The Evolution of Love
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| Associate Professor of Biology Paul Jivoff (center, with white shirt) holds the hand of his wife, Lean Kite, following their wedding ceremony aboard the Floreana. The happy couple is surrounded by their wedding party of attendees of the Nature's Business trip in January. |
For those same three years, the union of business and science was also the only marriage to emerge from Nature’s Business. The only one, that is, until this year’s trip. Then, about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, associate professor of Biology Paul Jivoff and his fiancée of two years, Mary Eileen “Lean” Kite, were wed by Captain Freddy Peña Herrera of the Floreana, the Ecuadorian vessel that carried this January’s roster of students and faculty among the various islands of the Galapagos that dot the lower Northern Pacific.
“It was totally spontaneous,” explained the newly wedded Jivoff of his maritime nuptials. “We had talked about weddings and setting a date, but never really finalized anything. But as a biologist, the Galapagos was always one of the top places I’d wanted to go, especially with a group of friends, and it was just too good an opportunity to pass up.”
Jivoff says that the unplanned chain of events was inadvertently set into motion by Lean, who, one day at lunch, casually asked Captain Freddy, “Can you marry us?”
“She was actually asking about it in a more curious way, seeking information, as in, ‘is this possible?’” Jivoff recalled. “But everybody was there for lunch in this very small space, so they all heard the conversation and a wave of excitement kind of swept through the room.”
Just as when Darwin boarded the H.M.S. Beagle 175 years earlier, a fateful idea was launched. Almost at once, the students on the trip leapt to action. “As soon as we got into the next port, the students went to buy Paul and Lean wedding rings fashioned from wood,” said Dr. Susan Denbo, professor of Business Administration and the originator of the Nature’s Business concept. “They also made Lean a veil from paper towels and used vegetables to make centerpieces for the tables. It was all so unexpected and it was a very exciting way to end the trip.”
The crew of the Floreana pitched in as well, offering produce from the ship’s galley up for inventive use. “Lean’s bouquet was actually a craftfully carved onion, and my boutonnière was made from red cabbage leaves,” said Jivoff, smiling at the recollection.
And so it was, before a room festively adorned by Kevlar balloons proclaiming “¡Cumpleaños Feliz, Elmo!” (Happy Birthday, Elmo!) that Paul Jivoff and Lean Kite were wed, flanked by student bridesmaids and groomsmen outfitted in their best suits – wetsuits, that is.
“Even the crew of the boat put on their dress blues,” said Jivoff, whose marriage certificate is a photocopy of the ship’s log (El Diario de Navegación), written entirely in Spanish, and complete with the exact latitude and longitude recordings of its location. “It was the culmination of a great trip that was full of fun events.”
While this was Jivoff’s first Nature’s Business trip, he is no stranger to the science of attraction. Even before he joined the Department of Biology at Rider in 2002, he studied the behavioral ecology of marine animals, with an emphasis on the mating rituals of blue crabs. Every summer, Jivoff brings two Rider students to the Rutgers University Marine Field Station in Tuckerton, N.J., where each morning, they begin their search for blue and green crabs, the core organisms of their research. Among the hypotheses put to the test by his students has been whether heavy blue crab fishing negatively affects the species’ population structure and reproduction.
“Developing solid hands-on research skills is an essential part of their educational experience at Rider,” he said.
Ironically, the essential part of Jivoff’s experience on Nature’s Business almost never came to pass. “Lean had signed up to go months before and had taken the last slot,” he explained. “It wasn’t until one student dropped out at the last moment that I was able to hop in that slot. I was really excited about going even before the wedding was a thought. In my line of study, it’s just one of those places you have to go before you die.”
Or, before death do you part.
