The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Wellesley’s newest sculpture: Roger Babson in bronze

by Leave a Comment

As a prestigious business and entrepreneurship school, Babson College in Wellesley adores its muckety-mucks. Earlier this year the school revealed new portraits of its presidents and named a new park hosting its famous globe for immediate past-President Kerry Murphy Healey.

Now the school has introduced a life-size, nearly 900-pound bronze sculpture of larger-than-life college founder Roger Babson at that same park. The pose commemorates Babson’s globe dedication in 1955.

roger babson sculpture
Roger Babson sculpture at Babson College (photo by Lara Smith)

 

The Babson sculpture makes for a nice addition to Wellesley’s overall outdoor art gallery, which includes quite a few on the Babson Campus.

We want a gold sculpture: Here’s how to Advertise and/or Donate to support our independent journalism venture

Share

Babson hosting interactive program to help you ID cultural blind spots

by Leave a Comment

To help students and local residents explore their unconscious biases, Babson College is hosting the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion’s Check Your Blind Spots tour on Sept. 10 from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm.

The program uses virtual reality, gaming technology and additional interactive formats to give participants better perspective on cultural biases that others face.

The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, which promotes workplace fairness, is backed by hundreds of executives.

Share

Babson gets into “I Care a Lot” movie act, too

by Leave a Comment

Just when we thought we’d exhausted the “I Care a Lot” movie filming in Wellesley story, we were sent photos from a Swellesley reader who came across the crew at Babson College.

The Babson Executive Conference Center was temporarily renamed “Berkshire Oaks Senior Living,” and names on trailers included Desi and Lucy.

The summary for I Care a Lot on IMDB reads: “A legal guardian discovers that her seemingly perfect client is not who they appear to be.”

Has anyone in town snagged a cameo in the film?

babson moviebabson movie

Share

Isaac Newton papers returning home to Babson

by Leave a Comment

Selected items from a huge collection of Sir Issaac Newton’s papers and memorabilia will return to Babson College in Wellesley in September for an exclusive showing. The collection of writings, engravings and other Newtonia assembled by Grace Babson (the wife of school founder Roger Babson) has been on loan to Huntington Library in California.

The materials will be displayed at the Sorenson Center for the Arts on Sept. 20-21 as part of Babson’s continuing centennial  celebration and you must pre-register if you want to check them out. A Sept. 22 lecture titled “Forces of Genius: Newton, Babson, and Huntington, from Nature’s Laws to Entrepreneurship and Enterprise,” will be delivered by Huntington Library curators (RSVP to lecture).

Roger Babson incorporated Newtonian Physics, such as the third law of motion (“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”), into personal and business endeavors, according to the school.

One continuing reminder of Newton on Babson’s campus is a grove of apple trees located between Tomasso Hall and Lunder Admission Center. They are said to be descendents of the famous tree that Newton claimed inspired his theory of gravitation.

Isaac Newton Apple Tree Babson
Babson used to single out this special Newton apple tree
Share

Babson College and Commonwealth Shakespeare Company to part ways

by Leave a Comment

Babson CollegeIt seems like only yesterday that Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) came to Babson College in a partnership designed to sync up the arts with the entrepreneurship education programs at the 4-year private business school. As the college’s resident theater company since 2013, the nonprofit CSC devoted significant resources to Babson’s arts and academic programs. The idea was bolster the College’s efforts to enhance the natural synergies between entrepreneurship and the arts. Steven Maler served as director of Babson’s Sorenson Center for the Arts. The start of the partnership coincided with the naming of new Babson President Kerry Healey in 2013, who at the time had been on CSC’s board for five years. The end of the partnership coincides with Healey’s recent departure from Babson.

The two groups reassessed their partnership from time to time. Back in 2016 Babson and CSC extended their work relationship for three more years, and CSC continued to serve as the school’s resident theater company. Which takes us to 2019, and the recent announcement according to the Boston Globe that as of January 2020, Babson will no longer have CSC around to ensure that the arts and business continue to co-mingle and benefit from one another there. Babson will, however, put up big sponsorship bucks for one more summer of free Shakespeare on the Boston Commons. Mark your calendars for The Tempest, summer 2020.

On a personal note

We’ve greatly appreciated CSC’s cultural additions to Wellesley, and have had the good fortune to attend many performances over the years. Our favorites: Birdy and the athleticism of lead actor Spencer Hamp and the steampunk stage sets; when the 5-time Grammy award-winning jazz collective Maria Schneider Orchestra played to a sold-out house of knowledgeable and appreciative audience members; the tragic history lesson of Our American Hamlet; the time actor Seth Gilliam, who played Father Gabriel on Walking Dead, was in the house; and the magical and contemporary Romeo & Juliet on the Boston Commons.

Thanks for bringing amazing theater and music to Wellesley, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. “If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; If not, why then, this parting was well made.” — Julius Caesar.

Share