Charles Martin Who?

In 1886, Oberlin College student Charles Martin Hall discovered an inexpensive way to produce aluminum.  125 years later, even with technology evolving every day, Hall's life and work are very modern:
- the house Hall used for his work is still owned by the college
- Alcoa (the company he founded) is the world's third largest producer of aluminum
- like Oberlin students today, Hall worked one-on-one with his professor toward his discovery
- his process is still used today
- Hall is the single greatest benefactor to Oberlin College, with gifts including beautiful Tappan Square, Hall Auditorium, and the Allen Memorial Art Museum

An aluminum statue of Charles Martin Hall in Oberlin's science center.  Chuck likes to dress up for every major holiday.

Elementary, My Dear Watson

This week on Jeopardy, two of the best contestants in the show's history are facing off against Watson, a supercomputer developed by IBM to process information and answer questions accordingly.

What does Jeopardy have to do with Oberlin?  Well, we're one of the few liberal arts colleges in the nation to also possess a supercomputer. While Watson runs on 90 servers, we're not too far behind at 70. Watson can work through intricacies, nuances, and double-meanings of words; our supercomputer can process and research data sets for chemistry, physics, astrophysics (a student recently discovered a new pulsar in the center of the Milky Way) and computational biology.

"This college's graduates earn more PhDs every year than any other liberal arts college in the country."
"What is Oberlin?"

It's A Menagerie

A trip to the Cleveland Zoo on Super Bowl Sunday was not enough to stop our Steeler fans (we have six of them!) from supporting their team.

Everyone's favorite bird starred at us throughout our rainforest journey.

This colorful little guy was another favorite.  Had the otters and porcupines not been sleeping, however, they certainly would have been #1 and #2.

What's the best way to keep a softball player happy?  Take her to Melt Bar and Grilled in Lakewood, of course!  

The Winner: A Liberal Education

Sean Decatur, Oberlin's Dean of Arts and Sciences, was recently published in The New York Times.  He wrote that students who take traditional liberal arts and science courses score better in skills measured by the Collegiate Learning Assessment than students who take undergraduate courses in pre-professional fields.  Courses demanding more work from students (e.g. classes with larger quantities of reading and/or writing) also raise learning more.


Read Dean Decatur's article and learn why a liberal arts education is the best way to start your future. 

Of A Revolution

Yesterday people across the country celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  There were many remembrances of his work for nonviolent activism and civil rights.  Here at Oberlin College, we looked back to the words and meaning of his 1965 commencement address.

Drawing on the story of Rip Van Winkle, the man who slept for 20 years, King's message was simple: "There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution."  Rip Van Winkle went to sleep under an inn bearing the image of King George III and awoke to see George Washington's face on that same sign: he not only slept for 20 years, he slept through a revolution that changed the course of history.

The closing words of King's address are as relevant today as they were nearly fifty years ago: "Let us stand up.  Let us be a concerned generation.  Let us remain awake through a great revolution.  And we will speed up that great day when the American Dream will be a reality."

Winter Term

Oberlin's unique Winter Term encourages and enables students to discover the value of self-education and take advantage of unstructured time outside of classes to learn.  There is an emphasis on experimentation and creativity, intellectual independence, and personal responsibility. 

Melanie, one of our first-year players, is undertaking a cooking project.  If you know Melanie, I'm sure you wonder as I do what she's like near a hot stove or sharp knife.  But so far, with her mother's guidance and careful eye, Melanie seems to be seeing success.  Follow her along her journey.

White Squirrels?

Gray squirrels abound in parks and wooded areas across the country.  Many cities are known for their famous black squirrels. But unless you've been to Oberlin, you've probably never seen a white squirrel before.  And while they seem a rare thing to visitors, I can assure you that there is no shortage of the little critters here.  Our unofficial mascot, the white squirrels like to stay in Tappan Square but have been spotted close to the gym and even running the football stadium stairs!