Sfuilftrdian
April 4,1977
From the Classroom -
BY FORREST HUGHES
Second in a series
Guilford College has had a
strong effect on Mildred
Marlette. But then, Mildred
Marlette has been connected
with Guilford for a long time.
First coming to Guilford as
a student in 1932, Ms. Marlette
finished with a degree in English
three years later. During those
three years she played tennis,
field-hockey, basketball, and
soft-ball on her Mary Hobbs
dorm team. She was the
House President of Mary
Hobbs in her senior year, and
was involved in Young Friends,
YWCA, and Philomathean,
the campus literary society.
After her 1935 graduation,
Ms. Marlette taught high school
English for a while, but Guil
ford was in her blood and she
couldn't stay away. She took
the jobs of Dean of Women
and assistant professor of
English in 1948, and has been
here ever since.
"I kept begging 'til Dr. Milner
(then president) let me off."
she smiles as she speaks of
leaving her duties as Dean of
Women in 1962. Since then
she has taken time off for
graduate work and is now a
full professor of English and
head of the English depart
ment.
What does someone with all
these reponsibilities do in
between classes, research
time, and innumerable com
mittee meetings? "I taught
myself to ride a bike a couple
of years ago," Ms. Marlette
says, and she stopped playing
tennis within the past five
years. She maintains her
interest in sports with
spectator sports and regrets
that she has neither the time
nor the money to .expend on
golf. She enjoys gardening
around her home in Dana
Houses and has a vegetable
garden every summer in addi
tion to her trees and lawn.
And of course there is always
reading to be done.
Back to the Classroom
How has Guilford College
affected this woman's life and
her career? Besides the
obvious answer of giving her
an education and a job, there
are some less tangible bene
fits which Ms. Marlette
considers important. As she
says, "I don't think it's what
we take in courses that stays
with us the longest."
One of these benefits is the
virtue of moral discipline.
When Ms. Marlette was a
student the professors and
staff placed a strong empha
sis on the value of upright
morals, and students benefit
ted from this exposure. Now
the trend is to take a more
legalistic viewpoint toward
ethics, and Ms. Marlette
regrets this.
Another benefit was very
important. "The greatest
things that Guilford College
gave me were an attitude
toward life, a new concept
about devotion to duty, and a
strong work ethic," she says.
This belief has been carried
throughout her life.
There were several people
who made an impact on Ms.
Marlette both in her student
hood and as a member of the
staff and faculty. Dr. Furnas
and Dorothy Lloyd Gilbert
Thorne in the English depart
ment infected her with "a
special love for and interest in
literature and a joy of the
search for knowledge."
But the most impact on her
life came from Clyde and
Ernestine Milner. Dr. Milner
was President of Guilford
College from 1934t0 1965
and Mrs. Milner served as
Dean of Women
According to Ms.
Marlette, this couple . .
convinced me that I could do
things, that I could be some
thing." A spirit of self-confi
dence came from both of
these people, and Ms.
Marlette continues to display
that self-confidence today.
Mildred Marlette will retire
in two years and her plans
for those years show little
dissimilarity with what she is
doing now. "I want to do
effective teaching, to increase
the number of majors in the
department, and to coopera
tively administer the affairs of
the department," she says,
and adds, "We make decisions,
I don't." She doesn't fore
see any "great creative strides"
in her own teaching, and she
is looking forward to the
opportunity of teaching
Dickens in the near future.
She will continue in the
direction Guilford started her
in when she and 19 other
students graduated in 1935,
and gives those same directions
to the countless students who
come after her.
|[gj[g|[lj[l]f
The Office of Community
Services in the Urban Center
is sponsoring a seminar entitl
ed Current Concepts in
Insurance and Risk Manage
ment. It will be held at
Students in
Five Guilford College
physics students addressed
the Society of Physics
Students, Zone 5, Saturday
(April 2) at Appalachian
State Univeristy in Boone.
They are Ms. Shawn Carlson
of Beltsville, Md., David
Freeman of San Anselmo,
Calif., Gary Farlow of Greens
boro, Howard Page of Hialeah,
Fla., and Christopher Fields
of Newark, Del.
Ms. Carlson, student
counselor for Zone 5, described
some experiments she made in
recreating instruments used
by early phsicists. Freeman
spoke on creating a computer
model of the evolution of Pre-
White Dwarf Stars.
Senate Minutes
The meeting opened with a
moment of silence. Dan
Hurley, Phil Broadbent,
Tim Nolan, and Christie
Fletcher were absent.
The Senate decided to wait
until after the Budgeting
process has been completed
to decide whether or not the
Student Activities fee would
be raised. The Student Act
ivities fee is currently $74.00
per student.
Pat Townsend and Judy
Pevey will serve as the two
representatives of the Senate
on the selection committee for
the Student Committee on
Promotion and Tenure.
Ken Schwab asked the
Senate to consider matching
the Student Services fund of
$250.00 This money would
go towards a stipend for the
Community Senate President
to work on the revision of the
Student Handbook this
summer.
Guilford College and will run
Tuesday and Wednesday,
April 26 and 27. For more
information, contact Edwin
R. Boelte, W Ext. 169 or 170.
Boone
Farlow's topic was Things
That Go Bump in the Dark:
a Computer Model of Real
Gas. Page discussed cooling
ponds and computer models.
Fields, the only freshman
in the group, described how
he programmed the college
computer to simulate a differ
ent model computer in his
father's home.
Dr. Rex Adelberger,
Guilford's physics department
chairman, is faculty counselor
for Zone 5. Like Ms. Carlson,
he was elected to the position
by society members.
Chong Lee reported that the
Budget Committee agreed to
fund $125.00 to a few students
who are planning to partici
pate in the National Model
United Nations April 12-16.
The Senate approved this
decision.
Peter Reichard reported
that the Constitution Commi
ttee proposed that it be written
in the Constitution that there
be a record kept of how
Senators voted. This record
would be kept in order for their
consituents to view how they're
being represented in Senate
matters. This proposal was
not approved.
The Constitution Committee
also proposed that Senators
attend House Council meet
ings. The proposal was
approved.
Senators were asked to
remind their constituents to
purchase their tickets to hear
Alex Haley.