Celebrating Fred Kollett's life -- there is so much to celebrate!
I saw Fred a week ago, on Monday evening, at the hospital. His
hand was warm and his grip strong as I told him that with the
encouragement of some faculty, the President of the college and
I were going to ask the Board of Trustees to name the Academic
Computing Center the Kollett Computing Center. Fred was truly
overwhelmed, said that he didn't know how to thank me, and I told
him that no thanks were needed--he had earned this. On Saturday,
at its meeting, the Board unanimously approved naming the center
in memory of Fred and stood in silence for a moment of tribute
to him.
There is no question that this action is fully justified and
that without Fred Wheaton's history as a technologically-rich,
computer-friendly campus would be a very different one.
Fred Kollett came to Wheaton in 1979 as the first Director
of the Computer Literacy Project, a title transformed in 1981
to the Director of Academic Computing. From the beginning he was
a self-starter who developed collaborative relationships with
every constituency of the college. From 1979-82 he presided over
a time-sharing system with terminal access to the DEC PDP 11/70
and from 1983-87 he introduced us to the universe of microcomputers.
With a faculty committee, Fred moved us to encourage student and
faculty ownership through a college sales program and interest-free
loans for faculty.
In the summers of 1985 and 1986 Fred, who had been trained
as a mathematician, did post-doctoral study at Clarkson at the
Institute for retraining in Computer Science so he could develop
a Computer Science curriculum here at Wheaton.
The Odyssey from two rooms in Knapton to the beautiful space
that academic computing now occupies was led by Fred who oversaw
every detail of the transformation. But buildings and facilities
alone would not have gotten us very far, and from the very beginning
Fred recognized the importance of faculty and student support
and development. From 1988-93 when Fred's emphasis was on networking
the campus and providing access to an extensive software collection,
campus-wide e-mail and internet directly to desks in every office,
Fred and his staff offered workshops in e-mail, Hypercard and
Laser Disc Interfacing, the Internet, Software Development, Spreadsheets
and Data Bases, Statistical packages, System Dynamics, and Word
Processing. And if this were not enough, Fred continued teaching
in the Math Department where, in partnership with the department
he introduced and taught an entire computer science curriculum
including Structured Programming, Data Structures, Algorithms,
Intro to System Dynamics, among others. Fred was intent on putting
a computer on every faculty desk--in the early days these computers
were assigned competitively according to how compelling a case
each faculty member could make. In more recent years, he was concerned
with replacements, enhancements and upgrades. Little by little,
even those of us in the community who were still writing with
a quill succumbed to what was Fred's quiet, passionate conviction
that this is the way it was going to be. He was the best and the
least threatening teacher I have ever had--no question was ever
too trivial to take seriously, and what's more, he made House
Calls for which I and countless others will be forever grateful.
Fred's work with our student Balfour Scholars accounts for
the fact that so many of these gifted students accepted our offers
of admission. Fred's standards were always high and he felt honored
to participate in Wheaton's Pew-sponsored Round Table discussions
including those on maintaining high standards. In one discussion
on developing reflective learners, Fred confessed he was afraid
students would pay too little attention to learning and too much
to reflecting.
Fred received national recognition for his work, and Wheaton's
"Computer Literacy Project" was cited by a national
foundation as one of its Notable Programs.
Fred wrote me in 1995, "I would like to see Technology
in Teaching and Learning become a priority of the College and
I would like to be part of encouraging faculty, where appropriate,
to become involved in this effort." He accomplished both.
Fred's lasting legacy to the Wheaton Community is that he led
us into the 21st Century--not kicking and screaming, but confident
and purposeful. He was a dreamer and a doer, a tenacious and tender
teacher of teachers. He was truly a man for all seasons, and we
will miss him in all seasons.
On April 11th Fred and I will not freeze at McCoy; Fred and
I will not freeze at Fenway April 11th. We could have frozen twice
the same day - that is, if we had thawed between times.
Fred was my closest baseball pal. During the winter, after
lunch we would sit in the Faculty Dining Room and go over the
Red Sox bit by bit. Fred started as an optimist on the Red Sox.
I made him a pessimist - with the help I got from the Red Sox,
that was not difficult.
But Fred could be broad-minded. He gave me my Atlanta Braves
wrist watch. Last Christmas, with his best computer technique,
he gave me this wonderful book of scoresheets for the Pawsox.
Fred produced great aphorisms. "Baseball is the one game
where you can talk all the time and still know what is going on."
And we sure lived up to that.
With Fred I saw more games that with anyone else: McCoy, Fenway,
Camden Yards. Linda used to arrive with the Sunday newspaper but
we whipped her into shape. His mother went with us until she was
94. At the last game at Fenway in August, a horrendous 12-10 affair,
Fred pronounced, "Sele will not do."
Fred could beat me in tennis. I took him to the Longwood Cricket
Club to play on the grass. I figured I might beat him before he
got used to it. It did not work.
For years Fred took 6 or 7 of us to Hartford in November to
see the Celtics. All by short cuts. I was glad it was dark so
I could assume we were going in the right direction.
But our greatest moment was Camden Yards. The husband of a
Wheaton alumna was a limited partner of the Orioles. She offered
me a ticket. I said, "I'll take three." Fred and Chris
drove all the way from Boston. They arrived in the second, by
the batter's circle, before I did. He got great pleasure because
the ushers kept coming back to check to see if he belonged in
such an important place. Incidentally the Yankees won, 2-1. After
the game, pouring rain. We drove back to Scranton. Fred considerately
put me in the back seat so I could sleep. I had no intention of
sleeping. Shortly, Fred said that Chris would like to sleep. We
traded places - and Fred had no chance to doze off.
For me Fred was sheer pleasure. Every time I was with him my adrenalin was pumping.
Thank you Fred, for so many good times and good memories.
Last update 5/97