Roads Taken

The 25th-ish college reunion that many of the shows guests and host Leslie Jennings Rowley were able to attend this summer was a great chance to reconnect, and she felt as though that they were able to greet one another with a lot more authenticity this time around. It could have just been their slightly advanced age and the wisdom that comes with it. But enough people mentioned that having heard classmates’ stories ahead of time—where they shared their vulnerabilities, their twists and turns, their ups and downs—actually made jumping into the face-to-face feel a lot less surface and provided a deeper experience.

We are so glad to be launching another season of stories. Many of the stories from our prior seasons feature big pivots and we’ll hear a few more of those this time around, too. But we will also be hearing from many more people who have kind of held steady – either in a job or a family role – and still have been able to reinvent themselves in a variety of ways. As always, we hope these stories inspire you to reflect on the roads you’ve taken and realize much of the time, we are exactly where we’re supposed to be.

Season Three (Renumbered 7) kicks of Monday, September 12. At any time you can check out our back catalog and make suggestions for future episodes at RoadsTakenShow.Com.  But be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss anything new as we launch a new episode each week on Roads Taken.

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

The original aim of this podcast series was to tell the stories of many classmates of the Dartmouth Class of 1996 before our 25th reunion. Due to the postponement, we've had a chance to interview even more people than we thought we could. The Reunion is coming up next week and we can't wait to make even deeper connections in person in a live event and just through normal conversation. The show will be taking a much deserved hiatus.

But before we do take a break, we wanted to reflect on what we learned in our 100-plus conversations. First: Who we thought we would be and who we have become are usually not the same…at least when using that narrow interpretation of “becoming” to reflect our professional pursuits or our family unit make-up or things like that. Along the way, some windows were closed, some other doors opened, and we have mostly made our way to where we are NOW by taking those winding paths.

But WHO we really are…that’s more complicated. On one hand, I would say our guests’ stories these two years have shown that while our edges might have gotten honed by way of a personal wake-up call of some sort or another, under it ALL the Values we hold and WHAT we value the most, have generally remained stable over time. And yet, we’ve all changed a bit, too.

In the episode with Jonathon Stewart, we talked a lot about the evolution of people throughout their lives – even ourselves. As Stew put it “we do keep evolving as people. And there are things about ourselves that we may or may not know. [And] life is a continual journey of discovery.”

If you haven’t been doing this all along…we invite all of you listeners of this podcast to think about the ways you have evolved over the past however-many years. In what ways are you the same person you were a decade or two ago? In what ways are you different? How have the experiences you’ve had—both fabulous and challenging—impacted which parts of yourself you’ve leaned into? Are there any pieces of you that you left behind? Was that for the best, or is there a part of your past that you’re yearning to have the world get reacquainted with? What essential aspect of what makes you YOU…TODAY… is waiting to take on a larger role in your future? 

Whatever your answers, we hope you share them with the people you come across in your life. The other thing we’ve learned from this podcast is that you don’t have to have known someone to GET to know them. We are so grateful for all our guests who’ve let Leslie – and you – get to know them a little better through hearing their stories.

Although we’re going on hiatus, don't forget you can find the full archive of all the interviews and bonus features, show notes, and transcripts at RoadsTakenShow.com. 

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Guest Oliver Will was always good at math and when he got to college he figured he would parlay that into a science or engineering degree. While taking the mathematics prerequisites for a number of majors, he realized he liked the theoretical elegance of the math itself. And yet, he was interested in real-world applications, too. A course in bioethics introduced him to the idea of the computational work involved the human genome sequencing and the idea of bio-statistics. He applied to graduate programs straight from undergrad and got a PhD in applied mathematics.

As other guests on Roads Taken have discussed, a tight job market for academic positions is complicated by factors such as timing, geography, and luck. Although he’d thought the life of professor would suit him, after a rather unfulfilling postdoctoral fellowship, Oliver decided that the business world might be better suited for his skills and expertise. Unfortunately, his first experience was with a start-up that ran out of its funding, so he made one more return to the academic world—halfway around the globe—only to discover industry was probably the better fit. He became a statistician for a marketing company and continued using both big picture thinking and his applied skills to tackle everyday realities at a number of companies in a variety of fields.

While he got better at pivoting from his expected outcomes to the newer opportunities available to him in a business context,it was somewhat harder when the circumstances were personal. In this episode, find out from Oliver how sometimes sometimes envisioning a future and living into what's in front of you are two different things…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Oliver Will is has been a research scientist in advanced analytics for primary research at a number of companies, most recently Cerner Enviza, an Oracle company. He holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Southern California. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and their cats.

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Guest Brendan Doherty had entered college thinking he was a math and science person, was then drawn to government but his choice of major—geography—ultimately felt made for him when the government courses were all full. His post-college decision points, however, seemed to always weigh the balance between two weighty options. First he needed to decide whether he would stick with the favored idea of law school and not fully enjoy the work or choose a riskier unsure path. Then, when conflicting religious beliefs complicated his burgeoning relationship with a wonderful woman, he needed to decide whether they should break up or figure out a compromise. He weighed keeping a commitment to the Peace Corps with returning to a safer environment with loved ones and then whether to cut a west coast adventure short to move east or make a 5,000-mile trip to keep the California dream alive. Not always was the first choice the choice that stuck.

In this episode, find out from Brendan how sometimes just making any choice shows you, ultimately, the way to the right path…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Brendan Doherty is a Professor of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy. Fittingly for someone who was our class president for much of his time at college, he focuses his research and teaching on the U.S. presidency, campaigns, and elections. Brendan lives in the D.C. area with his wife and their two children.

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Lara Fowler about her tendency to become and remain curious about things, leading her to a wide variety of interests and ultimately into a career in water resource management.When the coronavirus pandemic hit, she had to wind down a year living in Sweden with her family and navigate her husband’s long covid symptoms on two continents. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Lara about this for a special covid-19 Bonus Episode of ROADS TAKEN.

For more on Lara's adventures in Sweden with husband Chris (Dartmouth '97) and their two kids, check out their blog, https://skoldpaddan.csfowler.com, including posts on the covid situation. 

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Clancy Rowley on a theme by Worth Rowley

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Guest Lara Fowler had been a cross-country ski racer and studied Japanese in high school in Portland, Oregon. She took those two pursuits to college and pursued them to their highest. With all of the language requirements and a study abroad program that she wanted to undertake, she had nearly completed a major in Asian Studies. But she also had a long-standing interest in water. So in fulfilling her distribution requirements, she found ways to study water from multiple angles, did off-campus research in the topic, and ultimately won a senior fellowship to devote her final year to writing a book on water policy, in effect creating her own second major in water resource management.

After graduation, she took a year to pursue ski racing but decided to hang up the skiis and get a job in the water world. Recognizing that much of the discourse around water intersected with the law, she went to law school and ultimately worked as a water mediator, bringing disparate voices together to find solutions in water allocation. When her husband got the academic job he had long wanted, she found a new way to apply her skills and spark new interests.

In this episode, find out from Lara how keeping curiosity alive and being willing to ask questions helps you move from novice to expert…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode's Guest

Lara Fowler is an attorney and mediator who focuses on environmental, energy, and natural resource law, with a specific focus on water-related issues. She has a joint appointment at Penn State Law where she teaches natural resource law and negotiations and the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment where she is working on questions related to water, the Chesapeake Bay, and systems-level behavioral change. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Guest John Strayer had figured his post-graduation life would find him either the author of the Great American Novel or dead. While his ambition was large, so was his problem with alcohol. His alcoholism made him limp along senior year. Luckily, as he says, he hit rock bottom soon thereafter and has been sober 25 years. While the Midwest was a good landing pad while he got his life back on track, he missed the pace and intellectualism of the east coast and picked up and moved to D.C. He knew law school would be in the cards, but he first worked for Senator Carl Levin (D-MI). The big fights to achieve small wins in the Senate grated on his ambition and sent him quickly to law school. At Georgetown, he was introduced early to criminal defense and he felt he had found a calling to match his inner crusader for the marginalized.

After an early experience on a high-exposure case, he landed in Maryland’s public defender’s office. Unfortunately, his undiagnosed ADD made sticking to court times and case load problematic and he was fired. Despite his often grasping the law better than those around him, subsequent jobs in the legal field didn’t pan out either. When a coach suggested that he think about making his outside hobby of carpentry into a paying job—and he got a taste of property management through being the president of his co-op board, he realized that working with his hands gave him a new route to helping others. In this episode, find out from John how being the smartest in the room isn't the only way to help people…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode's Guest

John Strayer is a former public defender who has found that working with his hands gets him in the zone far more than the law ever did. He is a property manager in Washington, DC, where he lives with and cooks for his wife.

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Last week, to mark both memorial day and our 96th full-length episode of Roads Taken, we presented the first in this two-part series in which we remember those classmates in Dartmouth’s Class of 1996 who have died.  Although their roads were too short, their stories stay with us.

In this second of two episodes, we remember nine of the nineteen classmates who have died:

Katherine Domingo

Grier Laughlin

Leigh Warren

Pei Lynn Yee

Maribel Sanchez Souther

Tom McClure

Andre Junior

Jason York 

Russell Dalferes

[A transcript of the brief remembrances is available.]

We remember our friends today and always.

If you have any additional words of remembrance for any of the classmates discussed on today’s episode, please visit the Roads Taken show page within Apple Podcasts and write a review filled with your memories. Or leave us a note through the Contact Us link at RoadsTakenShow.com.

May the memories of our time together and these lives that intertwined with ours be reminders to make the most of our time on Earth, and to be grateful for our own Roads Taken.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

On this memorial day, when the country mourns the loss of the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces, we join in the tradition of giving solemn thanks and remembrance. To mark our 96th full-length episode of Roads Taken, we are presenting this special Memorial Day episode in which we remember those classmates in Dartmouth’s Class of 1996 who have died. Only one of these classmates served in the U.S. military, though they all shared a spirit of service. Although their roads were too short, their stories stay with us.

In this first of two episodes, we remember ten of the nineteen classmates who have died:

Sarah Devens

Phil Deloria

Heidi Hatchel

John Higgins 

Dean Maragos

Christopher Ostoj

Jeremiah Thompson

John Cocoziello 

Kimberly Williams

Timothy Farrell

[A transcript of the brief remembrances is available.]

We remember our friends today and always.

Next week, we will remember the other nine classmates whose roads were cut way too short.

Until then, if you have any additional words of remembrance for any of the classmates discussed on today’s episode, please visit the Roads Taken show page within Apple Podcasts and write a review filled with your memories. Or leave us a note through the Contact Us link at RoadsTakenShow.com.

May the memories of our time together and these lives that intertwined with ours be reminders to make the most of our time on Earth, and to be grateful for our own Roads Taken.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Guest Michael Roberts had already taken on the identity of musician—specifically singer—while in high school. He was encouraged by his parents to attend college where he could be pursue what he loved while being exposed to a wide range of subjects and experiences through a liberal arts curriculum. It would also be convenient if he attended Dartmouth, the same place his three siblings had already enrolled. And so he did, and he continued to live into the singer identity, graduating into a master’s program in vocal music with his sights set on continuing a professional voice career. When he moved to New York and saw others who had gained the discipline and more honed skillset that an undergraduate conservatory experience provided, he realized he might have to supplement his earnings with something else.

He landed a job in consulting and, swiftly moving through the ranks, realized strategy consulting let him dwell in big ideas and communicate with a variety of people. Eventually, his experience in strategy and internal consulting at the top levels of a number of global firms, led him to a project setting strategy for marketing operations. This eventually led to his gaining an on-the-job MBA in marketing and to leadership roles and finally the Chief Marketing Officer role. Throughout his business career, he has been able to apply the lessons at the core of making music—taking risks, putting in the work to get better, and learning how to communicate what you need to say to a new audience all the time.

In this episode, find out from Michael how getting better at communicating what you have in mind and connecting with people can help make impact in the world…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode's Guest

Michael Roberts is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at MetLife, one of the global leaders in insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs. Previously he has held the CMO role and other senior strategy and marketing positions at some of the biggest names in the financial sector including TIAA and Vanguard. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children and is still an active classical vocalist. 

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]