Ursinus College

John Strassburger, 68, president of Ursinus College, died this morning at a hospital after a long battle with cancer, college officials said. Strassburger resigned June 30 for personal and health reasons after 16 years at the helm of the Collegeville school, but he had been serving as president emeritus, while the college continued a search for his replacement. Arrangements are not yet available. The school saw dramatic growth and improved prestige as a model liberal arts institution under Strassburger's leadership.

Ending an eight-month search for a new president, the Ursinus College board of directors has selected a historian and college dean with degrees from Bates College, Cambridge University and Princeton to lead the Montgomery County college. John R. Strassburger, dean and executive vice president for academic affairs at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., will assume the president's post on New Year's Day. He will replace Richard P. Richter, a 1953 graduate of the school, who will become its president emeritus.

At freshman orientation this fall, Ursinus College told incoming students there was a "no-tolerance policy on no tolerance. " That policy is being tested now as the small suburban liberal-arts college holds disciplinary hearings for a student who wore blackface to a campus-sponsored Halloween party and another who created a website asking students to rank one another as "hot or crazy. " Both incidents were quickly condemned by administrators and student leaders, who held town-hall meetings to air their grievances.

Great Valley High School graduate Dave Durst, a senior economics major at Ursinus College, is the captain of the Bears' 1988-89 wrestling team for the third straight season. Durst, who usually wrestles at 167 pounds, entered this season with 80 career victories, 10 short of the school record held by former all-American Greg Gifford (1977-81). With a perfect 9-0 mark so far this season, he's within one of the record. Last season, Durst had a record of 25-5-1 and finished third in the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships.

Ursinus College in Collegeville has closed the books on its "The Next Step" fund-raising campaign with $39.6 million raised. The goal had been $39 million. The campaign, launched in June 1992, was the largest in the college's 125- year-history, surpassing the combined total of all previous campaigns. Thomas G. Davis of Radnor and Cambridge, England, and John E.F. Corson of Plymouth Meeting were co-chairmen. The total includes nine gifts of more than $1 million, among them a $5.37 million grant from the F.W. Olin Foundation for the construction of F.W. Olin Hall, the college's new humanities building.

BACK IN January 2009, John Strassburger found himself seated next to a college freshman on a train ride to Philadelphia - and having to bite his tongue. The freshman was talking proudly about how he was majoring in finance and real estate. "I was far too polite to say what I really thought," said Strassburger, then president of Ursinus College. Writing about the experience in the Inquirer, Strassburger said, "I cannot help but think that, while conventional wisdom might hold that we need students thinking about careers for the good of the economy, our country really needs students thinking about big ideas.

It's been a roller-coaster few months for Ursinus College, the small liberal-arts school with big ambitions tucked into the bucolic Montgomery County countryside. In September, the 1,750-student campus mourned the death of former president John R. Strassberger, the consummate gentleman scholar and academic leader, who transformed Ursinus from a good regional school to a nationally recognized institution. Then last weekend, something to celebrate: Aakash Shah, a 2010 graduate now studying at Harvard Medical School, was named the college's first Rhodes scholar.

Ursinus College in Collegeville kicks off its 125th anniversary celebration today, marking the granting of its charter by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on Feb. 5, 1869. The first of a year's worth of festivities begins at 2 p.m. in Bomberger Auditorium with a Founder's Day convocation featuring State Sen. Richard A. Tilghman (R., Montgomery) and an expanded academic procession in which representatives of 50 colleges and universities will march. The public is invited. Ursinus President Richard P. Richter will present honorary degrees to Tilghman; the Rev. Thomas E. Dipko, executive vice president of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, United Church of Christ, and Carol K. Haas, Class of 1970, former president of the college Alumni Association and an executive at the DuPont Co. Dipko will receive an honorary doctor of divinity degree, and Haas will receive an honorary doctorate of science.

Four artists from around the world are participating in an eight-week residency program in Bucks County to explore the fine art of wood turning. Examples of their work will be on display at the Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College through Sept. 29. The artists - from France, Australia, Oregon and Pennsylvania - began their residencies at George School in Middletown Township in June. The annual program, sponsored by the Wood Turning Center of Philadelphia, gives artists the opportunity to share methods and ideas by working individually and together using a lathe.

The Perkiomen Valley school board may appeal a county Board of Assessment Appeals decision that Ursinus College and the 4-H Foundation in Skippack are tax-exempt. The issue is on the school board agenda for its public meeting tomorrow night and a vote is expected on whether to appeal the July 1 ruling regarding Ursinus College and the 4-H Foundation, said attorney Wendy G. Rothstein of the Lansdale firm Pearlstine-Salkin Associates, hired by the school board. Rothstein is scheduled to meet with the board in executive session before the public meeting to discuss the issue.

Sunday Chamber music Violinist Erin Keefe is joined by violinist Arnold Steinhardt , violists Ida Kavafian and Steven Tenenbom , cellists Ronald Thomas and Peter Wiley , and pianist Anna Polonsky in a recital of works by Dvorak, Strauss, and Brahms at 3 p.m. at the Curtis Institute of Music , 1726 Locust St. Tickets are $28. Call 215-893-7902. . . . The Duo Parisienne plays works for violin and harp by Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Franz Drdla, Cesar Cui, and Ravel at 3 p.m. at the German Society , 611 Spring Garden St. Tickets are $20; $10 for students.

These days, instead of diagramming plays on a clipboard or leading afternoon practices, Dennis Stanton drives near and far to high school gyms along the East Coast. Such is life as a first-year basketball assistant at Ursinus College, where the 30-year-old was a prolific scorer. "I'd rather be in the gym, for sure," he said. "But recruiting comes with the territory. It's a big part of the job. " After two years an English teacher and coach of the boys' varsity at Souderton Area High, Stanton returned to Collegeville.

At freshman orientation this fall, Ursinus College told incoming students there was a "no-tolerance policy on no tolerance. " That policy is being tested now as the small suburban liberal-arts college holds disciplinary hearings for a student who wore blackface to a campus-sponsored Halloween party and another who created a website asking students to rank one another as "hot or crazy. " Both incidents were quickly condemned by administrators and student leaders, who held town-hall meetings to air their grievances.

Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe elected the following business and nonprofit professionals to its board: David Hoffman , a global funds manager at Brandywine Global Investments and member of the firm's executive board, is chair. Maria Papadakis , host and on-air personality for RAW, an arts and entertainment show. Ajay Raju , managing partner of the Philadelphia office of Reed Smith and a member of the firm's executive committee. Hal Real , owner of Real Entertainment Inc. Patricia Wellenbach , chief executive officer of Sandcastle Strategy Group.

Theater 1812 Productions: This Is The Week That Is Annual show poking fun at local & national current events. Closes 11/4. Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Pl.; 215-592-9560. 1812productions.org. $22. 7 Fingers: Sequence 8 Performance company from Montreal. Closes 9/23. Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St.; 215-893-1999. 7doigts.com. $20-$55. American Shakespeare Center: Twelfth Night One of Shakespeare's great comedies. Closes 9/24. Ursinus College - Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center, 601 Main St., Collegeville; 610-409-3795.

Sarah Howard Widman, 67, of Trappe, spokeswoman for Ursinus College from 1990 until she retired in 2009, died Tuesday, June 19, at Phoenixville Hospital of a myelodysplastic syndrome, which affects the blood and the bone marrow. Mrs. Widman was president in 2005 of the College and University Public Relations Association of Pennsylvania, now known as the Association of Communicators in Education. She earned its Don Hale Award for Service in 2009. Her husband, George, a retired photographer for the Associated Press in Philadelphia, said her work as a newspaper reporter in Upstate New York groomed her for her Ursinus career.

A former high school wrestling star at the Haverford School, a three-year wrestler at Ursinus College, a bright light in his job at NBC10 - taken by cancer, age 25. A second Ursinus graduate, another former star wrestler, just starting a new career - dead in a car accident, age 24. Dan Glover lost control of his Buick LeSabre on a snow-slickened Pennsylvania Turnpike at 10:02 a.m. Jan. 21. He was making his way to the 10:30 a.m. funeral service...

Ursinus College made a highly unusual move when it named Bobby Fong its president last year. Not because of his qualifications - he's brilliant, educated at Harvard, editor of a volume of poetry, a world authority on Oscar Wilde. It was unusual because Fong is Chinese American. And in the United States, Asians rarely get to be college presidents. "A friend asked me, 'Why are we workhorses and not show horses?' " said Roy Saigo, a Japanese American scholar and former head of schools in the South and in the Midwest.

JORDAN T. Baumeister was the kind of guy every business would like to have in its office: Eager, efficient, imaginative, funny and cheerful. What more could you want? Jordan applied those characteristics to his job as a production assistant for NBC 10, where he endeared himself to fellow workers and supervisors alike. "Jordan always put a positive spin on everything," said morning news manager Jennifer Wiggins. "He was an absolute joy. " Jordan, an outstanding athlete and champion wrestler in middle school, high school and college, was diagnosed with cancer while a sophomore at Ursinus College.