Friday, December 17, 2021

When Michelle Mathieu ’92 was approved to join the Clubhouse networking app by Sam Geschickter ’20 in January 2021, she was pleased—and slightly perplexed. Mathieu, whose promotion from chief investment officer of Fulcrum Capital to chief executive officer becomes official Jan. 1, 2022, had been wanting access to the then invite-only platform, but Geschickter’s name didn’t ring any bells—which is understandable, given the timing.

 

Not long after the two met at a 2020 Seattle Whitties Helping Whitties event, the pandemic brought the world to a grinding stop. “COVID-19 put a halt to any momentum from that event,” Mathieu says. With a little LinkedIn sleuthing, Mathieu connected the dots and when Geschickter followed up to ask if she’d be willing to offer him career advice, she asked if he was interested in applying for an open position at her company.

 

He was. And the interest turned out to be mutual: In May 2021, Geschickter joined Fulcrum as an investment operations analyst. 

 

Read more.

 

Psst! Students: Heading home to Seattle, Portland or the Bay Area for winter break? Check out the Whitties Helping Whitties events coming up in early January 2022.

 

Campus Break Hours

Whitman’s campus will be closed in its entirety from Friday, Dec. 24 through Monday, Jan. 3, with many offices resuming regular hours on Tuesday, Jan. 4. Additional winter break operating hours are as follows:

• Reid Campus Center: closed Saturday, Dec. 18 through Sunday, Jan. 2. Jan. 3–14 open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular hours resume Saturday, Jan. 15.
• Sherwood: closed 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17 through Jan. 3. Open Jan. 4–16 with the following schedule: Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Regular hours resume Monday, Jan. 17.
• BFFC: closed 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17 through Monday, Jan. 3. Opens Tuesday, Jan. 4, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Regular hours resume Monday, Jan. 17.
• Harvey Pool: closed 1:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17 through Monday, Jan. 17. Regular hours resume Tuesday, Jan. 18.
• Climbing Center: closed Saturday, Dec. 18 through Jan. 11 and Jan. 13–16. Special winter break open climb will be Wednesday, Jan. 12, 4 to 7 p.m. Regular hours resume Monday, Jan. 17.
• Student Print Shop: closed Saturday, Dec. 18 through Sunday, Jan. 16. Regular hours resume Monday, Jan. 17.
• Welty Student Health Center: closed Saturday, Dec. 18 through Monday, Jan. 17. Regular hours resume Tuesday, Jan. 18.
• OP Rental Shop: closed Saturday, Dec. 18 through Monday, Jan. 3. Open Jan. 4–14 from 2 to 5 p.m.

• Penrose Library:

  • Saturday, Dec. 18 and Sunday, Dec. 19: closed

  • Monday, Dec. 20 through Thursday, Dec. 23: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Friday, Dec. 24 through Monday, Jan. 3: closed
  • Tuesday, Jan. 4 through Friday, Jan. 7: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Saturday, Jan. 8 and Sunday, Jan. 9: closed
  • Monday, Jan. 10 through Friday, Jan. 14: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  • Saturday, Jan. 15 and Sunday, Jan. 16: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

  • Monday, Jan. 17: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

  • Tuesday, Jan. 18: resume regular hours 

To avoid disruption close to the 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 21, grade submission deadline, Whitman College Technology Services will be performing system updates for Colleague and myWhitman from 9 a.m.–12 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 19, instead of the standard 5–7 a.m. Wednesday maintenance window. During this time frame, please expect that myWhitman and Colleague will not be accessible.

Whitman’s Fellowship and Grants program within the Career and Community Engagement Center is undergoing a leadership transition this month. Keith Raether, who has been an integral part of the Whitman community for the past decade-and-a-half, is retiring after a fruitful and creative career. Raether joined Whitman in 2006 and became director of Fellowships and Grants in 2008. In this role Raether has helped hundreds of students and graduates win awards and many more pursue their interests and ambitions through the resources of this program. 

 

Reflecting on his contributions, Raether mused, “We’ve expanded the field of opportunities to students and alumni from maybe a dozen blue-chip programs to nearly 80 major fellowships, scholarships and grants and 50-plus miscellaneous specialty programs. Also, we’ve reached an increasingly diverse community of students and alumni as the program has grown.”

 

Transitioning into this role and building on the strong foundations Raether created is Jess Hernandez. Hernandez is an evolutionary ecologist with degrees from Pomona College and Virginia Tech, and comes to Whitman after a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at Vanderbilt University. Hernandez is the first person in her family to go to college and is grateful for her own liberal arts college experience. You can learn more about her research background and interests on her website and Twitter.

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