HEADLINERS
AXELSON
Holy Cross Says Farewell to Six Retiring Professors The cohort leaves a long legacy, teaching on Mount St. James for a combined 203 years.
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t the finish of the 2020-2021 academic year, Holy Cross saw six professors conclude their careers on Mount St. James, after decades of educating generations of Crusaders. JOHN AXELSON joined the psychology department in 1982. Specializing in neuroendocrinology, hormones and behavior, neuroanatomy, and health and medicine, his research has been supported by several grants from a variety of sources, including the National Science Foundation (NSF). Axelson served as department chair, as well as director of the biological psychology concentration. Among his many roles at the College, he served on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee for two decades, and for 20 years provided leadership as the faculty athletics representative and the College’s
HERRICK
representative to the Patriot League Policy Committee. What was your favorite class to teach? I enjoyed preparing students planning to major in psychology when teaching Introduction to Psychology. With enrollments ranging from 40 to well over 100, it was a challenge to hold their attention, but I did my best. One of my main goals when teaching Physiological Psychology was to capture the interest of those students who felt they wouldn’t enjoy studying the biological side of our discipline. I encouraged the students in my seminar Mind, Body Health and Medicine to consider the importance of taking an active role in their health and well-being. It has been gratifying to hear from students that are now working as health care professionals that the course helped shape their approach to caring for their patients. We’re not supposed to have a favorite child or course, but in the last decade, teaching Food, Nutrition and Health has been a highpoint. It has been very rewarding to hear from former students that the course had a positive impact on their personal health, as well as the health of family members. What was your proudest scholarly moment? When I arrived at Holy Cross, the psychology department lacked equipment necessary to conduct basic neuroscience research. I recall carrying jugs filled with distilled water across campus from the biology department
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and cleaning lab equipment with a hose outside the basement of O’Kane, in the area that is now Memorial Plaza. With the help and support of others, including Ken Prestwich in biology, I was happy to obtain grants from the National Science Foundation, the Whitehall Foundation and the Veterans Administration that provided the equipment and resources for our students to conduct first-rate science. The publications I am most proud of were the studies conducted with colleagues at the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research in the late 1980s and early 1990s that identified steroid receptors localized within various neuropeptide neurons in the hypothalamus. What will you miss about Holy Cross? The best part of my day was always in the classroom. I will miss feeling my heart beat faster and my hands feeling a bit sweaty as I walked to class to meet the students on the first day of each semester. I will miss my friends and colleagues, and the many wonderful people who support the faculty and make our jobs easier. RICHARD HERRICK joined the chemistry department in 1984 and held the position of Edward A. O’Rorke Professor in the Liberal Arts from 2011-2014. A specialist in organometallic chemistry, his research has been published in numerous leading scientific journals and has been
