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Au revoir, Madame Ciholas
“Renaissance woman” retires
When Stephanie Kimbro ’98 learned that Karin Ciholas, Van Winkle Professor of Language, would be retiring in December after 33 years at Centre, she articulated what many of Ciholas’ former students feel: “I can’t imagine the College without her there.”
What Madame Ciholas—as Hillary Monroe ’05 affectionately calls her—brings to her classes is something Kimbro calls contagious.
“I saw that she was this amazingly talented scholar, artist, writer, parent, and wife—just such a renaissance woman,” says Kimbro, now a lawyer in Wilmington, N.C.
Long after Ciholas’ students graduate—some remaining with the languages they’ve studied and some not—they remember most clearly three aspects of Ciholas’ influence: her classroom enthusiasm, her compassion outside the world of academia, and her amazing abilities with German and French.
Shannon Ecton Saunier ’78 and her daughter, Mary Jane Saunier ’07, both met Ciholas as freshmen.
The love and passion Ciholas had for her students and for teaching were the main reasons Shannon Saunier majored in French.
Twenty-nine years later, her daughter also experienced the Ciholas touch.
“Dr. Ciholas knew exactly how to balance challenging classes with care and compassion for her students’ work,” says the younger Saunier, an international studies major who works for her sorority’s national organization.
Wes Fugate ’02 describes his first French class with Ciholas as overwhelming. “She spoke not a single word of English,” Fugate says, except to note that she would be speaking little English during the term.
“I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m not going to make it,’” Fugate says. But Ciholas told him she would gladly work with him.
“And she did,” says Fugate, who is now with the Kentucky Governor’s Office. “I can’t think of a person who has touched as many lives at Centre.”
Nute Bonner ’00 remembers first meeting Ciholas on the streets of Strasbourg when she was directing Centre’s program
in France.
“She seamlessly switched from speaking English to us, French to the French, and then German to the Germans,” Bonner says. “I remember thinking, ‘I want to be able to do that!’”
Ciholas, who grew up in Switzerland, was instrumental in setting up Centre’s program in Strasbourg, a multi-lingual city on the border with Germany.
Bonner’s favorite memory of Ciholas occurred in 1998 when she won the Acorn Award, an honor given annually to Kentucky’s most outstanding professor. Ciholas had asked him to introduce her to the audience.
Many of Ciholas’ students found her also to be an inspiration outside the classroom. Charley Upton ’77 remembers her thoughtful customary gesture of inviting her students into her home.
“I still remember being impressed by her paintings, the books she authored, the delicious French food,” recalls Upton, a youth counselor in Tucson. “I witnessed several students, including myself, catch on fire with interest in her classes.”
Robert Paxton ’86 also enjoyed invitations to the Ciholas home. “I had no idea until then that she was an accomplished artist,” Paxton says. “She had painted a beautiful mural on the wall near the entrance to her home.”
Sarah Eskridge ’02 remembers a certain incident during one of Ciholas’ Bastille Day celebrations. “I was shocked to see Dr. Ciholas toss a glassful of champagne at [Spanish professor] Mary Daniels, fifties-cinema style!” Eskridge says. “Mary totally deserved it, though. Who shouts ‘ ¡Viva España!’ at a party with French people?”
What Ciholas’ students remember most, however, is her talent and passion for getting them to love languages as much as she does.
“Karin is quintessentially Centre,” says Kevin Taylor ’85, of New York City. “She contributes a depth and richness to Centre’s faculty and to students’ experiences that bring the world closer to our doorsteps.”
Ciholas’ reflections on her own career at Centre are quite simple: “It was always about the students,” she says.
And it is teaching eager new students to love language—as she has done with so many at Centre—that she will miss the most.
—Abby Malik
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