Tony Cabasco
Director of Admission

Tony Cabasco originally intended to use his Whitman physics major to become a professor. But now, instead of lecturing college students about kinematics and unification theories, he has put his passion for problem solving and teaching to work as Whitman’s director of admission. “In many way,” he says, “helping prospective students and their families find the right college allows me to be an educator and a counselor.”

A 1990 Whitman graduate, Cabasco was born in Vietnam and lived in the Philippines and Nigeria before attending high school in Olympia, Washington. Graduating from Whitman with a minor in Chinese, he was selected to participate in the Whitman in China program. He spent a year teaching English at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xian.

Upon his return to the U.S., Cabasco worked in Whitman’s Seattle admission office before attending the University of Washington, where he received a master’s degree in Chinese history and politics.

In 1998 Cabasco returned to work for the Whitman admission office, this time on campus, because of his love for the liberal arts college environment, he says. Appointed director of admission two years ago, he manages day-to-day office activities, as well as interviewing prospective students and organizing events for admission visitors. He finds his position challenging. “It’s broader in scope than my previous work. You are always looking at the big picture.” This spring, the admission office has been especially busy, he notes, with 15 percent more applicants than at this time last year.

Cabasco and his wife, Megan, ’92, an editor for Coffey Communications in Walla Walla, have been married for eight years. The couple met while attending Whitman, where Megan was a psychology major. Tony and Megan — and their “loquacious” two-year-old daughter Hannah — enjoy Whitman basketball games and taking walks around the campus. Hannah’s favorite location is the coffeehouse stage at Reid Campus Center, where she can occasionally coax her father into a rare public dancing performance. “I think she’s a future theater major,” warns Cabasco.

— Mo Brady, ’03

Polly Powers
Director of Alumni Relations

Seventeen years is a long time between visits. Polly Campbell Powers, ’83, the administrative coordinator with the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association in Virginia, hadn’t been back to Whitman College since graduation. In 2000, however, she returned to campus on a whim while visiting friends in the Northwest. Struck by the numerous architectural renovations and beautiful campus grounds, she was intrigued a month later by the arrival of a Whitman postcard advertising a job opening for director of alumni relations. “I’m moving to Walla Walla!” was her immediate thought. Since she had considered a job change after the death of her husband, Doug, in 1999, coming home to Whitman seemed like the right decision.

As director of alumni relations, Powers coordinates educational and recreational programs to help alumni maintain their connection to the College. Recruiting volunteers for the alumni board, reunions, and clubs is another major priority. Hearing alumni reminisce about their student years is the best part of her job, she notes. As a Whitman graduate, she knows firsthand the value of Whitman traditions that have enriched student life over the years, whether it’s May Fete for one gen-eration or Renaissance Faire for another.

Powers, originally from Baltimore, Maryland, transferred to Whitman in 1981 from the University of Maryland, College Park, seeking a small, liberal arts school outside the region. Part of the appeal of returning to Whitman, according to Powers, who majored in sociology, is seeing the “sheer physical beauty of the campus, with its whimsical art and flowering shrubs.” Sharing her enthusiasm for the campus is her 16-year-old stepson Kyle, who is considering Whitman among other college choices.

For recreation, Powers counts gardening and reading as favorite pastimes. A lifelong Baltimore Orioles baseball fan, she attends home games from time to time when traveling to the East Coast.

Blending innovation with tradition, Powers revived — and revised — a summer college program. Summer College 2002 will feature presentations on Walla Walla wines. Powers acknowledges the contribution this industry has brought to the region. “We are blessed with what we have in this valley,” she says.

— Chris Bishop, ’79