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FEATURES Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - Page 7 Grace Almandrez: a truly phenomenal Woman JESSICA WATSON sions where it took on recruiting "She was ranked as our top can- Graduate Assistant for two years. Features Editor prospective students and program- didate," said Horneff, "When she the most emotional. Diversity is overflowing on this ming. accepted the position we were "I have learned so much from her They show the value of family campus. Organizations are more Being the first full time direc- thrilled." as a person. It has made me more and community as well as those cul- to different aware and open active and prominent on campus, tor of the Multicultural Services Since then she has watched her tures. She has energy and spirit, who put in 110 percent into their workshops and programs are tak- Department, Grace had ,- _ and this is what has made work." Almandrez admits that it ing place, and students are more her work cut out for her. is not easy being dedicated to this involved. Grace Almandrez, Di- Instead of wading in the her achieve in her depart- college. she is moving on, she Although ment and profession. I think rector of Multicultural Services, is shallow water, she dove they fWMC] already feels is leaving behind a strong founda- the phenomenal woman that makes right in. the impact of her leaving." tion for the next director to fulfill it all possible. Dean Henry Reif, her Under Almandrez several her position. "I am so excited for Almandrez was offered the po- supervisor and the Asso- sition after graduating from the ciate Dean of Academic diverse Clubs and organiza- the next person, it's going to be ten times better." and sev- tions have surfaced University of San Diego in 1998. Affairs agrees. "Under eral programs established. "I felt very lucky; it was my Grace, things have just They won't have to worry about dream job to be a director." She taken off. From my per- Too assist with recruitment, building from the ground up; in- a three-day she designed willingly accepted the position, and spective, the positive en- schedule of activities for stead they can focus on introduc- since then, the department has done ergy out of the prospective students attend- ing new programs and expanding nothing but progress onward and multicultural students on those already in progress. upward. here is amazing." ing Minority Student Week- Almandrez says that at Notre end. This was just three and a half According to Reif, Dame de Namur University, she the Phe- She also started years ago, and now she is moving Almandrez connects the nomenal Woman Luncheon, will still be doing diversity pro- multicultural students to which recognizes a lot of grams and working with students, Almandrez is about to receive each other, giving them but her main focus will be faculty her Masters in Human Resource a sense of security. women who serve the col- development. "I am excited and lege and are not recognized. Development and next fall, she will More importantly, In addition to this, she scared at the same time." be the Director of Missions and she connects them into started the Multicultural She wants to further expand her Diversity at Notre Dame de Namur the mainstream of cam- Leaders Banquet, which al- knowledge and experience and she University in San Francisco. Al- pus life. lows seniors who are active knows that Notre Dame de Namur though moving all the way across "It's a huge responsi- Grace A/mandrez connects students to the mainstream members in diversity groups is the place to do it. "It is an op- the country, her experiences at bility and she is ex- on campus. to be recognize. According portunity for me to grow as a pro- fessional." WMC will forever be cherished. tremely successful," Reif said. grow as a person and a profes- to Almandrez, "diversity is a pri- Almandrez saw the job as "hav- "She has done a wonderful job edu- sional. "Her involvement with stu- ority." Nonetheless, Almandrez admits ing the chance to work with stu- cating the community at large dents goes beyond the expectations Of her many programs, her to loving it here and knows that it dents, do programming and getting about what diversity truly means." of her responsibilities as Director legacy lies with the Phenomenal will be hard to leave behind every- paid for it." In her eyes, who could Barb Horneff, Associate Dean of Multicultural Services." thing that she created for the de- ask for anything more? of the First-Year Program, served Almandrez is known for taking stu- Woman Luncheon and the partment. The department started out as a on the search committee when dents under her wings and teach- Multicultural Leaders Banquet. "If "My mind is in San Francisco," they did nothing else, I wan! those coordinator position under student Almandrcz was interviewed in No- ing them how 10 fly.' , two programs [0 be continued. she said, "but my heart will always affairs and then moved to admis- vember 1998. Carolyn Wagna has been her They are my favorite programs and be in Westminster." Nancy Palmer's advice leaves a lasting impression HEATIIF:R WEISSE large the program (which began in politics. been there for SraffWriter 1986), give honors students a larger "I can see Nancy's influence in me in all three She likes activity-jogging and presence on campus and incorpo- my own personality. My own ten- areas and I'll bicycling especially. Photographs rate faculty/student feedback to dencies toward nonviolence, pro- miss having of her' 37 years at WMC cover her strengthen and individualize the test, and pacifism can certainly be that constant office walls and a black and white program. attributed to her in some way," said support. She portrait of Don Quixote hangs near While Palmer may be known on Zebrowski. truly is a great the door. A stack of books by her campus for her contributions to the Senior biology major Nichole person." bed waiting to be read - it just keeps honors program, her real passion is Christman recalls that during her Over the getting higher and higher. her students-and not just honors freshman year, Palmer told her that past four de- And when she retires this students. She has taught everything "Nothing is final, except for death. cades, Palmer spring, Nancy Palmer, English pro- from mythology to Milton, both And we aren't even sure about has influ- fessor and director of the honors honors and non-honors courses, that" That advice has stuck with enced count- program, plans to read them all. during her time at WMC. Christman. less students Palmer (known simply as "I'm always open with my stu- "That is my fondest memory of 'Nancy' by most of her students) dents," said Palmer. "I enjoy stu- her- her permission to not know, and taught in- started teaching at WMC in 1965 dents' thinking, energy, abilities and to make a wrong decision be- numerable of lit- works as a part-time professor, teaching and advising them ... I have a great cause we always have time to redo erature. She Saturday freshman seminars and respect for all students." and retry," said Christman. " 1 still has run in "Continental Literature." The Ken- According to Palmer, she never have a hard time following the ad- races with tucky native started working at tires of teaching the same thing vice, but 1 am always conscious of students, in- WMC after her husband, Del over and over again (She has taught its wisdom." vited them 10 Palmer, took a full-time teaching "Great Works"- which began as What will her students miss position here. Neither one of them "Continental Literature"-for 37 most? The long chats after class, Christmas planned to stay, but things don't straight years now.) because there her sense of humor and invaluable parties, en- always go as planned. is always a new group of students advice. Oh-and her constantly couraged "I never thought of teaching at who approach presented topics dif- moving hands. According to sopho- a small school in Maryland ..." said ferently. more English major Erin Duffy, them and Nancy Palmer is known across campas for always been a friend. being open with her students. Palmer. "I thought maybe I'd teach Her ability to move beyond sub- Palmer can't speak without mak- And she has somewhere on the west coast ject matter and address real-life ing hand gestures, which aren't no regrets (well-except for not get- maybe, I don't know - it's hard to concerns allow students to know necessarily related to what she's ting her doctorate before teaching, thought that teaching was what that was all about," said Palmer. "I love remember what 1was thinking back Palmer as a 'teacher,' not an 'in- talking about. but that's it.) then ... But Western Maryland be- structor.' "I'll miss Nancy giving me ad- Because of her close relation- my job, and I think you ought to love your job." came the school 1 wanted it to be." Freshman Mark Zebrowski de- vice on life, love and academics," ships with her students, Palmer said In the fall of 1983 Palmer be- scribed Palmer's teaching style and said senior political science major Retirement won't slow Palmer came a full-time faculty member personality as "fluid," citing that Jason Fitzgerald, who credits retirement will be somewhat sad. ev- down. After reading all those students "I run into former and took over as director of the her classes intertwine centuries-old Palmer for turning around his high- erywhere and so many have been books, she plans to travel to south- honor's program. Her goal? To en- literature with current society and school writing style. "She has truly so generous to me. I've always east Asia and spend time with her grandson.