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Faculty updates
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for immortality plays in his account of what a good leader is. The most ambitious people are, in a sense, the ones who most desire immortality and are accordingly most frightened by the certainty of death. That is why ambition can be dangerous for all of us. Instead of admitting to ourselves that we cannot have of admitting to ourselves that we cannot have the real thing, the only thing worth striving for, the real thing, the only thing worth striving for, by our own eff orts alone, then we will settle for by our own eff orts alone, then we will settle for a passé imitation. a passé imitation. As human beings, therefore, we are “substitutionary” creatures, powerfully endowed with a longing for immortality but forever placing our hope for it in things that cannot deliver. We want real cane sugar but, somehow, put up with Splenda. The point is not to stop desiring immortality - indeed, we are constitutionally incapable of doing so but to realize that even the pinnacle of ambition cannot satisfy this deepest thirst. Nor can any accomplishment do away with human dependence on God. The virtue of humility in a leader allows him or her to see, and live by, these truths.
As human beings, therefore, we are “substitutionary” creatures, powerfully endowed with a longing for immortality but forever placing our hope for it in things that cannot deliver. We want real cane sugar but, somehow, put up with Splenda. The point is not to stop desiring immortality - indeed, we are constitutionally incapable of doing so - but to realize that even the pinnacle of ambition cannot satisfy this deepest thirst. Nor can any accomplishment do away with human dependence on God. The virtue of humility in a leader allows him or her to see, and live by, these truths.
Holy Cross College welcomes new members to the faculty and staff
Holy Cross College welcomed three full-time faculty members this academic year along, along with a new Director of Admissions.
John Biddle joins the College as an assistant professor of physics. He will be teaching two physics sequences, one for people planning to study engineering and the physical sciences, and another for people planning to study life sciences, including those in preparation for careers in health-related fi elds. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in education from the University of Notre Dame.
“During my work at Maryland, I studied phase transitions and critical phenomena, focusing on supercooled water in particular,” said Biddle about his background. “During that time, I was also a teaching assistant for Maryland’s physics education research group. In graduate school, I became particularly interested in non-equilibrium statistical and thermal physics, and biological phenomena presented, as they do now, some of the most interesting problems in that fi eld. So, after I graduated from Maryland, I worked in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School,” said Biddle about his background.
He is excited to be in the Midwest and teaching at Holy Cross College. “I hope that by teaching students physics I can give them new ways of looking at the world and at certain problems; help them see science in the broader context of human knowledge and wisdom; prepare them for gainful employment; and do all of this as part of an education that sustains and nurtures their faith in Christ. I’d also like to work out some of the implications of my earlier projects at Harvard and keep contributing to the ongoing research into non-equilibrium statistical physics and in particular the physics of biological systems.”
Emily Ransom is the new assistant professor of English. She earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Notre Dame and also holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and from North Carolina State University, along with taking courses with University College Cork, the Folger Institute in Washington, D.C., National University of Ireland
Galway, the Paideia Institute in Rome, and the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School.
“Coming to Holy Cross allows me to deepen my experience of Catholic education that I had at Notre Dame, with a wider range of students, more similar to those I taught at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. I am excited about the sense of community, the large number of fi rst-generation college students, the small class sizes, and the mission to form students holistically. As a Christian scholar in a secular discipline, I’m thankful to be in a community where faith and scholarship are seen as mutually enriching,” said Ransom.
She is excited about fi nding ways to develop the College’s integrative, experiential opportunities for students. “I’d love to create more interactive events like poetry readings, outdoor theatre, service learning in the South Bend community, hands-on editorial experience, and study abroad.”
Rana Van Voorhis
is a visiting instruction of biology in the Physical and Life Sciences department. She is teaching biology honors, microbiology, Great Ideas in Science with the possibility of adding genetics in the spring 2021 semester. She has an M.S. in Medical Science from the University of South Florida and B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Notre Dame.
“I am originally from Ocala, Florida. I grew up with four older brothers on a peanut and cattle farm. My parents were public school teachers in central Florida for over 30 years. In Florida, I started teaching in secondary education in 2010 and started in post-secondary education in 2013,” notes Van Voorhis. “I moved back to the area for my husband to matriculate in medical school at Indiana University School of Medicine - South Bend. We have three young children. I love the area and I love being back in my old stomping grounds from my undergrad years. It has been a pleasure to teach the students from Holy Cross.”
Marisa (Villano)
Simon is leading the admissions team as the Director of Admissions, as well as collaborating with campus partners in recruiting students to Holy Cross College. She has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, with a concentration in Life Sciences, and Korean minor from the University of Notre Dame.
“Over the last decade, I have come to call South Bend home, and I’m excited to work more closely with the local community. More specifi cally, the people I’ve met here and their affi nity for Holy Cross College have inspired and excited me to serve the College and its mission,” said Simon. “I’m looking forward to shaping the future classes of scholars, citizens, leaders, and disciples. With my background in mathematics, I hope to use technology and data models to inform our decisions while maintaining the personal approach to recruiting the best-fi t students.”
“The Perils of Editing the “The Perils of Editing the Catholic Underground: Catholic Underground: St. Robert Southwell, SJ” St. Robert Southwell, SJ”
Assistant professor of English Emily Ransom, Ph.D., delivered Emily Ransom, Ph.D., delivered a combined research talk about a combined research talk about saint’s life. Early in the lecture she saint’s life. Early in the lecture she discussed the “lies” we are almost discussed the “lies” we are almost doomed to repeat to students, the doomed to repeat to students, the over-simplifi cations and silences, over-simplifi cations and silences, in order to introduce the recent in order to introduce the recent work to uncover the strategic work to uncover the strategic erasure of Catholic authors from erasure of Catholic authors from the early modern narrative in the early modern narrative in English literature. She introduced English literature. She introduced three perils inherent in her current three perils inherent in her current research to edit the “Complete research to edit the “Complete Works of St. Robert Southwell, SJ” Works of St. Robert Southwell, SJ” for Oxford University Press: the for Oxford University Press: the peril of scholarly devaluing peril of scholarly devaluing editions, the peril of the recusant editions, the peril of the recusant Catholic community of the Catholic community of the sixteenth century that makes the sixteenth century that makes the documents hard to identify documents hard to identify centuries later, and the peril of centuries later, and the peril of making editorial choices that will making editorial choices that will shape how future students and shape how future students and scholars perceive the text. scholars perceive the text. For the bulk of her lecture, For the bulk of her lecture, Ransom narrated the riveting life Ransom narrated the riveting life of Southwell, an Elizabethan of Southwell, an Elizabethan fugitive, poet, priest, and martyr fugitive, poet, priest, and martyr who became one of the most who became one of the most widely read poets among widely read poets among Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Shakespeare’s contemporaries, who was nearly erased from the who was nearly erased from the historical narrative for being historical narrative for being Catholic until recent decades. Catholic until recent decades. She argued for the importance She argued for the importance of the Catholic underground and of the Catholic underground and the mission to bring minority the mission to bring minority voices into the stories teachers tell voices into the stories teachers tell in classrooms, in our scholarship, in classrooms, in our scholarship, our editions, and our silences. our editions, and our silences.
