Around Campus

LoMonaco Named VP for Student Life

Barbara LoMonaco has been named the new vice president for student life. She begins July 1.

Her first six months, she says, will be spent listening in order to learn about Centre’s culture, traditions, and aspirations.

“Getting to know the student life team, the faculty, students, and my senior staff colleagues will help me understand where our opportunities and challenges lie,” she says. “I’m also excited about contributing to the strategic plan and its implementation.”

Because mental health and wellness are always a part of student affairs discussions today, “it is increasingly important to focus on health education and programming that bolsters adjustment to college and coping,” she says. “Building equitable and inclusive environments is also a critical component of a healthy campus community.”

She comes to Centre from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she oversaw resident life and housing, disability support services, the Center for Student Involvement, and the offices of international student services, student support and administration, and health and wellness in her position as associate vice president for student affairs.

A native of Dallas, LoMonaco earned three degrees at Southern Methodist University: a Ph.D. in anthropology, an M.A. in medical anthropology, and a B.A. in philosophy. She was a tenured member of the anthropology department at Transylvania University when she transitioned into Transy administration as vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

She later moved to Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, as vice president for student affairs. Among her responsibilities were the university’s Division III athletics program, the career development center, and a center for student development that involved first-year programming. She also saw the addition of a varsity equestrian program and was active in planning both a new $50 million residence hall and with Salve Regina’s strategic planning process.

She fills the position formerly held by Randy Hays, who retired in August 2020. Kendrick Durham, who held the interim post of chief student life officer, continues as dean of students.

Princeton Review Names Centre a “Best Value”

Princeton Review has named Centre one of the nation’s 200 best value colleges for 2021 out of 651 considered for its list. The schools selected offer what Princeton Review believes to be the best return on investment (ROI), including great academics, affordable cost, and solid career foundations. The ROI rating tallies look at more than 40 data points.

SPORTS NEWS

Football Colonels Patric Edwards ’22 and Andre Evans ’21 were named to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District 5 Team in June. Men’s lacrosse ranked No. 13 in the final U.S. Lacrosse Magazine poll. The team finished 12-2 overall while sweeping the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) regular season and tournament titles and winning its first NCAA tournament game. Centre’s regular season championship was the first for the program. Coach Grant Zimmerman was voted SAA Coach of the Year. Wills McCutcheon ’22 was named SAA Defensive Player of the Year while Will Hubbs ’23 was Offensive Player of the Year. McCutcheon and Jack Shannon ’21 earned All-America status from the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. Women’s soccer finished a modified spring season ranked No. 2 in the final United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll. The Colonels were 8-1-1 overall, with their only loss to Division I Western Kentucky. Coach Jay Hoffman ’96 was named SAA Coach of the Year, while Cameron Zak ’22 was named SAA Defensive Player of the Year and Mills Mullen ’23 was named SAA Offensive Player of the Year. The Colonels won their ninth consecutive SAA tournament championship.

Building Renamed to honor Roushes

The Campus Center was renamed in May to honor President Emeritus John A. Roush and former First Lady Susie Roush for their 22 years of leadership and service. Board Chair Mark Nunnelly ’80 announced the new name as part of commencement events for the Class of 2020, whose graduation celebration was postponed due to COVID-19.

He also announced that the lawn between Old Centre and the Roush Campus Center will now be known as the Susie Miller Roush Lawn in honor of her work to improve Centre’s landscape. Her contributions include helping to plant more than 100 new trees, shrubs, and plants after the devasting ice storm of 2009.

The new name, to honor President Emeritus John A. Roush and former First Lady Susie Roush, was announced as part of commencement events for the Class of 2020 in May. Jp Vaught ’23 won national titles in the 100 meter and the 200 meter.

Vaught Wins Two National Titles

Jp Vaught ’23 won two national titles—in both the 100 meter and the 200 meter—at the 2021 NCAA Division III track and field championships in May. His time in the 200 meter set a school record of 20.83.

He is the fifth from Centre to win an individual championship and the third to win multiple titles, joining Chrys Jones ’11 and Annie Rodenfels ’19, both in track and field.

In addition, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association named him All-American and an Outstanding Performer of the Meet for the 2021 NCAA Championships. He is now a three-time All-American, including the indoor season from his first year.

Commencement 2020 & 2021 Due to production deadlines, the two commencements celebrated in May will be covered in the fall Centrepiece. Watch for the stories in September.

$50 MILLION ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE AND WELLNESS PROJECT ANNOUNCED

by Michael Strysick Chief Communications Officer

Artist rendering of the proposed 135,000-square-foot facility devoted to wellness and athletic excellence

The largest, most comprehensive construction project to date at Centre College will create a 135,000-square-foot facility devoted to wellness and athletic excellence. It will benefit the entire campus community and set a new standard for holistic education at top-ranked residential liberal arts colleges across the nation.

Designed in partnership with Cincinnati-based architects MSA Sport, the $50 million project reflects Centre’s commitment to invest in facilities and programs that enhance student success, hone leadership skills, and prepare graduates for lives of impact.

“This new facility will allow us to continue attracting talented students from around the nation and across the globe not only to work with our world-class faculty but also to participate in a premier athletic and wellness program with dedicated coaches and staff who teach important leadership skills such as teamwork, resilience, and determination,” said Centre President Milton Moreland. “In the process, Centre will extend into the next century its 200-year-plus history of producing great leaders.”

As part of a campus-wide strategic planning effort, it was clear that expanded wellness and athletic facilities were needed to continue the long history and clear mission of training leaders who can make a difference in the world.

“This significant investment exemplifies Centre’s continuing commitment to excellence,” Moreland said. “It will strengthen our earned reputation as one of the nation’s foremost colleges focused on leadership development and career readiness.” He added, “The Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence represents a transformational moment for Centre College and will have a profound impact on our ability to offer a deeply holistic academic experience, elevating our mission to develop mind, body, and spirit.”

An aggressive fundraising campaign to support this new initiative is already in progress. Early commitments, including two lead gifts, exceed three-quarters of the projected cost, leaving approximately $12 million to raise to fully fund the project. This substantial investment reflects the desire of the lead donors to challenge the Centre community, known for its pride and generosity, to share this vision and take the mantle of propelling their future giving to an even higher potential.

The expansive new building will continue a series of recent campus construction projects totaling more than $30 million and is an important next step in the strategic plan to equip the College to better serve its mission and the needs of families and students for the next 50 years.

“Centre is accelerating out of the global pandemic by investing in spaces that will enhance the student experience, grow enrollment, and provide increased health and wellness opportunities for the entire campus community,” said Mark Nunnelly ’80, chair of the Centre board of trustees.

Included in the overall construction project, Farris Stadium, built in 1923, will be transformed to provide world-class facilities for football, men’s lacrosse, and track and field. It will also provide new seating, hospitality spaces, and an upgraded press box. In addition, Gary Wright Field will be relocated to create a new and enhanced experience for Centre’s baseball team.

200-meter indoor track and turf infield with event seating for 800

10-lane, 50-meter pool

6,000-square-foot strength and wellness center

Arial view of the new complex

Beyond the wellness and athletic excellence project, the Centre trustees also approved additional funding to repurpose the College’s old natatorium, upgrade the softball field, completely renovate three residence halls in the Old Quad, and build a new greenhouse.

Life Trustee J. David Grissom ’60 is particularly excited about the leadership opportunities these projects will provide.

“I am proud to be affiliated with an institution that is prioritizing health and wellness opportunities and investing in facilities that prepare our students to be leaders in the classroom, on the field, and in their communities,” he said. “By building on more than 200 years of academic and athletic excellence, this new facility will increase Centre’s commitment to health and wellness for its students, faculty, and staff, as well as enhance the drive for competitive excellence for Centre’s outstanding scholar-athletes.”

While benefiting all 24 varsity teams, the aquatic and the track and field components of the new facility will offer the opportunity to strategically expand rosters by as many as 70 student-athletes.

All of these efforts have a clear goal in mind.

“Along with other recent projects to enhance and expand academic facilities, create a new student success center, and add and renovate residence halls,” said Moreland, “this project makes clear Centre’s mission to offer an impactful campus experience that prepares its graduates to move the world forward in ways driven by purpose and meaning.”

A groundbreaking for the project is being planned for October, with completion anticipated within 18 months. The relocation of baseball’s Gary Wright Field is projected to be completed sooner.

This story originally ran on Centre’s website.

Key components of the Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence building design include:

• A 10-lane, 50-meter pool with a moveable bulkhead, an integrated diving well with 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards, and seating for 700 • A six-lane, 200-meter indoor track and turf infield with event seating for 800.

Seating can be increased by using the turf infield. It will double as a large space for campus events, such as the annual commencement ceremony, concerts, and debates • A 6,000-square-foot strength and wellness center • A nutrition center that includes an educational component • Hospitality and engagement areas • Locker rooms and multipurpose event spaces for activities such as yoga • An enhanced Athletics Hall of Fame

Gary Wright Field will be relocated to create an enhanced experience for the baseball team.

Thomas J. Bond-1854 was the first Choctaw to receive accredited training as an M.D. He became a surgeon and ran a hospital in Boggy Depot, Oklahoma.

CENTRE’S FIRST STUDENTS OF COLOR

THOMAS BOND-1854 AND DAVID FOLSOM-1854

CORKLE ’20 c BY GARRET M

On September 27, 1850, Thomas J. Bond and David A. Folsom, both members of the Choctaw Nation, arrived in Danville from what is now Oklahoma to begin their studies at Centre College. A treaty between the Choctaw Nation and the United States government promised to pay for their education. John C. Young, president of the College, wrote to a federal agent that the young men had arrived safely. Four years later, they would become the first students of color to graduate from the College.

Like all Centre students at that time, Bond and Folsom boarded with families in town. The College counted this among its “advantageous peculiarities” as it ensured that young men were surrounded by “the morals and manners” of family life. The two roomed together for their first years and soon found themselves invited to join the Chamberlain Literary Society, one of two rival literary societies on campus. These groups discussed classic works, sponsored oratorical competitions on significant days such as George Washington’s birthday, and held debates that posed such questions as "Whether the negro or indian has received the greater injustice from whites.”

A few things help explain why their white peers accepted Bond and Folsom so readily. Both men were described as “about 3/4ths white.” While walking around Danville and the surrounding area, they would easily have appeared “white,” allowing them to generally avoid the racism endemic at the time. Furthermore, both men came from prominent Choctaw families who had ties to plantation owners in the Choctaw homeland of Mississippi. Folsom was the son of a chief and his family had owned slaves. Bond owned a few slaves shortly after graduating.

President Young later wrote to a federal agent assigned to monitor Native American students that “these boys are very exemplary in their conduct. I have no fault to find with them, except that they do not dress as economically as they might do. But their diligence in study and correctness of deportment are worthy of unqualified praise.” President Young eventually found himself paying for their various needs and debts, however. The United States government never paid Centre what was due for hosting these young Choctaw.

Bond and Folsom found themselves participating in some activities President Young might not have wanted to share with the federal agent. Many were typical of college boys: drinking, playing cards, mocking teachers, playing pranks (a favorite that even some professors indulged in was stealing of President Young’s chickens), and other activities the College banned. The two young Choctaw even participated in a project undertaken by their graduating Class of 1854, a parody catalog—essentially a satire of the school’s promotional materials—in which the students ridiculed each other, their professors, the College administration, and the town of Danville.

The parody contains reminders of 19th-century racism in using discriminatory songs to ridicule Black Americans and Irish immigrants. However, there is no mention of Bond, Folsom, or Native Americans in any way that could be considered racial targeting. Only Bond received a nickname out of the pair, being called “Ton Bon,” a reference to English court etiquette (most likely mocking Bond for his politeness or stiff mannerisms).

The men from the Choctaw Nation went on to graduate in 1854, giving their commencement lectures to a crowded hall full of Danville citizens. Folsom returned to Indian Territory and opened a successful business. Bond studied medicine in Louisville and Philadelphia, becoming the first Choctaw whose medical education used funds from the treaty signed by the United States and the Choctaw Nation. He later became a prominent leader in the Choctaw Nation.

“Kind, affable and unassuming; generous to a fault and the very soul of honor itself, he passed from the cradle to the grave without ever having a single breath of reproach breathed upon his spotless name,” a local newspaper wrote upon Bond’s death in 1878.

Garret McCorkle ’20 teaches social justice at Lyman T. Johnson Traditional Middle School in Louisville. This article is part of a larger research project he developed while a student at Centre.

by Amanda McCracken ’00

Centre is touted for its unique multidisciplinary courses. But I never expected to still be taking such courses years after I’d graduated. The instructors would be my Centre classmates, and the curriculum would cover loss, grief, and healing.

In the fall of 2015, I was involuntarily thrown into my first of these courses. During a reunion, a college boyfriend approached me after the Homecoming 5K. We hadn’t seen each other in 15 years. The energy I felt between us vibrated in my throat reminding me of the loss I still felt. “I’m sorry for treating you badly,” he said. At first, I was so taken aback that I dismissed it as nothing. Then I thanked him for the apology. For 15 years, I had told myself that it was my fault he had left me. It was easier to blame myself because it gave me a false sense of control. For 15 years, I continued to pursue men who would leave me.

In massage school, I learned that “knots” are found where muscle fibers lie down over each other in a chaotic pattern (often due to repetitive abuse). Eventually, like scar tissue, these sites lose sensitivity. As massage therapists, we use a painful cross-fiber friction technique to break up the knots by essentially ripping up the mislaid fibers so they can heal in the proper direction. In my case, it took ripping open that emotional scar to properly heal and move forward into a healthy relationship. His apology was a gift.

Four years later, almost 20 years after I graduated, I again found myself inadvertently enrolled in an advanced Centre course on loss, grief, and healing— this one with an even more challenging curriculum on learning to let go. My beloved Grandma Velda died of congestive heart failure on September 23, three days after I married my husband, Dave Butler, at her hospital bedside. During the days leading up to her death

and the days that followed, Centre friends, many I hadn’t spoken with since graduation, reached out to me as resources and support.

Cross-country teammate (and my host as a prospective student) Terribeth (T.B.) Brunker Smith ’99 drove to the hospital to sit with me and then take me out to dinner. T.B. and I had held each other up at many finish lines, but this one was different. She listened to me pour out the ache in my heart and helped me conclude that if Grandma Velda were to see me get married, a dream she and I had both talked about since I was a little girl, I had to plan quickly.

The day my family was faced with the decision to transition my grandma from hospital to hospice care, there were no doctors on the floor to consult. So I called my Centre roommate of three years, Beth O’Connor Noble ’00, a doctor and lieutenant colonel now retired from the U.S. Air Force. She’d been practical and honest since the day I met her our first year. Since then, Beth had practiced triage in Afghanistan as an Air Force doctor, making life and death decisions in much less time than my family was given. Beth gave us peace of mind in knowing the choices we were making around oxygen changes and transportation were in my grandma’s best interest.

While in hospice, I posted on social media about my concern with the use of morphine to address my grandma’s air hunger. I was afraid we were killing her fight to live. Colorado friend Cheryl Hall Hampton ’02 reached out on Facebook to offer her expertise as a geriatric care manager who helps families navigate death. We talked on the phone the night before my grandma died, and Cheryl shared her experience watching her father’s similar oxygen starvation experience. I felt better prepared and more comfortable with the drugs that we would only give her more of the next day.

The evening my grandma passed away, I was haunted by the last sounds and images of drowning. She appeared to be fighting death while we stood by singing hymns and telling her it was okay to let go. My mind was

Amanda McCracken ’00 in her wedding dress with her husband, Dave Butler, at the hospital bedside of her grandmother, Velda Dudley, who was born during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and died in September 2019 at 100 years old. A story about the wedding ceremony ran in the New York Times. plagued with questions. Was she still in there? What could we have done better to save her? I received a message from Martin Clements ’99, a track and field teammate who is now a physician, offering to answer questions I might have. He spent 30 minutes on a Saturday explaining the downward spiral of congestive heart failure. Her physical body continued to fight to live as it had done for over 100 years, he said. He believed that her spirit had left before the fight we witnessed. His thoughts loosened the grip self-blame had on my heart.

The next week I received a book of daily meditations called Healing after Loss from the mother of Bridget Blinn-Spears ’00, my third-floor Cheek friend our first year. Her mother had been touched by my social media posts about my grandma over the years and wanted to offer comfort. Sorority sister Brooks Barnes Pond ’00 called and shared how she found ways to still connect with her mother who was killed in a sudden bicycle accident. We talked about how disrupting and transformative death can be in one’s spiritual life.

As a prospective student, I heard tales of the Centre mafia, a powerful network of alumni who supported each other. Twenty years after graduation, the Centre mafia lifted me. Accepting my grandmother’s death as a natural loss and out of my control was the most painfully important lesson I have had to learn. As I continued to grieve her death, many told me, “She lives on in you.” At the time, it felt like gratuitous sympathy. “How?” I demanded as I tried to heal. Six weeks after my grandma’s death, I learned I was pregnant with my daughter at 42 years old. We heard her microscopic heart beating on its own at six weeks and saw her hand caressing her face at 10 weeks.

Now I understand.

Friends at graduation and for life: the author and Beth O’Connor Nobel ’00 The author (left) and crosscountry teammate Terribeth Brunker Smith ’99

Amanda McCracken ’00 is a freelance writer and massage therapist living in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, David Butler, and their daughter, Moorea Velda. In addition to freelance writing, she works as a writing coach to help others write and publish their stories. She still has a spoon from Cowan in her kitchen. Her email address is info@amandajmccracken.com.

A CONVERSATION WITH DAN STROUP

LIVELY PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF POLITICS AND LAW

Dan Stroup dates his interest in politics to 1960, when John Kennedy became the first Catholic president of the United States.

“Anyone who attended Catholic schools that year couldn’t help but be aware of politics,” he says. “When Kennedy won, we composed, as a class, a congratulatory letter. As class president, I got to read his response to the class.”

Then came 1969.

“The Civil Rights Movement and the war in Vietnam provided the ever-present context for my undergraduate education,” he says. “Teaching about political science seemed more relevant to a changing world than the alternatives.”

Stroup grew up in Kettering, Ohio (where he and retired Centre president John Roush attended rival high schools). He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Dayton and earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in government at the University of Virginia.

The U.Va. connection proved fortuitous when it came time to look for a teaching position. Centre had an unexpected opening just as he was finishing his dissertation. Larry Matheny, then chair of Centre’s government program, called contacts at U.Va., where he had done his own graduate work.

“I came to campus for a quick weekend interview, and I was offered a position for which I had not even applied,” Stroup recalls. “By sheerest chance, I fell into a job that I have loved for 45 years.”

The 15 years he taught classes on constitutional law and civil liberties with retired federal judge Pierce Lively ’43 was one of the highlights, Stroup says.

He also enjoyed the time spent in Vietnam on five short-term trips he took with his history colleague Clarence Wyatt ’78.

For his next chapter, he and his wife, Kandy Richards Stroup ’78, hope to be able to visit their children, one in England and the other in Germany, after not being able to see them for more than a year.

—D.F.J.

Dan Stroup in his office circa 1984

STROUPINSIGHTS

My interest in politics comes from the fact that my formative years were so interesting

politically, and from the fact that I had so many great teachers who stimulated my interest and helped me to make sense of the confusing and exciting world around me.

Without question my favorite classes to teach were Constitutional Interpretation

and Civil Liberties, especially during the 15 years I taught with Judge Pierce Lively ’43. Judge Lively’s experience, insight, and wisdom was a rare and truly remarkable gift. We all got a sense of what it might be like to participate in a judicial conference when judges sit around a table and debate the meaning of the Constitution as it applied in specific cases.

On the morning of September 12, 2001, we began my Constitutional Interpretation

class with the events of the previous day [when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon]. Judge Lively told us what it was like to be a Centre student on December 8, 1941, as the news from Pearl Harbor became known. Foremost, of the important messages Judge Lively sent, was the example of commitment by Centre students, many of whom, including young Pierce Lively, enlisted almost immediately. If ever there was a class meeting when my students were impressed with the need to do something selfless and consequential with their lives, that was the day. He also gave the class a solemn warning that these events would test our Constitution. Within a very short time we began considering in class the cases that would prove him correct.

I have been able to spend my adult life dealing with a subject that is always inter-

esting, always changing, and always addressing some of the most fundamental human questions. I have been able to live out daily the goal that we set for our students—a lifetime of continual learning.

Regulating human activity according to the prescriptions of a written text always

involves ambiguities. Despite the frustrations involved, the complexities are an intriguing aspect of the human condition, and they have continued to pose new intellectual and political challenges throughout my 45 years of teaching.