says.

500th Baseball Win

Credit: Greg AndersonHead baseball coach and athletic director Dave DeGeorge’89 recorded his 500th win when the Buccaneers split a doubleheader at Illinois College in May.

Since taking over Beloit’s baseball program in 1991, DeGeorge has led the team to two conference titles and 10 Midwest Conference tournament appearances. He holds the most wins for a coach in the league.

Undocumented Migration

Jason De León, professor of anthropology at UCLA and executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, served as the college’s 2022 Weissberg Chair in spring.

His residency was part of a themed year on citizenship, migration, and belonging and included a collective art piece documenting recovered remains from individuals who have died crossing the desert at the U.S./Mexico border.

Interactive Art

Credit: Nicolas Doret’24Students in music professor Yvonne Wu’s InterArts Ensemble course created interactive, multidisciplinary arts exhibits during Symposium Day this year.

They held a fashion show, marched a parade down College Street, and created this interactive collage in the Wright Museum of Art, which encouraged students walking by to add more doodles.