ALUMNI CONNECTION
Alumna tapped to head Forest Service
Abigail Kimbell ’74, who earned her UVM bachelor’s degree in forest management, is the new head of the U.S. Forest Service and the first woman in that national leadership role. She oversees 191 million acres of national forests with a staff of thirty thousand employees and a nearly $5 billion budget.
Kimbell expands the roster of UVM women who have pioneered top positions in federal natural resource agencies: Molly Beattie, who received a master’s degree from UVM, was the first woman to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 1993 until her death in 1996.
“Natural resource fields have traditionally been dominated by men,” said Carl Newton, associate dean in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. “We’re a small forestry program in a modest-sized school. Gail’s appointment, following Molly Beattie’s, is an outstanding affirmation of what we do.”
Newton was a new professor at UVM when Kimbell was a senior. He recalls that she was one of three intrepid students in the winter of 1973-74 who lived in the then run-down farmhouse at UVM’s research forest station in Jericho, making the trek to campus despite unplowed roads.
Kimbell began her career in the federal government as a forester with the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon, then worked her way up the ranks of the Forest Service, most recently as the regional forester of the agency’s northern region, headquartered in Missoula, Montana. She also has served as forest supervisor of the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and the Comanche National Grasslands, Colorado, as well as for Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest and Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
Kimbell is sure to face many challenges in her new role. The Forest Service has amassed a more than $300 million maintenance backlog, many environmental groups object to her championing the Bush administration’s Healthy Forest Initiative, and she inherits a complex set of legal issues surrounding the repeal of roadless area designations put in place during the Clinton administration.
“She has worked in all sorts of challenging positions,” Newton said, “and the Forest Service thinks she is doing very well.”Kilik production
Babel takes Golden Globe
Film producer Jon Kilik ’78 took the stage at last January’s Golden Globe Awards when Babel, his latest project to hit the theaters, won best picture in the drama category. The film also earned seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture, and took the Oscar for best original score.
Kilik has a long-standing working relationship with Spike Lee and has worked with many other major talents of the film industry such as Robert Altman, Tim Robbins, Julian Schnabel, and Robert DeNiro. On Babel, he collaborated with Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
In an interview with the online publication BoxOfficeGuru.com, Kilik commented on the logistics of helping to create Babel, an ambitious, international film.
“For me, I want to learn something and challenge myself,” Kilik said. “I've been doing this for over twenty years and this was absolutely the ultimate challenge as a producer to do something that was happening simultaneously in three continents and in four languages with local crews and discovering new actors in different countries. It was the greatest challenge of my career. So I asked for it, and I got it! I’m just proud of the movie. It’s certainly more enjoyable when it succeeds because of how hard you had to work to get there.”Don't be shy, network
At a January event in New York for young alumni and current students, Lynn Ackerman Berger ’80 focused on the importance of career networking. Berger is a Manhattan-based career counselor, consultant, and personal coach. She’s also the author of a recent book, The Savvy Part-Time Professional. For those who didn’t have the good fortune to hear Berger in NYC, we recently caught up with her for a few networking tips. For more career wisdom: lynnberger.com.
VQ: People generally know that networking is important to starting and advancing a career, but do they put that knowledge into action?
Berger: Some do and some do not. Many people fear networking due to lack of knowledge of how to network and general personality tendencies such as introversion and shyness. They need to be taught how to network in a way that is comfortable to them
VQ: Are there misconceptions that people have about networking in regard to how it’s done, why it’s done, or its value?
Berger: Yes. many people think it is obnoxious and rude to ask others to help you. One needs to understand it is common practice in business and job searches if done in the right manner.
VQ: How can a recent grad who might not feel connected enough in a field to network get started with networking?
Berger: Join a professional association. Consult the Encyclopedia of Associations for a listing of associations in your field.
VQ: How important is a common affiliation (say, sharing the experience of having attended UVM) to opening some doors?
Berger: Very valuable and students need to be encouraged to contact past alumni.
Photo by Sally McCay
Who's on the line?
When student callers for the UVM Fund (AKA “Chatty Cats”) ring, it’s a call to support UVM, of course. But, for alumni and parents, it’s also a chance to check in with a current undergrad and get a feel for the mood of campus and what’s on students’ minds. We decided to check in with one of the callers and put a face with that voice on the phone.
Chatty Cat Nicky Statham is a microbiology major from South Newfane, Vermont. She loves UVM’s hilltop setting and walking to classes with views of both the Adirondacks and Green Mountains, and is excited that the University’s new construction is adhering to high standards for “green” buildings. She admits to more than a little trepidation when she began her work as a student caller. “I was terrified. However, after a while you realize that the alums aren’t looking to bite your head off, and most of them are pretty psyched about what's happening at UVM.” Statham says the strangest request she received on the phone was from a UVM mother who asked if she would take her son (who lived in Nicky’s residence hall) out on a date. No report on her answer.
More information: alumni.uvm.edu/chattycatsBossie?
You can do better
You can name your kid, your cat, even your car if that’s your thing. But the chance to name a cow doesn’t come along every day. Here’s your chance. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni and Friends’ Silent Auction is offering “naming rights” to a Holstein calf born at the UVM Farm this spring, just one of a number of fun and interesting items offered for advance, online bidding. Proceeds will benefit CALS undergraduate scholarships.
The actual auction will take place during the fourteenth annual Alumni and Friends’ celebration on Saturday, May 12, at the Shelburne Farms Coach Barn. To bid on selected items, check out the full offerings, learn details of the event, and buy tickets, visit uvm.edu/cals or contact Robin Smith, 802-656-0321, Robin.Smith@uvm.eduALUMNI PROFILE
Vicki Heavner Cody ’75
Life during wartime
These days, Vicki Cody ’75 isn’t totally comfortable with the sound of a phone ringing. Not many people with loved ones off to war are. But Cody is as experienced at coping with this agonizing situation as anyone, having spent the last thirty years married to Gen. Dick Cody, vice chief of staff, U.S. Army, and living through his deployments to war zones throughout the world.
As a parent, she’s also faced the reality of war. One day last August as Cody was talking about her book, Your Soldier, Your Army: A Parent’s Guide, the phone rang. Worried about her sons, Tyler, 26, and Clint, 28, both captains in the U.S. Army serving third tours in Iraq, Cody was quick to hold the interview for a moment. It’s Tyler on the line, and when the relieved mother eventually returned to the subject at hand she said, “You never really get used to it. But I’ve learned ways to deal with it over the past thirty years. I never dreamt my little book would be so helpful to people who have never experienced the emotions of having a spouse or child deployed.”
Initially, the Association of the United States Army printed ten thousand copies of Cody’s book. But, with demand running high, more than 110,000 copies have been distributed and a Spanish language edition is in the works. The volume also has drawn media attention from CNN and The New York Times.
It would be difficult to find an author better suited to this assignment than Vicki Cody. She married into Army life three months after graduating from UVM, where her future husband used to visit from West Point with his high-and-tight haircut during an era on college campuses when long hair was in and the military, well, wasn’t exactly in. Regardless, Cody says her friends were intrigued by their courtship and looked forward to Dick’s visits. Cody spent the next part of her life moving around the country and learning how to cope with weeks passing without a word from her husband, whose deployments included Operation Desert Storm.
Now, with her sons in Iraq, it’s a new kind of worry. “It’s been a whole different role for me with my sons being deployed,” Cody says. “My younger son is coming home soon. He has a wife and a baby. Deployments take their toll on everyone.”
Cody’s book takes readers through the entire deployment process, starting with a description of what it’s like to have a soldier in your family and the pride and fear that comes with it. She includes a checklist for families—how to get through a deployment, the return, and all of the associated emotions and stresses. She also suggests ways for families to get involved in support groups and has advocated for more Army programs to help families.
(for UVM staff)