Bucknell Magazine

3,000 MILES A YEAR AND COUNTING

Carolyn Martin Argust ’64She might be 70, but Carolyn Martin Argust '64 (religion and sociology) can still power past 19-year-olds on hills. She's a familiar sight around her home in Rochester, N.Y., as she bikes the trails and back roads on her way to logging the 3,000 miles she commits to riding each year. Her annual one-week bike tour contributes significantly to the mileage. This year Argust rode around the entirety of Lake Ontario. She's also done bike tours in New England, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, the Outer Banks and Michigan.

Cycling is not a new love for Argust. Even as a youngster growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, she used to bike the five miles to the local library and at Bucknell she and her roommate Jean Drach Cramer '65 enjoyed taking leisurely rides together through the central Pennsylvania countryside. But it wasn't until 2000 that Argust became a serious cyclist. That was the year her sister, Mariann Weinstein, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and Argust signed up to ride in the local Bike MS Challenge, a weekend-long ride to raise funds for MS research.

"I was so nervous that first year I actually wore my helmet backwards, and I only rode 30 miles," she says. Argust has done the challenge every year since, but these days she completes the entire 100-mile round trip and has recruited a team of 40 people to ride with her. This year team MS Miles for Mariann raised $34,000.

Argust is an avid kayaker, too, an activity she enjoys with her husband, Tom '63, particularly at their summer home in the Finger Lakes region. Retired from her career as a public administrator for the City of Rochester, Argust devotes several hours each week to teaching English to Burmese refugees who have settled in upstate New York. The tutoring program she started through her church two years ago has grown from twice-a-week tutoring to a five-day-a-week offering that serves dozens of adult students.

  • Sawhill to offer fiscal advice April 24
    Nationally known budget expert Isabel Sawhill will give the talk, "Avoiding fiscal shoals in troubled political waters," April 24 at 7 p.m. in the Trout Auditorium of the Vaughan Literature Building.
  • Vernese Edghill-Walden ’87

    It's no exaggeration to say that attending Bucknell was a life-changing experience for Vernese Edghill-Walden '87, for the leadership opportunities she had in college are what led to her career in higher education administration.

  • Greaves: 'Lewisburg Architecture Project' Oct. 4
    Tom Greaves will discuss "The Lewisburg Architecture Project," Thursday, Oct. 4, at 4 p.m. in the Smith Library of the Vaughan Literature Building at Bucknell University.
  • Fixing the blight
    Student intern Harrison Mills, Class of ’14, is mapping blighted housing and social services in an effort to revitalize Sunbury, Pa.
  • Borges-Mendez April 5: 'Community Appraisals'
    Ramon Borges-Méndez will give the talk, "Community Appraisals and Characterization: People, Places, and Assets," Thursday, April 5, at 4 p.m. in Walls Lounge of the Elaine Langone Center at Bucknell University.
  • Social scientist April 5: African-American roots tourism in Brazil
    Social scientist Patricia de Santana Pinho will give the talk, "African-American Roots Tourism in Brazil: Encounters in Sameness, Difference and Inequality," Thursday, April 5, at 7 p.m. in the Forum of the Elaine Langone Center at Bucknell University.
  • Griot Institute talk March 21 explores Jefferson's ideas of egalitarianism
    Anthropologist Eric Gable will give the talk, "Jefferson's Ardor: Sex, Race, and the Invention of Cultural Relativism," March 21 at 7 p.m. in the Forum of the Elaine Langone Center at Bucknell as part of the Griot Institute for Africana Studies' spring lecture series.
  • Dines is Distinguished Visiting Lecturer March 6
    Gail Dines will give the talk, "Sex, Identity and Intimacy in a Porn Culture," Tuesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. in the Forum of the Elaine Langone Center at Bucknell University.
  • Anthropologist: African heritage in Mexico Nov. 7
    Anthropologist Sagrario Cruz-Carretero will give the talk, "African Heritage in Mexico: Evidences of Distortion and Invisibility," Monday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Forum of the Elaine Langone Center at Bucknell University.
  • Bucknell to host River Symposium Oct. 14-15
    Bucknell University will host the Susquehanna River Symposium, "River towns in the 21st century: Supporting local development in the Susquehanna Valley by recognizing regional community assets," Oct. 14 and 15 in the Forum of the Elaine Langone Center.
  • 'Extreme Creativity' performative installation Oct. 1
    The Samek Art Gallery, The Griot Institute and the Presidential Arts Initiative at Bucknell University will host the performative installation, "Extreme Creativity: An Experiential, Experimental Endeavor," on Saturday, Oct. 1, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Gallery.
  • Ask the Experts: Alexander Riley on the cultural narrative of 9/11
    Alexander Riley, an associate professor of sociology, talks about the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and how our collective memory of the terrorist attacks has changed over time.
  • New bloggers to chronicle journeys abroad this fall
    Seven new study abroad bloggers will take flight this fall, sharing their off-campus learning adventures in words and pictures.
  • Legal 'free pass' for America's war contractors
    The theme of the midterm election was that there would be a day of reckoning. But reckoning appears to be a dim prospect these days for one group operating far from Washington: private military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Pop culture provides outlet for exploring violence
    Associate Professor of Sociology Alexander Riley argues in a new book that gangsta rap, violent video games and other popular culture are an outlet for transgression rather than an impetus for violence.
  • Ask the Experts: Beth Duckles on green building
    We asked Beth Duckles, assistant professor of sociology, about green building. Duckles studies the rapid rise of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and how it changed the building industry.
  • Alumnus author to discuss Armenian genocide April 8
    Author Peter Balakian, Class of 1973, will give the talk, "The Armenian Genocide and Modernity," on Thursday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Forum of the Elaine Langone Center
  • Film-maker to screen, discuss, documentary March 31, April 1
    Filmmaker Jonathan Fein will visit Bucknell University on March 31 and April 1 to screen and discuss his documentary, "Objects and Memory."