The Swellesley Report

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

Wellesley back to one Centennial Park: Babson to honor President Healey

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Babson College has decided to call what it has been referring to as Centennial Park, a campus centerpiece slated to debut this spring in celebration of the school’s 100th birthday, as Kerry Murphy Healey Park instead. The Wellesley park will be home to both the Babson Globe, which was recently moved there, and the Fountain of Flags that’s now in front of the school library.

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Rendering of the future Kerry Murphy Healey Park at Babson College

 

Not naming it Centennial Park is a good call: As we pointed out when we first heard about plans for Centennial Park, that name could be confused with Wellesley’s Centennial Reservation (a.k.a., Centennial Park). Why inadvertently send a bunch of aspiring business people off into the woods when they’re simply looking to hang out on campus?

We had faith that entrepreneurial-oriented Babson could be more creative than that. And why not give students a lesson in the fine art of naming rights to boot?

The park, funded through millions of dollars in donations, will honor outgoing Babson President Healey. The state’s former lieutenant governor became the school’s first female president six years ago.

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MORE: New Babson president co-founded Jiffy Lube, looks to make school even more well-oiled machine

“Birdy” to open at Sorenson Theater in Wellesley

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Birdy, Babson, WellesleyThe Commonwealth Shakespeare Theater in residence at Babson College will present “Birdy”, a play that explores the trauma young men carry back home from war.

WHEN: February 27, 2019 – March 10, 2019

WHERE: Carling-Sorenson Theater, Babson College, Wellesley

GET TICKETS: $15 – $40

In a Philadelphia suburb before World War II, Birdy spends his time collecting pigeons and canaries for his aviary. His best friend, Al, has more earthly interests like sports and girls, but is attracted to Birdy’s eccentricity, intelligence and commitment to his birds. But after both young men return from the war, they are forced to deal with the trauma of their experiences, both physical and psychological.

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Birdy examines the effects of war on young lives, a topic that is just as relevant today as it was decades ago. The story also offers hope in the possibility of powerful friendships to heal the psychological wounds of war after the physical wounds have healed.

Contains adult language and brief nudity.

Adapted by Naomi Wallace from the novel by William Wharton

Directed by Steven Maler

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DATES:

Wednesday, February 27 at 7:30pm
Thursday, February 28 at 7:30pm
Friday, March 1 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 2 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 3 at 3:00pm
Thursday, March 7 at 7:30pm
Friday, March 8 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 9 at 3:00pm
Saturday, March 9 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 10 at 3:00pm

[Read more…]

Babson Globe moves sloooowly to new campus home

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Babson College’s iconic 25-ton globe on Wednesday morning got a lift from a flatbed truck across campus from its temporary location at a parking lot to its new permanent home at the work-in-progress Centennial Park slated for opening this spring.

babson globe white

The Babson Globe currently resembles a giant snowball more than a map of the world, but it is being restored so that it can serve as a centerpiece for the park, which will commemorate the school’s 100th year in existence. Babson moved the Globe’s mechanical base to the park last month.

The Babson Globe itself has been around since 1955 and the 28-feet-in-diameter sphere is one of the largest of its kind.

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How many Babson presidents does it take to have a fireside chat?

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Babson College will celebrate its centennial year in 2019 by bringing together a slew of its current/former/future presidents for what it’s boldly describing as an “historic Fireside Chat” on Feb. 8 from 4:30-6pm at the Sorenson Center for the Arts on campus. Portraits of the presidents will be revealed at the event.

FDR fireside chat, national archives
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, delivering a Fireside Chat (photo via National Archives)

 

Presidents Emeriti Ralph Sorenson, William Dill, William Glavin, Leo Higdon, Jr., Brian Barefoot, and Leonard Schlesinger are slated to join outgoing President Kerry Healey and President-Elect Stephen Spinelli to swap stories and learnings at the event, which is free and open to the public. A reception will follow for alumni, parents and friends.

Babson founder Roger Babson actually ran for president against Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the original Fireside Chatter, back in 1940.

MORE: A brief history of Wellesley and the U.S. Presidency

 

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Wellesley number cruncher rates Patriots’ chances to win Super Bowl

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Babson College has passed along the following analysis of the New England Patriots’ chances to win Super Bowl LIII from business analytics Prof. Rick Cleary:

Babson College Prof. Rick ClearyWhat are the chances the Patriots will win the Super Bowl?  Your answer to that question depends on what you think is important background information.  Here are four different ways to look at the game:

-If you think the Las Vegas odds and betting line are good predictors, then you think that the Patriots have a little better than 50% chance of winning.  A 2.5 point favorite wins their NFL game about 55% of the time.

-If you think experience matters, there have been 23 SuperBowls since the AFL/NFL merger in which one team has appeared in at least one Super Bowl in the previous five years (like the Patriots have) and the other team has not (like the Rams this year.)  The experienced team has won 14 of those 23 games, or 61%.

-Nervous because the Rams (13-3) had a better regular season record than the Pats (11-5)?  In the last 10 Super Bowl there were three in which the teams had the same regular season record.  But in the other seven the team with the better regular season record lost five times! 

-If you want to give the Rams the edge, can you find some data that supports your pick?  Sure! ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) is one of the most sophisticated and time tested models in the business and if gives the Rams a 51% chance of winning.  

Some might think that these are examples that “you can prove anything with statistics”, but to those of us study analytics, all of the above are mere suggestions.  We look hard at how reliable various predictors are, how large a sample they are based on, and how well the conditions match the current game.  

My own bottom line?  Any reasonable analysis suggests this is a very close game.  Looking at all the models as an “ensemble” we might make the Patriots slight favorites, with their probability of winning just a little over 50%.  Of course last year looking at similar evidence I said their probability of winning was 65%.  The Eagles had different ideas.

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