Assumption Assumption College Magazine • Volume 8, Number 1 • Winter 2010
Magazine
THE NEWSMAKERS Alumni in the Media
PLUS
Green Initiatives on Campus
Undergraduate Internships in Media
Brian Kelly ‘83 named Notre Dame Coach
From The PreSIDeNT
The Assumption Brand: An Education that Empowers
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s I meet prospective students, parents and families who visit Assumption during their college search process, I am often asked about the value of a liberal arts education in today’s world. This is a legitimate question, especially for parents hoping that Assumption will prepare their sons and daughters to pursue a successful career. Those who have had the benefit of an Assumption liberal arts education understand that the breadth and depth of knowledge, the critical-thinking skills and the values refined here are essential regardless of career path. Today, people expect to change careers several times during their lives. They need to be lifelong learners ready to meet unexpected challenges and embrace opportunities. A liberal arts education prepares them for this reality. Alumni who graduated in political science are working in government, but they are also coaches, educators and webmasters. Our English majors go to law school, work in television and run nonprofit organizations. Our science graduates are doctors, veterinarians, researchers and in pharmaceutical sales. Our business graduates are accountants, marketing professionals and entrepreneurs, and our philosophy majors have become professors, newspaper reporters and successful in business. The fields in which our graduates have pursued professional success require them to remain nimble and open to new ideas.
of an Assumption education, and the greatest ambassadors of our philosophy and practice of education. We live in a rapidly changing world where Assumption, as a liberal arts college with strong professional and business programs, continues to provide a distinctive, relevant academic experience. We foster intellectual curiosity and help students recognize that the right question is more valuable than an easy answer. We prepare students for a lifetime of learning, not simply for a job — and herein lies Assumption’s educational value.
Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D. President
A liberal arts education empowers individuals, expands the mind and cultivates social responsibility. This issue of the magazine focuses on alumni, faculty and students in the news media industry, a field that continues to change dramatically before our eyes. Our alumni demonstrate that the academic major is not the determining factor in success. Whatever they studied at Assumption provided a broad spectrum of knowledge and the ability to analyze concepts and information, and that in turn enables these graduates to communicate effectively in a variety of media. Their technical skills are strong, and just as important, their academic grounding enables them to appreciate and understand the factors and forces at work in society today. A liberal arts education empowers individuals, expands the mind and cultivates social responsibility. Assumption’s brand of education helps develop thoughtful citizens and strong members of the community while also preparing men and women for professional careers. Our students’ involvement outside of class in activities such as athletics, campus ministry, volunteering and student government, shapes their character. Their measures of success are multi-dimensional and include making meaningful contributions to their families, communities and workplaces. Our students are both consumers and products
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Winter 2010 Assumption College Magazine • Volume 8, Number 1 www.assumption.edu/magazine
Features
20 We encourage your feedback. Please address your letters, class notes, and story ideas to: Assumption College Magazine Assumption College 500 Salisbury Street Worcester, MA 01609-1296 e-mail: twatkins@assumption.edu ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
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Campus Goes Green
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Alumni in the Media
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Professors Prepare the Next Generation
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Interns in the Media
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Alumni-Athletics Hall of Fame Inducts Five
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President’s Council Dinner
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Departments 2
Editor’s Page
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On Campus
Editor Troy Watkins
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Hounds Watch
Associate Editor Elizabeth Walker
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Alumni News
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Class Notes
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In Memoriam
Assumption College Magazine Assumption College ISSN 1089-3903 Winter 2010
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Director of Public Affairs Renee Buisson Contributing Writers Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A. ’69 Stephen Kostrzewa Sharon Mahoney P’07 Steve Morris ’72 Art Direction/Design Centuria Inc., Belmont, MA Printing The Lane Press, Burlington, VT Assumption College Magazine is published four times a year (winter, spring, summer, fall) by the office of Institutional Advancement, Assumption College, 500 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609-1296. Telephone: (508) 767-7175. Periodical Postage Paid at Worcester, Massachusetts, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Forwarding address and correction requested. Send address changes to: Office of Institutional Advancement, Assumption College, 500 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609-1296. Printed in the U.S.A., Assumption College Magazine is distributed free of charge to alumni, friends, faculty, staff, administration and parents of undergraduate students.
Cert no. SW-COC-002556
On the Cover Ben Conery ’02 is the U.S. Justice Department reporter for The Washington Times.
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eDITor’S LeTTer
How Green are We? PHOTO: DAN VAIllANCOURT
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ong before sustainability was a front-burner issue, Assumption was conserving energy. In fact, before many colleges and universities were “going green” and or adjusting their “carbon footprints,” Assumption was purchasing hydroelectric power; implementing energy-efficient heating, cooling and mechanical systems and installing efficient lighting and plumbing fixtures and insulated windows. These and other “green” initiatives have been essential components in facility design and retrofits at the College for nearly two decades. Today’s Assumption students have embraced sustainability efforts enthusiastically. Student Government Association officers, working closely with the administration, have demonstrated thoughtful leadership in this area. In the past two years alone, the students have formalized a campus-wide recycling effort, instituted a “Green Bikes” program and switched (not quite as enthusiastically) to tray-free dining on campus. Such successes enable students to become knowledgeable, effective and passionate advocates for positive change within the campus community. Those skills and experiences are integral to their Assumption education if they are to graduate as as purposeful leaders known for critical intelligence, thoughtful citizenship and compassionate service. You can be sure that Assumption Magazine also is doing its part. The magazine is printed on recycled paper and we have partnered with The Lane Press for printing and mailing. All the waste paper is shredded
on-site at Lane, baled and de-inked to make recycled paper and a soft-proofing system saves paper and fuel used for delivery services. Lane uses carbon fuel sources for just two percent of its power and it uses energy-efficient lighting throughout its facility. As you read more about Assumption’s green initiatives on page 4, you’ll see that Assumption is a careful steward of resources — our own and those of our local and global neighbors. Educating the next generation of leaders and helping to create a cleaner world certainly fits within both our mission – and our carbon footprint.
Class Notes Submissions Guidelines Assumption College Magazine, the quarterly magazine of Assumption College, publishes Class Notes three times per year—in January, April, and August. This section of the magazine provides an opportunity for alumni (undergraduate, graduate, and Assumption Prep) to share announcements of promotions, graduate degrees, political elections or appointments, marriages or civil unions, births, adoptions, and grandchildren. The magazine does not publish engagement notices. Alumni may submit Class Notes in three ways: via e-mail to either the College or their Class Agent, or by mailing the information to us. Additional alumni information may be reproduced from print
and online clipping services. Class Notes may include photos from corporate press releases and small alumni gatherings. Group photos of Assumption graduates at a wedding reception can be posted on the Alumni Web site: www.assumption.edu. A Web link icon will be placed by the wedding announcement in Class Notes indicating a photo is posted on the Web. The editorial staff makes every effort to print announcements accurately, but cannot always verify the accuracy of information submitted for publication. Additionally, the publication of information is undertaken as a service to our alumni and does not reflect any opinion or endorsement on the part of the editorial staff or the College.
Correction In the summer 2009 issue, the names of three of the children of Hon. Andre A. Gelinas ’60, HD’83 were omitted. Judge Gelinas and wife Renalde have five children: daughters Michele Gelinas Arthur ’95 and Nicole and sons Todd, Mark and Andre Jr. Assumption Magazine regrets the omission.
President Cesareo reads ’Twas the Night before Christmas to the children among the more than 200 in attendance at the annual Alumni Children’s Christmas Party.
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Love inHonor
ecovering the political lessons within William Shakespeare’s work yields new insights into the human longings, personal foibles and power plays that animate the Bard’s dramas and poetry, and complements the literary analysis traditionally reserved for his work. Though written amid the tumultuous political and religious strife in Elizabethan England, the themes of love and honor still resonate strongly 400 years later for the Shakespeare scholars who participated in an innovative multidisciplinary conference, “Love and Honor in Shakespeare,” at Assumption in October. Organized by B. J. Dobski, associate professor of political science, the conference attracted 30 Shakespeare scholars from a variety of disciplines, including English literature, political science, philosophy and rhetoric studies. These scholars delivered papers on thematically organized panels distributed across several sessions over three days.
SPEAKER PHOTOS: WARREN lAVAllEE
Shakespeare R
“We turn to Shakespeare because he offers us perhaps the greatest guide to understanding Western civilization... of which Catholicism plays such a rich part.”–Professor B. J. Dobski “Shakespeare portrays human longings within a political framework,” Dobski said in a welcome to conference participants. “We turn to Shakespeare because he offers us perhaps the greatest guide to understanding Western civilization of which Catholicism plays such a rich part. Indeed, one could find in Shakespeare’s dramatic works a guided tour of the West from the Trojan War, through classical Greece and Rome, from the demise of the Republic to the birth of her empire, to the new Rome, to England and the origins and development of her constitutional monarchy. He is a bridge between the pre-Christian West, the Christian West and a modern West which seems to do everything it can to free itself from its Christian heritage.”
John Alvis
Paul Cantor
The first of two keynote speakers, John Alvis, a professor of English and director of American studies at the University of Dallas, presented a public lecture, “Shakespeare’s Understanding of Honor: The Absolute and the Relative.” Assumption’s d’Alzon Professor, Glenn Arbery, introduced Alvis as an author and working playwright who, during his four-decade career at Dallas, “has helped to shape interest in Shakespeare as a political thinker.” Alvis, author of Shakespeare’s Understanding of Honor (1997) and Divine Initiative and Heroic Response in Homer and Virgil (2002), among other books and publications, recently completed a book on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fiction. He edited Shakespeare as Political Thinker with Thomas G. West (1979, rev. 2005) and Willmoore Kendall: Maverick of American Conservatism with John Murley (2006). In his talk, Alvis framed honor in Shakespeare’s works as a motive subject to moral scrutiny, a political phenomenon and a question of Shakespeare’s belief in divinity. “Absence of authorial professions of faith in his works does not mean Shakespeare’s belief (in God) is in the negative,” Alvis said. “Shakespeare has contrived his dramas to look in both directions.” In addition to exploring Shakespeare’s belief in divinity, Alvis posed a series of questions about honor-seeking, reason and self-knowledge in the Bard’s works, while weaving theses from each of the conference’s 19 presenters into his lecture. “Shakespeare’s plays depict the effects of honor-seeking upon the individual soul and, at the same time, upon the common life of civil societies,” Alvis said. “Taking first the operation of the impulse upon the individual soul, I propose an accounting of effects by a cost-benefit [continued on page 39]
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Erin Coakley ’10
Campus Greening
B Y T ROY WATKINS
A long-term commitment
In recent years, initiatives led by the Student Government Association (SGA) have created campus-wide recycling programs and a “Green Bikes” program. last year the student leaders worked with Sodexo, the College’s food service provider, to go “tray-free” in the two campus dining facilities. Assumption’s campuswide recycling program efforts include the usual products -cans, bottles, cardboard and paper. In addition, the maintenance area also recycles batteries, scrap metal, light bulbs, ballasts, vehicle and cooking oil, refrigerants and food cans. “We have a growing list to which we will add items, especially at certain times of the year,” said John langlois, director of auxiliary services. For example, several campus offices work together to recycle cardboard during move-in day in August, and both cardboard and recyclable electronic items during finals week in May. Books are also recycled at the end of each semester. The student-run Green Bikes program is in its second year. The SGA and Plourde Recreation Center financed the purchase of eight bikes, helmets and locks. Students can sign out a bike to use for transportation or recreation. “More than 250 different students have used the bikes, which have been signed out more than 400 times this year,” said Scott Butch, assistant director of recreational sports. This has helped keep a few more cars off the campus roads and has provided an additional outdoors exercise option, as well as another mode of transportation. This semester the switch to tray-free dining has required an adjustment by those who usually load up their trays in Taylor Dining Hall and Charlie’s Café. The inconvenience of the new no-tray policy -except for those with physical disabilitities – is offset by the reduction in food waste and the use of detergent chemicals, water and energy,
Energy efficiency • Campus recycling
“The College aggressively pursued initiatives aimed at conserving energy even before the sustainability/green terminology came into vogue,” said Jerry Barilla, director of business services. “With support from Mass Electric, the College replaced lamps and ballasts throughout campus with every advanced lighting technology, dating back to the early ’90s.” In addition, Barilla pointed out, upgrades to boost energy efficiency on campus have been made almost annually to the College’s many mechanical systems. “Every capital project we consider is scrutinized for opportunities to install and operate efficient systems,” he explained. “The College has invested in an energy management system that controls heating, cooling, and lighting systems so that minimal energy is expended when buildings are not in use. The College is very conscious of the importance of conserving energy and supporting sustainability and continually engages in efforts to achieve those goals.” In late 2005, Assumption completed a $2.5 million energy and water-saving retrofit of nearly two dozen campus buildings. lighting systems were upgraded and water-saving measures were installed to save the College nearly 3 million gallons of water annually. Heating, ventilation and airconditioning systems were upgraded. That year and each year since, old windows have been replaced with energy efficient, insulated windows. Also, the roofs of several buildings have been repaired or replaced.
Student-initiated programs
according to Mike Ward, Sodexo’s general manager on campus. Ward cites statistical estimates that show that, without trays, one ounce less of food is wasted per meal and Taylor Dining Hall serves 2,100 meals daily.
Renewable energy Assumption uses a substantial portion of renewable electricity to meet its energy demands. “We purchase our local delivery service from National Grid,” said langlois. “But we bid out our commodity to electricity providers. In our contract with TransCanada, an electricity and utilities supplier in Canada and the northern U.S., there is a provision that 30 percent of the power we purchase is hydroelectric power. There is a small fee attached to it, but it is a worthwhile, environmentally responsible investment by the College.” Solar power is another energy source Assumption has investigated for several years. The College began a structural engineering study to determine if solar photovoltaic panels could be installed on Taylor Dining Hall and Emmanuel d’Alzon library. Unfortunately, in October the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative temporarily suspended a rebate program due to its overwhelming popularity, which caused the College to put the project on hold. “We plan to revisit this option again in 2010 or when the rebate program is reinstated,” said langlois. He had estimated that installing solar panels on these two buildings would provide between two and three percent of the College’s electricity needs and, if successful, a solar program on campus could grow considerably in the future.
Water conservation • Green Bikes program • Tray-free dining
Going green is a catchy phrase, a hot topic and a socially and environmentally responsible course of action. Individuals, families, businesses and colleges across the nation have been examining their habits and practices to identify where sustainability efforts can reduce carbon footprints and perhaps cut costs as well. Comprehensive sustainability plans initially can require a considerable investment of time and resources, but the long-term energy savings and reduced environmental impacts can add up to wise stewardship. Assumption’s ongoing sustainability initiatives are designed to create a “greener” campus.
Other initiatives The College’s primary green initiatives are supported by several campuswide committees and advocacy groups. For example, the Social Justice Committee, comprised of faculty, administrators and students, is focused on sustainability efforts this year. The group, along with a student environmental club and others promote sustainability awareness through Earth Week activities, an annual residence hall recycling competition, panel discussions, film screenings and other events.
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Solzhenitsyn Scholars Honor Late Nobel Laureate “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was one of the great souls of the age, but also one of the most maligned and misunderstood,” political science professor Daniel J. Mahoney told a packed audience at a public colloquium held last fall to honor of the late Nobel Laureate on the first anniversary of his death. Assumption’s Ecumenical Institute sponsored the colloquium as “a day of reflection appropriate to honor Solzhenitsyn as a towering intellectual figure,” said director Gavin Colvert, associate professor of philosophy. He described Solzhenitsyn as a man who “refused to live with untruths,” and who came to see the truth of Christianity as a result of his experience in Soviet prisons and camps in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Panel members from left: Professors Daniel Mahoney, Alexis Klimoff (Vassar) with Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Professor Edward Ericson (Calvin College)
Awarded Nobel Peace Prize In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but was not allowed to leave the Soviet Union to accept it. In 1974, he was forcibly exiled from the former Soviet Union after publication in the West of the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago (1973), the most devastating indictment of communist totalitarianism ever written. In 1976, Solzhenitsyn moved to the United States with his family where he lived until he returned to Russia in 1994 after the fall of the Soviet Union. He died in Moscow on August 3, 2008. To mark the one-year anniversary of his passing, a panel of distinguished Solzhenitsyn scholars and son Ignat Solzhenitsyn gathered at Assumption to pay tribute to the award-winning novelist and historian by discussing his life and works. Mahoney, co-editor of The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings 1947-2005, and author of Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from Ideology, moderated the panel.
What does it mean to be human? Edward Ericson, Jr., a professor emeritus at Calvin College, coauthored The Soul and Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzhenitsyn (2008), with fellow panelist Alexis Klimoff. In his talk, “The Truth Will Out: The Uncensored Version of Solzhenitsyn’s Novel In the First Circle,” Ericson called it “the best book by the most famous author of our time,” adding that a new authentic 96-chapter edition soon would be released by HarperCollins (the book appeared in October 2009 and contains a foreword by Ericson). Solzhenitsyn originally “pruned” nine chapters of the original manuscript and engaged in other acts of self-censorship in the vain hope that a “mutilated” edition might pass muster with Soviet censors. Ericson stressed that the author’s gulag (prison)-based fiction is largely based on Solzhenitsyn’s own experience in Soviet prisons and gulag camps. “Solzhenitsyn condensed his three years in prison into four days in the novel,” Ericson said. “His characters are judged by their genuine humanity. He asks, ‘If we live in constant fear, can we remain human? What does it mean to be human?’’’
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Vassar College professor Alexis Klimoff ’s presentation, “The Revolution of Solzhenitsyn’s Red Wheel,” focused on Solzhenitsyn’s “titanic work,” The Red Wheel. “It is a cycle of books,” Klimoff said. “He started writing it in 1937… the first volume, August 1914, did not come out until 1971, then it was revised. It is an effort to restore a lost memory, the truth about the Russian revolutions of 1917 that did so much to ravish Russia and the world … its 10 volumes total more than 6,000 pages in the Russian edition.”
Struggling against evil In his talk, “The Active Struggle Against Evil: Reflections on a Theme in Solzhenitsyn,” Mahoney said Solzhenitsyn rejected Tolstoy’s position that “political freedom doesn’t matter; only moral self-development matters.” For Solzhenitsyn, “Human beings are obliged to resist a regime such as the Soviet one that mutilates their souls and makes them lie with impunity … a refusal to resist evil finally entails acceptance of evil.” Solzhenitsyn admires not only simple souls, such as his fictional Ivan Denisovich, who maintain their moral integrity under unimaginable conditions, but especially those who actively struggle against evil.
A man not easily deterred Son Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a world-renowned conductor and pianist, was born in Russia, but grew up in the U.S. after his family settled here in the 1970s. He responded to the panelists’ remarks, by saying that “the element that is so central to the substance of my father’s ideas is the moral. He considered political realities and activities within the context of morality.” “Throughout the second phase of his life, after the publication of A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovish, my father was seen as a political agent, rather than an artist whose work deals with political themes. His works ask us to consider the impact moral decisions have on people and nations. As his entire life attests, he was a man not easily deterred.”
Kantarelis and Crowley Receive President’s Faculty Awards Veteran faculty members Demetri Kantarelis, Ph.D. and David Crowley, Ph.D. were recognized by President Francesco Cesareo at the annual Fall Convocation. Kantarelis, professor of economics, received the Paul Ziegler Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship. Crowley, then assistant professor of biology, was awarded the Presidential Award for Contributions to the Mission. Instituted by President Cesareo, these awards are presented annually to deserving members of the Assumption faculty, who are recommended by peers and selected by a committee, for their demonstrated commitment to excellence. A faculty member since 1983, Kantarelis has authored two books– Theories of the Firm (2000) and Essentials of Inferential Statistics. (co-authored with Malcolm Asadoorian, Ph.D. ’95, 2000). Editorin-chief of Global Business & Economics Review, he presented and lectured at Demetri Kantarelis, Ph.D. professional conferences across the globe and has published numerous articles in professional journals. Groups of his students have co-authored a published paper on five occasions. Crowley arrived at Assumption in 2004 and quickly created opportunities for students to collaborate on research projects. This practice was applauded by students, who worked David Crowley, Ph.D. with Crowley to publish research papers and gain hands-on research experience beginning as first-year students. He also led discussion groups on campus, on topics such as “Can we have faith in science?” This helped students to mesh their faith with academics and challenged students to investigate what they believe and the underlying reasons for those beliefs.
Assumption Ranks High in the Northeast Region Assumption College has been recognized consistently by The Princeton Review and other respected national surveys as a premier academic institution in the Northeast with a clear and distinctive Catholic identity. Read what the national surveys have to say about how Assumption competes in terms of size, selectivity, character, value and student satisfaction:
The Princeton Review The Princeton Review calls Assumption College “one of the best colleges and universities in the Northeast.” The New York Citybased education services company selected Assumption as one of 212 colleges it recommends to college applicants in its “Best in the Northeast” section on its online 2009 Best Colleges Region by Region. Assumption also is profiled in the Princeton Review’s book, The Best Northeastern Colleges: 2009 Edition. Schools are recommended as ‘regional best’ colleges for excellent academic programs based on institutional data, including student responses to an 80-question survey, collected from several hundred schools in each region. Students rate their schools on criteria that range from accessibility of their professors to the quality of the campus food. “Professors go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure you get the best education they can offer,” an Assumption student responded on the survey.
U.S. News & World Report: Best Colleges The 2010 issue of U.S. News & World Report: Best Colleges ranked Assumption at number 38 among Master’s Universities (North), which is the top tier of the more than 200 liberal arts colleges in the northern U.S. Like Assumption, those schools offer a wide range of undergraduate programs and grant master’s degrees. The annual Best Colleges rankings offer a comprehensive look at how schools compare on 15 broad indicators.
Barron’s Best Buys in College Education The 2009 Barron’s Best Buys in College Education includes Assumption College among 230 accredited four-year colleges nationwide that offer “a first-rate education at a reasonable price,” calling them outstanding schools where costs are lower than average. The Assumption faculty’s devotion to helping students achieve their goals was highlighted.
Colleges of Distinction Assumption is included in the 2008 Colleges of Distinction, published by Student Horizons, Inc. The College has been invited to appear in the 2010 edition as well. Colleges of Distinction includes schools that have a “proven record” in four key areas – engaged students, great teaching, vibrant communities and successful outcomes.
National Survey of Student Engagement In the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement report, Assumption students gave their experience higher marks than students surveyed at other four-year, private colleges. Assumption outscored those institutions against a number of benchmarks, including quality of faculty, opportunity to experience intellectual growth, amount of academic advising and the degree to which tuition represents a worthwhile investment.
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Academic Partnerships with Duke and Notre Dame In an effort to provide its students with a variety of opportunities to further their study, the College recently signed articulation agreements with Duke University and the University of Notre Dame. Assumption’s agreement with the Duke University Marine Laboratory Nicholas School of the Environment will provide opportunities for students in the marine sciences during the regular academic term, the summer term and for special curricula. The Duke Marine Science Education Consortium consists of 32 schools, including Brown, Davidson, Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Notre Dame.
The College’s agreement with the University of Notre Dame enables Assumption students to enter the Notre Dame Engineering Program. A student majoring in a science or math will complete his/her general education requirements at Assumption in three years. The final two years will be spent at Notre Dame, where the student will complete all requirements to complete his/her B.A. from Assumption in the first year and a B.S. in engineering from Notre Dame.
Souls and Bodies BY FR. DENNIS GALLAGHER, A.A.’69, VICE PRESIDENT FOR MISSION
uring the Chapel Service for first-year students at their June orientation, I often make passing reference to the fact that many students will meet their future spouse during the next four years and that some of them will return to be married in the Chapel. I get the impression that this is not exactly music to the ears of 18-year-olds, who are looking forward to an experience of freedom unencumbered by such weighty considerations. Much as one might like to bracket realities of this kind, making them incidental to the education they are about to embark upon, our mission does not let us off the hook so easily. An education of the mind and heart surely includes the capacity to form the kind of enduring human relationships that help strengthen the foundations for the vocations of marriage and family. At a recent presentation of this topic on campus, a poignant and not so uncommon story was told of a senior at another Catholic college who admitted that her college years had actually caused her to regress in this area. If it was indeed the case that one could bracket these undergraduate years for fun and games, without consequences for the future, it might be less concerning. But the difficult task of forming good habits does not allow for the illusion of turning on a switch after college to suddenly become serious. There is enough evidence to sug-
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The Mission
PHOTO: DAN VAIllANCOURT
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gest that twenty-somethings are quite capable of extending the habit of fleeting relationships well beyond their college years. Not only should this give us pause about thinking of college as a refuge from the responsibilities that await us, it alerts us to the fuller implications of “educating the whole person.” Nor should we ignore how these habits of disconnection have a bearing on our students’ capacity to give themselves generously to a liberal education. The easy satisfaction of the body’s desires, insofar as this turns us in upon ourselves, leads—almost as a matter of course—to the attenuation of those longings of the soul to which the great literature of the world gives attention. The result, as it concerns the purposes of a truly liberating education, is a certain loss of incentive to engage those works as if there were much at stake in reading them. Within a specifically Christian context, Pope Benedict reminds us of two things at the beginning of Deus Caritas Est: the power of Eros to draw us out of ourselves and the need to discipline it in order that it may find its properly human fulfillment. In light of the aspirations contained in the College’s motto, Until Christ be formed in you, the well-being of our students in this dimension of their lives is hardly a matter of indifference.
hoUNDS WaTCh
FAll Sports Roundup passing Bill Guilfoil ’94 (409) in his last game. Zitzmann earned first-team status for the second straight year after earning second team as both a freshman and a sophomore. Joining Woodard and Zitzmann on the first team was junior offensive tackle Matt Sidebottom, while junior defensive tackle Mike Foley earned second-team honors. Freshman punter/placekicker Cory Kemps recorded a rare trifecta – earning secondteam offense honors as the placekicker, second-team defense honors as the punter and also earned a spot on the all-rookie team.
MEN’S SOCCER Coach Jeremy Bonomo Herbert Woodard ’11
FOOTBALL Junior running back Herbert Woodard was named the Northeast-10 Offensive Player-of-the-Year and senior middle linebacker Dustin Zitzmann shared the NE-10 Defensive Player-of-the-Year honor. Woodard rushed for a league-leading 1,175 yards and helped the Hounds to one of the most improved records in the nation – the team finished 6-4 after a 1-9 season in 2008. He had 17 rushing touchdowns and a school-record 18 overall to lead the NE-10 with 108 points scored. Zitzmann, a four-time all-conference selection, finished the year fourth in the conference with 113 tackles. He set a new Assumption record with 414 career tackles,
Dustin Zitzmann ’10
Austin Prete ’10
was named Northeast-10 co-Coach-of-theYear as the Hounds finished 9-6-3 and made the conference playoffs for the second straight year and fifth overall. Senior defender Austin Prete (first team) and junior forward Steve Blaisdell (second team) were named to the conference all-stars. Freshmen Tom Carroll and Dominic Mondi were both named to the all-rookie team. Prete anchored a defense that allowed just 17 goals all season and led the conference with nine shutouts behind the goalkeeping junior Brandan Sullivan.
The team was 7-9-1 overall and 7-7-1 in the NE-10 narrowly missing the postseason playoffs on the final day of the regular-season under first-year coach Glenn Melia. DeWalt was the leading scorer with 4-0–8 points with three game-winning goals and was also selected to play in the New England senior all-star game. Kessler was the secondleading scorer with 3-1–7 points, while Keating posted a 1.16 goals-against average for 1550 minutes.
FIELD HOCKEY Senior defender Michelle Pasquale and senior forward Sarah Ranieri (leading scorer with 5 goals, 2 assists) played in the National Field Hockey All-Star Game at Wake Forest University.
VOLLEYBALL Junior middle hitter Aimee Drainville led the Greyhounds with 177 kills while freshman Steph Whooten tallied a team-high 252 digs.
CROSS COUNTRY Both the men’s and women’s teams competed in the N.C.A.A. regional meet. At the NE-10 meet, sophomore Kyle Higgins led the men to a 10th place finish, while sophomore Erynn Sweeney paced the women’s team.
WOMEN’S SOCCER Senior midfielder Kelley DeWalt was named to the NE-10 first-team all-stars and junior goalkeeper Lauren Keating to the second-team. Freshman defender Molly Kessler made the all-rookie team.
Sarah Ranieri ’10
MEN’S GOLF Ryan Myers was named all-New England after posting an average score of 80.3.
Michelle Pasquale ’10
Kelley DeWalt ’10
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Gridiron
Giant A
native of Chelsea, MA, Brian Kelly ’83 was a two-time team captain at middle linebacker for the Greyhounds. He earned New England Collegiate Football Conference honors as a junior and senior and finished his career with 314 tackles. Former Greyhound football coach Bernie Gaughan knew Kelly would be successful. “You knew he was special, even as a freshman he was like a senior. By the time he finished up, he knew my defense better than I did. He made sure everyone was in the right place.” Gaughan concluded, “I thought he was going to be one of three things – president of the United States, a pope, or the head football coach at Notre Dame.” Kelly played for Paul Cantiani for two seasons at Assumption. Cantiani remarked, “It really isn’t surprising that he’s the head football coach at Notre Dame. He was very professional, enthusiastic and a leader who knew his stuff.” He was inducted to Assumption’s Alumni-Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.
“You knew he was special, even as a freshman he was like a senior. By the time he finished up, he knew my defense better than I did.” –Former coach, Bernie Gaughan
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“I thought he was going to be one of three things – president of the United States, a pope, or the head football coach at Notre Dame.”
–Former coach, Bernie Gaughan He began his coaching career as an assistant football and head softball coach at Assumption (1984–87). Kelly was an assistant coach at Grand Valley State (MI) for four years before a 13-year tenure as head coach, when he amassed a 118-35-2 record and won two NCAA Division II championships, in 2002 and 2003. He then accepted an NCAA Division I coaching job at Central Michigan, where in three seasons he turned a perennial losing team into a conference champion in 2006. His success led him to the University of Cincinnati, where he went 34–6 in three seasons, including a 12–0 regular season in 2009. He has compiled a winning record in 18 of his 19 seasons as a head football coach and an overall record of 171-57-2 (.747). Announcing his hiring, Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick said, “I am very pleased that a thorough and extensive search has led us to a new head coach in Brian Kelly, who I am confident will help us accomplish our goal of competing for national championships.” Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John Jenkins, CSC, added, “I am very pleased that he has put considerable emphasis on excellence in the classroom and that his student-athletes graduate at a rate well above the norm.” Kelly, who referred to his new position as his “dream job” at the introductory press conference at Notre Dame, will have to find some time to start dreaming again for something greater than he could have imagined when he stepped foot on Assumption’s campus nearly 30 years ago.
PHOTO: TERRENCE ANTONIO JAMES/CHICAGO TRIBUNE
The Brian Kelly Résumé 2010 University of Notre Dame, Head Football Coach 2007–09 University of Cincinnati, Head Football Coach • 34-6 record (.850), two straight BIG EAST Conference titles, and two BCS bowl appearances • 2009 ESPN Home Depot National Coach of the Year • Three-time Big East Conference Coach of the Year (2007-09) 2004–06 Central Michigan University, Head Football Coach • 19-16 record (.542) • 2006 Mid-American Conference title with 9-4 record 1991–2003 Grand Valley State University (MI), Head Football Coach • 118-35-2 record (.767), two NCAA Division II national championships (2002 and 2003) • Two-time AFCA Division II Coach of the Year (2002 and 2003)
Brian Kelly, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame, addresses the media during a press conference on campus in South Bend, IN.
Assumption College Magazine • Summer 2009
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Alumni in
the Media Whether they are online, on-camera or in print, assumption College alumni in the news media want to tell compelling stories, deliver them first and speak the truth. Those are the constants in an industry that is changing by the hour as it redefines news delivery, examines cost structures and identifies new platforms for bringing us not just what we want – news 24/7 – but how we want it.
Mark Henderson ’87 / online editor, Worcester Telegram & Gazette T HERE ARE TWO THINGS ABOUT THE NEWS INDUSTRY that Mark Henderson ’87, online editor at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, knows. First, in spite of the dramatic changes that have rocked the news industry in recent years, the mission of newspapers remains vibrant. Second, the way news is delivered will keep changing and it is essential that new, better models are developed that retain the intrinsic values of the “fourth estate.” “The ability and willingness to adapt to a shifting media landscape is critical,” Henderson said. “Things we assumed for years are now everchanging, and you can’t navigate through this unless you accept that reality. The ones who adapt quickly can thrive and those who don’t will not. Media isn’t alone in this regard. Many industries face the same challenges, but media companies seem to get a lot of coverage.” Henderson is keenly aware of the events that led him to his current position. “I can say honestly that without my Assumption experience I would not be where I am today,” he said. Henderson wasn’t sure where he was headed after walking across the stage at commencement. He was hired as a part-time copy editor at the Telegram in 1990, while working full-time at a plastics housewares manufacturer to pay the bills. Promoted to lead sports copy editor in 1997 and assistant sports editor two years later, his big break came in 2002. “I was fortunate to be chosen for a five-person team that built, installed and rolled out the paper’s first editorial pagination system,” he said. Henderson was appointed deputy
managing editor/ technology in 2005 and became online director in January 2008. “The position was intriguing because I thought it was the logical next step for me,” he said. “An essential part of being a good journalist is objectivity, and that’s a quality, in my case, that I learned at Assumption. Objectivity comes from being unafraid to continually question your beliefs and convictions as circumstances change. That’s difficult to learn unless you trust the people teaching you and are in an environment in which you feel safe emotionally. Assumption excels at both and, for me, it created a mindset that has not changed since I graduated.” Henderson fondly recalls many Assumption administrators and faculty who had lent an ear or a hand and enriched his college experience. He said, “Perhaps the greatest thing about Assumption is that, if your mind and heart are open to it, you never know when you’re going to have a five- or 10-minute conversation that’s going to change your life. “In a course taught by Dr. Louise Carroll Keeley I realized I could challenge my thoughts and beliefs and be all right on the other side. Being aware that I had broken through that was the groundwork for nearly everything that’s happened to me since, so I was fortunate that I took her course early in my Assumption career.” Despite vast industry changes in recent years, Henderson believes the mission of newspapers remains vibrant. “Our mission remains the
BY T ROY WATKINS
[continued on page 39]
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“Perhaps the greatest thing about Assumption is that, if your mind and heart are open to it, you never know when you’re going to have a five- or 10-minute conversation that’s going to change your life.” —Mark Henderson ’87
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"The change of pace in the past five years has made the job more demanding, but it also adds excitement. Everything is fast-paced and immediate now.” —Sheila Halloran Skowyra ’03
Sheila Halloran Skowyra ’03 / assignment editor, WCVB Channel 5 WITH MULTIPLE PHONE LINES RINGING, POLICE SCANNER S CRACKLING and reporters checking in at any moment, Skowyra must make split-second decisions about where in greater Boston to send reporters, camera crews and “live” trucks to cover breaking news. An assignment editor at WCVB Channel 5 since 2004, she works off-camera at the speed of light at the station’s news desk, called by some the ‘heartbeat’ of the news organization. “All the information flows through here,” Skowyra said. “I work with another assignment editor and we have a good team. We do a lot of quick decision making, which includes tons of logistical decisions, as we move crews around. There’s a lot going on here all the time.”
“So much has changed in such a short time. Today, people are going to different sources for their news.”–Sheila Halloran Skowyra ’03 In many and unexpected ways Skowyra’s undergraduate years prepared her well for the controlled chaos of working a broadcast news assignment desk. “I always felt like I was doing a million things at Assumption,” she said. “I changed my major after two years and took lots of different classes, plus I worked on The Provoc, so I was pulled in many different directions at once. Working long hours and juggling a lot was good preparation for my job today.” Skowyra has experienced dramatic changes in the way broadcast news is gathered, packaged and reported since she joined the assignment desk team at Channel 5 five years ago. “So much has changed in such a short time,” she said. “Today, people are going to different sources for their news and to different media, like Facebook and Twitter, for breaking news. Most people aren’t waiting until 5 p.m. to turn on their TVs to see the news. There’s a lot more immediacy with breaking news. People want to know right away what’s going on.” Also gone are the days when reporters and camera crews would bring breaking news back to the station to be edited for the evening news broadcast. “When it’s breaking news, we need to get a crew to the scene immediately in a live truck,” Skowyra said. “They need to get the video back to us right away to get it on air and on the Web site. It’s not like it was even five years ago. Everybody is doing more. It used to be that reporters went out with one story to cover. Now they have two or three assignments in a day. It’s challenging, but that also makes it exciting.” Skowyra, who grew up in Quincy, would not have predicted as an Assumption freshman that one day she would be employed at ground zero in the newsroom of WCVB-TV.
I was a psychology major my first two years and I minored in writing,” she said. “I thought I would be a child psychologist or a guidance counselor, but I really liked to write. I joined The Provoc and took a journalism class with Professor Mike Land. Also, I had an internship in the public affairs office on campus. I was leaning toward writing, so I changed my major to what was then called ‘business communication,’ which I think is now called organizational communication. Right after graduation, Skowyra took a part-time job selling advertising at the Quincy Sun newspaper, where the publisher also let her write stories. “I did a lot of interviewing and writing,” she said. “At the end of the summer I applied to be a part-time editorial assistant on the city desk at the Boston Herald. My two part-time jobs eventually turned into one full-time job at the Herald, where I was fortunate enough to cover stories and develop quite a few bylines during my time there.” The next year Skowyra moved to Channel 5. “I applied for an assistant assignment editor position that I thought sounded similar to what I was doing, but in broadcast rather than print,” she said. “It was quite different. The deadlines were more immediate and the technical side of news seemed so involved. It was quite an adjustment in the beginning. Now I’m an assignment editor, but I also inherited the planning editor responsibilities when that job was eliminated, and I produce a weekly entertainment segment. I have a lot more responsibility than when I started.” Since February 2008, Skowyra has been producing a weekly program, “Boston’s View,” with Channel 5 meteorologist JC Monahan. “Every week JC sits down with interesting, influential people with local connections to Boston to talk about current events and hot topics,” she said. Some guests Skowyra’s booked for this segment have included comedian Lenny Clarke, Bruin’s great Cam Neely, Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer and Chef Ming Tsai. “There are so many great people from this area that it’s nice to be able to share their stories and this segment with our viewers.” Originally intended just for the Web, Boston’s View now airs on the weekend morning newscasts. Quick decisions, unexpected events and long hours have always been part of the assignment desk job, but in today’s broadcast news environment added responsibilities, new technology and an ever-accelerating pace heighten the challenge of breaking solid news stories first. “The change of pace in the past five years has made the job more demanding, but it also adds excitement,” Skowyra said. “Everything is fast-paced and immediate now. We’re trying to cover more. The reporters all have BlackBerrys now to get information back immediately for the Web site. It’s hard work and everybody’s doing more. It’s also a real commitment. When I come in in the morning, I’m never sure when I’m going to leave work. If there’s major breaking news, you can’t walk out the door.” When Skowyra finally leaves the television station at the end of a long day, she heads to Weymouth to spend a quiet evening with her husband AJ Skowyra ’03 in their new home.
BY ELIZABETH WALKER
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Ben Conery ’02 /U. S. Justice Department reporter, The Washington Times S UPREME C OURT JUSTICES , SUSPECTED TERRORISTS and FBI informants are just some of the main characters that populate Ben Conery’s stories in The Washington Times. Conery, the U. S. Justice Department reporter for the Washington daily, has been reporting the news since he was an Assumption undergraduate. The son of a newspaperman, Conery, a North Dartmouth native, got his first taste – and scent – of the newsroom back in the days when people still smoked at their desks. “My father was the city editor at the New Bedford Standard Times,” Conery said. “I’ve been around newsrooms my whole life. I was fascinated by them when I was kid. Back then the newsroom was still an old-fashioned, smoke-filled, raucous place. After my sophomore year at Assumption, I got a summer job writing obituaries at the Standard Times. They also let me do some freelance assignments. When I went back to Assumption in the fall, I had a few clips under my belt. I did that for two summers. As a junior, I freelanced for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, so I was ahead of the game when I graduated.” After graduation, Conery freelanced for a year before taking a reporting job at a daily newspaper in Connecticut. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to be, although it was sort of a natural progression for me to go to work for a newspaper,” he said. “I worked at the Republican-American in Waterbury for five years. It was a busy time to be reporting in Connecticut. I did real entry-level stuff – local news, government and school boards. After a year, the police and courts reporter job opened up. For next four years I covered all manner of crime and criminal justice issues and trials. It was an amazing experience. The governor of Connecticut went to jail and I covered his sentencing.” In addition to covering what Conery calls “cops and robbers” stories, he also covered Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor back when she was a federal appeals court judge in New York. “The newspaper was small enough that I got to do tons of different things,” he said. “I wrote a five-part series on a murderer in Kansas who was from Connecticut. I really learned how to be a reporter at the Republican-American. My experiences there prepared me for my next job. In 2008, the editor of The Washington Times called, saying he wanted to bring in new people to do some different things. I thought he would have me cover the DC police department because of my experience in Waterbury. When he told me he wanted me to cover the Justice Department, I almost fell out of my chair.” As the Justice Department and the Supreme Court became familiar territory, Conery found that his Assumption education helped him deal with the complex issues he found himself writing about in the nation’s capital. “Becoming familiar with the law was important,” he said. “Also being able to ‘unpack’ court decisions is vital. I got excellent training for that at Assumption, where I learned to ‘unpack’ complicated texts. I was a philosophy major. I can’t quote Kant, but I learned to think critically. As a reporter you need to look for the holes in the logic of what people are telling you. Professor Richard Gendron was great. I
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took an urban sociology course BY ELIZABETH WALKER with him and had great interest in the subject matter, which included crime. After I graduated, he was a source in one of my early stories on the gang code of silence. At Assumption, I learned to question everything.”
“People have strong feelings about the press. Even if they’re angry, it shows how important reporting is…how important democracy is.”–Ben Conery ’02 One thing Conery does not question is his decision to become a news reporter. The news industry is transforming itself, particularly print news, while trying to remain profitable. In an online world of news on demand, Conery still sees a strong need for well-reported news. “People have strong feelings about the press,” he said. “Even if they’re angry, it shows how important reporting is … how important democracy is. I was lucky when I was starting out. I was in the right place at the right time. I also work hard, but it’s still really fun work to do. Sometimes I’ve been in the Supreme Court or in a small town in North Carolina and I get that feeling that I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this. Aspiring news reporters still need to be able to tell a solid story, but they have to be skilled in a variety of media today, he said. They also need to read as much as they can. “You can’t just be a writer anymore,” Conery said. “On a more technical level, you need Internet and multi-media skills. Reporters today also need to have strong research skills and know how public records work. There’s an awful lot of public information available. People would be surprised at how much you can find out.” While so much is changing in the news industry, the art of writing and storytelling techniques, like rhythm, tension and timing, are still vital, he said. There is a craft to reporting, whether it’s for print, broadcast or the Web. “First is sourcing,” Conery said. “You have to be able to talk with people and you want people to like you enough to want talk to you, but you’re not their friend. It’s a delicate balance. You need to know when to push on people and when to pull back.” You also need to know when to stay where you are. Conery feels lucky to be where he is both professionally and geographically. “It was not a planned ambition of mine to live in Washington, D.C., and write for The Washington Times,” he said. “I’m still into the craft and skill of reporting. It’s a job you can always get better at. My goal at this point is to become a better writer and smarter reporter.”
"I've been around newsrooms my whole life. I was fascinated by them when I was kid. Back then the newsroom was still an old-fashioned, smoke-filled, raucous place.” —Ben Conery ’02
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Stoking the Fires Professors Jody Santos and Mike Land inspire engagement and curiosity in media students. B Y S TEPHEN KOSTR ZEWA
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ike Land has strong ideas about what it means to be a journalist. “Ideally, of course, the goal is always to make a difference in some way,” he stated. “Sometimes you can.” Land speaks from experience. The son of a Tuscaloosa News sportswriter, he remembers his classmates plying him for his father’s autograph, Land followed in his father’s footsteps by writing for the same local newspaper at 17. He later embarked on a journalism career which included stints at the Alabama Journal and the Montgomery Advertiser in addition to writing freelance columns for publications ranging from The Chronicle of Higher Education to The Bark (a magazine about modern dog culture). Today, the associate professor of English passes on lessons from the newsroom to a new generation of aspiring journalists at Assumption. Colleague Jody Santos, a visiting instructor of English, has a similar passion for journalism. An award-winning author, journalist and documentary filmmaker, Santos has reported for television and print news for the last 20 years and produced and directed documentaries for PBS and cable networks. Her new book is Daring to Feel: Violence, the News Media and their Emotion. Journalism, she argues “is the only mechanism we have to keep governments and businesses accountable. It makes people act in a different way.” Both Santos and Land believe that the act of learning about journalism has its value and is an ideal complement to a liberal arts education. “Journalism makes students better writers and better thinkers,” Land said. “It prepares you for a broad range of interests.” Santos notes that there are other intrinsic benefits as well. She believes that “journalism courses help students learn how to challenge things and that they have a right to ask questions,” two key aspects of the liberal arts and Assumption’s commitment to the Catholic intellectual tradition.
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Crucial to the professors is the idea of “social vision.” Journalism and media classes attempt to engender “some broader sense of the world.” The initiation into that inquisitive mindset can be challenging for some. “It’s funny, students have this notion about what journalism is,” Santos says. “But they haven’t really done it before. Passivity is the number one thing to go. They have to get started. They have to go out and get it.” Land agrees. “You get them to be daring enough to try,” he said, noting that a good journalist must possess “the fires of curiosity.” Also crucial to the professors is the idea of “social vision.” Land points out that journalism and media classes attempt to engender “some broader sense of the world” in students as well as a consciousness that expands past previous comfort zones. He often has added a community service learning component to his classes for this reason. One magazine writing course culminated in the creation of Finally Home, a comprehensive history of the first 20 years of the Greater Worcester Habitat
Professor Mike land with students Greg Sebastiao ’10 and Hannah Brencher ’10 at the office of Le Provocateur
for Humanity program. It is Land’s hope that this sense of service remains even if students do not go on to careers in the media. He related with satisfaction the story of Jane Bittner, a sophomore biology major who, inspired by what she learned in a community service journalism course, formed Assumption’s Habitat for Humanity club. Santos, whose goals include “shedding light on the social injustices of the day,” agrees wholeheartedly about the value of expanding one’s horizons. “You learn to respect the value of being made to feel uncomfortable,” she observed. As the media landscape has changed over the last several years with the rise of the Internet, so has Assumption’s media program. “The way journalism is produced is fundamentally changing,” Santos admits. She shared the story of a newspaper editor who stated that he wouldn’t hire any prospective journalist without a “digital footprint.” With that in mind, a greater focus has been made on familiarizing students with as many different kinds of media forums as possible. Both educators maintain that while the presentation may change, the foundations of the craft remain the same. As Land describes, whether students are working on newspaper stories, radio broadcasts or online venues, “This is still a class about journalism. We’re just changing the medium.” Both Land and Santos also agree on the value of hands-on experience. Land is the faculty advisor for Le Provocateur, Assumption’s bi-weekly student newspaper, and actively encourages students to try writing, editing and publishing stories. As mentor, Land ensures that students run the paper. “If we were to try to infringe on them it would be counterproductive,” he said. “I hang around and support them.” Land sees The Provoc as constantly growing and improving, telling each new generation of writers to “make changes that you can point to as better than last year.” Santos also exposes her students to hands-on experience. As part of a writing and mass communications capstone course, students record and edit a weekly radio program; The College Connection, for the local WUCW station. Topics for the show range from campus drinking to holiday-related activities. “WUCW is about freedom of the airwaves. They’ve just been terrific,” Santos said. Internships such as Assumption’s arrangements with the New York Media Experience Program at Marist College – which places students in professional internship programs – also helps meet the need for field [continued on page 39]
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Media With the increasing challenge of landing a job in the traditional broadcast or print media, Assumption students who want to write, film, produce or deliver the news see internships as an important way to gain professional experience, make contacts, and build their résumés. In the highly competitive and rapidly changing news industry, now dominated by new social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, college graduates with internship experiences can be value-added job candidates. Senior Daniel Corrado of Quinebaug, CT, interned last semester at The Worcester Telegram & Gazette. “I was writing news articles, not making copies or fetching coffee,” Corrado said. “I had three articles published in just six weeks at the newspaper. I covered hard news stories, like a municipal conference about Worcester’s reforestation efforts, and did profile pieces as well.” Corrado also is the sports editor of Le Provocateur, the student-run campus newspaper. “Writing for The Provoc is a great way for a student to build a clip file. It’s a lot of work, but very rewarding.” Another senior, Giana Battista of Cranston, RI, found her internship through the New York Media Experience Program (NYMEP) based at Marist College. Battista lived in New York City for a semester while interning in CNN’s public relations department. “I worked a 10-hour shift each day, wrote press releases, traveled to Los Angeles for a taping of the CNN ‘Heroes’ show, and worked in Times Square on election night, which was an amazing experience. I learned that this is the field I belong in.” She followed that experience with another semester-long internship at WPRI-TV in Providence, where she worked the news desk. Battista covered news stories on scene and conducted interviews which aired on the evening news. “My internships were very different, but both were great experiences,” she said. Last summer, junior Erica Pyznar of Enfield, CT, interned in the Big Y Foods marketing department, where she focused primarily on graphic design responsibilities. She created the layout for the weekly sales flyer that appears in all the Big Y supermarkets. Erica is spending this semester in New York City as an NYMEP intern with a placement magazine. After two years as a business major, senior Meghan Christensen of Danbury, CT, took a television production course and realized a passion for broadcast media. She switched her major to English with a concentration in mass communications. Combining her passions for music and television production, she landed an internship at MTVU in New York City. Christensen worked on location for several show
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Types tapings, helped with production and assisted in the production of a music video. Collectively, the students have found their internships to be valuable – and often eye-opening – experiences. “I’ve learned a lot about my writing,” said Corrado. “Articles are not like the essays I write for class, so extraneous material must be cut. I’ve had the opportunity to review my articles with the newspaper’s city editor to better understand the changes he made to what I had written. That experience and what I learned in my classes at Assumption have helped to refine my approach to whatever I write.” Pyznar also gained a new level of professionalism and confidence from her internship experience and her classes. “I have always wanted to work for a magazine,” she said. “In addition to my internship, taking graphic design and writing courses taught me a lot about journalistic style. Being at Assumption has helped me grow as an individual and become more confident and independent.” Christensen also gained new insights about herself and her time at Assumption. “I learned that I’m calm in stressful situations and that I work really well under a deadline,” she said. “Assumption has really given me the confidence to be prepared for anything. When you have one-on-one conversations with your professors, you can tell they believe in their students and want to help us succeed.” Given the economic challenges and dramatic changes in the news industry, the students believe that the professional experience they’ve gained through their internships will help them in their job searches. “I know that having an internship at a major city newspaper will look good on my resume,” Corrado said. “I hope the relationships I’ve built with the Telegram staff will result in strong recommendations for me. I will surely take my Telegram experiences into the workplace.” Christensen is focused on life after graduation. “A lot of seniors are nervous about graduating and living in the ‘real world,’ but I’m so excited to graduate because I know that a job can be a lot of fun if you love what you are doing. With the current job market, I’m hoping the MTV internship will give me an edge after graduation. It certainly gave me a lot of confidence and knowledge that I’ll bring with me to future employers.”
B Y T ROY WATKINS
Assumption’s media interns take on news industry challenges. Pictured from left: Giana Battista ‘10, Erica Pyznar ‘11, Daniel Corrado ‘10, Meghan Christensen ‘10
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
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AlUMNI EVENTS
alumniNews January 23
from the alumni association president Donna o’neill Connolly ’78 As you read this message, the Assumption campus should be covered in snow. For many of us, it brings back fun memories of sledding on dining hall trays and snowball fights on the quad. A new tradition at Assumption is the “Breakfast with Santa” that was held December 6. Parents and children attended a beautiful Children’s Mass in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit and festive pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus were snapped to start the Christmas season. In late September, President Cesareo initiated the first “Conversations with the President.” He met with 25 Boston area alumni and he is also holding many meetings on campus. His next conversations with alumni will be held in Central Massachusetts and New York. The Maine Regional Club held a reception in Portland in November. Alumni in the area enjoyed reconnecting with friends and welcoming President Cesareo. The downturn in the economy initiated many calls from alumni requesting help searching for jobs. To address this need, the Boston and Central Mass Regional Clubs held a Career Planning and Networking event in November. Attendees received important tips from professionals and exchanged business cards. It is never too early to think about nominations for the Honorary Alumnus/a, Fr. Louis Dion, A.A. ’35 Outstanding Achievement, Jack L. Bresciani ’72 Outstanding Alumnus/a, Athletic Hall of Fame and the newly created Outstanding Young Alumnus/a Awards. Please visit the Web site for the criteria for each award and contact Alumni Relations if you have someone in mind. A bus trip to Washington, D.C. is set for April and a trip to Italy and Greece is planned for the fall. Contact the Alumni Relations office for more information. Please consider coming back to campus for a visit and start making plans with classmates for Reunion Weekend 2010. You’ll be glad you did.
Winter Homecoming/Winter Carnival Bring the entire family and enjoy a Kid’s Winter Carnival (cotton candy, balloon fun, hot cider and more) following the women’s (1:30 p.m.) and men’s (3:30 p.m.) basketball games vs. Saint Michael’s
February 23 & 25 Palm Beach (2/23) and Naples (2/25), Florida Receptions Check your e-mail/mail for more information
March 21 Alumni Children’s Easter Egg Hunt and Mass
March 26 Boston Regional Alumni Club Boston Celtics game vs. Sacramento Kings (sold out)
April 24
Alumni Reception at Assumption’s presentation of Oliver! at Worcester’s Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts
June 4-6
Reunion A family barbecue, the Alumni Awards Ceremony, private dinners for classes with years ending in either “5” or “0” and much more!
Please provide us with your most current e-mail address as events, locations, times and dates can change frequently. Please watch your e-mail or visit www.assumption.edu online to confirm arrangements. If traveling, you are welcome to join fellow alumni at any regional event. Become a FAN … join our growing number of “fans” on the Assumption College Alumni Relations Facebook Fanpage!
Questions? Alumni Relations (508) 767-7223 or e-mail: alumni@assumption.edu
News to share? E-mail alumni@assumption.edu or your class agent (listed in Class Notes). Include photos with names and graduation years of alumni pictured. Please print or type.
Join Fellow Alumni on an Upcoming Trip! April 8-11, 2010 Washington, D.C. Enjoy the beauty of our nation’s Capital during cherry blossom season! Approximately $489/pp, double occupancy. Contact Diane laska-Nixon ’76 at 508-767-7239 or e-mail dlaska@assumption.edu. Please call soon for space availability.
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October 23-November 1 Italy & Greece Cruise Sail the gorgeous blue waters with us for our 2nd Alumni European trip! We first visit Venice then sail to Bari, Italy; several Greek Islands; and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Contact Diane laska-Nixon ’76 at 508767-7239 or e-mail dlaska@assumption.edu. Approximate cost: $2,600/pp, double occupancy for an inside cabin (outside and balcony cabins are available at a higher price). Deposit deadline: February 23.
PHOTO: WARREN lAVAllEE
The 2010 Hall of Fame inductees (l–R): Meagan Foran Willis ’02, Julie lane Ouellette ’00, Dick Cerasuolo P’92, Chris Eggert ’94 and Jerry Rochon ’83
alumni-athletics Hall of Fame inducts Five our former student-athletes—Jerry Rochon ’83, A. Chris Eggert ’94, Julie Lane Ouellette ’00 and Meagan Foran Willis ’02—and former Worcester Telegram & Gazette sports reporter Dick Cerasuolo P’92 were inducted to Assumption’s Alumni-Athletics Hall of Fame at an annual ceremony held in September during fall homecoming weekend. Jerry Rochon ’83 was a member of the ice hockey team’s “Arlington Connection” line, which accounted for 556 career points and was at one time the highest scoring line in ECAC hockey history. Rochon finished his career among the College’s top five in goals (71), assists (119), points (190) and points per game (2.34). The team posted a 47-34 record in his career and enjoyed its finest season to date in 1981-82 finishing first in the ECAC Division III (14-3) and 17-4 overall. Jerry is senior vice president for business development with Aon Risk Insurance Services in Phoenix, AZ, where he also resides with wife Renae Bohall-Rochon and their son, Connor. A. Chris Eggert ’94 is among the finest two-position players in Greyhounds baseball history. He earned Northeast-10 Conference accolades three times and ABCA all-region and all New England honors twice. He also played in the New England all-star game at Fenway Park as a senior. Eggert posted 19 career wins (3rd most in AC history) and amassed 201 career hits, 125 RBI and a .388 batting average. He helped lead the team to the regular-season NE-10 Conference title in 1993. Eggert earned a M.S. in psychology from Northeast Louisiana and a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He is a school psychologist and director of special services for the Spartanburg, SC, School District. He and wife Diane (Castignoli) ’94 have three children—Kailey, Michael and Allyson—and reside in Greenville, SC. Julie Lane Ouellette ’00 is one of the premier athletes in Assumption history. The Hounds’ only three-time all-American, she led the field hockey team to an overall mark of 60-22, including three
F
postseason tournaments and an ECAC playoff championship. She joined a very rare group of student-athletes, earning first team Northeast-10 Conference honors four times and College Field Hockey Coaches All America accolades on three occasions. Ouellette also played in the National All-Star game as a senior. She totaled 28 career goals (eighth all-time) and 22 assists (fourth) for 78 points (fifth). Lane worked for three years as a portfolio accountant at State Street Corporation in Quincy, MA. Married to Jim Ouellette ’01, she is a stay-at-home mother with their young daughters—Gina, Meghan and Hannah. The family resides in Sharon, MA. Meagan Foran Willis ’02 was a top Northeast-10 Conference lacrosse goalkeeper and one of the best in Assumption history, earning NE-10 all-star honors twice and Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches all-America honors as a senior. As a senior captain, she led her team to a 9-6 record and a second-place finish in the conference. Team MVP in both 2001 and 2002, she was named NE-10 Goalkeeperof-the-Year in 2002. Willis holds Hounds records for most career games (52), minutes (3071), saves (623), wins (23) and goals-against average (8.75). Senior director of COBRA Services for EBS Foran Insurance Advisory Services in Dennis, MA, she, husband Brad Willis ’01 and their daughter, Morgan, reside in South Dennis, MA. Dick Cerasuolo P’92 covered the Assumption basketball team for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for nearly 30 years. During more than 40 years as a journalist, he primarly covered the New England Patriots and the Central Massachusetts college beat while a T&G staff member. He earned many New England Associated Press awards for his coverage and several achievement awards from the National Football Foundation. A Northboro resident, Dick has three children—John ’92, Michael and Kathleen.
Assumption College Magazine • Summer 2009
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aLUmNI NeWS Norm ’54 & Pauline Valiquette P’85 with Anne & Andre Paradis ’54
President’s Council Dinner Student Speaker Michael Colebrook ’10 and Soloist Sarah Wyman ’10 Highlight Event
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Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
Attendees witnessed an audiovisual presentation recognizing the storied history of the Assumption basketball program, including the recent rededication of a renovated Laska Gymnasium. Athletics Director Ted Paulauskas ’67 thanked the Council for its support of both the renovation and the entire intercollegiate athletics program. President Cesareo provided an update on the College during his remarks and acknowledged the presence of two Assumption students— senior Laura Hall, the reigning Miss Vermont, and first-year student Carolina Correa, the 2009–10 Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Youth of the Year. View Sarah Wyman’s solo and Michael Colebrook’s speech online at www.vimeo.com/7348083 and vimeo.com/7348351, respectively.
Don lemay, D.D.S. ’69 receives President’s Council membership symbol from President Cesareo.
PHOTOS: TAMMY WOODARD
t the 27th annual President’s Council dinner on October 17 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, the 350 alumni, parents, friends, faculty and guests in attendance celebrated another successful year, the fourth consecutive in which the College exceeded more than $4 million in total giving. The elegant evening began with a reception in Washburn Hall. Shortly after President’s Council Chair Jim Paugh ’77 welcomed guests at the dinner in the Great Hall. Thirty members of the Worcester Children’s Chorus, in residence at the College, performed two selections at the start of the meal. Paugh introduced new President’s Council members while they received their membership symbols from President Francesco Cesareo. The President’s Council consists of individuals who have agreed to support the College annually at a level of $1,000 or more. Membership in the Council currently totals 499. Associate membership is extended to recent graduates who commit to an annual contribution of either $250 (for alumni out 1–4 years or $500 (for alumni out 5–9 years). Members of the Council are invited to the dinner each fall. During dessert, senior Sarah Wyman sang a stirring rendition of “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera, which drew a standing ovation. She was accompanied by Professor Michelle Graveline, DMA, on piano. Representing the student body, senior Michael Colebrook was a guest speaker. An Augustine scholarship recipient, Colebrook is majoring in French and philosophy with a 3.97 GPA. A captain of the baseball team, he also tutors in the Academic Support Center and has studied abroad in France and Quebec, Canada. Colebrook thanked Assumption and PC members for the many opportunities he has been afforded as a student. “Assumption provided the means by which I would ultimately come to discover the innate potential within myself. I grasped the fact that a successful life defines itself not as the becoming of all one WANTS to be, but rather is the becoming of all one CAN be … Thanks to all of you whom have made my Assumption College experience possible. In the future, I plan to do my utmost to provide other individuals with the same opportunities I have been offered.”
Cheryl & Kerry Daigle ’78 with Penelope ’79 & Michael Tosatti ’78
New Associate PC member leandra D’Eramo ’09 receives her symbol from President Cesareo Student speaker Michael Colebrook ’10
Don Bowers ’08 and Kevin Peterssen ’08 with Margaret & Dan Jones, assistant accounting professor Mike McGovern ’07, Katie DiBuono ’08, Ryan Brennan ’05 and Trish Steele ’05
Student soloist Sarah Wyman ’10 performed “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
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Maine
aLUmNI NeWS
A regional president’s reception was held in November at the Hilton Garden Inn, Portland, ME, where President Cesareo met with 25 alumni and parents.
Alumni Receptions
1. Jennifer Thomas Richard ’00, Rob Callahan ’92, Mark laPointe ’63, Kate Conley Harris ’91 and Debbie Dodge Page ’91 2. Amber DePeau Wagner ’03, Rosemary Kane Kirby ’83, President Cesareo and Chris O’Neil ’83 with Mary lemoine, Karen Kane lemoine ’83 and Dave lemoine 3. Mark laPointe’63, John ’63 & Kim Massaro, and Jim Prevet ’63 4. liz Costanza Schran ’73, President Cesareo and Barbara Baker Stalnaker ’73 5. Trustee Bob Gray ’65 and Roger Bouvier ’53 1 6. Steve Tietjen ’78 with Christine & Steve Rossi ’75 2 5
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3 4
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Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
Class of ’54 (l-R): John Saulnier, Norm Gaudrault, Gerry Chartier, George Bonnici and Fritz Dupre
Prep Reunion 2009 crowd of more than 120 gathered to celebrate the 15th annual Assumption Prep Reunion in September. The keynote speaker was Ray LaPorte ’69, who shared the antics that went on with his classmates in the late ’60s, as well as the high-quality educational experience he received at Assumption Prep. His recollections transcended the varied classes represented. During the reunion, the Class of ’69 recognized Fr. Phil Bonvouloir, A.A. ’48 for his service as headmaster. Emcee Moe Boisvert ’62 provided humorous tales mixed in with special memories of his days as a student. The day’s highlight event was a presentation on the economy by Roger Joseph ’69 and John Wolkonowicz ’69. Roger is an investment lawyer with Bingham and McCutchen LLP in Boston and John an auto industry analyst for IHS Global Insight in Lexington. Both are industry experts and quoted regularly in various media. They shared information about the global economic downturn and how that affected the auto industry, which further weakened the economy and led to the bailout measures taken by the federal government.
A Fr. Phil Bonvouloir, A.A. ’48 received a ceremonial bell for his service to Assumption Prep from Brett Devine ’69 and Ray laPorte ’69
PHOTOS: WARREN lAVAllEE
Class of ’64 (front, l-R): Ed laperriere, Arthur Provost, Charlie Toll and Paul Daw (back) Bob Mercier, Richard St. Pierre and Stephen Starr
Fr. Oliver Blanchette, A.A. ’35 was the oldest alumnus to attend reunion and blessed the meal.
Class of ’69 (front, l-R): larry Desmarais, Roger Joseph, Paul Massaria and Ray laPorte (middle) Bob Howarth, Dick Choiniere, Kevin Manning, Jim Reynolds, Bob McSheehy and Brett Devine (back) former teacher Ron Pacy, Barry Peterson, Mike Gagnon and Jim Hoban
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
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ClassNotes assumption College
’51 John Guy LaPlante (featured in the winter 2008 issue) was recently confirmed as the oldest Peace Corps volunteer in the world. The 80-year old completed a two-year tour of Charnihiv, Ukraine, in December, in time to be home for Christmas. During his tour, John taught English and coordinated English and French clubs.
’62
Stephen Trimby ’66 and Frank Ardaiolo ’70 in Monaco
ClASS AGENT
’68
tour company combined them with a group from Worcester State, traveling with Stephen Trimby ’66, a professor emeritus of economics. They shared AC stories and got to know each other during a week in Paris and southern France. (PICTURED ABOVE)
’64
Bob Mercier (pploon2@aol.com) Chuck Murphy (is1925@aol.com)
’71
Jack Barnosky, managing partner of Farrell Fritz, P.C., on Long Island, NY, was selected for inclusion in 2009 New York Super Lawyers – Metro Edition. Jack specializes in estate and trust litigation. Donald D’Amour, chair and CEO of Big Y Foods, Inc., and wife Michele were honored at the 10th annual Catholic Schools Advancement Dinner for their support for the region’s Catholic Schools.
Stephen Hayes was honored in May by the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP) when it introduced the Dr. Stephen D. Hayes Community Mental Health Project, which encourages graduates of MSPP to apply to the federal student loan forgiveness program in exchange for service to community mental health settings. Since the early 1970s Stephen has operated a private clinical psychology practice in Salem while serving as chief behavioral health officer at Lynn Community Health Center. Lionel Lamoureux’s East Brookfield-based car dealership, Lamoureux Ford, received its 12th consecutive Ford and Lincoln Mercury Dealership President’s Award in 2008. One of only 250 out of nearly 3,800 dealerships to receive the award this year, Lamoureux has earned it a total of 15 times. Bill McCue writes that he and wife Heather recently welcomed their fourth granddaughter, Molly Drew Holloway, and first grandson, Zachary James Smith.
Tim Cooney (cooney38@charter.net)
Rev. Andre Dargis recently retired after 42 years as a Catholic priest. He most recently served for eight years at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Gardner. For health reasons Fr. Andy has settled in the hot and dry climate of Arizona.
McCormac and Ed Hamill gathered for a golf outing in July, where the group presented a check to Ted Paulauskas to support the Greyhound Club.
ClASS AGENTS
’67
ClASS AGENTS Joe laforte (josephlaforte@comcast.net) Pete Marcotte (drakelane@comcast.net)
L-R: John Driscoll, AC Athletics Director Ted Paulauskas, Ron Coderre ’69, golf legend John
’70
40tH
reunion
Frank Ardaiolo, vice president for student life at Winthrop University (Rock Hill, SC), took a group of WU students to France in May, where his
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Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
ClASS AGENT Dan Micari (dmicari@yahoo.com)
Richard Diedrichsen received the Spirit Award from the Sterling House Community Center in Stratford, CT, for his contribution to its soccer camps over the years. Rich is an English teacher at Stratford’s Bunnell High School. He and wife Julia have three adult children and reside in Stratford. William Humbert recently moved to Park City, UT, where he is one of four volunteer organizers of the Park City Career Network. Eric Waldron was recently appointed administrator for Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport.
’72
ClASS AGENTS John DiPietro (originaljohndipietro@gmail.com) Jim Phelan (jdphelan@verizon.net)
Paul Brown is president and co-founder of The Makula Fund for Children, a non-profit organization founded to assist the children of Uganda, where up to two million children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. In the native language of Luganda, “Makula” means “gift.” Rodrigue Gauvin was named 2009-10 vice president/president elect of the American Library
Association’s Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations. Rod is senior vice president of K-12, news, microfilm and genealogy publishing and global content alliances for ProQuest in Ann Arbor, MI.
Costello and David Kennedy ’75 at the 2004 DNC). Alex Salachi is head librarian at Xaverian Brothers High School in Mansfield and is a longtime TV and movie extra.
’80
’73
’76
Maureen Ryan Doyle (mryandoyle@aol.com)
Maura Connelly Chasse (mchasse2@comcast.net)
Robert Carbonneau, a Passionist priest, published scholar and expert on China, presented a lecture titled “Eating from the same rice bowl: Understanding the Catholic Church in China during the 20th Century till Present Day” at Assumption on 10/28/09. Cliff Smith was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in October. He was honored as one of the three finest basketball players in the history of the Clark University high school basketball tournament.
Elaine Babineau Lomenzo, owner of the Cape Cod real estate firm Lomenzo Properties, was a winner in the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) 2009 Web site contest. The award was largely due to the wealth of information offered for users of the Web site. Joe Bobinski, Sr. and son Joe, Jr. were featured in a Baltimore Sun article in June. Joe Sr. coaches Howard County’s track and field athletes for the Maryland Special Olympics Summer Games, in which mildly autistic Joe Jr. (16) has competed for six years.
Carol Nozzolillo Geary was the 2009 recipient of the American Library Association’s Tom and Roberta Drews Scholarship. She is pursuing a master of library science degree at Southern CT State University. A mother of four sons, Carol is the youth services librarian at the Sutton Free Public Library.
ClASS AGENT
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35tH
ClASS AGENT
reunion
James “Shamus” Fleming founded a new company, Planet Tuition, which assists students and families with college funding, selection and tuition planning. Shamus was inducted into the Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame in November. Randy Francoise is a program manager for Raytheon’s Goleta, CA, office. He recently moved to Santa Barbara, CA. James Hencinski is a full time counselor/manager for Harbor Fifteen, a group home in Two Harbors, MN, operated by the Duluth Regional Care Centers. It provides care and support for developmentally disabled adults who also have physical health issues. Gary Iacovelli was recently promoted to senior vice president of commercial lending at UniBank. David Kennedy is director of The Atlantic Philanthropies in Australia. In 2004 he was Mass. Senator John Kerry’s top fundraiser in Australia and later met Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (L-R: U.S. Senatorial Candidate (IL) Barack Obama, Clare
’77
ClASS AGENT Jim Phaneuf (jphaneuf@bellandhudson.com)
Anne Lynam Goddard HD’09, president and CEO of ChildFund International, launched this year’s Passport to the World of Women Series, offered by the Women’s Studies Program and the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Assumption in September. Sue Chalifoux Zephir was elected to an at-large seat on the city council in Leominster in November. A business manager for the WGBH Educational Foundation, WGBH Interactive, Sue had previously served one term as a councilor in Leominster’s Ward 4.
30tH
reunion
ClASS AGENTS Mike Robinson (mjrobinson@att.net) Colette Gushue Rowland (rowlandhing@aol.com) Sarah Thomas Tracy (sjttracy@cox.net)
’81
ClASS AGENT John C. Shea (johnkimshea@comcast.net)
Brian Zanghi, president and CEO of Kadient, Inc., was a finalist for the 2009 Mass Technology Leadership Council’s CEO of the Year Award. Since joining Kadient in 2004, he led it to become a leading provider of SaaS (Software as a Service). Its headquarters are located in Lowell.
’83
ClASS AGENTS Beth Waldron Boothe (bboothe4@gmail.com) Danielle Molleur (sixmolars@verizon.net) Michael Sullivan (linchris01@aol.com)
’79
Gail Hinte was elected president of the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Inc. (NCHICA) in September. A member of the NCHICA Board of Directors since 2005, Gail is a partner with HIMformatics, a healthcare IT consulting firm based in Raleigh, NC.
Roy Angel (rangel@massdevelopment.com) Kevin McSherry (kevin195774@yahoo.com)
’84
ClASS AGENTS
Tom Bartholomew, president of Bartholomew & Co. Inc., was named one of the top 100 independent financial advisors by Barron’s magazine for the second consecutive year. In 2008, Bartholomew & Co. was named one of the topranked advisor teams in America by Research magazine’s “The Winner’s Circle.” Bartholomew & Co. is a Worcester-based financial services firm.
ClASS AGENT Ed McDonald (emcd6114@aol.com)
Christopher Litterio is a managing shareholder of Ruberto, Israel & Weiner PC in Boston, a law firm that specializes in business and commercial litigation. Sue Dailey Malanga shared that her daughter, Christie, began classes in the fall as a member of Assumption’s Class of 2013.
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
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CLaSS NoTeS
’88
ClASS AGENT Rob Ames (rames@sovereignbank.com)
Colleen Shields Addison, husband Jeff and son William, are living in Ningbo, China while Jeff serves a three-year assignment as general manager of a Borg Warner, Inc. plant in Ningbo on the East China Sea. (PICTURED) Colleen writes that they enjoy discovering China and plan to visit several nearby countries during their stay. Colleen works part-time via the Internet and William (8) attends an international school. Gathering for a mini-reunion in June in Falmouth were (l-R): Helen Russell ’85, Sue Dailey Malanga ’84, lisa McCarthy O’Keefe ’83, Carol Ann Krupa ’85 and Rita Castagna HA’91, former Assumption athletics director and coach. Paul Matt was recently appointed to the board of directors for MCU Commercial Services, LLC, a subsidiary of the Millbury Federal Credit Union. Paul is employed by Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates in Worcester.
’85
25tH
reunion
ClASS AGENTS Erika Duke (eduke98080@aol.com) Tom Duke (tedukeinsurance@aol.com) Sheila Veideman (ac1985sw@aol.com)
Marty Slone retired from the United States Navy Reserve after serving in the Navy and Navy Reserve for more than 21 years. He retired from the position of Naval Intelligence Officer assigned to the Carrier Strike Group Two in Norfolk, VA. Jeff Ugalde is the newly hired treasurer in the town of Lunenburg. He had spent the last two years as the assistant treasurer and collector for the city of Worcester, where he currently resides.
’86
ClASS AGENTS Catherine Browne Harrison (cathbrowne@optline.net) Elizabeth Mowry Sabourin (e.sabourin@comcast.net)
Pamela Bingham Adams was recently elected as a trustee for Millbury Savings Bank. Barbara Roach Keyes has been promoted by Flagship Bank to vice president/regional manager, to oversee community banking and corporate business development. Dave Kozak (PICTURED) is co-owner of Kozak & Salina, a well-known direct mail company which recently joined with Pita
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Communications and Vrroomedia to offer business development, government relations and public affairs services in Connecticut. Robert Martin participated in the 2009 PanMass Bike Challenge to benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Jimmy Fund last summer. Terry Sheehan, M.D., chief medical officer at Adventist R ehabil itation Hospita l of Maryland in Rockville, MD, was appointed medical director of the Amputee Coalition of America, a 13-member group consisting of the nation’s top limb loss care specialists. Dr. Sheehan presented a talk on AC’s campus in September titled, “Beyond Assumption to Rehabilitation Medicine and Human Rights.” He and wife Monica reside in Rockville with their four sons.
’87
ClASS AGENTS Neil Isakson (neil.isakson@worcesteracademy.org) Jacqueline Jones (jjones@moravian.edu) Scott White (scott@swhitecpa.com)
Alana Connolly Mitchell is the regional development and marketing manager for Comfort Zone Camp, the nation’s largest free bereavement camp serving children ages 7-17 who have lost a parent, sibling or primary caregiver. CZC camps are offered in five states, including Massachusetts. Dan O’Neill was appointed senior vice president and commercial loan officer of Holyoke Credit Union in June. He has 20 years of banking experience and was most recently an assistant vice president for Westfield Bank.
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
Michael Sacco was awarded the 2009 Lifetime Achievement award by the Order Sons of Italy in America in October at a ceremony held in Worcester. This award is given to men and women who exemplify themselves to the Order, their country, and their community.
’89
ClASS AGENTS Christine Picard Sawicki (sawicki3@comcast.net)
Ann McInerney has been promoted to associate head coach of the College of the Holy Cross women’s basketball team. Sean O’Shea was appointed principal of Mary Rowlandson Elementary School, Lancaster, in July. He has worked in the Franklin and Wachusett School districts for 18 years, and served as an assistant principal for three years in Rutland.
’90
20tH
reunion
ClASS AGENTS Cliff Jefferson (ctjeff@charter.net) Kelly Cronin Sachleben (ksachleben@comcast.net)
Jennifer Paugh Browne recently started Design Intervention by Jen, a residential planning/interior design company, in Glenwood, MD. She earned a diploma in residential planning from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where she also received the President’s Award. She and husband Steven reside in Glenwood. Edward Johnson is a director for Feeley & Driscoll, P.C., a Boston-based regional certified public accounting and business consulting firm. Gerald Lemire was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick as clerk magistrate of Uxbridge District Court in September. Gerald has run a general litigation practice in Uxbridge, the Law Office of Gerald A. Lemire, since 1998. Dennis O’Connor launched Superior Waste & Recycling, a Worcester-based waste removal and recycling business, in August. Laid off from a management position with Waste Management, he decided to open his own company, which he began by purchasing and consolidating two local waste removal companies. John Mahoney has joined the firm of Tully Rinckey, PLLC, as a partner in its Washington, DC, office. He will focus his practice on federal sector labor and employment law. David Miller recently co-authored a report titled “U.S. Performance Across International Assessments of Student Achievement,” which was published by the U.S. Department of Education. David is a senior research analyst for the American Institutes for Research Education Statistics Services Institute in Washington, DC. BIRTHS: Michael Ramos and wife Kristi welcomed Joseph Michael on 9/8/09.
The members of Assumption’s 1992 New England Rowing Championships men’s four silver medalwinning crew team’s boat reunited in July to run the Boilermaker 15K Road Race in Utica, NY. (l-R: Jim Hughes ’94, Coach Chris Wagner, George lange ’93, Will Waldron ’92 and Matt Hastings ’93). Lawyers Weekly in the “Paralegal of the Year” category. The nominees were recognized at a luncheon in September. BIRTHS: Alicia McQuillan Bennett and husband Joseph welcomed Meaghan Cathleen on 1/22/09. She joins brother Reilly (5). William Waldron and wife Mary welcomed twins Lily Marie and Thomas Augustine on 9/10/09. They join siblings Colette (9), William IV (7), Mary Clare (6), Catherine (3) and Rose (2).
’95
15tH
reunion
ClASS AGENT Kiersten Chapman Marich (themarichs@verizon.net) Steve McKiernan (sjmckiernan@gmail.com) Cindy DeNaples Silva (cindy.silva@fmr.com)
’93
ClASS AGENT Scott Cavallo (sac0019@yahoo.com)
’92
Kristi Hurley Reale was named one of Business West’s 2009 “40 under 40” recipients and recognized for her leadership within her firm, her industry and the company. Business West is the business journal of western MA. Kristi is a senior manager with regional accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, PC in Holyoke. Kristi and husband Joe live in East Longmeadow. The J. Michael Keefe Memorial Scholarship received a $4,500 donation from the proceeds from the 10th annual golf tournament held in his honor. A total of 152 golfers participated in the tournament.
Kerry Haughey Dockett (kdockett96@yahoo.com) Will Waldron (waldronw@mercersburg.edu)
’94
ClASS AGENTS
Kyle Keenan recently married Teresa Leo in a private ceremony attended by members of their weblink Kyle immediate families in Somerville. works in production engineering for Carbon Nanoprobes, a company specializing in nanoscale imaging technology in Malvern, PA. Jeanne Whitaker Tolomeo CE’92 was nominated as an “Unsung Hero” by Massachusetts
for non-profit organizations. Matthew Gull has coached the Wachusett Regional High School (Holden) baseball team for nine years. William Salciccioli recently bought his first townhouse and moved to Columbia, MD.
ClASS AGENTS Scott Klimaj (dr.scott2@yahoo.com) Mike Walsh (mpwalsh@snet.net)
Michael Gondek is the chairman & CEO of Strategic Labor, Inc. in Worcester, which he started with his brother and his father in 2003. He is also a classical/musical-theatre singer and enjoys performing in benefit concerts to help raise money
Maura Connelly married Glenn Loving on 7/18/09 in Hartford, CT. Alumni in attendance were Melissa (Ford) and Robert Adduci, Jessica LaRock Bruno, Stephanie Baumann Laur, Becky Taggart Melia, Nadeen Serra Moretti, Kathleen O’Keefe and Carrie Jevarjain Tait. Maura works in New York City and the couple resides in Brooklyn.
’96
ClASS AGENT Wendy Vautour Durkin (wdurkin@comcast.net)
Bill Moore received the “Seven Seals Award” in June at the Massachusetts Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Appreciation Day for meritorious leadership and initiative in support of the men and women who serve America in the National Guard and Reserve. Bill hosts the Leicester Cable Access Corporation’s “Route 9 Veterans Forum.” Maura Welby Sheehan resides in West Newton with husband Paul and their son, Murphy (1). Stephen Simmons graduated from The George Washington University with a M.S. in information systems technology in May 2009.
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
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CLaSS NoTeS
’97
ClASS AGENTS Jared Bouzon (jbouz751@verizon.net) Mark Cleland (mcleland@assumption.edu)
Scott Gallagher, CPA, joined Paresky Flitt & Company, LLP, a leading certified public accounting firm based in Wayland. He, wife Jean and their three children reside in Jefferson. BIRTHS: Jared Bouzan and wife Laurie welcomed William Thomas on 8/6/09. He joins Andrew (6) and Grace (4).
’98
ClASS AGENTS Carl Cafaro (carl.cafaro@bankofamerica.com) Jon Jankowski (jjankows@hotmail.com) Anne-Marie Kenney (annemariekenney@gmail.com)
Letitia Carr Bourgeois is living in Rindge, NH with husband Joseph and their son, Charles (1). BIRTHS: Kristen Wheelock Oliver and husband Jason announced the birth of Olivia Elaine on 5/29/09. She joins twin brothers Michael and Nicholas (3).
’99
ClASS AGENTS lauren D’Angelo (laurend7@msn.com) laura Ramsdell Parrillo (laura.parrillo@gmail.com)
Karen Baldino married Neil Hickey on 7/18/09 in Watertown, CT. Alumni in attendance were Shayna Greiner, Caitlin Fahey Kickham, Kristyn Goehring MacInnis, Elizabeth Trovato McMullin, and John ’00 and Nicole Meagher Orlandella. The couple honeymooned in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands and resides in West Hartford, CT. Jennifer DeBurro is director of residential education and housing at the University of New England in Biddeford, ME. She is also the state of Maine’s director for NASPA, the National Association of Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. K r i s t i Lu e t j e n , (PICTURED) a special needs and kindergarten teacher for 10 years at Whiting Lane
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Elementary School in We st Har tf ord , wa s honored as Connecticut Teacher of the Year in October and featured in a Hartford Courant article. Kristi continued teaching through treatment for Stage 2 breast cancer, including two surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, and is admired for her ability to seamlessly integrate special needs students into her classroom. Karen Shaw was recently promoted to therapy supervisor for the inpatient rehabilitation unit at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, NH. BIRTHS: Jamie Kelley Griffith and husband Daniel announced the birth of Joseph David on 5/29/09. He joins Jake (3). Jamie recently earned a master’s degree in integrated arts and learning from Lesley University. Jo e and Laur a Ramsdell Parrillo w e l c o m e d Benjamin Thomas on 05/22/09, exactly 10 years after they g r a d uat e d f r o m Assumption. Alison Giaimo Pierce and husband Michael welcomed son Mason Marion on 1/25/09.
’00
10tH
reunion
ClASS AGENT Doug Brown (douglas_brown15@hotmail.com)
John Barata was named head coach of the varsity boys’ soccer team at Oliver Ames High School in Easton. Angela Corby and Gregg Dennis were recently married in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Eighty-five family members and friends attended. Alumni in attendance were Maureen Collins Burnham, Amy Bushnell, Mike Cardillo, Brendon Connors, Karen Contursi, Michelle Whitworth Gallant, Mike Herard, Kristen Kelley, Dave Mercier, Aimee Martin ’01 and Meg Murphy. Kevin Cosgrove founded Wake Up Narcolepsy in 2008, a non-profit foundation committed to educating others about and finding a cure for narcolepsy. It is a neurological condition characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks, from which Kevin has suffered. Michael Demetri was recently honored as a top fundraiser for the Greater Boston Albanian Businessman’s Association. He resides in South Boston. Paula Higgins married John Moyer on 9/26/09. The couple resides in Pittsfield, MA.
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
BIRTHS: Alessandra Roffo Higgins and husband Brian welcomed son Matteo on 9/15/09. He joins Conor (2). Julie (Lane) and husband James Ouellette ’01 welcomed daughter Hannah Grace on 12/29/08. She joins Gina (6) and Meghan (3). Amanda Dusza Pueshel and husband Jacob announced the birth of Jaxon Noah on 6/16/09.
’01
ClASS AGENTS Tim Monahan (tmm915@hotmail.com)
Amy Logue graduated from Assumption in May 2009 with a MBA. She is AC assistant director of annual giving and resides in Worcester. Daniel Mercurio is a retail district executive for Sovereign Bank in Worcester. Dan, wife Kellie and their daughter, Gracie (1), reside in Natick. Melissa Shamgochian, a former all-America field hockey player for the Hounds, was inducted into the Quabbin Regional Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2009. BIRTHS: Caitlin Smith Bell and husband Brian welcomed Samuel Joseph on 9/5/09. Caitlin is a community executive for distinguished events the American Cancer Society. The Bells reside in Brockton. Gabrielle Spada Tarpill and husband Andrew welcomed Andrew Morrison on 7/13/09. Brad Willis and wife Meg (Foran) ’02 welcomed John on 12/11/09. He joins sister Morgan (2). Brad has joined the Harwich Fire Department.
’02
ClASS AGENTS laura DaRos (laura.daros@gmail.com) Amy Beadle laCroix (amy.b.lacroix@gmail.com)
Carolyn Cormier married Chris Riendeau on 7/11/09. The couple honeymooned in Antigua and resides in Putnam, CT. Carolyn is a math teacher at the Woodstock (CT) Academy. Mike Roux, former Greyhound women’s basketball aide, is an assistant coach for the Holy Cross women’s basketball team. Tara Twine married Scott Mason on 10/18/09 weblink Alumni in attendance were in Spencer. Monica Hirsch, bridesmaid Kim Mason, matron of honor Kate Sweeney LaRoche and maid of honor Liz Sweeney. Tara is a professional photographer and owns TaraTalents.com. The couple resides in Concord, NH, with their son, Teigan. BIRTHS: Mark and Jackie (Scott) Couture welcomed Lola Ryn on 8/7/09. She joins Tai John (2).
’03
’04
Joe DiCarlo (jdicarlo05@comcast.net)
Ryan Cody (ryanjcody@gmail.com) Jillian Witham (jillianwitham@gmail.com)
ClASS AGENTS Leeanne Griffin married Rob Zielonka on 9/26/09 in Westbrook, CT. Alumni in attendance were best man Nicholas Bernier, Jessica Hill Burgess, Peter ’84 and Marcy (Martin) Coombs ’83, Carrie DeBlois, Julie Kieck, Jeffrey Logee ’99, Patrick O’Keefe, Heidi Macora Paluk ’93 and maid of honor Katherine Wasiuk. The couple resides in Enfield, CT. Leeanne left her online editor position at the Hartford Courant and is a freelance writer and blogger. She recently launched www.funwithcarbs.com. Joseph Lepain received a master’s degree in liberal arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD in May 2009. Joe plans to pursue a career in foreign affairs. Luke Soojian is the owner of Soojian Services, a local rubbish removal company. Morgan Sousa is employed by IBM and resides in San Jose, CA. BIRTHS: Danielle Gorham Maurer and husband Ted announced the birth of Jackson Thomas on 7/26/09.
ClASS AGENTS
Jeremy Carr earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Alabama in August and was nominated by his research advisor for the Outstanding Dissertation Award for the University’s College of Arts and Sciences. He is a marketing communications rep for Chemical Abstracts Service in Columbus, OH. Jennifer Hurley Steinberg graduated from Worcester State College in May 2009 with a master’s degree in secondary education. She teaches 11th grade English at Shrewsbury High School.
’05
5tH
reunion
ClASS AGENTS Ryan Brennan (rybrennan@gmail.com) Natalie DiCecca (njdicecca@suffolk.edu)
Amanda Barone recently earned a master’s degree in art history from UMass-Amherst. She is employed by the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum in Springfield. Chris Colabello finished ninth in the Can-Am League with a .302 batting average for the Worcester Tornadoes. He helped the team advance
to the Championship Series by going 5-for-9 with 2 HR and 4 RBI in an upset of the regular season champion New Jersey Jackals in the semifinals. Sarah Donahue married Stephen F. Bottari, III weblink Alumni in attenon 6/6/09 in Danvers. dance were Kate Ambrose, Heather Audette ’04, Amanda Bradley, Michele Lisacki Cushman ’06, Michelle Haley, Steve Kessler, Melissa Kocon ’04, Melissa Lalli ’06, Susan Palumbo ’06, Rachel Rude ’06, Lowina Sham ’06 and Bea PatinoMancuello ’07. Rebecca Macdonald married Paul Randazzo on 8/29/09 in Wrentham. Amanda McCoy graduated from West Virginia University in May 2009 with a Doctor of Medicine degree. She resides in Albany, NY, with husband Chris and is working in pediatrics. Morgan St. Clair will be a 2009 Peace Fellow with the Nepal Social Development and People Empowerment Center (NESPEC) located in Gaighat, Nepal. She will work with NESPEC through its advocacy efforts with local communities. Kara Williamson is an assistant women's basketball coach at Southern New Hampshire University. Mike Wood is the chief storyteller for gamesthatgive.net, a new Web site that allows people to play free games to raise money for various charities. BIRTHS: Jennifer Strauss Bridgers and husband Edward welcomed Genevieve Grace on 8/22/09.
Wheel Wonders Mike Ciara ’00, Patrick McNally ’97 and Erin Ahearn ’05 Three alumni won big as Wheel of Fortune contestants when the TV game show visited Boston in the fall. The episodes aired in November. Mike Ciara ’00 solved the first four puzzles of his game, earning $19,440 in cash and prizes, including trips to Alaska and St. Maarten. He was beaten by $1,400. “Overall, the experience was incredible,” said Ciara. “I’ve been a fan of Wheel since childhood and fondly remember watching it with my Nana, who has since passed away.” Mike is a special education coordinator for the Leominster Public Schools and the dean of students at Samoset Middle School in Leominster. He and wife Kristen reside in Clinton with their daughter, Caroline, born 5/26/09. Patrick McNally ’97 said, “Most people grew up on cartoons. I grew up on game shows.”
Mike Ciara ’00
Patrick McNally ’97
He was able to come from behind to pull out a victory on the last puzzle and advance to the bonus round, which he solved for $30,000 and an overall total of $42,250. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and you want to see everybody do well, but it was great to win,” he said. Patrick is a full-time ticket broker in Worcester, where he and wife Jenelle also reside. Erin Ahearn ’05 shared that it had always been a dream of hers to be on the show and she made the most of her opportunity. A guidance counselor at Attleboro High School, she solved all
Erin Ahearn ’05
the puzzles but one, totaling $42,450, then solved the bonus round for a final total of $72,450, including a Canadian Rockies railroad trip. Erin wrote on a Wheel Web site blog that winning and celebrating with her family was surreal, and the most memorable part came after the show. Since her show was the last taping of the day, she was treated like a celebrity when she walked outside, as show attendees called her name and hugged her. “It truly was my dream come true,” Erin concluded.
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CLaSS NoTeS
’06
’08
Casey Hatten (hatten.casey@gmail.com) Jay laPerriere (jlaperri@assumption.edu) Erica Mandeville (emandevi@assumption.edu)
Katie DiBuono (katiedibuono@gmail.com) Trisha lituri (patricia_lituri@tjx.com) Kevin O’Connell (oconnell@assumption.edu)
Britt Bishop is the girl’s basketball coach at Grafton High School. Matthew Cavallaro was appointed in August by the West Haven (CT) school district to oversee the management of federal stimulus funds received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Hoyt Davis earned a J.D. degree from New England Law School in May. He is a legal intern with PUMA North America, Inc. Amy Soteropoulos received a master’s degree in special education in May 2009 from Salem State College with highest honors. She teaches special education for 4th grade in Sudbury. Christopher Zoto is pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry from WPI. He is concentrating in organic and physical chemistry.
Laura Barbosa earned a master of arts in teaching from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. After a year as a graduate intern and summer program kindergarten teacher at T.W. Miller School in Wilton, CT, she is a 2nd grade teacher at Side By Side Charter School in South Norwalk, CT. Corey Diethorn is playing professional basketball in Spain. Laura Nosal married David Beavers in East weblink Alumni in Hampton, CT on 7/18/09. attendance were Kaitlyn Booth, Bob Boutin, Andrew Buckley, Dan Houle, Eric Matthews, Amanda Nadaskay, Britny Norbutus, Kathryn Pietrosimone, Janelle Serianni and bridesmaids Christina Restante and Justine Sekelsky.
ClASS AGENTS
’07
ClASS AGENTS Frank Galligan (fgalliga@yahoo.com) Danielle St. Martin (dstmarti@assumption.edu) Kristen St. Martin Marshall (kristenroz@aol.com)
Emily Boisvert is pursuing certification as an elementary school library media specialist at Southern Connecticut State University. Nina Ferry, a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship recipient, is residing in Suva, Fiji, where she serves as a cultural ambassador and is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of South Pacific. She has volunteered extensively and led two successful educational programs last year. Nina was recently offered a position to remain in Fiji for three years to teach secondary English literature at the International School in Suva. Heather Kessler is a residence hall director at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT. She earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from Florida International University in 2009. Charlaine St. Charles graduated from Assumption with a master’s degree and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in rehabilitation counseling in May 2009. She resides in Worcester and is an outpatient clinician for the Multicultural Wellness Center.
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ClASS AGENTS
’09
ClASS AGENT Andy Rudzinski (arudzinski@assumption.edu)
Courtney Adams, Amanda Norton and Brian Ray are working at the accounting firm of McGladrey & Pullen LLP in Burlington. Mike Baillargeon is playing baseball for the Werribee Giants just outside of Melbourne, Australia.
Kathleen Collamore has accepted a position at the accounting firm of Whittlesey and Hadley in Hartford, CT. Mike DiReda is playing baseball for Latina of the Italian professional league and after 10 games, he was hitting .336 with three HRs. Three alumnae are currently serving as Jesuit Volunteers. Katherine Hartigan is working at South Bay Community Services in San Diego, CA; Elise Hennrikus is working at St. HOPE Academy in Sacramento, CA; and Jacqueline Twomey is working at Oasis Center, Inc. in Nashville, TN.
weblink indicates that a wedding photo is Note: available online at www.assumption.edu/alums/ Alumni/weddings.html
assumption Prep
’49 Emile Vermette and wife Rose Marie have spent the last two years traveling the world. They attended the Prep Reunion last September and enjoyed spending most of the weekend with Gerry Bousquet and his wife, Joanne.
Members of the Prep Class of 1955 gathered for a summer luncheon in North Grafton (l-R): Robert Chicoine, Armand Harnois, Remi Branconnier, Raoul Gagne, Bob Dumouchel, David Brodeur and Richard Dion.
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
’55 Attending their annual summer luncheon in July at the Danversport Yacht Club in Danvers were Yvette & Bill Brunelle, Jane & Del Cournoyer, Doris & Mel Dutremble, Connie & Con Ferland, Lorraine & Roger Fortin, Norma & Ronald Fortin, Lorraine & Bob Gosselin, Carol & Bob Laurence, Louis Leveillee, Gloria & Norm Marois, Marilyn & JP Page, Alda & Pete Plante, Ann & Roger Racine, and Bev & Bernie Tremblay. They were joined by Melanie Demarais HA’92 and Bro. Armand Lemaire, A.A. ’48.
’59 Francis Goguen was given the title of monsignor by Pope Bendict XVI. He was recognized in the Cathedral of St. Paul, Worcester, in August 2009. Msgr. Goguen is the pastor of St. Cecilia Parish in Leominster.
’65 James O’Brien has been elected chairman of the Worcester Center for Performing Arts. Jim is a partner in the law firm Mountain, Dearborn & Whiting in Worcester.
’70 Rich Riley recently retired as the athletic director at Marlborough High School.
Monitor, a newspaper for the Diocese of Trenton, about he and his wife, Therese G’83, and their lives and ministry in the Catholic Church. Louise Goeckel writes that she is taking a series of post-graduate leadership workshops at St. Mary’s College in California.
G’78 Sr. Mary Quinn is serving as president of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Springfield.
G’83 Jeannine McDonald is the head of Rancho Solano Preparatory School in Glendale, AZ. She and husband John have been married for 27 years and have two grown children.
G’91 Michael Chase has been ordained a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Worcester by Bishop McManus. He is a member of Christ the King Parish, and he and wife Mary have three grown children. Mike works as a quality assurance specialist for S&E Specialty Polymers in Lunenburg.
G’93 Margaret Pottle has been promoted to assistant vice president of UniBank’s mortgage department.
G’01 Graduate alumni
G’71 Edward Carien was recently informed that an annual scholarship in his name has been created at Worcester’s Doherty Memorial High School, where Carien taught for many years. Created by a former student whose career was dramatically influenced by Carien, a 2010 Doherty graduate will receive the first award.
G’76 John Boucher is the director for the Office of Evangelization and Parish Development in the Diocese of Trenton, NJ. Two articles appeared in
Maryann Stannard was appointed principal of the Fales Elementary School in Westborough last spring. She has previously taught 2nd grade for 12 years at Hastings Elementary School in Westborough.
G’02 John Mattison has been hired as assistant vice president of commercial credit at Lowell Cooperative Bank. He oversees the credit analysis and administration of the bank’s commercial lending portfolio.
News to share?
E-mail alumni@assumption.edu or your class agent (listed in Class Notes). Include photos with names and graduation years of alumni pictured. Please print or type.
Rob-Roy Co-founder Robert Lapierre AP’57 With a grandmother and mother who were hairdressers Robert Lapierre AP’57 found his career inspiration. “My mother supported our family when my father was ill and unable to work,” he said. “It was and still is an excellent field to pursue for one simple reason ... the state of the economy does not affect us. People will always need to have their hair cut. It keeps growing.” After graduating from Assumption Prep and finishing a service tour with the U.S. Army Reserves, lapierre got a job cutting hair at a local hair salon. “I figured I could make a career of it as well,” he said. Robert became partners with a co-worker from the salon, Roy M. Samra, and in 1961 they opened Rob-Roy Coiffures Inc. on Pearl Street in Worcester. Forty-eight years later the two partners own and operate 11 Rob-Roy Hair Salons throughout Worcester County and five Rob Roy Academy schools in Worcester, Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River, MA, and Woonsocket, RI. Five programs are available at Rob Roy, where students can specialize in barber/styling, cosmetology, esthetics, manicuring or instructor training. “It’s been a rewarding career for me and we’ve been fortunate recently,” said lapierre. “With the recent decline in the economy, we’ve experienced a great increase in students and our barber school is continuously expanding.” Robert and wife Kathy have six children (two of whom became hairdressers but did not stay in the family business), 13 grandchildren and reside in Worcester. For more information, visit www.rob-roy.com.
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
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IN memorIam
Charles R. Bibaud, AP’51, ’55, P’79 (1933-2009) The Assumption community was deeply saddened to lose a loyal alumnus and respected educator and mentor with the passing of Charlie Bibaud in October. A Worcester resident for most of his life, Charlie served in the U.S. Army Reserves for seven years and was a basketball consultant in French West Africa for the U.S. State Department in 1963. He taught for 15 years at Assumption Prep and 14 years at St. John’s High School, Shrewsbury, where he was director of athletics for 17 years. He coached basketball, baseball, football, soccer and cross country during his career, and was a highly accomplished and respected basketball coach. He was one of the winningest coaches in Massachusetts high school basketball history and later served as a mentor to several local high school
basketball and college coaches. Charlie earned numerous accolades for his coaching efforts; including induction into halls of fame for St. John’s High School, Assumption College and the New England Basketball Coaches Association. Known as “Mr. Assumption Prep,” Charlie served Assumption by assisting with the planning of several annual Assumption Prep School reunions and served as honorary co-chair of the Assumption Prep Campaign. In addition Charlie directed local basketball camps and tournaments, he co-founded the athletic footwear and apparel store Kangaroo Crossing and was actively involved in local churches. Charlie leaves his wife of 53 years, Carol, sons Charles ’79, Timothy P’09 and William, brothers Richard and Paul, and four grandchildren.
Joseph N. Lane, Jr. ’60 (1937–2009)
Raymond B. Jacques, M.D. AP’36, ’40 Liverpool, NY, died August 23, 2009 Born in Saskatchewan, Canada and raised in Fitchburg, Raymond was a 1944 graduate of Laval University School of Medicine and a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II. After surgical residencies, he practiced as a general surgeon at Burbank Hospital in Fitchburg until 1969. He then served as medical director for General Electric’s plants in Phoenix, AZ, and Syracuse, NY. He leaves his wife, Nancy; step-children Elaine and Roger; children Michael AP’66, Aimee ’73, Paulette and Andre; 12 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Assumption mourned the passing of a local teaching and coaching legend with the passing of Joe Lane on December 14. A resident of Boylston, Joe had fought cancer for 35 years. Born and raised in Worcester, Joe was a standout football and basketball player at St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, and played for the Greyhounds under Coach Andy Laska. After earning a M.Ed. from Worcester State, he began his teaching career in Oxford and returned to St. John’s in 1961. He helped coach football and basketball and served as athletic director for 20 years, then director of alumni for 21 years until his retirement in 2002. The renovated St. John’s Gymnasium was renamed the Coaches Pavilion to honor Joe Lane, Charlie Bibaud, and a third “legend in Pioneer sports.”He was inducted to the St. John’s and New England Basketball Halls of Fame. He was also a member of the 1956–57 Greyhounds basketball team, which finished 21–1 and is the only team inducted to the College’s Alumni-Athletics Hall of Fame. Throughout his career and his life Joe was a mentor, coach, spiritual advisor, and friend to countless individuals. He leaves his wife of 52 years, Nancy; and sons Joseph, III and Sean.
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Rev. Raymond L. Lange AP’43 Worcester, MA, died July 10, 2009 A retired pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd in Linwood, MA, he served there from 1978 to 1988. Father Lange studied for the priesthood at the Grand Seminary in Montreal; upon his completion he was ordained in May 1950 in Saint Paul Cathedral, Worcester by Bishop John J. Wright. He served at many other area parishes before being named pastor of Good Shepherd. He is survived by a brother, Gerard; sister Lucille and many nieces and nephews. Maurice A. Berard, M.D. AP’44, ’48 Fall River, MA, died February 26, 2009 A graduate of the Universite de Nancy in France, Maurice also studied medicine in New York and Boston. He practiced medicine in Fall River for 30 years. Maurice leaves his wife of 52 years, Madeleine; and sons Michael and Marc. Victor A. Cote AP’48 Falls Church, VA, died August 7, 2009 A retired veteran, Victor served in Europe with the Air Force and in Korea and Vietnam with the Army. After discharge he worked in the private sector of the military until the age of 72. He is survived
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
by his wife of 56 years, Gweneth; children Adrien, David and Lynn; one sister, three brothers, five grandchildren and a great-grandson. George E. Ouellette AP’48 Saco, ME, died October 23, 2009 Born in Lewiston, ME, George served the U.S. Army in Korea with the Armed Forces Radio Service. He became a morning program host for WLAM Radio in Lewiston and spent 14 years as an announcer/producer and four years as a “weatherman” for Maine’s WMTW-TV. George later worked in public relations in Worcester and Maine before retiring in 1992. He leaves his wife, Debra; son Daniel; daughter Elaine; two grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Rev. Raymond Anger ’54 Shrewsbury, MA, died October 8, 2009 Rev. Anger was born in Attleboro and grew up in Southbridge. He was ordained at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1957 by Bishop John J. Wright. After his ordination he was assigned to many area parishes until his retirement in 1993. Rev. Anger served as chaplain of the DeTriana Council Knights of Columbus in Southbridge. He is survived by many cousins. Rev. Clement E. Dufour ’54 Fall River, MA, died September 26, 2009 A Roman Catholic priest, he served as pastor at St. Michael Parish, Swansea; St. George Parish, Westport and Sacred Heart Parish, New Bedford. He enjoyed traveling and was a member of Club Richelieu and former chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, New Bedford. He leaves a brother, Roger, and many nieces and nephews. Jean-Pierre Garnier ’54 Falls Church, VA, died May 7, 2009 Born in Paris, France, “JP” was raised in Algiers during the German occupation of Paris. He came to
Paul D. Hand ’56 (1931–2009)
America in 1945 and settled in Arlington, VA. He served in the U.S. Army to become a U.S. citizen, graduated from Georgetown Law School. He worked as an attorney until his retirement in 2005. JP is survived by six children: Vicky, Michael, Anne-Marie ’81 and her husband, Louis Von Kahle ’81; Jacqueline, Stephen and Robert; step-son Andrew and 14 grandchildren. Leo F. Cournoyer AP’55 Roseville, CA, died June 26, 2009 Born in Southbridge, Leo graduated from WPI, served in the U.S. Army and earned a master’s in civil engineering from California State University. He was the water supply manager at the Santa Clara Valley Water District in San Jose, CA, before his 1995 retirement. He leaves his wife, Lorraine; daughters Michele and Lisa; brother Donald and two granddaughters. F. Andre Normandin AP’58 Laconia, NH, died June 28, 2009 During the Vietnam War, he served with the Air Force as an administrative specialist and served six years in the Air Force National Guard. Andre worked as a hearings examiner for the New Hampshire Department of Safety for 27 years until his retirement in 2001. He was a longtime volunteer with churches in his community and was highly involved with local youth programs. Andre is survived by his wife of 46 years, Rachel; children Allan, Scott and Danielle; nine grandchildren; sister Alice and brother Denis. Ronald J. Ferris AP’61 Fall River, MA, died September 30, 2009 A lifelong Fall River resident, Ronnie and his wife, Dale, founded Ferris Realty in Fall River. Ronnie was owner, operator and president of the familyfounded Venus de Milo Restaurant, which he joined in 1965 and helped it become one of the largest and most successful restaurants in New
Assumption lost another of its devoted alumni and a highly-respected local professor and administrator when Paul Hand died in October. Paul served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves and was a social worker in Worcester prior to a 34-year tenure at Anna Maria College. He served AMC as a tenured professor and filled numerous academic and administrative roles, including many years as chair of the Social Work Department, prior to his 1999 retirement. He was a dedicated Assumption alumnus, served as a member of Assumption’s Alumni Board of Directors for 13 years, including a term as president, and was a Class Agent for several years and the 2006 recipient of the College’s Jack L. Bresciani
’72 Outstanding Alumnus Award. He has earned awards from both the National Association of Social Workers and the Diocese of Worcester for his contributions to each of these organizations. Paul and wife Gloria, who retired from AC’s Financial Aid Department in 1998, received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Anna Maria College in 2005. He was also a member of the Catholic Charities Board. In addition to Gloria, his wife of 51 years, Paul leaves his daughters Mary, Michelle, Annette, Suzanne and Denise; sons Paul Jr. and Joseph; brother Robert; sister Diana; 27 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
England. He was also well known for his participation in numerous committees, boards and community activities. Ronnie leaves his wife, Dale; son Michael; daughter Marissa; brother Monte and sister Sharon.
was an ear, nose and throat specialist. John leaves his wife of 39 years, Lucia; son John M.; daughters Vanessa and Rosa; mother Gabrielle; sisters Antonia, Pamela and Lida; and grandson Mateo.
Ernest S. Melanson, D.D.S. AP’62 Worcester, MA, died August 13, 2009 A Worcester native, Ernest earned a D.D.S. from the University of Michigan Dental School and served as a dentist in the U.S. Air Force. He earned an M.S. in orthodontics at UMichigan and practiced orthodontics for more than 35 years with offices in Worcester and Webster. He also coached youth soccer in Worcester for several years and later spent his summers in Groton Long Point, CT, where he enjoyed fishing and gardening. He leaves his wife of 42 years, Barbara; daughters Danielle and Heather; sons Jonathan and Christopher; sisters Kathleen and Elizabeth; and four grandchildren. Edward C. Sullivan, Ph.D. AP’62 Pismo Beach, CA, died February 16, 2009 A native of western MA, Edward earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from M.I.T. and a doctorate in the field from UC Berkeley, where he was a research engineer and lecturer at its Institute of Transportation Studies for 18 years. He later spent 20 years as a professor and administrator at California Polytechnic State University’s College of Engineering, where he was associate dean at the time of his death. He leaves his wife of 43 years, Donna; and daughters Kathleen and Tracey. John P. DiCicco, M.D. AP’63 Shrewsbury, MA, died October 6, 2009 Born in Providence, RI, John earned a B.A. in premed from Georgetown University and his M.D. from the University of Rome, Italy. He maintained a private practice while on the staff at Worcester’s St. Vincent Hospital for more than 30 years. He
Michael D. Oates G’63 Cedar Falls, IA, died April 7, 2009 Raised in Shelton, CT, Michael moved to Iowa and became a professor at the University of Northern Iowa. He leaves his wife of 46 years, Mary; son John and daughter Catherine. Peter L. Toohey ’63 Hudson, MA, died June 27, 2009 A Marlborough native, Peter began his career in education as a teacher at Marlborough High School. He later became assistant superintendent for the state of South Dakota, superintendent of the Hudson (MA) Public Schools, and taught at Boston College and Framingham State. Peter leaves his wife, Cathie Chapman; sons John and Michael, daughter Donna, brothers James and John, sister Mary, stepchildren Ria, Rianna, Adam and Melissa, seven grandchildren and ex-wives Carolyn and Shana. Thomas Baillargeon AP’59, ’64, G’66 Bristol, CT, died October 30, 2009 A lifelong Bristol resident, Thomas earned advanced degrees from Assumption, the University of Paris-Sorbonne and Southern CT State University. He spent his career teaching French in the Terryville (CT) school system, where he also served as language coordinator for more than 20 years. Thomas chaperoned several trips to France and Spain to immerse students in the languages and culture. He leaves his brothers Charles, Paul and James and several nieces, nephews and dear friends. Christopher M. Kiernan ’65, G’70 Newport, RI, died August 10, 2009 Born in New York City, Chris enjoyed a successful
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IN memorIam
academic and athletic career at Assumption, where he later began his career in education as assistant director of admissions and financial aid in the late 1960s. He later held several administrative positions at St. Joseph’s College (ME) before finishing his administrative career at Salve Regina University (RI), where he also taught history and education. He was a highly respected administrator and professor. Chris leaves his wife of 41 years, Margaret; mother Joan; aunt Rita; brother Hugh; daughters Kathleen, Coleen, Marlene and Christine; and six grandchildren.
Loretta Cusick CE’71 Worcester, MA, died August 26, 2009 Born in Worcester, Loretta received her nursing degree from Worcester City Hospital, a bachelor’s degree in education from AC and a master’s degree in nursing management from Anna Maria College. She worked for more than 20 years at Worcester City Hospital, and later taught nursing at Worcester Vocation Fanning High School for 20 years. She leaves her husband of 50 years, Henry; children Ernest, Deborah and Judith; six grandchildren and brother Ernest.
Bambina “Bambi” Weiss G’66 Holden, MA, died October 10, 2009 Bambi lived in Holden and was home and hospital director for the City of Worcester’s School Department for 30 years before retiring in 2001. She proudly supported the American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life.” Bambi was a member of St. Mary’s Church in Jefferson and a past princess of the Red Hat Society. She is survived by her husband of 42 years, William; children Mark and Laura; granddaughter Allie; aunt Mary and many cousins.
Edward M. Carien G’72 Worcester, MA, died October 28, 2009 Edward was a U.S. Army veteran, serving in World War II as a medic in Italy and the Pacific. He was a long-time teacher at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester. Edward was a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and its vestry and volunteered at the Worcester Public Library. He leaves his daughter Landy Johnson, AC’s director of grant development, and her husband, David; and two grandchildren.
Cdr. Victor Stevens, Jr. G’67 Worcester, MA, died August 22, 2009 Victor had a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy and was most proud of his assignment as 50th in Command of the U.S.S. Constitution “Old Ironsides” (1960–63). He taught English and also served as guidance director and a successful boy’s basketball coach at St. Peter’s Central Catholic High School in Worcester. He was founder of the 400 Clubs of Harwich Port, Marlborough and Worcester. Victor will be sorely missed by his godchildren, Mary and Tom McGreevy; many friends and former students and athletes. Eleanor Glancy G’68 Eugene, OR, died May 6, 2009 Eleanor was born in Kingston, RI, and earned an RN from the Rhode Island Hospital nursing program and a master’s degree from AC in counseling and guidance. Eleanor taught nursing at Becker Junior College and elementary school in Webster until her retirement. She moved to Eugene 14 years ago to be closer to her daughter. Eleanor leaves her daughters, Eleanor and Alida; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Joseph T. Montimurro G’68 Albany, NY, died August 12, 2009 Joe taught at Uxbridge High School until he relocated to Albany, NY, where he was a guidance counselor and assistant principal at Albany High School and also served as director of personnel for the Albany City School District. Joe is survived by his children, Joseph ’91, Daniel and Cathleen; three grandchildren; ex-wife Pamela and dear friend Cheryl.
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Paul J. Lynskey G’72 Harpswell, ME, died August 8, 2009 A native of Clinton, Paul grew up and raised his family there until 14 years ago when he and wife Jan moved to Harpswell, ME. Paul spent most of his professional career as a clinical psychologist, working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was also an accomplished jazz pianist and played with his band at a variety of venues. After moving to Maine he taught at local colleges and offered private piano lessons to a local residents. Paul leaves his wife, Jan; sons Paul ’75, Bruce, Scott ’81, Eric and Jason; and three grandchildren. Paul Stockhaus ’74 Sutton, MA, died June 28, 2009 A Worcester native, Paul passed away from complications of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He was a seventh grade math teacher at Northbridge Middle School for 33 years, an avid Red Sox fan and a passionate golfer. He leaves his wife, Janis; son Ryan, brother Steven; aunt Doris, cousins and many close friends. Mary McInerney-Zona ’87 Shrewsbury, MA, died July 23, 2009 Born in Bronx, NY, “Mary Mac” passed away after a battle with breast cancer. She was founder and director of the McInerney School of Irish Step Dance. Mary was involved in Irish dancing since the age of 4 and won numerous regional and national awards and attended the world championships in Ireland. She served as grand marshall of the 2009 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Worcester. Mary leaves her husband, Robert; children Dillon and Keeley; parents John and Bridget, siblings Ann ’89, Sean ’82 and Claire; and a large extended family.
Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
-Friends of the CollegePhilip “Ben” Adams, husband of Pamela CE’86; Jeanne Anderson, mother of Robin ’82; James L. Baker, father of Tim Haylon G’94 and grandfather of Anne-Marie Haylon ’13; Ellen Boucher, mother-in-law of Lisa, assistant director and nurse practitioner for AC student health services; Henry Bowers, father of Brenda Torres, AC admin. assistant in student affairs; Majella “Midge” Brodeur, former AC business office and campus post office employee; Ambrose “Amby” Canty, father of Anne ’77 and Joan ’82; Michael Claiborne, brother-in-law of Tracey Pakstis-Claiborne, AC director of drug and alcohol education; Leslee Tull Corrigan, mother of Dr. Patrick Corrigan, AC associate professor of philosophy; Leona Cotnoir, mother of Michelle ’74; Wyatt Cragan, son of Mark AP’69; Francis Cranston, father of Paul ’84 and father-in-law of Mary Ellen (Goodyear) ’84; Richard Darling, father of Mark ’78; Sr. Lucille Denomme, sister of Robert ’52; David Dooley, brother of D. Edward G’82; Richard J. Egan, friend of the College; Ronald Esposito, former AC adjunct professor for social and rehabilitative services; Jerri FitzGerald, wife of Thomas ’75; Raymond Foley, father of R.J. ’83; George Gagnon, father of Bro. Richard, A.A., AC transfer/admissions counselor; Kevin Hickey, brother of Francis, bakery chef for AC’s Sodexo food service; Mary Hoey, mother of Peter ’89 and Rose ’87; Ruth Johnson, mother of Paul, AC Library evening supervisor; Jeannette Lamoureux, mother of Very Rev. Richard Lamoureux, A.A. ’64 and former AC employee Sylvia Desautels, grandmother of Denise Desautels Compiglio ’85 and great-grandmother of Luke Desautels ’07; Marguerite Landry, mother of Wayne AP’62; John LaPorte, brother of Carleton “Jay” ’64, G’67; Jeremiah Leary, father of James ’89; Kathleen Logue, grandmother of Amy ’01, AC assistant director of annual giving, and Meghan ’12; James Mahoney, father-in-law of Sharon, AC administrative secretary for alumni relations, and grandfather of Andrew ’07; Clare Mathews, mother of Mary Sue ’81; Doreen Mercier, wife of John ’62 and sister-in-law of Robert ’68; Claire Moynihan, mother of Ken AP’64, professor emeritus of history; James Milligan, father of Frank ’99 and Peter ’07; Donald Moran, father of Michael ’82, James ’86 and Maura ’89; Charles Nevala, father of Mary ’83; Theodore Paluk, father-in-law of Heidi (Macora) ’93; Pearl Peloquin, wife of Paul AP’50, ’54; Mary Peters, mother of Cathy Arcure, AC student account representative in the finance office and grandmother of Christina ’08; Cornelius Russell, father of Helen ’85; John Theroux, brother, and Catherine Theroux, mother of Stephen, biology professor; Italo Torraco, father of Fr. Stephen, associate professor of Theology
Much Ado about Love, Honor and Politics | continued from page 3 assessment. What comes to sight from considering what ambition seeks and placing in the balance what it must pay to enjoy the benefit ambition has projected for itself … A Shakespearean understanding of honor is glory, renown, human respect and esteem. Self-respect is grounded in right judgment. A person who is honorable may be indifferent to public opinion.” The other featured speaker, Paul Cantor, the Clifton Waller Barrett Professor in the department of English at the University of Virginia, presented a lecture, “The Spectrum of Love: Nature and Convention in As You
Like It.” Cantor discussed the serious undertones in As You Like It, usually described as one of Shakespeare’s lighter plays. The play’s political themes, usurpation, betrayal and exile, link it more closely to Shakespeare’s tragedies, such as Hamlet and King Lear. Cantor, author of Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization (2001), Shakespeare: Hamlet (1989) and Shakespeare's Rome: Republic and Empire (1976), among many other books and publications, also has a strong interest in economics. “As You Like It explores the complex relation of nature and convention, only it
does so by examining a spectrum of possibilities in romantic love,” Cantor said. “By juxtaposing three pairs of very different lovers, the play analyzes the problem of combining rustic simplicity with civilized refinement, a healthy natural quality with courtly sophistication.” By continually returning to Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to reflect on how he depicts human longing and its consequences, “we are also reminded of the timeless genius of Shakespeare as poet, dramatist, artist and thinker,” Dobski said.
Alumni in the Media / Mark Henderson ’87 | continued from page 12 same despite the secular changes around us,” he explained. “Perhaps 10 years ago online reporting was a brave new world filled with uncertainty for newspapers. As we’ve evolved, though, we began to understand it creates unique opportunities for us to fulfill our mission. For instance, the conversation is no longer simply one way. We enable readers to comment on stories of the day, and that often advances the stories and people’s understanding of events. With WorcesterU.com, we’re learning a great deal about how college students consume news and information and communicate among themselves. Our readership continues to grow and telegram.com is the dominant online news and information source in Central Massachusetts.” The online team is responsible for the look and feel of the newspaper’s online pres-
ence, www.telegram.com and its affiliated sites. “Telegram.com is such an integral part of the business now that we’re far more integrated with the rest of the company than we ever have been,” Henderson explained. “With each department managing its own content, its allows my team to focus on enhancing the user experience, which we do with design, new sections and Web sites, and by creating partnerships that assist the reader in some tangible way. We have Web producers, a developer, a video specialist, an ad manager and a new product development manager.” In the past year, Henderson’s team completely redesigned the site and launched WorcesterU.com, a social networking site for Worcester-area college students. “We’ve learned a lot about reader habits in these two ventures and we look forward to applying
what we’ve learned, and will continue to learn, in the coming years,” he said. Henderson offers this advice to students who aspire to careers in the media, “You need to understand there are a number of ways to tell a story, and you can use different mediums to that end, but above all remember that the story is what’s important. Those who are best at informing, educating and entertaining are those who first excel at learning and understanding. It makes you more objective, and that makes you more credible. Credible, authoritative media voices have always effected positive change, and I believe they always will.” Born in Holden, Mark lives in the house he grew up in with wife Jini, stepson Michael (22) and daughters Cynthia (14) and Erin (12).
Social Vision: Professors Mike Land and Jody Santos | continued from page 19 experience. Assumption students have interned at sites as diverse as The Guardian newspaper and the MTV cable network, gaining an array of new skills and experiences. Associate Professor of English Becky DiBiasio, coordinator of the writing and mass communications internship program, remembers that it used to be difficult to develop strong intern-
ships. “Now they’re coming to us. People are thrilled with our students,” she says. The care with which the internships are selected and evaluated is a point of pride for DiBiasio. “We can really offer something other colleges can’t even come close to,” she said. The reward for this effort comes from the students themselves, and the love for the
craft they acquire in the course of their studies, regardless of whether or not they go on be reporters. “The ones that are going to do well are the ones who are writing all the time.” Land notes. “The ones who are like that really go on to love it.”
Assumption College Magazine • Summer 2009
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AssumptionAuthors A T R EAGAN ’ S S IDE : I NSIDERS ' R ECOllECTIONS
FROM S ACRAMENTO TO THE By Stephen F. Knott ’79 and Jeffrey l. Chidester
W HITE H OUSE
At Reagan’s Side (Roman & Littlefield, 2009) offers unique, behind-the-scenes glimpses into Ronald Reagan. It chronicles his years as governor of California and president of the United States. The authors offer a new interpretation of the nation’s 40th president, challenging the conventional wisdom of both Reagan’s detractors and his admirers. This interpretation is based on excerpts from interviews of top Reagan officials, taken from oral histories collected over the course of more than six years by the Miller Center of Public Affairs. Knott is associate professor of National Security Studies at the United States Naval War College. He co-chaired the Presidential Oral History Program at the Miller Center and is the author of Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth (2002).
T HE l EFTMOST C ITY: P OWER AND P ROGRESSIVE P OlITICS
IN S ANTA C RUZ By Richard Gendron, associate professor of sociology; and G. William Domhoff While nearly all U.S. cities are controlled by a “growth coalition” comprising real estate and development interests, Santa Cruz, California, is a notable exception, as demonstrated in The Leftmost City (Westview Press, 2009). Utilizing an extended case study, the authors critique the dominant theories of urban power in political sociology and political science. Their findings support growthcoalition theory, which argues that urban politics primarily involve a conflict between development interests and neighborhoods. In the last chapter, the authors apply the insights from Santa Cruz to offer suggestions for how progressive coalitions might organize to achieve political power at the national level. Gendron has taught at Assumption since 1998.
S WEET l IFE OF M YSTERY: T HE M ISADVENTURES OF A PANICKY P RIVATE E YE By Steve Piscitello ’03 (penname Steven Michaels) Sweet Life of Mystery is a self-published comedy and murder mystery not to be taken too seriously. Detective Meriwether Humperdinck has almost given up trying to land the case that will change his life forever when it suddenly falls into his lap. He is soon investigating the murder of both a billionaire and his butler, the man who hired Meriwether only a few days before his own murder. Hilarity ensues as Meriwether tries to solve the case before becoming the next victim! Written in the first person perspective, this novel is a quirky jaunt through the mind of a panicky and illequipped (both mentally and physically) detective and human being.
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Assumption College Magazine • Winter 2010
U NDERSTANDING AND M ANAGING D IVERSITY: R EADINGS , C ASES , AND E xERCISES By Carol Harvey G’73, professor of management; and M. June Allard, lecturer in human services Understanding and Managing Diversity (Prentice Hall Publishers, 2009) was written to make teaching diversity-related courses easier for the instructor by providing a wide range of classroom material and instructor support material. The book incorporates short readings on various topics centered around cultural diversity and discrimination. Primarily for use in a group discussion-oriented classroom, several interesting and insightful group exercises are included between some of the readings. Harvey joined the Assumption faculty in 1990 and Allard is a part-time lecturer.
G ROWING U P W ITH l ITERATURE By Walter E. Sawyer G’71 Walter Sawyer’s seventh book in the field of early literacy and children’s literature, Growing Up With Literature (Delmar/Cengage Publishing, 2009) celebrates the interaction that takes place when high-quality children’s literature is shared with young people. Based on research in language development and emergent literacy, the book provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the links among language, thinking and reading. Using picture book examples, Sawyer provides strategies for motivating children and tools for integrating literature into all aspects of a child’s life and development.
F IRE U P ! Y OUR E MPlOYEES AND S MOKE Y OUR C OMPETITION ; H OW TO I NVITE , I NCITE AND I GNITE E MPlOYEE P ERFORMANCE By Jay Forte ’79 With organizations needing to do more with less these days, Jay Forte sets forth the theory and stepby-step process to help organizations ignite the performance power of their employees. Fire Up! (Expert Publishing, 2009) lays out a hands-on guide to implementing a unique approach to attract, hire and retain top intellectual-age talent. Through his theories, the author reveals methods to connect employees intellectually and emotionally to both their work and their manager. Forte is a performance speaker, consultant and founder/president of Humanetrics.
Alumni and faculty who have published books are encouraged to contact the editor at twatkins@assumption.edu.
PHOTO: DAN VAIllANCOURT
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