Holy Cross Magazine - Winter 2018 - Volume 52 Issue 1

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WINTER T WO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN

VOLUME FIFTY-TWO / NUMBER ONE

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A NEW WAY OF THINKING A look back at how 10 years of Montserrat has shaped the Holy Cross student experience

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

The executive team (from left): Dorothy Hauver, Margaret Freije, Rev. William Campbell, S.J. ’87, Michele Murray, Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J., Tracy Barlok, Jane Corr ‘84 and Danial Kim.

From Montserrat to Mount St. James

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s the year draws to a close and I think back on the past 12 months, I am particularly grateful for the pilgrimage to Ignatian Spain and Rome that several members of our board of trustees, other campus leaders and I took in mid-June. How wonderful it was for us to celebrate the Eucharist in the family castle of St. Ignatius in Loyola, at the historic monastery at Montserrat and the next day in the chapel in Manresa, all significant sites in Ignatius’ spiritual journey; and then to follow him

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to Rome where he and his companions eventually founded the Society of Jesus.

which introduces our students to the rigors and joys of study celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, as described in a feature story in this issue.

At Montserrat, we pilgrims spent the night enjoying the majestic beauty of the monastery, and especially the chapel where Ignatius surrendered his sword and began his new life as a pilgrim. Early the next morning, many of us hiked to a prominent spot on the mountainside marked by a large cross to watch the sun rise. Just as Ignatius began his life anew at Montserrat, so too, our first-year students begin their academic journey on Mount St. James in their Montserrat living and learning communities. This innovative program

After leaving Montserrat, we summer pilgrims journeyed to Manresa, where Ignatius lived in a cave for a year and spent time in prayer and penance, serving the poor and formulating the first draft of the Spiritual Exercises based on his spiritual experiences. This pivotal experience in the life of St. Ignatius has recently been featured in the Thomas P. Joyce ’59 Contemplative Center in a new bas relief designed by noted sculptor John Collier, a gift of John Mullman ’82 P07. Our retreatants will forever be reminded of Ignatius’ transformational


religious experiences as they celebrate the Eucharist and spend time in prayer in the beautiful chapel overlooking the Wachusett Reservoir. Some images of this new work of art are included in the pages which follow. In Rome, where Ignatius and his first companions presented themselves to the Pope with the intention of serving the Church as a community, we Holy Cross pilgrims were able to meet Rev. Arturo Sosa, S.J., the new superior general of the Society of Jesus, and discuss with him our shared commitments. I recently sent Fr. Sosa a Holy Cross sweatshirt, which he tells me he wears each morning on his daily constitutional around Rome.

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And as this year ends and I look back on the achievements and changes here on Mount St. James, I am pleased to celebrate the presence of two new members of the Executive Team: Dan Kim, our new vice president for communications and marketing, who joins us from the University of Michigan; and Michele Murray, our new vice president for student affairs and dean of students, who comes to us from Seattle University. Further, I am happy to inform you that Margaret Freije, longtime member of the faculty and administration at the College, has moved into a new position as provost and dean of the College. You can read some of their thoughts on Jesuit liberal arts education in highlights from a panel we hosted

this fall for members of the President’s Council. As we move into the Christmas season, I hope that each of you will find some time to assess your own year and the various ways that you, as a member of the Holy Cross community, are on a pilgrimage to greater self-knowledge, spiritual growth and intentional living. ■ Wishing God’s peace and joy to you and your families in this season of Christmas,

Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.

President

F R O M M O N T S E R R A T T O M O U N T S TF .R JOAMM TE H S E/ PF RR EOSMI DTEHNET P/ ROE PS EI DN EI N G T / 1


HOLY CROSS MAGAZINE

WINTER 2018 / VOLUME FIFTY-TWO / NUMBER ONE

The 39th Annual Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols was held in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel on Dec. 7.

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P H OTO S B Y TO M R E T T I G ( TO P A N D PA G E 3 8 ) / S H A N N O N P O W E R ( PA G E 2 6 ) / ST E V E F I S C H ( PA G E 4 6 )


HC M TEA M

BRIDGET CAMPOLETTANO ’10 Editorial Director | STEPHEN ALBANO Art Director / Designer | TOM RETTIG Photographer / Videographer

H O LY C R O SS M AGA Z I N E (USPS 0138-860) is published quarterly by College Marketing and Communications at the College of the Holy Cross. Address all correspondence to the editor at: One College Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610-2395. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester and additional mailing points.

TA B LE OF CON TE NTS

1 From the President 2 Table of Contents 4 Dear HCM, 6 Editor’s Note 7 Who We Are / Contributors 8 Campus Notebook 8 Snapshot 10 Spotlight 11 On The Hill 18 Faculty & Staff 18 Creative Spaces 20 Headliners 24 Syllabus 26 The 2017 Sanctae Crucis Awards In September 2017, five alumni were awarded the highest non-degree accolade

the College bestows on its graduates. Read more about the inspiring ways they continue to live the mission of Holy Cross. 38 Ten Years in Montserrat In 2007, the College launched a universal first-year experience. Faculty and students reflect on their transformative experiences. 46 Finding Their Role in the World: How Holy Cross Alumni Approach Careers in Medicine We spoke with four alumni in the medical field to examine the lasting influence of a Jesuit, liberal arts

HOLY C R OSS MAGAZ I NE O N L I NE

background on their path after graduation. 52 How Do Holy Cross Students Get Into Medical School? A companion piece to Finding Their Role in the World, this feature explores the resources for students as they consider applying to medical school. 54 A New Shade of Purple When Bob Wright ’65 lost his wife, Suzanne, to pancreatic cancer, he responded with a campaign to push for new research in the field. 56 Sports

Take a peek inside the 1975

time capsule, unearthed inside the Hart Center. Plus, a Q&A with ESPN executive Burke Magnus ’88. 62 Alumni News 62 Mystery Photo 64 HCAA News 67 Alumni News 74 Book Notes 75 Solved Photo 76 The Power of One 78 In Your Own Words 80 The Profile 82 Class Notes 86 Milestones 90 In Memoriam 96 Artifact The Next Issue Ask More How To Reach Us

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VIDEO: THE EXCAVATION OF THE HART CENTER TIME CAPSULE Watch the excavation and opening of the time capsule, which had been sealed inside the walls of the Hart Center since 1975.

COVER P HOTO

CONTACT US Dorean Asuako ’21 writes on the chalkboard in Constructing the Biological Self, taught by Julia Paxson, associate professor of biology, in the basement of Wheeler Hall as part of the Montserrat Self cluster. Read more about Montserrat in our feature on Page 38.

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DEAR HCM,

late Fr. Cy Delaney, in no uncertain terms of the 1942 Holy Cross upset of mighty Boston College. While then less than 12 years had passed since that momentous day, it seemed to us like ancient history, what with our having tripled our age, and most of World War II and the Korean War having occurred, in the interim.

“ With all these Holy Cross graduates, you would have thought one of these graduates (maybe my husband) would have seen that I celebrate my birthday on the same day as The Cross, June 21, but not the same year!!!” —

ALICE CREAMER, Owls Head, Maine

Giving Back I’m a Red Cross volunteer and just worked 12-hour shifts at a shelter in Clearwater, Florida, after Irma. The photo I’ve included was the lead photo on a report distributed to Red Cross volunteers (above, right); no one ever really wants to be cover girl due to RC situations, but this was a happy moment! It was joyous telling Pauline her power was back on and she could go home on Friday. The report shared with volunteers is astonishing! You realize just how big this is, how little we are, and yet

each person participating and affected by it has a lifetime of experiences. Evermore impressed by the work of the Red Cross. People helping people. Humanity at its best. Ela Sulimirski Landegger ’81,

founding co-chair of the Canadian Red Cross Tiffany Circle Clearwater, Florida

1942 HC Upset of BC In the autumn of 1954, we frosh were made aware by our English professor, the

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Fr. Delaney considered the events of that day to be one of the more compelling proofs of the Deity, based upon three elements: First, the enormity of the upset; second, the upset’s leading the BC team to cancel their planned victory dinner that night at the Cocoanut Grove night club, thus saving them from almost certainly being among the 492 souls who perished there; and third, which your article on Page 52 of the fall issue omitted, the fact that the jersey numbers of BC co-captains Holovak and Naumetz appearing on the cover of the game program presaged the final score of 55-12. As this event dims with time, it is important that all three of Fr. Delaney’s elements be passed on to posterity. Myles Hannan ‘58

Bluffton, South Carolina

A Birthday in Common I just finished reading the fall edition of Holy Cross Magazine. I’m so glad surviving spouses are included on your mailing list. As Worcester residents, we were able to attend all the fun times at the College on the “Hill.” I married into a Holy Cross family: my deceased father-inlaw John F. Creamer, Class of 1926; his deceased oldest son, Robert C. Creamer ’55 as seen in the fall issue; my deceased husband Richard M. Creamer ’56; and the surviving brother, John F. Creamer ’59. With all these Holy Cross graduates, you would have thought one of these graduates (maybe my husband) would have seen that I celebrate my birthday on the same day as The Cross, June 21, but not the same year!!! I wonder how many Crusaders or their family members share the same birthday? Have a great “Birthday Day” celebration and I’ll share a toast on our mutual day. Happy Birthday Crusaders. Alice Creamer

Owls Head, Maine EDITOR’S NOTE Do you share the same birthday as Holy Cross? Let us know!


A Holy Cross Halloween My son Bobby (age 6, HC class of 2033, above) decided after attending Homecoming that he wanted to be the Holy Cross Crusader. He proudly told people what his costume was leading up to Halloween and as we paraded around Charlestown. I thought it was timely given the debate over the Crusader as mascot. We hope it stays!! Kathleen Crawford Childs ’89

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Erratum In “Answering the Call” (Page 28 in the fall issue), Paw Wah’s husband, Pu Ta Ku, was misidentified as being employed at FedEx. His actual employer is CHEP Recycled Pallet Solutions, LLC. In the “In Memoriam” section of the fall 2017 issue, we inadvertently omitted the yearbook photo for George Herlihy ’40 (above).

(above) Pilot Conor O’Neil ’09 and electronics weapons officer Will Bogdanowicz ’08 hold up a Holy Cross banner in a way we have never seen before, flying in a Boeing EA-18G Growler. This was Bodanowicz’s last flight in the Growler in Whidbey Island, Wash. before he and his wife, Clare (Bracikowski) ’09, head to Santiago, Chile for two years. (top left, from left) Sean, Meghan (Dunne) ’10 and Conor O’Neil; Will and Clare; and Cate O’Neil.

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Holy Cross Magazine regrets these errors. ■

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EDITOR’S NOTE

An Openness to Critical Thinking, Meaningful Dialogue and Difficult Conversations

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t’s a running joke in my family that Holy Cross alumni are the most passionate. With four daughters, my parents have bumper stickers for three Jesuit schools and an Ivy on every car, to say nothing of the T-shirts, baseball caps, coffee mugs and sweatshirts they’ve been gifted over the years from each of us. While I won’t name them here, suffice it to say that my sisters’ alma maters are wellknown institutions. And yet, it’s the Holy Cross apparel that gets folks to stop on the street: fellow parents, alumni, current students, each wanting to know about my mom and/or dad’s connection to Mount St. James. Now maybe it’s just the fun of seeing a person with an easily identified, shared experience, but I think there’s more to it than that; when you run into a fellow alum in an unexpected place, there’s a connection there that surpasses other passing acquaintances. The interaction is rarely as simple as “Holy Cross? I went there too!” More often than not, the conversations quickly move from “What year did you graduate?” to deeper, more meaningful connections. But why? What sets our group of alumni apart? When I summarize my Holy Cross education for non-alumni, the sentiment I find myself returning to is this: Holy Cross taught me how to think. My four years here taught me how to challenge assumptions and long-held beliefs in a critical manner, with an intent to learn

and grow from that challenge rather than to further entrench myself against viewpoints contrary to my own. It also taught me that these moments of questioning are moments to be embraced, not to be turned away from. This skill set has echoes throughout my life, whether in personal relationships, professional opportunities or simply navigating a world that seems to be changing more rapidly each day. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when and where this developed, likely because this wasn’t something I learned from one particular class or faculty member, but was instead a culmination of experiences. In this issue, we trace some of the many ways that we help our students develop these skills and continue to support our alumni community in strengthening them. In the Montserrat program, students are challenged from their first day at Holy Cross to think outside what a syllabus might cover and to draw connections between disciplines, ideas and the passions they each bring to our community. Embracing the opportunities to have those difficult conversations outside of the classroom are our Sanctae Crucis Award recipients, each of whom has pushed themselves to ask, “Where can I make a difference? What’s the bigger picture here?” and turned that into action. And in our third feature, you’ll read about four alumni pursing very different careers in

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Rev. John Gavin, S.J., assistant professor of religious studies, gives a tour of St. Joseph Memorial Chapel to his Montserrat class.

the field of medicine, but connected by a common pursuit of looking beyond what are considered the common bounds of their roles as doctors. This willingness to questions the status quo, to embrace the difficult questions and to think deeply and critically about the work being done is something core to each of our alumni.

And we see it exemplified in the leadership of the College as well. In the Alumni News section, we’ve included a highlight of a Q&A panel with the executive team, during which Kirk Carapezza ’05, managing editor of Boston NPR affiliate WGBH, posed to each of them some of the difficult questions facing higher education across the country. Their thoughtfulness and consideration of these issues against the role that Holy Cross plays in preparing students to be thought leaders in the world is a clear foundation for the approach that faculty and staff take across campus each day. So the next time you run into a fellow alumnus in an unexpected place, maybe you’ll both point at the purple you’re (not-so-subtly) displaying and go your separate ways. Or maybe you’ll recognize and entertain that kindred spirit of critical thinking and deep meaningful dialogue that is the backbone of our alumni community. ■

Bridget Campolettano ’10 Editorial Director


WHO WE ARE

CONTRIBUTORS

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Photographer / Videographer

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joined the College Marketing and Communications office after working as a photojournalist for 15 years for newspapers and magazines in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Ohio. A true New Englander, Tom enjoys the “country life” in Connecticut with his family.

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BRIDGET CAMPOLETTANO ’10

Editorial Director

joined the College Marketing and Communications office in 2013, and has been seeking out new and unique stories about the Holy Cross community to tell since day one. She is waiting for the day that Holy Cross Magazine can incorporate GIF’s into its content strategy, as this is her preferred style of communication on a daily basis.

STEPHEN ALBANO

Art Director / Designer has been a part of the HCM team for more than six years – with this being his 26th issue. He earned his degree in studio art at Clark University. He is looking forward to winter because there’s something about snow and the bitter cold that seems to freeze time. Maybe then he’ll finally get a chance to hang all the framed art and photos that have been waiting for walls during these last three, very quick years.

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WRITERS 1 CHRISTOPHER AMENTA ’06 lives, works and writes in and around Boston; after interviewing so many clever students, faculty and staff for this issue, Chris wishes he’d spent a little more time studying when he was at Holy Cross. In this issue, Chris wrote the feature on Montserrat on Page 38. 2 KATHLEEN DOUGHERTY ’18 is an English major with a concentration in creative writing from Pearl River, New York, and the magazine’s fall intern. Kathleen intends to pursue a career in the media or communications industries post-graduation. In this issue, she contributed to Campus Notebook, spoke with Kaela San Le about her home as a creative space on Page 18 and wrote “A HartShaped Box” on Page 56. 3 BRIDGET DUFOUR ’18 is a senior sociology major with a concentration in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies from Easton, Maryland, and the Holy Cross newsroom’s fall intern. She intends to pursue a career in the legal field with a particular focus on civil rights. In this issue, she wrote the story of the College’s bilingual production of “Fuente Ovejuna” in Campus Notebook. 4 LORI FERGUSON is a freelance writer with a soft spot for education and art. She will seize any excuse to visit a museum or gallery and enjoys writing on arts, lifestyle, health and wellness topics. In this issue, she wrote about Bob Wright ’65 on Page 54. 5 MEREDITH FIDROCKI is a writer who graduated from Bates College with a degree in English and French. In this issue, she headed back to class to write Syllabus on Page 24 and explored a festive Jesuit residence tradition for Artifact on Page 96. 6 SARAH FREE ’14 of Claremont, California majored in philosophy and psychology. After teaching high school on the South Side of Chicago, she is currently working at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, developing curriculum and training K-12 teachers and administrators on emotionally intelligent practice, and contributed the “In Your Own Words” essay on Page 78. 7 BENJAMIN GLEISSER is looking forward to opening day of the next baseball season, when he hopes the Cleveland Indians will redeem themselves. Look for him in Section 38, row G, seat 12. The guy with the popcorn. He profiled Burke Magnus ’88 on Page 60 in this issue. 7 DAVE GREENSLIT spent 32 years as a writer and editor for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. In retirement, he works as a freelance writer, when he’s not backpacking on the Appalachian Trail or hiking and skiing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In this issue, he wrote about our alumni in medicine, and its companion piece, on Page 46. 8 MAURA SULLIVAN HILL is a freelance writer and editor based in Chicago — and an alum of Team HCM that is thrilled to still appear in the pages of the magazine. She writes for higher education clients including Loyola University Chicago, University of San Francisco and University of Scranton, as well as the alumni magazine of her alma mater, Notre Dame. In this issue, she wrote The Profile, featuring Commander Scott Price ’99, a hurricane hunter pilot. 9 COLLEEN NABER ’18 is a political science major and a peace and conflict studies concentrator from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She is the co-executive director of the nonprofit, Working for Worcester for the 2017 – 2018 year, a program director for SPUD, a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society and a member of the Phi Sigma Alpha Honor Society. In this issue, she wrote about the “Holy Ballers” for our continuing series on SPUD (Page 14). 10 PAYSHA RHONE has written for The Boston Globe and People magazine, among other publications. She specializes in education, disability and mental health; she also works with children with emotional disabilities and autism. She is a graduate of the University of Washington and a current graduate student at Lesley University in Expressive Arts Therapies. In this issue, she wrote about the Fenwick Scholars anniversary on Page 72. 11 REBECCA (TESSITORE) SMITH ’99 and 12 KIMBERLY (OSBORNE) STALEY ’99 are longtime contributors to Holy Cross Magazine — and even longer-time friends. Former roommates in Loyola, they’ve come a long way from washing dishes in Kimball, now writing, editing and proofreading marketing and fundraising communications at their freelance writing firm, SmithWriting. In this issue, Rebecca and Kim wrote In Memoriam and Book Notes, and also served as our copy editors. 13 EVANGELIA STEFANAKOS ’14 is the managing editor for digital content in College Marketing and Communications. She studied English and art history at Holy Cross and is a steadfast advocate of the Oxford comma. Her work appears in the Campus Notebook and Faculty/Staff section in this issue. 14 ELIZABETH THOMPSON WALKER has been writing to celebrate alumni and to make the case for support of colleges and universities for more than three decades, both as a campus employee and now as a freelance writer living on the Cape. Highlighting the important work of alumni committed to helping others is her favorite assignment. She wrote the feature on our 2017 Sanctae Crucis recipients on Page 26. PHOTOGRAPHERS 15 JOHN L. BUCKINGHAM joined the College’s Audio-Visual Services (now a division within ITS) in October 1988. What began as a favor in taking a headshot for a desperate theater student some 20 years ago has led to photography becoming a major component of John’s role in A-V, with his work featured in numerous publications, posters and many a Facebook and LinkedIn page. 16 KATE HEADLEY is an accomplished photographer who shoots portraits, weddings, travel and other interesting stories. She is originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and currently resides in Washington, D.C. 17 MICHAEL PARAS has been shooting people for over 20 years for an impressive, eclectic group of higher education, corporate and editorial clients. Michael brings to his shoots a love and passion for photography and his desire to have his portraits tell a story and create energy. His latest project is shooting the basketball hoops of Newark, N.J. telling the compelling story of hope. 18 JON SUN is a wedding photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area who lives with his internet famous dog Kibo. You can check out more of his work at studiokibo.com. 19 DAN VAILLANCOURT graduated from the Hallmark Institute of Photography in 1995 and has been photographing professionally for 20 years. He feels blessed to make a living doing something fun. You’ll see Dan’s photos throughout this issue. 20 THE HOLY CROSS ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS TEAM collects, preserves, arranges and describes records of permanent value from the College’s founding in 1843 to the present. Made up of Mark Savolis ’77, archivist, Sarah Campbell, assistant archivist, and Hannah Kolesar, archival assistant, this team is an invaluable resource for HCM — we couldn’t put together an issue without their historical research and context, as well as the access to archival images and objects.

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CAMPUS NOTEBOOK

O CHRISTMAS TREE! Allegra Martin directs the College Choir on the O’Kane porch during the tree lighting ceremony held on Dec. 4. Although there was no snow,


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the Christmas spirit was clearly present with a great turnout from the Holy Cross community.

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SPOTLIGHT

(above) The piece “Saint Ignatius of Loyola at Manresa” by John Collier now hangs in the Ignatius Chapel at the Joyce Contemplative Center. (left) Rev. William Campbell, S.J. ’87, vice president for mission, talks to sculptor John Collier during the installation of the bas relief. (far left) Fr. Boroughs with John Mullman ’82 and his wife, Sandra Logan-Mullman

New Sculpture Installed at Thomas P. Joyce ’59 Contemplative Center

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hile the Thomas P. Joyce ’59 Contemplative Center in West Boylston, Mass., has been open for more than a year, and seen hundreds of students, faculty, staff

and alumni come through its doors to participate in retreats, the interior of the building continues to evolve. Thanks to a generous gift from John Mullman ’82, a new sculpture was installed in the Ignatius Chapel in the Joyce

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Center, commissioned from American artist and sculptor John Collier, who was the chief sculptor for the Catholic Memorial at Ground Zero, where four of his sculptures are permanently installed.

His most recent work, “Saint Ignatius of Loyola at Manresa,” is a representation of Saint Ignatius, pen in hand, gazing toward what might be imagined as Montserrat off in the distance. “The monumental 10-foot by 8-foot wall sculpture, centrally mounted on the wall to the right as you enter the chapel, shows echoes of the natural beauty of

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ON THE HILL

“I am grateful for John Mullman’s extraordinary gift to the Joyce Contemplative Center,” says Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president of the College. “Just as Ignatius found God and developed the Spiritual Exercises at Manresa in Spain, we hope that our students, faculty, staff and alums who make a retreat at the Joyce Contemplative Center also will develop a meaningful and lively relationship with God and a deeper appreciation for our Ignatian heritage.” ■

Update on Crusader Moniker and Mascot Discussions

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or eight weeks during the fall semester, the working group tasked with collecting feedback on the use of “Crusader” as both moniker and mascot for the College has solicited and recorded comments from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. Hundreds of responses came to the group through a variety of mediums: submissions through the online form, written letters, phone calls, emails and in the form of two listening sessions held on campus. The feedback phase closed on Nov. 26. Recordings of the campus listening sessions may be found online at holycross.edu/ crusader-moniker-and-mascot/videos. The full text of all comments received, along with a summary of the contents, will be presented to Fr. Boroughs by Jan. 26, 2018, and then to the board of trustees, which is expected to make a decision on this issue at its Feb. 3 meeting. As reported in the Fall issue of HCM, the working group will not be making any recommendation along with their presentation, but instead serving to catalog the responses from across the Holy Cross community. ■

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The wall sculpture itself is done in a style known as a bas relief, which means that the form of the artwork is modeled in such a way that various elements of the composition both recede into and emerge slightly from the overall composition, explains Hankins. Collier used a traditional sculpting media to create the piece, a type of plaster called Hydrocal, which sets the scene of the overall composition in varying shades of white, as if to suggest light itself.

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the surrounding wooded landscape as seen through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall directly behind the altar,” says Roger Hankins, director of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, who worked closely with Collier through the commissioning and installation. “The piece also takes advantage of the light bathing the room by capturing an ever-changing visual play across its subtly modeled surface, which contrasts the features of the figure of Saint Ignatius against heavily modeled depictions of rocks, vegetation and animals.”

Bon Appétit Features Holy Cross on List of ‘7 Healthiest College Dining Halls in the Country’

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hile “college dining” isn’t always synonymous with “healthy eating,” some colleges are changing the game. And Holy Cross is one of them. Bon Appétit Magazine, a leading American food and entertainment publication, has taken notice, featuring the College on its list of “7 Healthiest College Dining Halls in the Country.” “Among the first college campuses to create an allergy-free kitchen and start a community garden, Holy Cross stands out for its impressive sustainability commitment and allaround delicious food fitting all kinds of dietary restrictions,” writes Bon Appétit. This major mention comes soon after Holy Cross’ allergy pantry, located in the College’s main dining facility, Kimball Hall, was officially certified peanut- and tree nut-free by Kitchens with Confidence, the leading fullservice kitchen auditor and “certified free from” authority for today’s food service operations. ■

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ON THE HILL

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“Fuente Ovejuna”: Fall Theatre Production Challenges Audiences

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or Edward Isser, professor of theatre, the choice of what show to produce this semester carried more weight than usual. On account of the current sociopolitical climate in the United States, Isser viewed the fall theatre production as a medium through which to engage the Holy Cross community in a national conversation. “I felt — and continue to feel — that I have an obligation to respond to our contemporary situation as both a teacher and as an artist,” Isser shares. “I was blown away watching the women’s march on television and sat glued to

the seat, thinking about my obligations and capacities, particularly as a man, to productively contribute to the movement.” “Fuente Ovejuna,” a classic work of the Spanish Golden Age dating back to 1614, aptly met his requirements. The play tells a tale of oppression, resistance and retribution in a small Spanish village terrorized by a dictatorial oppressor. “The core issues of ‘Fuente Ovejuna’ — the relationship between patriarchy, misogyny and a totalitarian mindset — are recurring constants in Western culture,” Isser

explains. The play, above all, was meant to be provocative, to push boundaries and to, perhaps, even disturb. The audience experienced the palpable fear of the play’s women as the commander and his soldiers moved from verbally objectifying the women to exploiting their power to subjugate them. Audiences were challenged to consider: What are our individual and collective responsibilities in the face of fascism? Do we respond with action or do we remain passive? The impact of the play’s

action was also largely due to decisions made surrounding language. Isser — who doesn’t speak any Spanish himself — was captivated by the intensity of the play’s original Spanish verses, describing them as “expressive, evocative and emotional.” It became clear early on that much would be lost if the play was fully translated into English, so Isser turned to the Spanish department to help him develop a bilingual script. The decision was an experiment and a risk. After Isser had translated the play into modern English prose, it was up to Daniel Frost, associate professor of Spanish, and Helen FreearPapio, director of the Foreign Language Assistants Program and lecturer of Spanish, to

S E PT E M B E R SCHOLAR STUDY Claude Hanley ’18 was named the 2017-2018 Fenwick Scholar. The Fenwick Scholar Program is one of the highest academic honors the College bestows on a student, where the scholar designs and participates in a rigorous academic project over the course of their senior year. Hanley’s independent project is titled “The Promise of Mercy: a Philological, Theological, and Philosophical Approach.” See more in the Fenwick Scholar anniversary piece on Page 64.

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reintegrate Lope de Vega’s poetic verses of the 1600s — akin in stature to those of Shakespeare. This posed a major challenge for the actors who had to master a language they did not speak and perform their lines convincingly. Frost, Freear-Papio and Helen Lokos, visiting associate professor of Spanish, worked with the actors on stage and off over the six weeks of rehearsals. The end result was seamless. “We focused on treating the words not as a poetic text to be recited, but rather as ideas and sentiments that the characters were conveying,” shares Frost. In either language, the strength of the play’s women was undeniable. While the men of the town remained passive and immobile, the women rose up to take matters into their own hands. “It gave me insight into the atrocities that were committed toward women for centuries because of the structure of society,” says Alif Kanji ’18, who saw the production. “It was encouraging that the school decided to put on this specific show in the midst of this political climate.” ■

— Bridget DuFour ’18

Mellon Foundation Awards Holy Cross $800K to Support Community Research Partnerships

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he College has been awarded $800,000 to support community-based research projects in the city of Worcester. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, equal to the largest Holy Cross has received from the foundation, will fund five years of faculty research projects as part of a College initiative called “Scholarship in Action.” “This initiative draws on our strengths — strong

community partnerships, active engagement of students in Worcester and our faculty’s commitment to engaging students in their research projects,” says Margaret Freije, provost and dean of the College. “We believe Scholarship in Action will transform how our faculty, students and community partners think, learn and work together.” One of the unique elements of Scholarship in Action is that proposals are partnerships: Each faculty

member (or members) who proposes a project for funding does so with a community partner (or partners), and these projects must be long-term, sustainable initiatives that will last beyond a single semester or academic year. This structure will allow the College to go beyond its longstanding tradition of volunteering and community service and direct its intellectual resources toward the needs of the community. The initiative will build upon work already being done by faculty in Worcester, allowing them to expand upon their research and build sustainable projects. Proposals are due in early 2018 to a committee that will award mini-grants to fund up to 14 projects. Research will begin in the summer. ■

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HOLY CROSS TRIUMPH Holy Cross was ranked No. 19 out of 1,383 Best Nationwide Colleges on College Factual’s annual list. College Factual also ranked Holy Cross No. 4 Best Massachusetts College. College Factual rankings consider graduation and retention rates, as well as early- to mid-career earnings and student loan default rates.

MEDIA ERA Jerry Lembcke, associate professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology and former chaplain assistant in the 41st Artillery Group during the Vietnam War, published in the New York Times an op-ed on the background and stories of antiwar protesters titled, “The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam and Hanoi Jane: War, Sex, and Fantasies of Betrayal.” He casts doubt on stories that paint antiwar sentiments in an insidious light and discusses American media sensationalism.

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Benner (center) and some of the “Holy Ballers” SPUD volunteers outside the Leahy Center in Worcester.

“We Simply Show Up”

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he “John Carroll Ballers” is an innovative social justice project started at John Carroll University, a Jesuit university in a suburb of Cleveland. Last spring, Riley Benner ’20, a political science major and philosophy minor from Rochester, N.Y., brought the “Ballers” model to Holy Cross, and founded “Holy Ballers.” The project is focused on peer-to-peer mentorship of residents within the juvenile detention system. The goals of the program include reducing

the recidivism rate — ensuring that once a resident leaves the facility, he or she will not return — and showing residents that they are valuable to society and that their future is not determined by their past mistakes. Currently, Holy Ballers works with a male residence center; however, Benner is working to expand to female centers in the near future. Benner started a “McQuaid Ballers” program at his high school, McQuaid Jesuit, after being introduced to it during a college visit at John Carroll. He explains, “I loved doing the program at McQuaid, and I went and worked with the boys as often as I could. I knew that wherever I went to college, I

would start a Ballers program there too. When I came to Holy Cross, I emailed Marty Kelly (associate chaplain and adviser to SPUD) right away. When I mentioned basketball at a juvenile detention center, he lit up. He had heard of the Carroll Ballers and the work they had done in Cleveland and was hoping that a Holy Cross student could take the initiative to start a program in Worcester.” When the program was launched on campus, it had overwhelming interest from the student body. Benner recruited 15 volunteers to launch the program through a competitive application process. Currently, 17 Holy Cross SPUD volunteers participate

in the program. Each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, six Holy Ballers visit the juvenile detention center on Belmont Street in Worcester to play basketball with 30 residents from across Massachusetts, particularly Boston and Worcester. After the boys are done playing basketball, the group shares a meal brought by the Holy Cross volunteers and just talk. Over time, the Ballers develop relationships and similarities with one another, which is the foundation of the program’s success. Benner explains, “I’ve probably played over 100 hours of basketball in the past three years, but basketball is only the icebreaker. The most important part of what I do comes when fellow students and I break open the food that we’ve brought and simply have a conversation. Each week, we talk about some different topic that they can take with them back into the world.” This program is not only beneficial to the residents, but it has also proven extremely valuable for the SPUD volunteers. “We’re not there to serve the boys; we’re not there to teach them what it means to be a good citizen, or to lecture them on the classifications of a Massachusetts felony,” Benner says. “We’re there

O CTO B E R WHAT IS AN AFROPOLITAN? From Oct. 18-21, a conference titled “Rethinking the

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Afropolitan: The Ethics of Black Atlantic Masculinities on Display” used the recent concept as a starting point to examine the history and complexity of ideas and images of black manhood. Scholars shared their expertise on wide-ranging topics, including slavery and its afterlives, consuming cultures and performing masculinities. The conference was organized by the history department’s Rosa Carrasquillo and Lorelle Semley and sponsored by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.

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Alpha Sigma Nu Inducts 30 New Members from the Class of 2018

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n Oct. 29, the Sunday of Family Weekend, 30 Holy Cross seniors were inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society founded in 1915. The new inductees exemplify the society’s values of excellence in scholarship, loyalty and service. Membership is only awarded to four percent of student applicants chosen from Jesuit institutions of higher learning who rank in the top 15 percent of their class. Alpha Sigma Nu, the only

N OVEM B E R STAR MUSICIAN Distinguished Artist-inResidence James David Christie was awarded as “International Performer of the Year” by the NYC chapter of the American Guild of Organists. The award recognizes excellence in organ performance and is considered by many to be the highest honor given to organists in the United States.

honor society permitted to bear the Jesuit name, not only recognizes students who distinguish themselves in scholarship, loyalty and service, it also encourages its members to a lifetime pursuit of intellectual development, deepening Ignatian spirituality, service to others and a commitment to the core principles of Jesuit education. The students inducted were Sarah K. Barrett, Cassandra J. Brouillard, Grace W. Cavanaugh, Gregory T.

Chin, Brittany A. Coscio, Caitlin M. Daniels, Michael T. DeSantis, Gordon J. Farley, Nathan M. Figueroa, Melissa A. Gryan, Claude S. Hanley, Caitlin J. Harty, Kayla H. Horan, Susannah E. Huth, Marie Therese Kane, Jillian E. Kearns, Michael J. Kelley, Katelyn M. Lyons, Sam A. Michelhaugh, Colleen F. Naber, Peter J. Oggiani, Julia E. Palmerino, Taylor K. Pels, Brittney L. Pond, Stefanie M. Raymond, Deirdre A. Reidy, Hilary W. Shea, Martina C. Umunna, Jeffrey A. Warden, and Morgan M. Wilderman. ■

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The Holy Ballers program was created in such a way that it eliminates the notion that there are any differences between the volunteers and the residents. Benner explains, “I believe this program fits so well within the Holy Cross mission because it perfectly fits the mold of being ‘men and women for and with others.’ We shouldn’t simply commit ourselves to checking boxes. Often times, serving at a SPUD site becomes a regular weekly duty that we all ‘have’ to attend. However, when we begin to see the people on the margins, the people ‘whose lives might just matter less than other lives,’ and when we begin to see ‘them’ as ‘us,’ we can learn incredible things from them. That’s what makes the Holy Ballers so special. Often times, we leave the center having learned more from them than they have from us.” ■ — Colleen Naber ’18

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... simply to be together, to be one. We don’t hold a bar up and ask any of them to measure up; we simply show up. And we tell them the truth. The truth that they are exactly what God had in mind when God made them. And we watch as they become that truth. And that’s a transformation that every single volunteer can learn from. In fact, it may impact the rest of our lives. It certainly has for me.”

POWERFUL IMPACT The 52nd annual Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture was given by Samantha Power, former United States ambassador to the United Nations. The lecture distinguishes those in the realm of public service and addresses challenges facing America today. In addition to her lecture “Why Human Rights Matter More Than Ever,” Power also held a seminar with students.

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photos by dan vaill ancourt

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Families Reunite and Celebrate Fall on Campus During Family Weekend 2017

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urrounded by the colorful foliage characteristic of a New England autumn, hundreds of students and their loved ones reunited on campus for a weekend of Holy Cross activities during Family Weekend 2017. The three-day affair featured tailgating before Holy Cross beat Georgetown 24-10 on the football field; a discussion with Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president, about the College and current initiatives; performances by the College Choir and Chamber Orchestra, the Jazz and Dance ensembles and College a cappella groups; and pumpkin painting, corn hole and inflatable games on the Hogan Oval. ■

N OV E M B E R VANNICELLI PRIZES The Maurizio Vannicelli Washington Semester Program Award recipients Caitlin Daniels ’18 (far left) and Catherine Tarantino ’18 (near left) presented public Jackie Peterson and lectures on their research in Washington, D.C. The Vannicelli Prize is awarded each semester Antonio Willis-Berry ’13 for the best research paper produced by a student in the Washington Semester Program. talk and reminisce about Tarantino (the Spring 2017 recipient) looked into the ways oral history complicates hasin her 20-yearand career added to civil rights activism, while Daniels (the Fall 2017 recipient) discussed the structural Rehm Library barriers that women face when running for office, specifically in Congress.

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Beauchamp’s Works on Paper

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rom Jan. 25 – March 18, the Cantor Art Gallery will have on display “Robert Beauchamp: Four Decades of Works on Paper.” In 2016 Nadine Valenti Beauchamp, the widow of artist Robert Beauchamp (American, 1923 – 1995), gave a substantial gift of drawings from the archive of his estate to the permanent collection of the gallery to be used as a resource for teaching and research of the artist’s career. In this exhibition, visual arts faculty member Leslie Schomp and Roger Hankins, director of the gallery, curated a selection of works on paper and paintings representative of the depth and breadth of Beauchamp’s drawing virtuosity. ■

Robert Beauchamp (1923 – 1995), Tucson, 1980 graphite, charcoal and pencil on paper, 35" x 23", Collection of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, Gift of Nadine Valenti Beauchamp, 2016.03.115

D E C E M BE R

DAILY DIGITAL Join the Holy Cross community for a Lenten journey. Lenten reflections will be offered again in 2018, in a series called, “Return to Me: Lenten Reflections from Holy Cross, 2018.” This resource is designed for use during the holy season of Lent for all members of the Holy Community. Subscribe for a daily email reflection at holycross.edu/returntome.

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F A C U LT Y & S T A F F

“This space is my everything room, so everything happens here — football watching, eating, dancing — it's our all-purpose room. I push furniture back and make the best out of the space that I have. I feel comfortable here, I love being home. I am lucky to have always danced. It’s central to who I am, I don’t know what I would do without it! I hope that I can keep dancing for a long, long time."

KAELA SAN LEE | visiting lecturer, dance and movement specialist, theatre department | All-Purpose Room | Cambridge, Massachusetts


18 Creative Spaces • 20 Headliners • 24 Syllabus

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CHOREOGRAPHING FOR HER DANCE PERFORMANCE CLASS

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HEADLINERS

Holy Cross Welcomes 10 New TenureTrack Faculty Members BY E VA N G E L I A S T E FA N A K O S ' 1 4

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t the start of the 2017-18 academic year, the College of the Holy Cross welcomed 10 new tenure-track faculty members, joining the following departments

across campus: psychology, economics and accounting, political science, mathematics and computer science, history, and English. Their expertise runs the gamut of topics, from colonialism on the Indian subcontinent to pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder to computational social choice in artificial intelligence.

NOAH BERMAN assistant professor of psychology I earned my B.A. from Bowdoin College, and after graduating, worked at Brown University School of Medicine evaluating novel treatments for pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I continued to research cognitive processes in OCD

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at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my M.A. and Ph.D. I completed my training at the OCD and Related Disorders program at the Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School in 2013 and was then promoted to assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, where I examined how familial factors contribute to the development of OCD in children and the mechanisms underlying threat perception in individuals with severe OCD.

MONICA CARNEY assistant professor of economics I just received my Ph.D. in economics at the University of California, Santa

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(opposite, from left) Steven Desimone, Melissa Schoenberger, Noah Berman, Monica Carney, Danilo Contreras and Daniel Tortorice (not pictured) Zack Fitzsimmons, Aditi Malik, Sanjog Rupakheti and Daniel Schwab

Barbara in June 2017. My research is in the field of labor economics and includes topics in health, gender, and intra-household decision-making in the U.S. and developing countries. Part of my dissertation explored the impacts of greater access to mental health care for pregnant women on birth outcomes. Prior to my doctoral studies at UCSB, I obtained a B.A. in economics and public policy from the University of Chicago and an M.P.A. in international development at the Harvard Kennedy School.

DANILO ANTONIO CONTRERAS assistant professor of political science I join the political science department from the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Holy Cross, where I was a postdoctoral fellow over the past two years. Previously, I was a Bolin fellow at Williams College. I research the conditions under which ethnoracial identity is central to the political claims of elites and marginalized populations in Latin America, specifically Afro-Latin America. I am particularly interested in electoral behavior, forms of social resistance, political representation and nation-building. I earned a B.A. in government and Spanish at Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in government at the University of Texas at Austin.

STEVEN DESIMONE assistant professor of accounting I earned my B.A. from UMass Lowell in 1996. While managing various backoffice groups for State Street and Putnam Investments, I earned my MBA from Bentley University in 2004. Following this and time as a product manager at Broadridge, Inc., I earned my Ph.D. in accountancy from Bentley University. My research focuses on the internal audit function’s role in corporate governance, sustainability assurance, and its effects on financial statement quality. In addition to teaching Intermediate

Accounting II in the fall, I will teach Principles of Accounting in the spring.

ZACK FITZSIMMONS assistant professor of computer science I recently completed my Ph.D. in computing and information sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where I was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Before that, I received my B.S. in computer science and mathematics from Siena College. My research interests are in computational social choice, an area of artificial intelligence and multiagent systems, and my work has focused on studying how the computational complexity of manipulative attacks on elections are affected by different natural models for the problems.

ADITI MALIK assistant professor of political science I earned my B.A. in government and economics from Franklin & Marshall College. I hold graduate degrees from the University of Cambridge and Northwestern University. My current research explores the link between projected party lifespans and elites' incentives to organize electoral violence. I study this question in two developing democracies — Kenya and India — where I have conducted extensive fieldwork. In addition to teaching Introduction to Comparative Politics at Holy Cross, I will also be offering classes on African politics and South Asian politics.

SANJOG RUPAKHETI assistant professor of history I received my undergraduate education at Trinity College in Connecticut, triple majoring in anthropology, history and international studies. In 2006 I began my graduate training in South Asia, including

global comparative history at Rutgers University. Following the completion of my doctoral training in 2012, I joined the history department at Loyola University where I taught until 2017. My research and teaching broadly span histories of caste, colonialism, gender, law, labor and modernity in the Indian subcontinent.

MELISSA SCHOENBERGER assistant professor of English Having enjoyed very much two years teaching at Holy Cross as a visiting assistant professor, I’m thrilled to be joining the tenure-track faculty. I graduated from the University of Rochester in 2009, having concentrated in English, Spanish, Latin and literary translation studies. At Boston University, I earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English. I primarily research and teach British poetry written between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries, with a special interest in translation practices.

DANIEL SCHWAB assistant professor of economics I earned my B.A. from Williams College and recently completed my Ph.D. in economics at Boston University, where my dissertation focused on the effects of labor market regulations in India. My more recent research has been on the workers’ compensation laws in the United States, and their effect on workplace injuries and deaths. This semester, I am teaching Game Theory for the first time, as well as Principles of Microeconomics.

DANIEL TORTORICE assistant professor of economics I come to Holy Cross from Brandeis University, where I taught and did research in economics and finance for nine years. Prior to that, I completed a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and undergraduate degrees in economics and mathematics from MIT. At Holy Cross, I will continue my research on how people form their expectations about their economic future and teach courses in finance, macroeconomics and statistics. ■

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HEADLINERS it needs to be combined with an ethic of care as a kind of belief in the students. It’s important to meet students where they are, especially for first-year students. You can set the bar very high, of course, and you should, but you also need to remember that students are always in the process of becoming. It is really important to try to understand something of what is going on for students outside of class as well because that can have a major impact on their learning.

Q&A with Professor Stephanie Yuhl, Winner of the Inaugural Donal J. Burns ’49 Career Teaching Medal BY MEREDITH FIDROCKI Bring your joy.” For Stephanie Yuhl, professor of history, these are words she lives by as an educator, as a colleague and as director of the College’s innovative firstyear Montserrat program. For students and fellow professors who know Yuhl, her joy is undeniable. In recognition of her outstanding dedication to sharing her passion for learning both inside and outside the classroom, Yuhl received the inaugural Donal J. Burns '49 Career Teaching Medal during the Provost’s Fall Address. The medal, endowed through a generous gift from distinguished alumnus Donal J. Burns

'49, recognizes and inspires commitment to “long-term teaching excellence” in the spirit of all the generations of outstanding faculty at the College. We sat down with Yuhl, who reflects on her career, her students and what makes a great teacher in the Q&A below.

What is your favorite question a student ever asked you? Students often ask me, “What do you think?” As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more comfortable telling them what I think, but also telling them, “It doesn’t matter what I think — your job is to figure out what you think.” I also need to hear their answers to

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that challenge because that’s what is going to help me grow as a teacher.

What advice would you give to yourself your first year in teaching? Know the value of silence in the classroom. Slow down. I’m from California, so I speak quickly. I’m also the chatty youngest of a big family — growing up for me was all about being scrappy and being heard. Around year three of teaching, I started realizing the value of silence in the classroom. Be okay with not knowing the answer — I can’t know everything and I don’t! Use those moments of silence and of not knowing to really let go, so that the students have to step up and direct their learning.

How would you describe an effective teacher? There are so many different styles of teaching that work with different kinds of learners. I tend to be high energy and assertive, but others have a quieter manner, which can be just as effective. Rigor is essential, but not just rigor for rigor’s sake. I think

What is your favorite question to ask your students? Who benefits from understanding the United States a certain way? Or more pointedly, who benefits from a particular way of telling our national story? Who’s written out of that understanding? I want students to understand how power works. History is based on choices being made by individuals with power. Be skeptical. Not everyone agrees or experiences this country the same way.

What do you hope your students take with them after your course? I want students to take with them a sense of accountability that they are historical actors — their choices have consequences and they need to own those choices — it’s all about citizenship. I am less concerned that they remember the exact date of the Voting Rights Act after the final exam is over than I am that they understand the forces that brought that act into being and that they understand the unfinished revolution that act represents in terms of where we are as a country now. ■


eager to learn how to apply Silkroad’s experiences on reservations, in schools, in nonprofit organizations and refugee camps to our outreach work in the Worcester community.” In addition to being members of the Silkroad Ensemble, Pato and Shanahan serve as Silkroad learning advisers.

Grammy Award-Winning Silkroad Ensemble to Engage in Three-Year Residency at HC B Y E VA N G E L I A S T E FA N A K O S ' 1 4

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he College of the Holy Cross has partnered with Silkroad to engage in a three-year residency on campus, which kicked off with a visit earlier this fall. Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and home to the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble, Silkroad creates music that engages difference, sparking radical cultural collaboration and passion-driven learning to build a more hopeful world. In addition to being sponsored by Arts Transcending Borders, this was the ensemble’s campus debut, though several artists of the collective are no strangers to Holy Cross. In fall 2014, Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato was the first artist-in-residence, working with faculty and students on campus. During her residency, she performing her piece “My Lethe Story” about her mother’s memory loss with Silkroad Ensemble member and percussionist Shane Shanahan. Ensemble members Kinan Azmeh and Kevork Mourad shared their multimedia project, titled “Home Within,” and workshops were held with arts students on campus and with students of the Burncoat High School’s Arts Magnet Program.

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“We have been fortunate to host a number of the Silkroad musicians at Holy Cross during the past four years, and those previous experiences made our organic connection palpably clear as we discovered additional shared values, such as humility, passion for learning, interest in sharing and generosity of spirit,” says Lynn Kremer, director of Arts Transcending Borders and professor of theatre. The ensemble’s first visit included a session called “Music Along the Silk Road,” which showcased their rich tapestry of musical traditions and collaborative approach to creating music; short pop-up performances in prominent locations on campus; and a meet-and-greet with the College community. They also hosted a new commission workshop on “Falling Out of Time,” a new song cycle by Loyola Professor of Music at Holy Cross and renowned composer Osvaldo Golijov. “The pairing of Silkroad and Holy Cross may at first glance appear unusual, but what makes this residency special is what we have in common,” says Kremer. “The missions of our organizations have a great deal of overlap: interests in inclusivity and discernment. We are also

“The Silkroad Ensemble has been using art to transcend borders since our inception, so we are incredibly excited to be embarking on a long term relationship with an academic institution that so explicitly shares our vision for the world. We can’t wait to collaborate more robustly with the faculty and students at Holy Cross to make our hopeful vision a reality,” says Shanahan. “It’s an honor for me to be back in a place I used to call home,” says Pato. “I couldn’t be happier for Silkroad and Holy Cross to start a partnership. Not only because of our shared values, but also for our capacities of connecting dots through social change and the arts.” During the residency, Silkroad members will work with students and faculty to explore the roles that passion and art can play in learning. The ensemble will design and offer class sessions and workshops that ask participants to think critically about how they encounter difference, and how they can create unexpected connections that positively contribute to the Holy Cross community. They will also offer experiential art-making opportunities designed to encourage Holy Cross students outside of their comfort zones. The musicians of the Silkroad Ensemble represent dozens of nationalities and artistic traditions, from Spain and Japan to Syria and the United States. Silkroad musicians are also teachers, producers and advocates. Off the stage, they lead professional development and musician training workshops; create residency programs in schools, museums and communities of all sizes; and experiment with new media and genres to share Silkroad’s approach to radical cultural collaboration. ■

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SYLLABUS

Introduction to Neuroscience with Alo Basu, associate professor of psychology

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euroscience is a field that requires its scientists to integrate knowledge and thinking from many disciplines. Holy Cross has a long history of offering elective courses related to neuroscience, but with the establishment of a new interdisciplinary minor in the field, a team of Holy Cross professors led by Alo Basu, associate professor of psychology, sought to create a fundamental course that offered an innovative, integrative academic experience for students. Basu’s curriculum development team included David Damiano, professor of mathematics and computer science; Andre Isaacs, assistant professor of chemistry; Michelle Mondoux, associate professor of biology; Tomohiko Narita, associate professor and chair of physics; and Constance Royden, professor of mathematics and computer science and

BY MEREDITH FIDROCKI

computer science coordinator. With funding from a spring 2016 HewlettMellon grant, Basu and her colleagues created a rigorous course rooted in STEM concepts by using a “flipped” classroom model that challenges students to come prepared to push their thinking in class. The course, offered during the fall semester, is mainly targeted to firstyears. It is thoughtfully designed to provide an early entry point for students, many of whom may be new to the sciences, to explore neuroscience and to gain an appreciation for the complexity of the issues the field tackles and the diversity of methodologies used. For Basu, it is important that students understand how much faculty members from different departments contributed to the creation of this course because it removes a sense of “foreignness” for students when they are considering

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(above) Alo Basu lectures as students inspect models of the brain. Her hope is that this course will serve as a catalyst for students to determine how the sciences fit into their education.

studying other disciplines. On the day HCM visited class, the power and magic of the human brain was on full display: both on the colorful slides Basu presented of neurons, but perhaps more importantly in the impressive performance from her students, who drew on previously studied material to think through complex novel problems masterfully thrown at them at lightning speed. This particular “flipped” class asked students to show up having studied a video and animations of how DNA is transcribed to RNA and how RNA is translated to protein. After a warm-up in which Basu elicited input from students to create a chalkboard visual of the components of a chemical synapse, students were shown actual images of neurons taken by researchers.

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Course Catalog CISS 110 Introduction to Neuroscience PROFESSOR Alo Basu DEPARTMENT Center for Interdisciplinary Studies DESCRIPTION This course provides an integrative introduction to neuroscience through study of topics, including comparative vertebrate and invertebrate neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, sensory and motor systems, behavioral neurobiology, neuropharmacology and neural basis of cognition. In order to offer groundwork for continued interdisciplinary study of the neural basis of behavior, the course highlights fundamental principles of nervous system structure and function. MEETING TIMES Monday, Wednesday, Friday; 11-11:50 a.m. CLASSROOM Swords 227 FLIPPED CLASS Employing a “flipped” class model on selected days, this course requires students to spend significant time prior to class studying concepts related to biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and neuroscience, some of which are covered in videos. They apply these concepts through problem sets and are expected to arrive to class prepared to extend their thinking to achieve a deeper understanding of nervous systems. Lab days are scheduled throughout the semester to provide opportunity for hands-on work. REQUIRED READING • “Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain” by Bear, Connors, and Paradiso, 4th ed.

• Additional readings and videos assigned throughout the semester VOCABULARY Integrative thinking = an approach that involves pulling together knowledge and tools from various disciplines and applying them ASSIGNMENTS • Quizzes and four exams, including a final • Problem sets • Class participation GRADES Problem sets, quizzes, exams and participation PREREQUISITES None, open to all students ABOUT THE PROFESSOR Alo C. Basu is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and currently serves as Neuroscience Advisor for students across the College. She earned her Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University and has worked at Holy Cross for six years. Her fields of study include neurobiology of learning and memory, stress-related neuroplasticity, and genetic and environmental risk factors for neuropsychiatric disorders. Her recent scholarly work was published in "Behavioural Brain Research" and "Neurobiology of Learning and Memory." A pedagogical article on the Introduction to Neuroscience course was recently published in the "Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education" (2017 Volume 16: Issue 1); you can find it online at www. funjournal.org. She will be on sabbatical next year, which will include conducting research in the lab with students and working on course development. Basu was integral in establishing the new interdisciplinary minor in neuroscience at the College. Read more about the neuroscience minor at holycross.edu/academics/ programs/neuroscience.

Basu asked students to think through how these researchers would go about determining which neurons release serotonin from their presynaptic terminals. She encouraged students to brainstorm in small teams before working through ideas as a group. They followed this model to explore various complex questions. Alumna Victoria Mousley '17, a psychology and deaf studies double major, with a concentration in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies, who is pursuing a career in cognitive neuroscience, saw the benefit of the course’s integrative approach when auditing the class in 2016: “I never fully understood how physics, math, biology and chemistry could attack the same questions about the brain I was asking in psychology. By introducing students to STEM topics, this course allows beginners to understand neuroscience as the expansive subject it is. In doing so, students can decide what they like and don't like about all the different levels of analysis.” Basu’s hope is that this course will serve as that launching pad for students to determine how the sciences and the field of neuroscience may fit into their Holy Cross education. The course has already attracted diverse minds, including music and computer science majors, and Basu expects to see that trend continue — something the field of neuroscience could use. “There are pressing social needs to do with neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders that are affecting an increasing proportion of the world’s population,” says Basu. “The study of neuroscience offers a perspective on life and human nature that seeks to integrate many different domains of human knowledge; it prompts us to ask very large questions about who we are and our relationship to the natural world. It motivates us to think and work in inventive ways that challenge traditional boundaries between disciplines, and it trains us to be integrative thinkers by virtue of the complexity of the problems.” ■

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sanctae crucis awards the 2017

COL. MALCOLM N. JOSEPH III, M.D., M.P.H, USAF (RET.), ’71 • KATHERINE M. GALLAGHER ’92 • STEPHEN P. HARBECK ’68 • THOMAS R. BEECHER JR. ’56 • DEBORAH L. FULLER, D.M.D., M.S., M.P.H., ’91

“Y

ou offer a strong voice to the powerless, relief to the oppressed and justice to the wronged.”

“You have worked tirelessly to remove barriers to access and provide first-quality dental services for Rhode Island’s infants, children and the underserved.” “Your stellar personal qualities, Jesuit education and military experiences have served as the rock-solid foundation for your long and distinguished career in service to others.”

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“You are a man for others in the best Jesuit tradition.”

“You served your community with distinction as the visionforward leader of a grand-scale medical campus project that has transformed health care delivery throughout Western New York.” These represent just a few selections from the impressive citations that accompanied the presentation of the 20th annual Sanctae Crucis awards on Sept. 22 in the Hogan Ballroom. The recipients — Thomas R. Beecher Jr. ’56; Deborah L. Fuller, D.M.D.,

M.S., M.P.H., ’91; Katherine M. Gallagher ’92; Stephen P. Harbeck ’68; and Col. Malcolm N. Joseph III, M.D., USAF (Ret.), ’71 — are leaders in business, professional or civic life; live by the highest intellectual and ethical standards; and are committed to the service of faith and promotion of justice. But, more important, they are all alumni who continue to live out the Holy Cross mission long after their walk across the commencement stage.

Read on to learn about the unique role Holy Cross played in shaping each of these distinguished alumni.


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(from left) Margaret Freije; Thomas R. Beecher, Jr. ’56; Deborah L. Fuller, D.M.D, M.S., M.P.H., ’91; Stephen P. Harbeck ’68; Katherine M. Gallagher ’92; Col. Malcolm N. Joseph III, M.D., M.P.H., USAF (Ret.), ’71; and Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.

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You are a man for others in the best Jesuit tradition.

MALCOLM N. JOSEPH III ’71

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dmission to Holy Cross was the answer to a prayer Malcolm Joseph III offered on a retreat he attended as a high school senior. The letter he prayed for was waiting for him when he arrived home. Joseph chose Holy Cross because it had the best premed program among the top-tier colleges that were interested in the student from Cardinal Hayes High, an integrated school in the Bronx. He eventually became the College’s first black alumnus to graduate from medical school; President John E. Brooks, S.J., ’49 proudly attended his graduation from Boston University School of Medicine.

him was central to everything that I have accomplished. He helped me stay at Holy Cross.”

The young man from the Bronx was among an extraordinary coterie of 20 black students who came to Holy Cross in the 1960s, most of whom were recruited personally by Fr. Brooks to diversify the student body. “I met Fr. Brooks sophomore year,” says Joseph, who juggled Air Force ROTC duties with academic demands, resident advisor responsibilities and financial aid worries. “The strong support I received from

Joseph did not anticipate the racism he would encounter when he arrived on campus in 1967. He felt isolated and unsafe outside the classroom. A Jesuit who had learned about several incidents expressed concern for the first-year student’s personal safety, and he offered assistance if Joseph wanted to transfer to Fordham. “At the time, I thought, ‘Then do something about it,’ but he didn’t say anything else,” Joseph recalls. “I was angry,

“I was the first person in my family to go to college,” says Joseph, a member of the Holy Cross President’s Council and the O’Callahan Society. “I felt blessed. Freshman year was tough, but 1968 was a year of great change in America. There was Vietnam, the draft and the Civil Rights Movement. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy were assassinated.” That same year, Arthur Martin ’70 became the founding president of the Black Student Union on campus.

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but I said, ‘I’m not leaving.’” Joseph made lifelong friends at Holy Cross, beginning with his roommate of two years, Francis (Frank) Xavier Gleason, M.D., ’71. “Frank was the ideal roommate and a man of great character. His parents treated me like a son. I met some wonderful people, like Arthur, Ted Wells ’72, Tim Porter ’68 and Clarence Thomas ’71, among others. We’re like family after 50 years of life together.” Resilient and focused, Joseph found strength in the lessons and example of his father, a sailor in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II, who continued to serve after the war with the New York State Army National Guard, retiring with the rank of Command Sergeant Major. His father worked two fulltime jobs to help Joseph and his younger twin siblings go to college. “My father taught me at a young age that if you run, you’ll always run,” Joseph explains. “He said, ‘You may lose, but you must stay and fight.’ I learned from both of my parents to treat everyone with dignity and respect.” Their words and love, plus Fr. Brooks’ unfailing support, carried him through the challenges he faced as one of the pioneering black students at Holy Cross

and later as an Air Force officer stationed in Georgia. After completing aerospace medical training, Joseph was assigned to Andrews Air Force base as a flight surgeon. He traveled the world on Air Force Two to provide medical staffing in support of White House and Congressional Special Air Missions through three administrations, and he was former vice president Walter Mondale’s personal physician for international


travel. Joseph retired from the Air Force with an aeronautical rating of chief flight surgeon and the rank of colonel, after more than two decades of active military service. In 1998, he joined CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Baltimore as medical director. In that leadership role, he has been a tireless advocate for increased access to health care for the greater Baltimore community, while assisting with public and private

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health care issues for the uninsured, the homeless and the marginalized. He is also a powerful voice in the dialogue on diversity, wellness and disease prevention through his engagement at the state and national levels of health care advocacy, board memberships and fundraising initiatives focused on sickle cell disease. As a young Air Force captain, Joseph met his future wife, Pamela, an Air Force major and flight nurse, and started his

own family: a son, Malcolm IV, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Natalie and Margaret. Though Pam passed away in 2015 after 32 years of marriage, Joseph credits his late wife with bringing him back to the church. When they lost their daughter, Elizabeth, at age 3, Fr. Brooks said her funeral Mass. Joseph was honored to be a pallbearer at the funeral of Fr. Brooks, his friend and mentor, in 2012.

he could to prepare us for life after graduation,” Joseph says. “He said it was my responsibility to educate others when I encountered ignorance. I also will always remember the advice of Fr. Ambrose Mahoney [S.J., dean of admissions]: ‘Work Hard. Play Hard. Pray hard in that order.’” This son of Holy Cross believes that today’s students should take these lessons to heart as he did more than half a century ago. ■

“Fr. Brooks did everything

— Elizabeth Walker

M A LCO L M J OSEPH III / S A N C TA E CRU CIS AWA R DS / 2 9


You offer a strong voice to the powerless, relief to the oppressed and justice to the wronged.

KATHERINE M. GALLAGHER ‘92

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atie Gallagher discerns no clear divide between her work — international criminal law, universal justice and human rights advocacy — and her larger life. A senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, Gallagher has worked tirelessly for more than two decades to hold accountable those who perpetrate serious human rights violations within the global community. She feels fortunate to have a “day job” that she connects with at a very deep level, focused on fighting injustice using the law as a tool — in conjunction with advocacy — to contribute to structural and social change. As a political science major with a burgeoning interest in the Middle East, she initially had no interest in going to law school. “Political science Professor Maurizio Vannicelli

mentored and inspired me at Holy Cross,” she said. “He also helped to make sure that my junior year abroad in Egypt happened. I left for Egypt two weeks after Iraq invaded Kuwait. The start of the Gulf War in January 1991 meant I had to fly back home early. Sadly, Professor Vannicelli died that spring.” After graduation, Gallagher spent a year in Israel/ Palestine and worked at a joint Palestinian-Israelirun news organization in Jerusalem. She then earned a master’s degree in journalism and Middle East studies from New York University. After spending a year in Syria to develop her Arabic, she thought she was headed to an academic career, but discussions with a Ph.D. program adviser about her intended focus led to the realization that a law degree would enable her to work more effectively against

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injustice and human rights abuses. At CUNY School of Law, she served as editorin-chief of the New York City Law Review, interned with the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court and graduated in 2000 with a J.D. The following year, she joined the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as a legal adviser in Kosovo and next, United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as a legal officer and then prosecutor. During these years, Gallagher was also able to serve short stints at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Freetown and with the United Nations in Beirut. In 2006, Gallagher joined the Center for Constitutional Rights, or CCR. She speaks and writes extensively about the cases she has worked, the causes about which she cares and the issues that she believes deserve the world’s attention, including the torture at Abu Ghraib and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) versus the Vatican. She increases the visibility of CCR’s vital work through social media, research, writing, public lectures, teaching and television appearances. Her commentaries have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and the Jurist, among other publications. Gallagher grew up as one of six siblings in a large, socially conscious family with deep Holy Cross roots;

her father, Eugene ’61, and sisters Cynthia ’90 and Jessica ’99 join her as alumni, but all of her siblings were Jesuit educated in either high school or college. “Our parents encouraged each of us to follow our own paths, to pursue what interested us and to go where our curiosity took us. They weren’t always happy with our choices, but they didn’t hold us back. I went to Catholic grammar school and high school, where service was built in. But I wasn’t aware of how privileged I was. I began to get a sense of the larger world, beginning when I learned about apartheid in South Africa during my high school years.” When Gallagher’s Holy Cross housemates nominated her for the Sanctae Crucis Award, they wrote, “Katie exemplifies the goal of Jesuit education as a woman for others. She has spent her entire career fighting for the rights of the oppressed and disadvantaged … helping those who don’t have a voice. Katie’s work makes a difference in the achievement of human rights for all.” “Friends have kept me connected to Holy Cross,” Gallagher said. “I’m so grateful that they kept me in the loop through all the years I was living and working abroad. I became more politically aware during my years at Holy Cross. I appreciate


the analytical skills and values I learned or strengthened. Learning to stand in solidarity with others is one of those values. The College also played a key role in connecting me with the larger world.” It took that time abroad for Gallagher to realize how interrelated domestic and international injustices are, just as many of the current struggles for justice, dignity and equality at home and abroad are interconnected, and are best addressed through cross-movement, global solidarity. “So much of my career looks to be about international work, but it’s also about being an American and what that means. The U.S. plays a unique economic and military role globally — and thus being an American carries responsibilities with it.” Gallagher offers this advice to today’s students searching for a clear path to life after graduation: “I advise law students to find something that connects with who they are. They need to get meaning and enjoyment from what they do if they want to have a sustainable career and a sustainable life.” ■

— Elizabeth Walker

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K AT H ER I N E G A L L A G H ER / S A N C TA E C R U C I S AW A R DS / 3 1


Your stellar personal qualities, Jesuit education and military experiences have served as the rock-solid foundation for your long and distinguished career in service to others.

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STEPHEN P. HARBECK ’68

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ever try to outrun or outgun Stephen Harbeck. Troubled brokerage firms of all sizes, even those touted as “too big to fail,” have learned that hard lesson during Harbeck’s more than four decades with the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), where he was named CEO and president in 2003. With a quick intellect, mastery of the law and SIPC statute, plus a crack team of experts, this strong and principled leader wades fearlessly into fiscal quagmires

that have left financial institutions bankrupt and their unsuspecting investors reeling. Harbeck has been moving in the fast lane since he chose Holy Cross over Fordham. He and his classmates Paul Hartrey and John Collins, plus Chris Shea ’66, have held the record of 42.7 seconds in the 4x110 yard relay on the Hill for more than a half-century. “For me, the bridge between high school and Holy Cross was that I was a runner,” Harbeck explains. “I met with Fr.


Ambrose Mahoney, the dean of admissions. I told him I wasn’t sure I’d have time for track. He responded in Jesuit fashion by saying, ‘Let’s examine this. You got here by getting up every morning to train. Why change that?’ It was basically a one-sentence conversation that resonated with me and helped me make the transition between high school and college.” Unfortunately, the recordsetting April Fool’s Day relay in 1966 was the last race Harbeck ever ran. “After that race, I blew my hamstring,” he explains. “But the selfdiscipline I developed and the intellectually rigorous liberal arts education I got at Holy Cross helped me to make the sound analysis I

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needed to succeed in law school. The faculty made you think. All of that helped me in combat as well.” Drafted four days after finals during his first year at Cornell University Law School, Harbeck served his country with distinction during his two-year commitment, which included a 10-month deployment in Vietnam, where he served as a sniper with a reconnaissance platoon. After fulfilling his military service he returned to Cornell Law, where he met his future wife. “Judy and I met in her secondyear class,” Harbeck said. “Thanks to the U.S. Army, I ended up in her class. It was a happy accident. We’ve been

married for 45 years.” They have a son and daughter, plus two granddaughters who call Harbeck “Dude.”

We try to do the best we can for the greatest number of people, consistent with the law.”

In 1975, the Harbecks moved to Washington, D.C., where he joined the SIPC legal staff. He soon began moving up the ranks. He was elevated to general counsel in 1995 and later served as president and chief executive officer. Until 2008, the biggest bankruptcy case SIPC had handled since Congress established the agency in 1970 amounted to $175 million. That figure rose astronomically to nearly $100 billion during the height of the nation’s financial crisis. When the three towering securities firms, Lehman Brothers, Madoff Investment Securities and MF Global, fell like dominoes within three years, those failures presented a challenge of historic proportions for SIPC to untangle with potential investor losses in the upper billions.

Harbeck also contributes to the education of the next generation of lawyers through his teaching as an adjunct professor of bankruptcy law at American University’s Washington College of Law, by writing extensively on bankruptcy and through his commitment to expanding investor tom rettig educational initiatives. He is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous U.S. Courts of Appeals. Harbeck is known to be calm under fire, whether he’s speaking with opposing legal teams or testifying on Capitol Hill. Everything about his Jesuit education, decorated military service and law degree prepared him for the key role he plays in righting the wrongs of financial failure and fraud, and protecting the victims.

His compassionate leadership and adherence to the law were challenged as well. “It was very hard to tell Madoff investors that their profits didn’t exist,” says Harbeck, whose commitment to the equitable treatment of investors was recognized with a 2015 Turnaround Atlas Award for leadership achievement. “We had to deal with people whose anger with Madoff was misdirected at us. Madoff’s clients thought they had $67 billion. Through aggressive litigation, we made sure that anyone who put in $1.25 million got their money back. We recovered $12 billion out of $17 billion.

“Being in the military opens you up to a broader spectrum of people,” he said. “You have to deal with everyone. If you think you know the way to go, you have to be able to communicate your plan and convince others. I advise students to take courses outside of their comfort zones. Read as much as they can. Read an actual book for joy and to get away from computer screens. Liberal arts educations are looked at as an anachronism and unnecessary by some today, and I protest. Holy Cross will still be here and be needed in another 50 years.” ■

— Elizabeth Walker

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You served your community with distinction as the vision-forward leader of a grand-scale medical campus project that has transformed health care delivery throughout Western New York.

THOMAS R. BEECHER JR. ’56

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o hear Tom Beecher tell it, the narrative of his life is characters, action and no plot. He underscores “serendipity” as a significant factor in his distinguished law career and outsized life of service to others. “Ignatian faith in action” is how those who know him best would describe the decades and depth of his personal commitment to elevating the quality of life, increasing access to health care and providing hot meals and educational opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families in his native Buffalo. Beecher’s adult life took form at 13, when his mother died of cancer. The oldest of six children, the grieving teen learned to cook at the side of his father and a stern but loving aunt who moved in for two years to help stabilize the family. When his father remarried and had three more children, Beecher drew deeper from the family well of love and care for others that he described as “the earmark of my early years.” “The death of my mother

when I was in eighth grade was very difficult,” he explains. “I was just starting in a Jesuit high school. Two Jesuits there seemed to know what I was going through and kept an eye on me. I was carried through by their support, the loving example of my Aunt Elizabeth, who left a great job to come live with us, and the devotion to family that I had learned from my parents. There was a spirit of doing for others in our house.”

later, he is counsel with the Buffalo law firm Phillips Lytle, where he is a former partner. In 2014, he received the New York State Bar Association’s Root/ Stimson Award, honoring his exemplary community service. He is also the founding CEO of Barrantys LLC, a wealth management firm.

A humble man of strong faith, Beecher has long trusted God to determine his next move. “I have a motto: ‘I’m here, Lord. Do what you will with me,’” he says. “I’ve never made longrange plans. I had no idea what I would do after I graduated from Holy Cross. Joining my father’s textile business was not an attractive option for me. Instead, I’ve been trying things for a year all my life.”

With vision and verve, he also led the grand-scale Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus planning effort, clearing years of financial and logistical obstacles, while building strong networks of business and community support for the project. The Thomas R. Beecher, Jr., Innovation Center on the new medical campus honors his heroic leadership. In 1995, Beecher and two Boston College alumni founded the Buffalo Inner-City Scholarship Opportunity Network, or BISON, which has funded 23,000 scholarships for lowincome students seeking private elementary education. He jokes that it took “two BC guys and only one Holy Cross alum to get the job done.”

He tried law school for a year, liked it and did well, so he went on to earn a J.D. in 1959 from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. He then decided to practice law for a year. More than half a century

At the heart of Beecher’s countless good works and active leadership on many boards are the children and families who depend on others for help and hot meals. Years ago, he stopped by a soup kitchen in Buffalo to

donate $100. When she heard that he had been cooking since childhood and had honed his culinary skills in the Army Reserves, the director offered him an apron and an opportunity to cook 150 to 300 hot meals for the homeless on Saturday nights. He volunteered there for nearly a decade. “That was my first opportunity to be eyeballto-eyeball with people in need. These days I serve hot breakfasts to kids twice a week during the school year.” Beecher’s four years on The Hill helped to reinforce and broaden his ideas about who “the others” might be and how he could help. “My wife, Judy, has inspired me as well. She has always been supportive, especially when I traveled so much. She even went back to college while raising our son, Tom, and daughter, Kathleen ’90.” Judy passed away shortly after Beecher received his award, on Oct. 28, 2017. Beecher, who has made time to speak to prebusiness classes on the Hill, offered this advice to today’s Holy Cross students: “Listen to the Lord. Be open for opportunities not just to make more money, but to be a man or a woman for others.” Wise words to heed from an alumnus who has always listened to them carefully. ■ — Elizabeth Walker

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You have worked tirelessly to remove barriers to access and provide first-quality dental services for Rhode Island’s infants, children and the underserved.

DEBORAH L. FULLER ’91

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eborah Fuller was the first in her family to go to college — and she had a plan. A premed major, she intended to go on to medical school and become a physician. She made a midcourse adjustment sophomore year by deciding to go to dental school after graduation; she thought a career in dentistry would allow more predictable and manageable hours, and it would blend science and art. Her then-boyfriend, now husband, Brian Gaudette ’89, was two years ahead of her in dental school. Fuller graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine in 1995 and completed a residency there the following

year. When her plan to be a traditional dentist became a reality, she realized that a clinical path in dentistry was not what she wanted. She dreaded telling her parents. “This was a big switch for me — and for my family,” she says. “As an only child and only grandchild, I felt great pressure to succeed. My parents had had no experience looking at colleges. I tagged along with a best friend’s family. Holy Cross was the third school we visited. I had an ‘Aha’ moment the minute I walked onto campus. After all these years in school at Holy Cross and UConn, I now had to tell my parents at 25 that my career path wasn’t going to be that of a traditional family dentist

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hanging out a shingle on Main Street. It just wasn’t for me. My parents and husband were very supportive of my decision, as they wanted to see me happy and successful in my career.” Fuller broadened her reach in dentistry through networking and talking with dental faculty. She received a job offer from a dental implant company, took a deep breath and jumped in with both feet. “I was a science person with no business or corporate experience, but I wasn’t afraid to try something new because I felt supported in my decision,” she explains. “I wanted to understand the business end of things, so I earned a master’s degree in management with a

concentration in health care in 1999.” Fuller’s nontraditional career in dentistry is both broad and deep. She has provided oral health care in private practice and community settings, and has worked in the dental product and dental insurance industries and public health, and conducted research. Additionally, Fuller enjoys working with predental students and dental students through her involvement on the Board of Directors for the UConn Dental School Alumni Association. Her students seem more aware of career options beyond the traditional clinical path in dentistry, she noted. “I always encourage today’s students to think outside the box and


to look at community service and other opportunities — to explore what else they can do with their talents and knowledge and skills in dentistry.” Her volunteerism is also generous and wide-ranging, and she has focused her efforts within the confines of Rhode Island. “We moved to Rhode Island for Brian’s job in endodontics,” Fuller explains. “I got involved in public health, which opened up this whole world of underserved children and clients with serious oral health care needs. Rhode Island is so small that people in the dental field all know each other and are of the same mindset.”

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She established a strong network of dental professionals committed to designing new strategies, programs and educational efforts to improve oral health care for the state’s children and families. Currently, she serves as director of network development for MetLife, where she manages the team responsible for expanding and maintaining the preferred dentists program and dental managed care nationwide. Since 2003, she has served as the public health dentist within the Rhode Island Department of Health, as a consultant for the state’s Medicaid program, and for the Ryan White Program of HIV/AIDS on policy and best practices in her long litany of engagement and leadership

in oral health care issues and access. A founding member of the Rhode Island Oral Health Foundation, Fuller has demonstrated a personal and professional commitment to serving the state’s children and families, highly evident in the foundation’s signature high-impact annual event, the Rhode Island Mission of Mercy. The free pop-up two-day clinic provides free dental care to the uninsured, underinsured or anyone who lacks access to dental care. Since 2012, Mission of Mercy volunteer dental professionals have cared for more than 4,000 patients and performed nearly 16,000 oral procedures worth $2.3 million.

“Nobody said no to the idea of establishing a Mission of Mercy here in 2011,” Fuller says. “Now our son and daughter volunteer at the clinic itself, where Brian leads the endodontic department.” Fuller’s first example of a woman for others was her mother, who tried to do all she could for her family, her church and her community. Those lessons were reinforced at Holy Cross. “My mother never said no to helping others. The Holy Cross culture was overarching toward service for others. The Jesuits’ vision and mission really connected the idea of living a purposeful life and helping others in need.” ■ — Elizabeth Walker

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Jazz, Civil Rights and Hip Hop, taught by Shirish Korde, Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the music department, focuses on African-American music, with particular emphasis on the music of Nina Simone, among others. Performance workshops are an important component of the seminar — here, the internationally renowned violinist Irina Muresanu performs Korde’s recent composition, “Vac,” as part of her presentation on composition versus improvisation.

Ten Years In Montserrat The first-year program extends the Holy Cross invitation to challenge on day one

BY CHRISTOPHER A M E N TA ’ 0 6

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he sculptures of Shih Chieh Huang’s “Reusable Universe” — built from recycled Tupperware, plastic bags, fans and light bulbs — appeared to float just below the darkened ceiling of the Worcester Art Museum. They had been wired to detect motion, and on a Sunday afternoon in October, as a group of 15 Holy Cross students entered, the exhibit activated: Engines whirred, drones circled and spun, lights flickered, limbs flailed. With necks craned, themselves seeming to float, the students spread

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out to observe. Some jotted notes or snapped photos. First-year student Elizabeth Keleher ’21 flopped into a beanbag chair that had been laid beneath a particularly squid-like sculpture: a series of conical plastic sheaths that swayed like tentacles in a current.

first-year program. This fall, Montserrat marked its 10th anniversary; since 2007, the program has pushed boundaries, built community, and worked to cultivate intellectual curiosity in all first-year students, including those at the museum that afternoon.

That afternoon, Keleher and the others had been instructed to look for some reflection of themselves in the art. The students were there with Neal Lipsitz, lecturer in the psychology department and associate dean for student development, who is teaching The Science of Happiness, a seminar offered as part of the Self cluster of Montserrat, Holy Cross’

As the group paused to make notes, the sculptures, detecting their inaction, deflated, drooped and darkened. Keleher and the others continued into the rest of the museum. * * * * * In 1992, Holy Cross introduced the First Year Program (FYP) as an optional academic endeavor as part of the first-year experience.

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Neal Lipsitz’s Science of Happiness course is designed around self discovery (fall) and human flourishing (spring). Students commit to a community-based learning (CBL) component in Worcester to connect classroom learning with civic engagement.

Through thematically linked seminars, themed lectures, events and common texts, FYP invited students to reflect on the essential question of Tolstoy’s “A Confession”: “How then shall we live?” Each year, about a quarter of all incoming students opted to enroll in the two-semester program. Stephanie Yuhl, professor of history and current director of Montserrat, served as a faculty member in FYP. “It was some of the best teaching — some of the best learning — I ever experienced,” she says. “The students were really engaged. It was a great way to develop community in a small seminar over the course of the year.”

By 2006, the administration articulated a vision to expand the First Year Program, and the College began to consider implementing a universal first-year experience. “Creating Montserrat was so much fun — it not only highlighted the imagination and generosity of the faculty at Holy Cross who volunteered for the project, but it also demonstrated the commitment of the entire College to our students,” recalls Nancy Andrews, associate professor of classics and director of Montserrat from 2007-10. “As inaugural director, I had the privilege of working with staff from across campus. I can only speak anecdotally, but I see such profound and positive

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changes in our students in how they interact with other students and with us in classes and beyond.” In 2007, the Montserrat office was established to launch a two-semester course of study in the 2008-2009 academic year. The First Year Program provided the model, and the name, Montserrat, was chosen to reflect the Jesuit ideals the program sought to instill. “Montserrat is the place where Ignatius of Loyola experienced this transformational epiphany to lay down his sword and turn his life toward contemplation in action,” Yuhl says. “When you come to Holy Cross, it should be the beginning of a

transformational experience for you.” Andrews was succeeded by Denise Schaeffer, professor of political science, who directed the program from 2010-14. Over the years, a committee of faculty and staff members has outlined goals for students in Montserrat: to acquire, integrate and apply knowledge, to engage with core values, build intellectual maturity and a lifelong passion for learning, and to develop rhetoric and communication skills. “These are values [that] should be part of the Holy Cross education,” Yuhl says. The new universal program arms students straightaway with the skills and curiosity


Stephanie Yuhl, professor of history and director of Montserrat, works with students in Professor Andrea Borghini’s course about the philosophy of food and justice on their formal debate skills. Acquisition of oral communication skills is an essential goal of Montserrat courses.

“It creates this challenge: How do you bring a physicist, an historian, an economist, a religious studies professor and a composer together around one question. It’s an exciting dynamic to watch come to life.” - stephanie yuhl, p r o f e s s o r o f h i s t o r y a n d d i r e c t o r o f m o n t s e r r at

that they come to rely on during their subsequent three years. Yuhl said the committee intended to “create opportunities for first-year students to encounter these [values] in really intensive and intentional ways off the bat, right from their first

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moments of being part of the Holy Cross campus community.” * * * * * Ten years later, Montserrat comprises 36 seminars organized within six thematic

clusters: Contemporary Challenges, Core Human Questions, Divine, Global Society, Natural World, and Self. Unlike the first-year seminars of many other colleges, incoming students are offered dynamic courses on topics that can diverge from and expound upon traditional 101 curricula: “Playing at Work in Art and Literature” (Core Human Questions cluster), for instance, is a visual arts course; “Competing Visions of Freedom” (Global Society cluster) offers a history credit. Incoming students select six seminars that interest them from the 36 offered and are placed in the corresponding cluster. Students of the same cluster share a residence hall and a curriculum. Over

the academic year, they read some of the same texts (“All the Pretty Horses,” by Cormac McCarthy, or the essay “Clash of Civilizations” by Samuel Huntington, or “What is Islam and Why?” by Ghazi bin Muhammad), attend events and lectures together, and share a common learning experience. The result is a cohort of students who engage with the same questions from a range of perspectives. “We’ve held on to this idea of moments of commonality so that there’s coherence and cohesion between the seminars and the cluster, but the clusters are still taught out of the dynamism of the faculty’s discipline and passion,” Yuhl says. “It creates

T EN Y E A R S IN M O N TS ER R AT / 4 1


Ed Isser, professor of theatre, explicates the subversive aesthetic of poet, playwright and theatre director Bertolt Brecht to students in his course The Modernist Response, offered as part of Core Human Questions.

this challenge: How do you bring a physicist, an historian, an economist, a religious studies professor and a composer together around one question? It’s an exciting dynamic to watch come to life.” Montserrat, Yuhl explains, works best as it dismantles and “seeks to break down the boundaries and borders between student life in class and in the residence hall ... It’s about creating a more integrated experience.” * * * * * The guillotine in Edward Isser’s O’Kane office arrived as a prank in 1997 — it appeared in his production of Georg Buchner’s “Danton’s

“Not only did Montserrat force me to rethink what it means to teach, it made me rethink what it is that I should be thinking.” - e dwa r d i s s e r , p r o f e s s o r o f t h e at r e

Death” — but it’s remained, at least in part, because he’s not entirely sure how to get it out. (Two ceiling tiles were removed to accommodate its height.) From a chair beside the prop, Isser, professor of theatre, explains how Montserrat challenges students and faculty alike. “Not only did Montserrat force me to rethink what it means to teach,” he says, “it made me rethink what it is

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that I should be thinking.” Because Montserrat engages every first-year student, faculty must build seminars broad enough to accommodate a range of interests, but narrow enough to address each cluster theme. “I get a continuum of students,” says Isser, who taught Artists on the Borders (Core Human Questions cluster) this fall. “They all

come in with a completely different set of experiences … I want to push each one individually. I want to make sure that their first intellectual encounter in college is exciting and challenging and empowering.” Julia Paxson, associate professor of biology, taught Boundaries of Biological Self (Self cluster) this fall, and explains that the range of interests creates a very different classroom dynamic. At the beginning of the semester, Paxson had her students identify social justice issues that they feel passionate about: cancer, lead poisoning, natural disasters, genetic engineering. “Most of them are not science majors, so it can be a little

photos by tom rettig


During the fall semester of Constructing the Biological Self, students of Julia Paxson, associate professor of biology, explore mechanisms of stem cell biology that underscore select global health problems, and examine our social responsibilities in understanding and alleviating these problems.

bit tricky to convince them to learn about science in a meaningful way,” Paxson says. Instead, she challenged her students to see where and how developmental biology connects with the issues that they already care about. This approach, Paxson says, precludes the sort of lectureheavy syllabus that might resonate with science majors. “Montserrat gives more room for discussion or for activities or for questions,” she says. Montserrat embraces this type of intellectual space with events and texts that might not immediately seem related to the curriculum. In recent years, students have canoed the Quaboag River, screened films like “This Boy’s Life,” attended a concert

by the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, held coffeehouses where faculty and students perform, and participated in mindfulness workshops. This fall, the Natural World cluster offered five different seminars: Wilderness and Environmentalism; Environmental Mathematics; Habitat Explorations; Science, Nature, Religion; and Writing/Reading Place, which is taught by Stephanie Reents, associate professor of English and director of the Natural World cluster. On Oct. 21, the students of each of these seminars together visited Purgatory Chasm, a 14,000-year-old rock gulch that is a state park just south of campus. For Reents’ class, the hike

was an opportunity to be present in nature, to listen and to watch. She had given them each an envelope to be opened only after the hike, which contained an assignment: Recreate a scene you’ve witnessed in the woods. The exercise was intended to challenge students’ abilities to observe. (“You can’t really write that well until you start seeing the world very clearly and noticing,” Reents says.) Students from other classes, however, were given different assignments: Those in the Habitat Explorations class were provided with paper and pencils for sketching. Other students attended a lecture provided by Sara Mitchell, associate professor of biology and director of environmental

studies, about the geology of Purgatory Chasm, which she delivered at the foot of a rock face known as Lover’s Leap. * * * * * This sort of nuanced approach can be difficult to appreciate when in the midst of experiencing it. While faculty clearly have a mission in mind, sometimes students are perplexed, especially early in the academic year. As incoming students, their understanding of Montserrat focuses more on housing selection and scheduling. In early October, many of the first-year students are concerned about their class selections for the next semester (because the Montserrat program is two

T EN Y E A R S IN M O N TS ER R AT / 4 3


Professor Stephenie Chaudoir’s The Arc of Social Injustice course explores how social injustice based on race, gender and sexual identity is created, maintained and mitigated through the actions of individuals and groups.

semesters, they choose only three new courses for the spring) or about what majors they should declare (students can not declare a major until the spring semester of their first year).

And if, by early October, first-year students can’t yet appreciate this approach, speak to those even one year removed and the value and interest is immediately articulated.

But any disruption is by design.

Olivia Ferrick ’20, of Kennebunk, Maine, volunteered at an adult refugee ESL class in Worcester as part of her Montserrat seminar, Identity, Diversity, and Community (Divine cluster). The program, Ferrick said, pushed her to, “step outside of my comfort zone and form relationships with people I may not have otherwise.” As a sophomore, she elected to return to the same community center to tutor grade school students. “It actually became a great

“There’s always going to be those folks that are in a hurry,” Yuhl says. “And they’re going to get there eventually. Our job is to make room for them to slow down, to have this intensive, focused experience, with rigor, but also encourage them to reflect on who they are as a person. In that way, Montserrat’s approach is very aligned with Jesuit and liberal arts pedagogy.”

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experience,” she says of her year in Montserrat. “I became close with some of the refugees I worked with.” Another sophomore, Riley Benner ’20, came to Holy Cross to study economics. As a high school student, he’d run a company called Phoenix Haberdashery, which manufactured reversible ties made by refugees. He assumed that studying economics would be the fastest way into a career in business. “I came in thinking that I was going to be an econ major, and to be honest, I didn’t really enjoy it,” Benner says. He approached his Montserrat professor, Kolleen Rask of the economics department, and

she encouraged him to pursue his other interests. Then, at a mandatory cluster event, a panel of refugees spoke about their journeys into the United States. Benner felt inspired. “Behind every person who wants to come here is a challenge and an incredible story of someone who wants to start again,” Benner says. “As the refugees talked, I decided I wanted to start my company up again.” He chose to pursue political science as a major, and he’s relaunched Phoenix Haberdashery by hiring refugees who live in Worcester, whom he refers to as partners. For Isser, these transformations typify the

tom rettig


Professor Bruce Bunke takes students from his Wilderness and Environmentalism course to Walden Pond in Concord, Mass. so students can compare their visualizations of the pond from Thoreau’s “Walden” with the actual place. The group was discussing species of trees that were important to the economy of colonial America.

“Montserrat is the place where Ignatius of Loyola experienced this transformational epiphany to lay down his sword and turn his life toward contemplation in action. When you come to Holy Cross, it should be the beginning of a transformational experience for you.” - s t e p h a n i e y u h l ,

by his time here, and that he’s going to be a fundamentally different kind of doctor than he would have been if he went anywhere else.”

class and provide historical and critical context about the pieces they had identified. Then, they would write a paper.

The goal, Isser says, is to help students find a passion. And to do so, Montserrat offers two semesters of guided exploration through a program that’s at once rigorous, supportive, focused and open-ended.

p r o f e s s o r o f h i s t o r y a n d d i r e c t o r o f m o n t s e r r at

* * * * *

Late in the afternoon, Keleher paused to consider “O Paraiso,” a painting by the Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes. “I was drawn to the colors and shapes,” she says. “But I like how the smudges don’t hurt the piece.” She gestures toward a cluster of seemingly imperfect brushstrokes amidst floral patterns and red and white orbs. “They aren’t seen as a mistake.”

Montserrat experience. “I’ve had kids sit on this couch and tell me not only that they’re going to be a doctor; they tell me their specialization,” he says, recalling first-year students he’s advised. “That’s

dan vaillancourt

the kid I want in Montserrat.” Isser continues: “He may turn out to be a doctor and a surgeon, just like he thought … but I’m going to hope to God he’s going to be transformed

On that Sunday in October, the students wandered the museum with their notebooks and their phones and observed. Later in the week, Professor Virginia Raguin of the visual arts department was scheduled to visit the

Keleher made a note in her book, and then she proceeded to explore the next canvas. ■

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F I N D I N G

T H E I R

R O L E

I N

T H E

W O R L D

HOW HOLY CROSS ALUMNI APPROACH CAREERS IN MEDICINE Four alumni examine the lasting influence of a Jesuit, liberal arts background on their path after graduation, through medical school and beyond. B Y D AV E G R E E N S L I T


Robert Harrington ’82 (middle) consults with two cardiology colleagues at the Stanford Portola Valley Cardiology Clinic. A cardiologist and clinical investigator, Harrington is also a professor of medicine and chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University.

E

ven though it was decades ago, Robert Harrington ’82 vividly remembers his tutorial with John Hamilton, associate professor of classics, a weekly one-on-one session on the Greek classics that he took when he was an upperclassman at Holy Cross. Harrington would write a paper on an assigned topic from the “Odyssey” or the “Aeneid,” but he would never turn it in. Instead, it formed a basis of conversation between student and teacher. As Harrington read his paper, Hamilton interrupted and questioned him intensely, forcing his student to explain everything from his overall perspective right down to his choice of words. “It taught me a lot about my ability to research a topic and think deeply on a

steve fisch photography

topic, perhaps with minimal guidance, and to be able to defend my argument and my point of view,” Harrington says. “I think back on that now and I think it was one of the most valuable educational experiences I had.” That experience and the rest of his undergraduate education at Holy Cross have served Harrington well. A cardiologist and clinical investigator, he is a professor of medicine and chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. He is among scores of alumni — including Michael Collins ’77, David Ryan ’88 and Jennifer Schneider ’97 — who have made a mark in medicine and attribute their success and contributions, in large part,

to their early preparation at Holy Cross. They say the school’s diverse liberal arts offerings, challenging science courses and Jesuit mission to serve helped shape them into the doctors they are today. Finding a role in the world and seeing how that fits with your spiritual views is “incredibly helpful,” says Ryan, chief of oncology and hematology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “The hard choices that you have in life are going to come to you no matter what, whether you’re an oncologist or a teacher or a police officer or whatever your line of work,” he says. “To have a context for how to manage those hard

FINDING THEIR ROLE IN THE WORLD / 47


David Ryan ’88, pictured here in Mass General Hospital, notes his combination of english and science studies were a perfect precursor to medical school.

“Doing something outside the sciences is incredibly important. It teaches you how to think, how to analyze text, how to come up with your own opinion and to communicate that opinion.”

choices and approach them is incredibly important. And I think a place like Holy Cross, its value is helping young women and young men put their lives in that kind of context.”

* * * * * Ryan came to Holy Cross mainly because his father, a Fordham alumnus, “was a big fan of the Jesuits.” “Back then, I was given four choices: Holy Cross, Fordham, Georgetown and Boston College,” he recalls. Two older siblings had gone to Holy Cross (as would his wife, his two younger siblings and his son), so he applied. “I got in and I never looked back. It was awesome.” He loved to read and sciences came easily, so he majored in English and

— DAVID RYAN ’88,

CHIEF OF ONCOLOGY AND HEMATOLOGY AT MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL AND PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

took the science courses he would need for medical school. The combination clicked.

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“Doing something outside the sciences is incredibly important,” Ryan says. He just returned from Shanghai, China, where Mass General is helping set up a Western-style cancer center. “It teaches you how to think, how to analyze text, how to come up with your own opinion and to communicate that opinion. I thought it was a terrific exposure to how to think and formulate opinions.” In his current position at Mass General, Ryan practices as an oncologist specializing in stomach, pancreas and colon cancers; oversees clinical research at the MGH Cancer Center; and administers the hospital’s department of oncology and hematology. He and Vicki Jackson, the chief of palliative care at MGH, recently wrote a book, “Living With Cancer,” a guide to treatment and coping, similar in

tom rettig


tom rettig

(left) Susan Starr, mother of Abaarso School founder Jonathan Starr, (second from right) acts as a surrogate mother to many of the Abaarso School graduates studying in the U.S. Here, she hosts several at her house in Worcester.

Jennifer Schneider ’97 waits in The Clift hotel in San Francisco after taking a meeting. Jennifer is the Chief Medical Officer of Livongo Health which develops technologies to empower people living with chronic conditions, like diabetes and hypertension, and she oversees trials and outcomes.

approach to “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” the popular pregnancy reference. In layman’s terms, “Living With Cancer” combines information for patients and families on oncology and palliative care, taking a whole-person approach.

“In many ways, because of liberal arts, I think I’ve been successful in medicine.” — JENNIFER SCHNEIDER ’97,

CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER OF LIVONGO

“I’ve always tried to emphasize we give patients the best chance for the best case scenario,” Ryan says. That includes standard therapy, clinical trials and, when the time comes, palliative care. “Taking care of the whole person really has been the cornerstone of my career.”

jon sun

The Jesuit mission, he says, in which service is paramount, has greatly influenced that career. “What am I being called to do, in a

personal sense and in a broader sense, for my community? You were constantly encouraged to think about that, in ways that were explicit and implicit,” he says.

* * * * * Schneider, chief medical officer of the health care tech startup Livongo in Mountain View, Calif., majored in biology, but she spent her junior year abroad at Oxford, studying architecture, philosophy and literature. That’s something she felt not many science majors would choose to do, though it worked for her.

FINDING THEIR ROLE IN THE WORLD / 49


steve fisch photography

Although they were five years apart on The Hill, Robert Harrington ’82 (left) and Michael Collins ’77 (right) first met at a busy Boston Emergency Room, where Harrington shadowed Collins. Over 35 years later, the two remain close friends, even though they are on opposite coasts. (opposite) The two share an embrace after Harrington gave a keynote address on mentorship at the ceremony when Collins was appointed chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

She was prepared in science, and the liberal arts enabled her to see people’s social, as well as medical, needs. “In many ways, because of liberal arts, I think I’ve been successful in medicine,” she says. “To succeed in medicine, you need work ethic and principles and structure,’’ all things she began developing in her undergraduate days.

years, Schneider says Livongo uses technology to combine testing, realtime information, support and behavior

“I will never forget how gracious and kind and caring he was. He’s been one of the most important influences of my life.”

Schneider describes herself as being a “pretty geeky student-athlete” at Holy Cross, someone who ran track and cross-country, studied late into the night and often went to 11 p.m. Mass — her time to reflect at the end of the day. Despite the demands of her position, the mother of three children under 10 somehow finds time to compete in triathlons, and in 2016 completed an Ironman in Santa Rosa, California, swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26.2 miles. “It was hard,” she says. “I decided to go for it and I did it.” Schneider says technology has yet to revolutionize the health care industry as it has others. Her company develops products to empower people living with chronic conditions, like diabetes and hypertension, and she oversees trials and outcomes. Herself a Type 1 diabetic for 30

— BOB HARRINGTON ’82,

CARDIOLOGIST / CLINICAL INVESTIGATOR / PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY, ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH MICHAEL COLLINS ’77

really critical.” Hospitals are not effective at taking care of people with chronic conditions, according to Schneider, because they traditionally treat people with acute problems — heart attacks and broken legs. So-called disruptive technologies like those at Livongo are changing the model, putting the patient at the center of his or her care, she says. And she feels her ability to successfully do that stems in part from the Jesuit idea of mission. “How can you ask and figure out the very hard analytical scientific question while you’re dealing with people’s lives?”

* * * * *

tracking to make managing the disease easier.

Some of the paths alumni in medicine find themselves on after graduation cross in unexpected ways long after they have left The Hill. This is the case for Harrington and Collins.

“It’s a lot of little choices every day for the rest of your life,” she says. “It’s not a one-and-done deal, so the ability to influence behavior at the right time is

As an Irish-Italian kid who grew up in Somerville, Mass., and went to Catholic grammar and high schools, Harrington said there wasn’t much doubt what kind

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absorb great volumes of information, and to reflect and communicate on it. “My life now revolves largely around thinking about data, thinking about information and turning that into the spoken or written word,” he said. Collins, who majored in chemistry, feels he was well prepared in the sciences, but says he doesn’t use a lot of organic chemistry in his position as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he oversees more than 1,000 graduate-level students and more than 6,000 employees.

of college he’d attend. “Where did all the nuns recommend that the graduates go?” he said. “The only guidance I got was to apply to Catholic schools.”

“The ability to read and write and to do some of the finer arts, these are skills that prepared me very well for this,” he said, and that’s something he passes along to future medical students. “If you want to be a music major, go be a music major.”

So that’s what he did. Boston College, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova and Holy Cross, plus the public UMass.

Though Harrington and Collins graduated from Holy Cross five years apart, they have a professional relationship and friendship that has spanned 35 years.

At Holy Cross, Harrington began as a chemistry major, but found himself enjoying the humanities more, so he

It began during Harrington’s senior year, when Collins, who was working 100 hours a week as an intern at St.

“He gave me more gifts than I ever gave him. It’s the joy of watching what he’s accomplished, it’s the joy of seeing the physician that he’s become, it’s the conversations that we have all the time about his own career and what he’s thinking. And that continues to this day.” — MICHAEL COLLINS ’77, CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH BOB HARRINGTON ’82

switched his major to English in his sophomore year, yet continued in the premed track with courses in chemistry, biology, physics and biochemistry.

Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, became a mentor to Harrington, at the suggestion of Holy Cross adviser Mike McGrath.

He found when he got to medical school that he benefited greatly from his liberal arts background, able to read and

“I will never forget how gracious and kind and caring he was,” Harrington says of Collins. “He’s been one of the

most important influences of my life.” At the time, Harrington was struggling to deal with his mother’s death and his sudden role as legal guardian of his teenage sister. Harrington met Collins on a Saturday, when he shadowed him on a busy night in a Boston emergency room. Something sparked between them, and they’ve been in touch ever since. Harrington still turns to Collins for advice on big medical decisions and for the occasional kick in the backside “when needed.” And Harrington has paid it forward, mentoring dozens of postdoctoral cardiology research fellows. Collins calls mentoring “an unusual gift” that benefits mentee and mentor. “He gave me more gifts than I ever gave him,” he says. “It’s the joy of watching what he’s accomplished, it’s the joy of seeing the physician that he’s become, it’s the conversations that we have all the time about his own career and what he’s thinking. And that continues to this day.” Not a day goes by that Collins does not mentor a high school, college or medical student, a resident or a young practitioner. If someone contacts him, he responds within 24 hours. “It’s the most important thing I do every day,” he says. For both Harrington and Collins, the Jesuit mission shaped their careers as physicians. Collins stresses with students that it’s a privilege for doctors to care for patients, not a privilege for the patients to be cared for by doctors. Harrington says it would be hard to leave Holy Cross without a love of learning and the willingness to “poke and prod” and challenge conventional wisdom. And that would make Professor Hamilton very proud. ■

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HOW DO HOLY CROSS STUDENTS GET INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL? 52 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

Health professions advisers help students develop well-rounded experience, and articulate that in their applications. B Y D AV E G R E E N S L I T

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ust about everyone who applies to medical school has top grades and test scores. So who gets in and who doesn’t? Often it comes down to “miles traveled” — experiences outside the classroom that show an applicant’s abilities beyond

technical knowledge and skills. That could be a stint in the Peace Corps or Teach for America; volunteering at a clinic; shelter or soup kitchen; fundraising for a cause; tutoring; or giving companionship and comfort to someone who’s dying. “In what way can you demonstrate

tom rettig


“The job of a physician isn’t just to apply sciences. They have to connect with their patients very, very quickly, and be able to understand people from all kinds of different backgrounds so they can make them comfortable and get the information they need.” — MILES CAHILL, HEALTH PROFESSIONS ADVISER to us that you’re actually interested in taking care of people?” says Michael Collins ’77, chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Holy Cross has an excellent track record of being a place for students to start putting in the miles, while getting the solid science background they need for medical school and the broader education that will help them succeed there and beyond. Over the past decade, more than 80 percent of Holy Cross graduates who apply get into at least one medical school each year, twice the national average. While there is no formal premed program at Holy Cross, the school’s health professions advising initiative (formerly known as premed) helps students choose their curriculum and provides access to internships and opportunities to do research, volunteer and shadow professionals. The goal is to give students a well-rounded experience, in keeping with the Jesuit emphasis on ethics and the humanistic side of education, and help them make the right career decision. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, students heading to medical school need a semester each of biochemistry, psychology and sociology; a year each of biology, mathematics, physics and English; and two years of chemistry. Miles Cahill, a health professions adviser and a professor of economics, says Holy Cross science majors are also steeped in the liberal arts after taking courses in philosophy, (from left) Deirdre Reidy ’18, Health Professions Adviser Miles Cahill, Associate Health Professions Adviser Jumi Hayaki and Gordon Farley ’18

religious studies, art and literature. But to get into medical school, students do not need to major in science. Cahill points out as just one example that Anthony Fauci ’62, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was a classics major. “The job of a physician isn’t just to apply sciences,” says Cahill. “They have to connect with their patients very, very quickly, and be able to understand people from all kinds of different backgrounds, so they can make them comfortable and get the information they need.” Students are assigned an adviser from the Health Professions Advising Committee, made up of faculty from a number of disciplines and five Holy Cross graduates who are currently clinicians. The adviser helps with the medical school application process, and the committee evaluates the candidate and provides a letter of recommendation that is included in the application. As part of the evaluation process, students write a lengthy essay reflecting on their experiences inside and outside of the classroom and how that impacts their intended career, instead of sitting for an interview with the committee, and must be able to articulate why this is their chosen path, explains Cahill. Deirdre Reidy ’18, a biology major from Northford, Connecticut, says her liberal arts classwork has taught her to communicate her ideas and thoughts without being afraid to disagree, and to look at the bigger picture. “These courses taught me how to think about people rather than just thinking about the

science behind things,” she says. Outside the classroom, she has interned at Hartford Hospital, shadowed a radiologist/oncologist at a Dana-Farber/ Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center site, tutored biology students on campus and sat with dying patients at UMass Memorial Hospital to offer support through the Power of Presence program. Gordon Farley ’18, a chemistry major from Northvale, New Jersey, decided to go into medicine, in part, because a younger sister had lymphoma. (She’s now in remission and doing well.) He is president of Holy Cross for a Cure, which raised $9,000 for cancer research last year, and he went on a medical mission to a village in Honduras, doing triage for people in need of dental care and eye care. He found his biology courses greatly helped him pick up complex genetics while doing an internship in a Massachusetts General Hospital lab last summer, and notes he might not have taken one of his favorite courses — a history class on World War II — had he gone to a traditional university with a greater primary emphasis on science.

“These courses taught me how to think about people rather than just thinking about the science behind things.” — DEIRDRE REIDY ’18 “It really made me a diverse candidate for medical school,” he says of his education at Holy Cross. And that, according to Collins, boosts a student’s chances for acceptance. “In today’s world, where it’s not just the sciences that people are focused on in medicine,” he says, “the Holy Cross applicant becomes even more attractive.” ■

H O W D O H O L Y C R O S S S T U D E N T S G E T I N T O M E D I C A L S C H O O L ? / F I N D I N G T H E I R R O L EC HI NA NTGHEEMWA O KR ER LD S / 53


For Bob Wright ’65, purple isn’t just the color of Holy Cross; it’s a commitment to finding a cure

A NEW SHADE OF PURPLE BY LORI FERGUSON


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obert Wright ’65 has a chip on his shoulder. In July of 2016, he lost Suzanne, his beloved wife of 48 years, to pancreatic cancer. She was in stage IV of the disease when diagnosed, and the prognosis was not good. “Eighty-five percent of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are just like Suzanne, already in stage IV when the cancer is discovered, and 91 percent of those who have the disease die,” says Wright, his voice tinged with frustration. “If untreated, most only have around three and a half months to live, and if treated, they may get seven to nine months, but they’ll go through hell to get those extra months. I got into the fight against this disease saying, ‘I’m going to do something for Suzanne,’ but I got there too late.”

Tragically, Suzanne lost her battle, but Wright was just getting started with his. In November 2016, he set up the Suzanne Wright Foundation and launched Code Purple, a campaign to push for bold, new research into pancreatic cancer. “Fiftyfive thousand people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year,” notes Wright. “Forty-five thousand of them are dead within the first year, and almost all of them die in the second. There have been no meaningful breakthroughs in research into this type of cancer in the last 40 years, yet all the other significant cancers — breast, colon, prostate — have

seen dramatic changes in survival rates during that same period. Clearly, something needs to change — we’re in an emergency situation.” Wright is determined to move the needle, and he knows precisely which levers to pull. A seasoned corporate executive whose last position before retirement was as chairman and CEO of NBC Universal, Wright also has a lot of experience working with government research agencies, particularly the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 2005, after their grandson Christian was diagnosed with autism, he and Suzanne founded Autism Speaks, an advocacy organization dedicated to advancing research into causes and better treatments for autism spectrum disorders. The couple worked to assist individuals and families struggling with autism spectrum disorders by raising awareness and supporting researchers at NIH and other institutions who are studying autism. “Suzanne was a tireless advocate for the underserved and the voice of Autism Speaks for 11 years,” says Wright. “Then she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and I couldn’t do anything to help. The doctors tell you they’re doing everything possible, but it’s just not enough. There’s no early detection system for the disease and no therapeutic treatments that can cure those suffering from this type of cancer. It’s just awful.” Although Wright was unable to save his wife, he has committed himself to honoring her memory and making a difference for others stricken with the disease through Code Purple. He’s adamant that there’s no time to waste. Every day, 117 people die from pancreatic cancer, yet many in the medical community appear to accept the idea that a cure isn’t possible, says Wright, leaving those stricken with little hope.

(opposite) Bob and Suzanne pictured at his graduation from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1968 and again with arms wrapped in 2015; the couple was married for more than 48 years. (above) Bob and Suzanne sit centered, surrounded by their family on the beach in Nantucket, Mass.

Wright is intent on changing that storyline and is using his considerable connections in the political and medical communities to kickstart critical research that can make a difference sooner rather than later. His first step was choosing a name that communicated the campaign’s urgency. “In medical terminology, a ‘Code Purple’ is an alarm that hospitals send out to the surrounding community in times of crisis. It means, ‘We have a medical emergency and need everyone with relevant experience to contact us immediately.’ I want pancreatic cancer to be a ‘Code Purple’ for our federal research community. We need to find an early detection test and curative treatments now!” To jump-start the initiative, Wright and his team are making plans to launch HARPA, the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, which would facilitate transformational medical research projects in much the same way that the Department of Defense’s independent agency ‘DARPA’ has done in technological innovation since its creation in 1958. The agency will leverage the power of interdisciplinary research and be contract-driven, Wright explains, and the focus will be on results. The research model currently used by NIH is simply not working, he continues; a research entity that’s quicker and nimbler is required. “We envision pulling in the very best researchers and working with cutting-edge technology partners, like [the research company] Verily, to crunch massive amounts of data and get results as quickly as possible,” he says. “We’re looking for real field medicine tactics in which we employ open science and release discoveries immediately. If we can reduce stage IV findings by 10 percent a year, for example, we’ll save 5,000 people.” By raising awareness of pancreatic cancer’s dire toll, Wright hopes to incite the public to action as he and Suzanne did so effectively with Autism Speaks. Donations for research initiatives are always welcome, he says, as is help in lobbying Congress and other elected officials. “Code Purple is not a long-term project, there’s real urgency here,” he asserts. “We want to get something done quickly.” ■

A NEW SHADE OF PURPLE / 55


SPORTS

1

HartShaped Boxed

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na seemingly normal day atop Mount St. James, HCM’s own art director and designer, Stephen Albano, made a historic discovery. While searching through the Holy Cross Archives, Albano found two photos that alluded to something in the walls of the Hart Center. Filled with intrigue, Albano dug deeper and began examining photos for minute details, hunting for clues that might have before been overlooked.

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TOM RETTIG


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1 Hart Center's 100lb. cornerstone 2 Time capsule box 3 Rosary 4 American Revolution bicentennial flag 5 Family history of Fr. Hart on intramural sports stationery 6 Fr. Brooks memorandum to alumni about the construction of the yet-to-be-named Hart Center, May 10, 1974 7 Dedication Weekend, Winter Homecoming, Jan. 16-17, 1976, Hart Recreation Center program book 8 Antique bronze Commonwealth of Massachusetts American Revolution bicentennial medal 9 Prayer service for the dedication of the Hart Recreation Center, Jan. 16, 1976 10 An array of local newspapers covering the Hart Center opening 11 "Crossroads" November/ December 1975 and "The Crusader" Volume 52 No. 20, Dec. 5, 1975 12 Intramural schedule and officiating mail slips 13 St. Ignatius of Loyola necklace charm 14 "A Labor of Love": a letter by Fr. Brooks detailing Fr. Hart's service to the College 15 Crusader's Consecration to our Blessed Mother 16 "The Crusader" peroration of an address delivered by Edward F. Hanify '33 to the students of Holy Cross 17 Mementos folder from Fr. Hart, dated Jan. 14, 1976, including an article about good friend Will Jenks '54 18 Catalog 197374/1974-75/1975-76 19 The Spires of Fenwick 20 Cata Logus Provinciae Novae Angliae Societatis Jesu 1976 21 Holy Cross College alumni directory 1843-1967 22 Rev. Francis J. Hart, S.J., Golden Jubilee 1918-1968 program booklet 23 Student directory 1975-76 24 Gleanings from The Purple 195051: Editorials by Gene P. Grisanti '51, Editor-in-Chief 25 President's Report 1970-1971 26 President's Report 1971-1972 27 President's Report 1973-1974 28 Report of the President 1974-1975 29 Admissions viewbook and application, 1975

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H A RT-SH A PED B OX / SP ORTS / 57


SPORTS

(above, left) Former President Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J. '49 reveals the bronze placard at the grand opening of the Hart Center in January 1976. At the very bottom of the image you can see one corner of a gray rectangle. (above, right) In another photo from that snowy evening, the back of the print reads "Fr. (Vincent) Lapomarda points to time box, January 1976." These two photos together, two of the many from that night (that are held in the College Archives), led to the location and discovery of the time capsule.

One of the two photos showed a box being put into a brick wall and the other showed an inscribed metal plaque that marked the location of the box. Albano came to the conclusion that these two pictures were evidence of the existence of a time capsule in the walls of the Hart Center! At the time, Holy Cross was doing demolition on the Hart Center as part of construction of the Luth Athletic Complex, and on April 6, 2016, the hidden artifact was unearthed. In 1975, Holy Cross built its first athletic facility, the Hart Recreation Center, named in honor of Rev. Francis J. Hart, S.J., who was the guiding force behind intramurals at the College for more than 40 years. Since then, the Hart Center has been the home to years of excitement and pride surrounding the Holy Cross athletic teams. Just as the Hart Recreation Center represented an inspirational vision for Holy Cross Athletics, the Luth Athletic Complex will be the cornerstone of Holy Cross' athletics success for years to come. The construction of the Luth Athletic Complex, and necessary demolition of parts of the Hart Center, gave the

campus community a chance to explore the historic time capsule. The capsule contained a variety of College memorabilia including:

Newspaper copies: "Worcester Telegram"; "The Foening Gazette"; "The Catholic Free Press"; "The Crusader"; and "Crossroads," including the December 1975 issue that marks opening night at the Hart Center;

A bronze Commonwealth of Massachusetts American Revolution bicentennial medal;

An American Revolution bicentennial flag, dating from 1776 to 1976;

A black beaded necklace with Christ and Virgin Mary;

A St. Ignatius Loyola Fundator Society of Jesus token;

A small manila envelope of mementos from Rev. Francis J. Hart, S.J., dated Jan. 14, 1976;

A typewritten letter posting about scheduling intramural basketball

5 8 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

playing times;

A newspaper article about Will Jenks '54, indicated with a handwritten note as a “dear friend” of Fr. Hart.

The items in the time capsule pay tribute to past presidents, as well as to the Jesuit ideals of the College. They provide a look into the way Holy Cross presented itself to its community, and how the College continues to strive to improve as an institution and as men and women for and with others. With the expansion of the Hart Center into the Luth Athletic Complex, there is an increasing focus on providing more opportunities for every individual at Holy Cross to engage with athletics, just as was envisioned when the Hart Center was built. The Hart Center time capsule allows the campus community to reflect on the years of history and milestones that make up the College of the Holy Cross and to look forward to our bright future! ■ ­— Kathleen Dougherty '18 web exclusive See a video of the time capsule being exhumed and opened online at magazine.holycross.edu.


The Bond Construction workers watch their colleague sledgehammer and then crowbar the time capsule out of its over 40-year tomb.

How the contents of the time capsule looked after the rivets holding on the cover were unscrewed — all carefully wrapped in a stiff cellophane.

TOM RETTIG

FA MILY TIES / SPORTS / 59


SPORTS

Major League Businessman ESPN executive Burke Magnus '88 plays ball with sports league officials BY BENJAMIN GLEISSER and hits home runs for sports fans everywhere

I

t’s not just athletes who start at the bottom and, after years of developing their skills in the minor leagues, break into the big time and sign major contracts. Sports businesspeople work just as hard as they rise through their industry and develop their negotiation skills until they can make multimillion-dollar deals for their corporation. Case in point: Burke Magnus ’88, executive vice president of programming and scheduling for ESPN, who began his career as an intern and, today, travels around the world and negotiates contracts to secure

broadcasting rights with European soccer leagues; international major golf and tennis tournaments; NFL, NBA and MLB games; and college football and basketball games — including many bowl games and the College Football Playoff. But that’s half the job for Magnus, whose department also oversees ESPN’s content strategy and scheduling — in other words, deciding when to feature events so they will generate the most viewers while keeping sports fans happy. Don’t blame him if ESPN doesn’t broadcast every basketball game involving must-see teams like the

6 0 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

Magnus during the 2016 SEC men's basketball Tournament at the Bridgestone Arena

Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics or the NBA Champions Golden State Warriors. Squads dwelling at the bottom of the standings like the Philadelphia 76ers need time on the tube, too. “Our agreement rights contract with the NBA specifies the maximum and minimum number of times we can put teams on. At the same time, we look at trying to build a schedule that will engage the largest possible audience,” says Magnus, who admits it can be a bit of a juggling act. But the bottom line is each league he negotiates with is just as interested in face time as it is in generating revenue.

PHIL ELLSWORTH / ESPN IMAGES


“The business side of sports is more of a relationship business, and relationships work best when both sides are invested in building something,” he says. “The priorities of our TV partners are in growing their sports. It’s not just all about the money, but creating a true partnership and growing viewership for their league.” When Magnus joined ESPN as a program associate in 1995, the cable network was available in about 65 million homes, according to Nielson. Today, ESPN produces more than 64,000 hours of live entertainment and studio programming and averages up to 115 million viewers a month. “Sports programming is no longer just TV,” he says. “We produce content for mobile, online, social media, digital and radio. Our mission is to serve sports fans anywhere, anytime. But TV is still our primary vehicle.”

THE BIG SCORE

Magnus played sports with friends for fun while growing up and he joined the club rugby team while attending Holy Cross. “I realized as I matured that my DNA was getting in the way of a particularly spectacular career,” he jokes. “I played rugby for four years to not much acclaim. But it was fun to socialize and keep active.” Magnus was a history major, and it was his history professors that set him on his sports career path. Professor William A. Green, his adviser, helped him during his junior year away in Washington, D.C., where he secured a position writing for the "National Catholic Reporter" newspaper. “And Professor (David J.) O’Brien cemented me in the direction of loving the media business. I got the bug for journalism, and he encouraged me to write. I focused on sports writing and wrote for the sports section of 'The Crusader' — hard-hitting stories about intramural sports,” he says with a laugh. Looking back at his time at Holy Cross,

Magnus says, “My Jesuit, liberal arts education taught me how to think, how to question, how to communicate and how to write. It’s amazing what you can do and where you can go when the foundation of your education is solid.” After graduation, he held a number of non-writing, non-sports-related positions, including several in the legal system. At one point, he contemplated law school, but he wasn’t ready to give up on a career in sports. “Sports was a passion, the only thing I cared about morning, noon and night,” he remembers. “It nagged at me that I should make a career of it someday. I just loved it so much. But it was difficult to figure out how to get started. I knew nobody in the business. My parents had no connections. Then I learned about the sports management program at the University of Massachusetts.” He earned a master’s degree in sports management in 1995. During his studies, he secured an internship in the programming department at CBS Sports, worked hard at his job, networked and made contacts at NBC, ABC, FOX Sports and ESPN, and sent out a pile of resumes. An executive at ESPN called for an interview, and he joined the network a few months after leaving UMass. He was quickly promoted from program associate to program planner, and rapidly rose through the ranks and gained more responsibilities. In 2000, as director of programming and acquisitions, he was responsible for ESPN’s men’s college basketball programming and scheduling. By 2008, he was senior vice president of college sports programming and winning accolades; in 2006, he was named to "Sports Business Journal’s" Forty Under 40, honoring the most promising young executives in sports business; he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from UMass’ McCormack Department of Sports Management in 2011; and in 2013, he earned the National Football Foundation Legacy Award, for his support and leadership in promoting

college football, while si.com — "Sports Illustrated’s" website — named him the fifth “Most Powerful Person in College Sports.” Reflecting on his career and his hard work to rise to a top position in sports programming, he says, “The question people most often ask me — because I was a history major at Holy Cross — is ‘How did you end up where you are?’” He pauses a moment. “The whole world was telling me I had to be either a teacher or a writer. But I just kept asking myself: Isn’t there something else I want to do?”

Q&A with BURKE MAGNUS ’88

If you could get a signed baseball, basketball or football, whose autograph would you want? I’m a big New York sports fan, so I’d want a baseball signed by Derek Jeter. And a basketball signed by LeBron James, because I have a connection with him: We did a deal to televise his high school games. I think he’s the greatest NBA player of all time.

What is your favorite sports movie? "Eight Men Out" (1988). I love the story of the Chicago Black Sox scandal. And I’m a big history buff.

What sports event in history do you wish you had seen? Tiger Woods winning TOM RETTIG

his first Masters Tournament (1997). He gave an unbelievably dominant performance, and I like the way he handled being the first African American to win the Masters.

What is the strangest sport ESPN has ever televised? Trampoline dodgeball – it’s played just as it sounds, and it’s quite bizarre. And on every July Fourth, we televise Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. It’s a tradition.

Is chess a sport? Yes! My definition of sports is more broad than others'. Sports are competitions; they don't have to be just an athletic endeavor. Should Roger Clemens go into the Baseball Hall of Fame? (Pause.) Pass. I’ll just say I’m a Yankees fan. ■

MAJOR LEAGUE BUSINESSMAN / SPORTS / 61


ALUMNI NEWS

Mystery Photo In what looks to be a packed stadium, a group of fans appears to be watching a football game. What team is Holy Cross playing? Do you know when this game was? Can you spot yourself in the crowd? Let us know at hcmag@holycross.edu!

6 2 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

62 Mystery Photo • 64 HCAA News • 67 Alumni News •


74 Book Notes • 75 Solved Photo • 76 The Power of One • 78 In Your Own Words • 80 The Profile • 82 Class Notes • 86 Milestones • 90 In Memoriam

MYSTERY PHOTO / ALUMNI NEWS / 63


HCAA NEWS lull in the middle of the academic year or gearing up for the latest Patriots postseason adventure.* Whatever the reason, I encourage each of us to slow down, pause and reflect on what is most important (to us individually). Knowing we will be pulled in various directions over the next 12 months, may we take this time to focus on and align ourselves, our resources and our spirit in support of what’s most important.

A Message from Brian

H

appy New Year! I hope you are reading this as you relax after the busy holiday season and before the new year kicks into high gear.

As a FYPer (member of Holy Cross’ First Year Program, which launched 25 years ago), I often think of the question posed to me and my fellow FYPers in Hanselman and in the classroom: How then shall we live meaningfully in a world with so many different claims about what is true and good? (Class of 1996) I find this question as relevant and, at times, as challenging as I did then. Yet considering it reminds me how I wish to live. So as you think about how you want to live this year, I invite you to ponder this and the other questions posed to the FYP classes.

This time of year is, I believe, a good time to pause, reflect, recenter and recharge. This may be because we are starting a new calendar year, enjoying a

Winter Homecoming SAVE THE DATE

J

oin your fellow Holy Cross alumni at Winter Homecoming on Saturday, Jan. 27, for a day of family-fun activities!

Highlights of the day include the men’s basketball game, family swimming and skating at the Hart Center, brunch in Kimball, a family movie in the Seelos Theatre and a postgame celebration featuring Holy Cross’ own a cappella groups.

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In a world of conflicting views of well-being and the good, how then shall we live? (class of 1997) • How then shall we live? Questions

we should ask but often choose not to. (class of 1998) • In a world bound by convention, how then shall we live? (class of 1999) • In a world with diverse views about what is right and good, beautiful and true, how then shall we live? (class of 2000) • In a world of contradictions, how then shall we live? (class of 2001) • How, then, shall we live with the tension between permanence and change? (class of 2002) • When self encounters others, how then shall we live? (class of 2003) • In a culture of the here and now, how then shall we live? (class of 2004) • In the struggle for authenticity amidst conformity, how then shall we live? (class of 2005) May 2018 be full of happiness, health and heart for all of us. ■ Thank you, Brian P. Duggan '96 email bduggan.817@hotmail.com twitter @BPDuggan instagram @BPDuggan817 * Disclaimer: I write this as the Patriots enjoy their bye week at 6-2. I have no idea if a sixth ring is within reach or if the Patriots offseason has already begun.

A full schedule of events as well as lodging information can be found at holycross.edu/ homecoming. Stay tuned for another exciting giving event coming up in 2018!


Brian P. Duggan ’96

pr e side n t Laura Cutone Godwin ’96

vice pr e side n t

Alumni Volunteers Honored

F

ive alumni were recognized for their outstanding service to Holy Cross and the Alumni Association at the HCAA dinner on Sept. 29, 2017, during Fall Homecoming weekend, with more than 350 alumni, parents, students and friends in attendance. The In Hoc Signo

and Young Alumni Leadership award honorees, shown here with College President Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., and Brian Duggan ’96, HCAA president (far left), were (from left) Sarah Jensen ’08, Thomas McCabe ’65, Colleen Doern ’89, Ronald Maheu ’64 and The Honorable Harry Thomas ’78. ■

HCAA Awards — Call for Nominations

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he Holy Cross Alumni Association invites nominations for the 2018 In Hoc Signo and Young Alumni Leadership Awards. The In Hoc Signo Award is the Alumni Association’s highest honor and recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves by their dedicated, outstanding and lengthy service to the College, alumni organizations, regional clubs or class. The Young Alumni Leadership Award is presented to an alumnus/a who has graduated within the past 10 years

(2008-2017) and has demonstrated outstanding service to alma mater through the Alumni Association’s committees and activities, regional club or class. The deadline for submitting nominations, noting the qualifications of each nominee, is Jan. 26, 2018. For more details on the standards of eligibility and nomination forms, visit holycross.edu/alumni. Questions about the awards can be directed to the Office of Alumni Relations at 508793-2418 or hcaa@holycross.edu ■

Margaret O’Rourke Granados ’88

vice pr e side n t Michael H. Shanahan ’78

t r e asur e r Kristyn M. Dyer ’94

e xe cut ive se cr e ta ry

questions, comments and suggestions: hcaa@holycross.edu 508- 793- 2418 alumni.holycross.edu/hcaa

The Holy Cross Alumni Association (HCAA) supports alma mater in its Catholic, Jesuit mission by bringing together the diverse talents, experience and knowledge of Holy Cross alumni. We accomplish this by engaging alumni for life through our reunions, regional clubs, community outreach and intellectual and spiritual formation programs. By these means, we nurture our love for and dedication to Holy Cross, its students and its alumni as men and women for others. ■

HCA A NEWS / ALUMNI NEWS / 65


HCAA NEWS

THOMAS HAWK

Southern roots, it has also adapted to young transplants coming from around the country with great new restaurants.

HCAA Crossroads | City Spotlight Series

Nashville

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ou might not see their names on the Billboard Country Music Charts, but dozens of Crusaders call the Music City home. In this month’s City Spotlight, we’ll get to know Nashville, Tenn. from the locals' perspective. While it’s home to 685,000 Tennesseans, a record 13.9 million visitors line danced their way down Music Row in 2016. It’s not all bluegrass and games in Nashville though. The city ranked No. 5 on Forbes’ list of the Best Places for Business and Careers (2013) and is home to six Fortune 500 companies. So whether it’s business or pleasure that brings you to this vibrant Southern city, let your fellow alumni be your personal tour guides. Nashville is certainly known for its music scene, but our alumni note that it has a

strong economy and great environment for business. The city has wonderful parks, including Percy Priest Lake, the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, the Greenways and Centennial Park — you won’t be able to miss the full-scale replica of the Parthenon. Crusaders of Nashville say you can’t miss the honky tonks on Broadway, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Ryman Auditorium (Grand Ole Opry). For a great take on Nashville’s history, visit the Frist Museum, Cheekwood Museum, the Hermitage and the Battle of Franklin site — a restored plantation home that served as a field hospital during the Civil War. Hungry from all the sightseeing? Stop by Martin’s or Edley’s for southern barbeque, and Prince’s or Bolton’s for Nashville’s famous “hot chicken.” While Nashville pays homage to its traditional

There’s nothing like living like a “local” or finding a hidden gem when you visit a new city. For a quick bite or a drink, the locals frequent Tavern, Two Bits, Robert’s Western World and the bars on Demonbreun Street. To get an education while you imbibe, check out breweries, such as Bearded Iris and Southern Grist, and distilleries, like Nelson’s Green Brier and Corsair. The Sylvan Park neighborhood has great shopping and dining. To get out of the city, drive 20 miles southwest to Leiper’s Fork, a restored historic village with art galleries, dining and live music. For transportation, a car of some kind is universally recommended! Locals say not to rely on public transportation or foot travel too much. Uber and Lyft are both economical and accessible. As Nashville’s popularity continues to grow, so do hotel rates, so plan ahead. Several alumni recommended staying at an Airbnb in newly revitalized neighborhoods, such as Germantown, Salemtown and East Nashville, as well as nearby towns in Franklin and Williamson County. For a special treat have personal chef Sarah Seiler '00 cook for you and your friends at your Airbnb! (http://www. simplysarahnashville.com/Home.html) ■

Up next in our City Spotlight Series – the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.! Brought to you by the HCAA Communications Committee.

Immersion Service Trip to Haiti

A

lumni Relations has partnered with the Chaplains’ Office to offer

OPEN TO ALUMNI & PARENTS

JUNE 7–16, 2018

our first immersion service trip for alumni and parents. Our

preceded by two days at the Thomas P. Joyce '59 Contemplative Center in West Boylston, Mass. This time will allow participants to meet and bond together in faith. Our group

group will be working with the Be Like Brit

has a capacity of 12 participants and will be

Foundation in Haiti to assist families affected

accompanied by Rev. James Hayes, S.J. ’72.

by the devastating earthquake of 2010.

To learn more, go to www.holycross.edu/

This seven-day service experience will be

alumni/crusaders-connect/alumni-travel. ■

6 6 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018


ALUMNI NEWS PHOTOS BY DAN VAILLANCOURT

Fall Homecoming 2017

T

he threat of rain didn't stop the purple pride from shining during Fall Homecoming on Mount St. James. Alumni enjoyed a weekend full of celebration and connection. Highlights included the annual HCAA Dinner, where the In Hoc Signo and Young Alumni Award winners were recognized; affinity group networking opportunities; lively tailgating for the HC football game; and the O'Callahan Society Dinner, featuring Hon. Jeh C. Johnson, former secretary of Homeland Security and general counsel of the Department of Defense. ■

HC First Generation Student Group Seeking Alumni Involvement

HCF1RST Scholars is a student organization that serves as a resource for first-generation and/or low-income college students. The group's goal is to educate the Holy Cross community at large about these aspects of society, to promote inclusion between all economic groups and to help perpetuate “a community marked by freedom, mutual respect and civility,” as stated in the Holy Cross mission statement. HCF1RST Scholars invites alumni who would like to share their own experiences of being a first-generation college student to connect with us. Your participation will also help provide students with valuable perspectives on life after Holy Cross. Please contact Michelle Rosa Martins, HCF1RST Scholars adviser, at mrosa@holycross.edu. ■

HCA A NEWS / ALUMNI NEWS / 67


ALUMNI NEWS

“Somewhere in the third year he looked at me and said, ‘You know, you could do this if you wanted.’ If you're 19 and you didn't grow up thinking that something you loved passionately was something you could pursue as a way of life, when someone — your teacher — gives you permission and says it quietly and meaningfully, that's massive.”

— ANN DOWD ’78 P20

on a memory of Professor Donald Ilko, who taught in the theatre department while she was a student.

Dowd spoke at the annual President's Council dinner on Oct. 21, shortly after winning the award for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her work on “The Handmaid’s Tale” at the 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in September. For information about joining President's Council, contact Maggie Hayden Bramley '98, director of annual leadership giving, at 508-793-2333 or mbramley@holycross.edu

6 8 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

SHANNON POWER


(from left) Freije, Hauver, Fr. Boroughs, Carapezza, Barlok, Kim, Murray and Fr. Campbell

Executive Team Discusses the Challenges Facing Higher Ed (and Holy Cross) Today

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ev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president, and his executive team gave passionate arguments for the value of a high quality, liberal arts education, and for the role of Catholic, Jesuit values in the world today as part of a panel discussion held on campus during President's Council weekend in October. The discussion was moderated by Kirk Carapezza '05, managing editor and reporter for Boston NPR affiliate WGBH.

ON ARTICULATING THE VALUE OF THE LIBERAL ARTS IN THE FACE OF "RETURN ON INVESTMENT" AND "JOB TRAINING" DEMANDS OF CONSUMERS:

educate only for what is available right this minute or over the next five years. What I love about Jesuit higher education, and what I am coming to love about Holy Cross specifically focused on liberal arts, is that we are training students how to think, how to engage, how to be flexible with their intellect so that they are prepared to meet the challenges whatever they are as they come. And they are coming fast and furious right now. So to think about what might be available or what the demands might be 10, 15, 20 years from now, I couldn't tell you what they will be. But I can tell you that the training that the students get here will serve them for a lifetime, whatever the challenges are.

Michele Murray,

vice president for student affairs and dean of students: When I graduated from college so many years ago, I would never have imagined the jobs that are available now. And I think it's shortsighted to think that we would

DAN VAILLANCOURT

ON PREPARING OUR STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS, THROUGH EVERY MAJOR AND IN EVERY FIELD: Margaret Freije,

provost and dean of the College:

The answer to "what did you get from your history major?" should not be "I know a lot about the Civil War"; it should be "I know how to synthesize information from a variety of sources, I know how to make an argument, I know how to provide evidence toward my argument, I know how to think about things in context." All of those skills, the critical thinking, the effective communication skills, come out of all of our majors. One of the things that bothers me about the conversation around this right now is it's set up as an either/or: either we prepare them for a job, or we help them to live lives of meaning. I actually think we can do both; that is, we are both helping them to live lives of meaning by engaging them with great literature and philosophy, and complicated science and economic questions, and we want to give them the skills that allow them to get their foot in the door to apply those skills and be successful.

ON RISING SKEPTICISM ABOUT THE VALUE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: Tracy Barlok,

vice president for advancement: I think we're at a time in our country where everybody is looking at the value of higher education, as they should because

ALUMNI NEWS / 69


ALUMNI NEWS

Carapezza and Fr. Boroughs speak 1:1

it's a huge investment, both financially, but also in your future. So we're seeing the cynicism from prospective students and parents, when they're looking at this as strictly a financial decision: "What are my kids going to get out of this? Is this the best place to be spending this kind of money, or would XYZ university better prepare me for the work world?" My response is that anyone who graduates from this school understands that their role in life is to make the world a better place. Communicating the value of that degree and the preparation of future leaders and global citizens, that’s the challenge that we're rising to here. And honestly, I think that some of our best ambassadors for that message are all of you [our alumni] who have come here, experienced that preparation and are out making a difference in the world in so many diverse fields.

ON THE CONTINUED VALUE AND INTEGRATION OF THE CATHOLIC, JESUIT IDENTITY OF THE COLLEGE:

Rev. William Campbell, S.J. '87,

vice president for mission: When I was involved with education at the secondary and pre-secondary levels, we were using the concept of STEM: science, technology, engineering and math. And then we spoke of STEAM, with the addition of the arts, understanding the value of creativity in production and execution in all fields. As I was leaving secondary education, we started to talk about STREAM, with the R representing religion, meaning that values needed to be a part of the whole concept of education. And I kind of scratched my head and said to myself: “Isn't that what Jesuit education is all about in the first place?” To make the connection now to your question: I came back here [to the College] two plus years ago, and I'm overwhelmed by the openness that I find on this campus to questions of Catholic identity and the Jesuit charism. The support and encouragement and

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requests that I get from all levels, to be quite honest, surprised me: from the students, but also from the "adults" — that is the faculty, staff and administrators — and this openness and desire to be animated by this charism that we have.

ON ARTICULATING THE MISSION AND VALUES OF HOLY CROSS TO MILLENNIALS CONSIDERING THEIR OPTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION: Dan Kim,

vice president for communications: I think it's a big challenge to reach those prospective students and young people who may not have even heard the name of the College of the Holy Cross. But one of the reasons why I took this job is because the challenge seemed like such a wonderful challenge to take on; I think the College has so many great stories to tell about the work that's being done either by faculty or students or alumni.


Carapezza moderating the panel of the Executive Team

Another part of the challenge is just the way communications is changing; even within the last few years, you see differences in how 16- and 17-year-olds communicate and share information using Snapchat or Instagram and how to connect with them. Our challenge is to determine how to tell the stories that we want to tell in a way that those students will hear or see those stories — with each channel you have to present information in the way that is appropriate for that channel.

ON THE IMPORTANT GOALS AHEAD IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS:

we've discussed here today, that's going to position us to where we need to be. So I could certainly focus and say the most important goal is financial — how do we remain affordable, continue our financial aid policies and all those kinds of things — but I think it's the answers we've given here to all of your questions and broadly thinking about how we want to get there strategically that's really our most important goal looking at the years to come.

ON THE STRENGTH OF LEADERSHIP AT THE COLLEGE: Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.,

Dorothy Hauver,

president:

vice president for administration and finance:

I've said it before, I can't do this job alone. So when Dottie [Hauver] says to you, "my focus is finance, but my responsibility is to the whole College;" we all feel that way. So we engage one another about our expertise and about our need. And every decision that's made in one area touches the other areas. And

On the executive team, we all have tough jobs and plenty of obstacles in our path, but we work together really well and we're very collaborative in the way we do that. I think that thinking strategically about the answers to all of the questions

DAN VAILLANCOURT

I've hired this executive team to support the strengths and weaknesses, not only of me but of one another. I also hope it's clear that in this desire to get really complex skill sets among the executive team, you'll notice this executive team sitting in front of you today is much more diverse than it was 20 years ago in every capacity of diversity. Twenty-five percent of our student body are students of color or international students; they've come from different countries, they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, they come with a wide variety of life experience differences. We also continue to see a growing diversity in our faculty and staff. That changes the kind of leadership I need to be able to engage our community, and I'm confident that this team will lead us thoughtfully into the years ahead, and continue to strengthen and engage this unique environment that we have here at Holy Cross. ■

ALUMNI NEWS / 71


TOM RETTIG

ALUMNI NEWS

Fenwick Scholars Celebrates 50 Years

P

rofessor Susan Elizabeth Sweeney still remembers the gasp when she announced Claude Hanley '18 as the newest Fenwick Scholar at a College Honors Program meeting. “There was a little pause, then applause,” says Sweeney, professor of English and the director of the College Honors Program. “It told me the students really understand the prestige of it.” The Fenwick Scholars Program, the College's highest academic honor, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The program allows students to forgo senior classes and

spend a year on independent research, culminating in a major presentation. It began as a challenge for one highly talented student in 1967 and was subsequently awarded to multiple students per year. Now, only one student typically receives the honor each year, though in some years, if no proposal is chosen, there is no scholar. Through its 50year span, it has remained a transformative experience that allows students to develop rigorous research skills, while building strong relationships with faculty. “The Fenwick project is more than an ordinary honors

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thesis,” Sweeney says. “It is a special experience, requiring longer, more sustained study.” Students are invited and choose to apply, but must have departmental support and recommendations, Sweeney says. A selection committee, which includes the College president, evaluates applicants. Projects fall somewhere between undergraduate honors work and a graduate dissertation.

The plaque in Dinand Library's Levi Browsing Room contains the names of some of Holy Cross' brightest scholars, including (from top) Richard Pedersen '67, Rev. Edward Vodoklys, S.J. '72, Barbara Tylenda '78, Shayne Piasta '04. Claude Hanley '18, (bottom) will see his name added this year.

Studies, oversaw the program for 13 years.

“It’s a balance of feasibility and ambition,” Sweeney says. “The most successful applications come from students with a solid background in the topic. And yet, there is still a great leap forward.”

“It is the ultimate in independent study,” he says. “It really takes a unique student. They must have undying curiosity and a great love for some problem. They must be intellectually independent, but smart enough to know when to take advice.”

Richard Matlak, a retired English professor and former director of the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special

For many, it’s a training ground for graduate study; for some, it provides the foundation for future careers.


THE FIRST FENWICK Richard Pedersen is selfdeprecating about being the first Fenwick Scholar, as an English major in 1967. “I really enjoyed the chance to study something for longer than a term paper,” says Pedersen, whose project, “Bibliographical Research on Tristram Shanty,” was advised by John Wilson of the English department. Pedersen chose the 18thcentury work by Laurence Sterne because he believed it worthy of in-depth investigation. After graduation, he continued his literary studies as a Rhodes Scholar. He then attended Yale Law School and worked in public finance in Omaha, Nebraska, where he still lives with his wife.

of Sophocles, so I ended up focusing on the play ‘Antigone,’” he remembers. That research became the basis of a later course: Women in Greek Tragedy. “It’s become more useful to me in teaching than even my Ph.D.” After graduation, Fr. Vodoklys completed doctoral studies at Harvard, then taught at Ohio State. He also studied philosophy at Loyola University and trained to become a Jesuit at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Boston, now part of Boston College, before returning to teach at his alma mater. “I have more initials after my name than in it,” he says, laughing. “And I’ve used all my studies in many ways.”

JUNG FOR THE YOUNG Now, “almost retired,” he’s reading literature again, specifically “A Song of Ice and Fire” (the texts behind the hit show "Game of Thrones") in Spanish. He credits his Fenwick experience for “teaching me to have my own intellectual life.”

TO ANTIGONE, AND BEYOND! For Rev. Edward Vodoklys, S.J., a senior lecturer in the classics department, being a Fenwick Scholar in 1972 proved foundational. As a classics major, he says he learned to think comparatively through the project by researching “Sophocles in the Age of Goethe: An Analysis of Sophoclean Influence in the Klassik-Romantik Era,” advised by William Ziobro and Thomas Kennedy of the classics department. “I was already doing all

In 1978, Barbara Tylenda immersed herself in Jungian theory, traveling to the Jung Institute in Switzerland for her project: “Earliest Childhood Memory: An Integration with Jungian Theory.” The psychology and fine arts double major was advised by Charles Locurto, of the psychology deparment; Rev. John Reboli, S.J., of the visual arts department; and Wayne Rollins, who taught at Assumption College and tutored her in preparation for her time abroad. (The Jung Institute did not normally accept undergraduates.) “It was an incredible opportunity,” she says, adding she applied because a professor urged her to “think big” and go to the original source. Now, Tylenda is chief

psychologist at the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at E.P. Bradley Hospital and a clinical psychology professor at Brown University. She also oversees the Clinical Psychology Training Consortium at Brown, and credits her Fenwick advisers for teaching her to mentor. She also plays an important role in the Fenwick’s institutional memory; for 18 years, she has attended every final presentation, and she donates to the program. She knows it changes lives. “Where would I be, without this program?” she asks. “My whole career is because of the Fenwick.”

CAREER CONTINUUM Shayne Piasta is another scholar whose life’s work began during her Fenwick experience in 2004. A psychology major, she studied “Beginning Reading Instruction in Massachusetts Public Schools: Research, Policy and Teacher’s Knowledge and Beliefs,” guided by advisors Annette Jenner and Danuta Bukatko, and supported by Patricia Kramer, all of whom were members of the psychology department. “I was very interested in the intersection between how kids learn to read and spell, and what was being done in practice,” Piasta said. After graduation, she received her doctorate in developmental psychology at Florida State University. She then traveled to Ohio State for a post-doctoral program, and stayed on to teach.

She still studies children’s reading and teachers’ practices and knowledge, she said. “If I sit back and reflect, I can trace it back to what I was doing at Holy Cross. I’m still answering these same types of questions.” “Thank goodness I had the course work and support to do the Fenwick Scholars program. It really became the foundation of my future career.”

MERCY: PAST AND PRESENT Claude Hanley '18, a double major in classics and Catholic Studies, is the present Fenwick Scholar, studying “The Promise of Mercy: A Philological, Theological and Philosophical Approach.” His adviser is Rev. John Gavin, S.J., of the religious studies department, and his readers are John Manoussakis, of the philosophy department, and John Hamilton of the classics department. He’s thrilled for the chance to dig deeply into his research, he says. “It’s a return to early Christian sources, putting them in conversation with modern theology and thought. “I’ve absolutely loved it so far. I’ve been able to dive in without the pressure of having to stop myself.” Hanley sees his future in “academia, teaching and writing.” Deeply personal, his research grew out of his own spiritual life and a desire to gain deeper understanding into our society’s cycle of violence, and the role mercy can play in breaking it. Sounding like so many Fenwick Scholars before him, Hanley muses, “There’s got to be a better answer to that ­ Paysha Rhone problem.” ■ —

ALUMNI NEWS / 73


BOOK NOTES

From Our Alumni Authors

Horizon and Infiniti By Tabitha Lord ’93 P16

Wise Ink Creative Publishing In “Horizon,” Lord introduces protagonist Caeli Crys, who has escaped the genocide of her empathic people and come out of hiding only to save Commander Derek Markham after his spaceship crashes. Later rescued by his command ship, Horizon, Markham and Crys embark on an interplanetary adventure to save an outlying planet from disaster. In “Infiniti,” the second installment of the awardwinning “Horizon” series, Crys returns to her war-torn home, Almagest, in order to fight for those whom she left behind. Joined again by Commander Markham, Crys races to help save her empathic people – and her once-peaceful planet – from destruction. W H AT OT H E RS S AY

“A thrilling and fast-paced science fiction story that takes depth of feeling as one of its core principles and combines that with pyrotechnic grace. I like here

the ability to rethink genre trope, to add something new – to tell Caeli’s story in a way that makes the whole enterprise feel fresh and invigorating instead of just going through the same old motions.” – review of “Horizon,”

“Writer’s Digest” “Bravo all around, Ms. Lord, for great prose, worldbuilding, action/adventure, and for even-handedly dealing with themes of honor, friendship, and love throughout the story.” – reader

review of “Infinity,” Amazon.com

America's Forgotten Colony: Cuba's Isle of Pines

By Michael E. Neagle '98 Cambridge University Press

In this transnational study, Neagle, assistant professor of history at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts, examines the experiences of private U.S. citizens on Cuba's Isle of Pines to show how American influence adapted and endured in republicanera Cuba (1902-58). Neagle, a fomer Holy Cross adjunct history

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BY REBECCA SMITH '99 A N D K I M B E R LY S TA L E Y ' 9 9

professor, describes a story of cooperation that upsets prevailing conceptions of U.S. domination and perpetual conflict, revealing that U.S.-Cuban relations at the grassroots were not nearly as adversarial as on the diplomatic level at the dawn of the Cuban Revolution. W H AT OT H E RS S AY

“What an impressive study — handsomely written, extensively researched, and interpretatively challenging. Neagle tells the fascinating human story of U.S. settlers on the Isle of Pines as they interacted with native Cubans, strove to make new lives and profits from farms and tourism, lobbied for U.S. annexation, and ultimately failed. … Neagle effectively places the 60-year U.S. presence on the Isle in the context of overarching themes of U.S. expansion and empire, territorial, commercial, and cultural. He discovered non-violent colonialism by land investors, fruit growers, retirees, and teachers, not by U.S. diplomats or soldiers.”

— Thomas G. Paterson, author of

“Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution”

Surgical Verses

By Eugene W. Grabowski, M.D., '64 ShiresPress

"Surgical Verses" is a collection of poems by Dr. Eugene W. Grabowski, a general, vascular and trauma surgeon from Vermont. Described by the author as a "somewhat paradoxical compendium" of his experiences, practice and opinions as a country surgeon, the book contains poems that were written through the inspiration of his two literary idols, Guillaume Apollinaire and Czeslaw Milosz. Composed in English and in French, the poems touch on such topics as integrity, retirement and capital punishment. A B O U T T H E AU T H O R

Dr. Grabowski is the former chief of surgery at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, former vice president of the New England Surgical Society and past Vermont governor


S O LV E D P H O T O of the American College of Surgeons. A father to seven and grandfather to 17, Dr. Grabowski attended Tufts University School of Medicine and has held teaching positions at the Albany (New York) Medical College and the University of Vermont School of Medicine.

The Essential Writings of Bernard Cooke: A Narrative Theology of Church, Sacrament, and Ministry By Bernard Cooke with Rev. Bruce T. Morrill, S.J., '81 Paulist Press

An original work of narrative theology by Fr. Morrill, Edward A. Malloy Professor of Roman Catholic Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, “The Essential Writings of Bernard Cooke” interweaves the life story of this prominent American Catholic theologian (and former Holy Cross faculty member), including key extracts from his unpublished memoir, with the major themes of his writings: fundamental theology, theological anthropology, Christology, sacramental theology and theology of ministry. W H AT OT H E RS S AY

"Here is the essential book for anyone first making the acquaintance of one of the leading theologians of the twentieth century. Clear, accessible, and readable, Dr. Morrill's book introduces the important contributions of Bernard Cooke in several areas. This first encounter with Bernard Cooke is such a pleasure that it will assuredly not be the last." — Gary Macy,

John Nobili, S.J. Professor of Theology, Santa Clara University ■

An Amateur Scholar

S

oon after the Fall 2017 issue of Holy Cross Magazine arrived in mailboxes, we received quite a few responses about the Mystery Photo. We knew the who and when about the photo but we needed help to solve the mystery of why. The photo is from Feb. 5, 1976, and it shows the original host of “The Tonight Show,” Steve Allen, sitting in a religious studies seminar taught by Rev. William Van Etten Casey, S.J. We asked our readers if they had any insight into why Allen was at Holy Cross, and our readers didn’t disappoint. John Titus '75 had taken Fr. Van Etten Casey’s seminar in 1974 and remembered that the class studied the poetry of Rev. Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Titus pointed out that if you look closely at the table, on the right side there are two copies of the “Collected Poems of G.M. Hopkins.” He wrote: “Fr. Casey was a recognized scholar on all things Hopkins. He developed correspondence and friendships with some influential people in the media and arts world who shared his enthusiasm for the priest poet. Among some of those correspondents were Anthony Burgess, the novelist, Stanley Kubrick, the film director and yes, Steve Allen, the original Tonight Show host.” Jerry Durkin '76 also remembered Allen

as “so smart, so open and friendly and such an amateur scholar on Hopkins.” It turns out Allen was at Holy Cross for a multiday visit where he spoke at a series of events, in addition to visiting classes. Almost all of our alumni correspondents contacted us saying that Allen was at the College as a guest speaker for the Cross and Scroll Society and that he delivered a lecture in the Hogan Ballroom. Brian Boyce '76 wrote to HCM via email: “The topic of his speech [for Cross and Scroll] centered around recent trips he had made to the People's Republic of China. Allen was a guest of Father Van Etten Casey (and my classmate Pat Malgieri) who had recently published an article on China in the 'Holy Cross Quarterly.' His wife, the actress Jayne Meadows, had also spent several years of her youth in China, where her parents were serving as missionaries.” After a speech in the Ballroom, Allen held a question and answer session, which Chuck Mullen '78 wrote to us about, recalling that “not more than 15 people sat around while he showed off his wit, intelligence and sense of humor.” What stood out to Tom Ryan '77 about Allen’s time with the Holy Cross community was his character: “He was very personable, spending time meeting and chatting with several of us after his performance. What I found most impressive about him was that he spoke to us as if we were already the adults we were aspiring to become.” ■ ­— Kathleen Dougherty '18

B O OK NOTES / S OLV ED PHOTO / A LUMNI NE WS / 75


THE POWER OF ONE

Young alumni are a vital part of the Holy Cross family. No matter how frequently they return to The Hill, they share the same desire: to stay connected and pay it forward.

PATRICK LOFTUS ’15

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name Patrick J. Loftus ’15 hometown Rockville Centre, N.Y., and now Newton, Mass.

“For me, the significance of giving back is not centered on the amount, but rather the act of doing it. All gifts, big and small, make a difference. Knowing that my gift will be used to help a student experience Holy Cross means the world to me.”

Loftus at The Hanover Insurance Group in August

technology teams in delivering software for their personal lines and underwriting products. I was an intern at Hanover during the summer before my senior year. It is an incredible place to work.”

family Parents, Jay and Regina; siblings, Jay Jay, Regina Joan, Alanna and Aidan. what he did at holy cross “I was a tutor throughout college and during my senior year I was the program director at the Nativity School of Worcester SPUD site. Back on campus, I managed the Holy Cross Phonathon and worked in the Holy Cross Fund Office during the week. A great deal of my time was spent on coursework, as I majored in economics and minored in art history. I also spent a lot of hours in the Field House and down at Freshmen Field competing in intramurals with friends.” how holy cross affected his life “I met some of my closest friends and had the best of times. But maybe the greatest gift Holy Cross provided me was perspective. Now in the ‘real world,’ I can see what a difference it makes when someone is genuine, self-aware and thoughtful of others. Those are all qualities I see clearly in my Holy Cross friends and colleagues. It stems from our shared experience at Holy Cross both inside and outside the classroom.” the working life “I currently work as a project manager and scrum master at The Hanover Insurance Group. I manage global

holy cross memories “Early on, it was events like studying for an econ final with friends or heading ‘off campus’ for the first time freshman year. In the middle, it was a service trip to Appalachia or great times in Carlin. And further toward the end of my time as a student, the weekend of graduation really stands out. Coming from a big family, I felt such a sense of pride while showing them around.” how he stays connected to holy cross “Events like Alumni Weekend or the football game at Yankee Stadium are obviously exciting and are great ways to stay connected to the College. I attend events because I like to see people I care about and experience the happiness of the Holy Cross community.” why he believes in holy cross “Coming from Regis High School, I was grateful to continue with four more years of Jesuit education. That education, and the people it introduced me to, are why I believe in Holy Cross. Nothing compares.” why he gives to holy cross “For me, the significance of giving back is not centered on the amount, but rather the act of doing it. All gifts, big and small, make a difference. Knowing that my gift will be used to help a student experience Holy Cross means the world to me.” ■

DAN VAILLANCOURT

THE POWER OF ONE / ALUMNI NEWS / 77


IN YOUR OWN WORDS

Sarah Free '10 (middle) stands with her two mentors Jumi Hayaki (left) and Kendy Hess (right) inside Fenwick Hall

Becoming Astronauts: Reflections on worth, good teachers, and good teaching For Jumi and Kendy BY SARAH FREE ’14

I

t is impossible to talk about education without first talking about stories. Teaching and learning are, at their foundation, a set of relationships waiting to happen — the convergence of varying life experiences, values and dispositions with the intent to ask and answer a

semester or year's worth of questions. When I approached my third year of teaching, I decided to attempt to confront the question of what exactly makes a teacher — and his or her teaching — good. The first and best piece of teaching advice that I received came from Kendy Hess, associate professor of philosophy, about a month before my first day of teaching: "Do it all in a way that isn’t about you, but about something else." As any 22-year-old might, I had a difficult time understanding — let alone acting — in a way that wasn’t, at its core, about myself. All of the descriptors that popular culture assigns a teacher came

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to mind: Be giving, go the extra mile, be selfless, etc. My mistake? I mistook “not about you” to mean “devoid of you.” In the domain of the classroom, the role of the teacher is one defined in large part by power. She decides what to teach, how to teach it, the type of student work that is acceptable and is charged with leading the class. The consequences of these decisions have incredible impact on the story of the individual student. Namely, the teacher has the power to either equip the student with the tools to enact his or her story, or fail to. The teacher can either choose to be a facilitator, or choose not to be. The enactment of any one person’s story requires the fulfillment of multiple criteria: First, it involves the acknowledgment that one’s story exists.

TOM RETTIG


One cannot enact a story if there is nothing to enact; if I do not know the type of person that I want to be, how I wish to think and communicate, or what my core interests and impressions of the world are, I cannot form a logical template from which to live my life. Second, it involves the knowledge and understanding of which steps are necessary to enact the story. I cannot act in ways congruent with my ideal self if I have no template for those actions to be congruent with. Third, it involves the conviction in one’s ability to take those steps. This third step is popularly referred to as “empowerment,” and often involves encouragement and/or incentive from outside sources. Lastly, for one to enact her story, she must actually take those steps. There is a quote that I am particularly drawn to that I believes captures the teacher’s potential role in this process: “Autonomy is a tricky concept. To be free, you have to be able not only to do what you want, but to know what's possible to do ... Not knowing that it's possible to be an astronaut is just as much a prohibition against becoming one as knowing and being barred from doing so.” (Yochai Benkler, "Of Sirens and Amish Children) Enacting a story is, in many ways, about being free. Up until recently, my understanding of what it meant to “know what’s possible to do” was limited to an awareness of a set of logistical requirements for a particular path. “Knowing” meant having a broad understanding of the types of endeavors that were available for pursuit, and the recognition of which boxes needed to be checked in order to get there. In reflecting on my undergraduate years, one of the most beautiful, and challenging (for all parties, I presume) conditions of the college student is that the story the freshman has enacted for

the 17-19 years prior has not necessarily been her own. My early career aspirations of being a marine biologist were not a rejection of alternative paths of study. Rather, this was my astronaut: I simply did not know that alternative ways of thinking existed. What my professors did during my formative college years was allow me to recognize I had the choice to opt into — or out of — ways of thinking and being that I had no previous access to. I can imagine that as I get older, it will become harder and harder to remember or pinpoint the moment that I came into awareness of my own story. What I do know is that it did not happen alone, because this is the first job of any teacher: Expose the student to material, and subsequently require the student to not only understand, but communicate understanding in ways that make sense. The second piece of this role is how teachers treat these student responses: Do they treat the responses as valuable? As an undergraduate, my teachers allowed me to make sense of what I learned, communicate that sense and subsequently validated my contributions as objectively worthwhile. Once a student notices, understands and communicates knowledge that may become defining for their story, it is the duty of the teacher to subsequently name that understanding as valuable. Ironically, independent thought in the classroom (and consequently, outside of the classroom) often blossoms from dependence. One of the most beautiful parts of teaching is that there can be a decidedly civic impact when done “well.” Contribution to the development of a world that is more just, kind, curious and relentless in acknowledging the value of others, can be made by helping develop citizens who act as such. When a greater number and kind of stories are able to be enacted, the breadth of the definition of justice widens. When people understand that what they think, say and do matter, they will almost certainly act as such. Perhaps the only way to show a person

how to care for the world that she finds herself situated in, is to show that person that her story — within that world — is valuable, too. Sometimes empowering the student involves the direct instruction of explicit cognitive skills: Writing clearly, interpreting evidence in novel and plausible ways, communicating findings. Sometimes these skills are softer: instilling confidence, challenging rigid habits of thinking and demanding integrity of both thought and opinion. These skills are what are necessary to the enactment of the story. Empowering the student assumes a capacity for grace: in mistake, in error, in indecision, and in change of decision. Facilitating the enactment of a story involves the acknowledgment of necessity for growth. A great education, it seems, is the consistent validation that one’s story is necessary to answer questions of how we ought to live. As students, have we been taught to envision an ideal world and approach our stories with courage, or have we been led in a direction where courage comes secondhand to what we have been told is practical or profitable? As teachers, have we facilitated the acquisition and improvement of “necessary” academic skills, but also allowed the ability to envision to what end those skills should be applied? If, as a teacher, I am to do it all in a way that is not about myself, I must understand that the process of validation that I participate in is not necessarily my own. It means practicing in a manner that is not devoid of self, but already assumes the acknowledgment, development and conviction of the worth of my story. It is placing other stories at the forefront. And most importantly, it is clearing the way for my students to see that maybe, in their stories, they can be astronauts. ■

This reflection was inspired by the critical, demanding and loving pedagogy and friendship of Dr. Jumi Hayaki of the psychology department and Dr. Kendy Hess of the philosophy department.

IN YOUR OWN WORDS / ALUMNI NEWS / 79


THE PROFILE

Commander Price with the aircraft he flies, a Lockheed WP-3D Orion.

The Hurricane Hunter Commander Scott Price ’99, a pilot with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, flies into dangerous storms to gather essential data for weather forecasts and scientific research BY M AU R A S U L L I VA N H I L L

A

s Hurricane Irma surged toward Florida and the southeastern United States in early September, the country braced for the impact of the Category 4 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in recent memory. People fortified their homes, stocked up on food or evacuated inland, away from the path of the storm. But not Commander Scott Price ’99, a pilot in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps. He traveled closer to the storm, to the island of Barbados in the Caribbean. Price is a hurricane hunter, an elite group of NOAA pilots that flies into hurricanes

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to collect data for weather forecasts and scientific research. From Barbados, he flew east, directly into the developing storm. In total, he made six flights into Irma while it was a Category 5 storm, providing essential data for weather forecasters, emergency personnel and NOAA scientists before the storm hit the U.S. mainland. This information determined how cities and states prepared for Irma, whether evacuations were necessary and, ultimately, helped save lives and protect physical structures during the storm. Price says he vividly remembers his first flight into a hurricane. It was Hurricane Kyle, in 2008, and the storm was still

P H O T O B Y LT. C M D R . PA U L H E M M I C K / N O A A


a tropical storm when Price made his approach. “It was about 3 o’clock in the morning, so we got to the storm during the hours of darkness. We could see the storm on the radar, but not out the window, until a flash of lightening lit up the sky,” he recalls. “I could see the outlines of the massive clouds we were about to fly into. It is a little bit surreal, because every instinct you have as a pilot is to avoid bad weather.” And though the NOAA pilots are highly skilled and trained, it is difficult to simulate flying in a hurricane. “The first time you fly into a hurricane really is the first time,” Price says. “Once you get the first one under your belt, it establishes the expectations. I’m not sure the flights get any easier, but they are possible, and really critical, at the end of the day.” Price’s flights are critical because the best data comes from inside a storm itself, rather than satellites roaming above the earth, he says. He usually gets about 48 hours notice before deploying for a hurricane flight, which can last up to nine hours. Multiple pilots come on each flight, so they can rotate during what is an intense ride. “It can be extremely turbulent, as you can imagine, which is certainly uncomfortable. Oftentimes we end up getting bounced around pretty good,” Price says. “It is very loud, with both the wind and the rain, which comes down hard on the airplane and can make a lot of noise. We are very focused on getting the airplane in and out safely, which requires flying at a very specific air speed so we don’t stall or overstress the airplane.” Price concentrates on keeping the aircraft steady during the flight — despite wind speeds of more than 100 miles per hour pushing the plane up and down. They fly directly through the eye of a hurricane, where the storm stills, and there can even be glimpses of blue sky. But to get to those few miles of calm, the plane must make it through the eyewall, the site of the most severe weather in the storm.

It all takes a discipline and focus that he honed during his years at Holy Cross, balancing his mathematics major with the demands of Naval ROTC. Price attended Holy Cross on a Naval ROTC scholarship and spent nine years as a pilot in the U.S. Navy after graduation. The plane he flew in the Navy, the Lockheed WP-3D Orion, is what NOAA uses for hurricane flights, because of its durability, size and fuel capacity. The plane can fly for eight hours without refueling, and there is ample space for the research team and their instruments, both inside and on the plane itself. When he transferred from the Navy in 2008, Price joined the NOAA Corps and continued flying the Lockheed WP-3D Orion. Along with the hurricane hunter role, Price is also the chief of safety standardization and training for the nine aircraft and 110 personnel at NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida. Safety is a year-round focus for Price and his team, while hurricane season typically lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30. Outside of that season, he will fly on missions to collect data on other types of storms — like those that generate tornadoes — as well as track flooding and changes in the U.S. coastline. Price says it requires a team effort to successfully complete a flight into — and out of — a hurricane. “If we go into a storm and we don’t collect the data we need to collect, there is no point being there. And if we don’t get out safely, that’s not the right answer either. We have very talented folks, so we can get in, get the data and get back out safely.” When he considered joining the NOAA Corps, Price was initially hesitant about the hurricane flights, and still experiences some nerves about the unpredictable nature of flying into storms, as opposed to around them. “I am by no means an adrenaline junkie — probably just the opposite,” he says. “But the uniqueness of the mission and the quality of the people at NOAA made the job attractive.”

His wife, who owns and operates a gymnastics studio, and two daughters always eagerly await news of his safe landing after a storm. The family lives in Tampa, Florida, close to Price’s base in Lakeland. “Despite all the anxiety, at the end of the day, it is a critical mission,” he says, “and one that I’m very proud to have done for a number of years now.”

FIVE QUESTIONS

with COMMANDER SCOTT PRICE ’99

How many hurricanes have you flown in?

I don’t know the exact number of storms, but I’ve logged 140 flights into and out of the eye of storms. Some missions require us to fly into the same storm multiple times.

How many people are on board your Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft when you fly into a hurricane? Our plane can carry up to 21 people, and we usually have about 16, between the pilots, flight engineers and scientists collecting the data.

What type of storms are the most difficult to fly through? Tropical storms, which are developing into hurricanes, can cause some of the roughest, most uncomfortable rides. There are a lot of updrafts and downdrafts as the storm develops, and they cause turbulence.

In your nine years of flying with NOAA, have hurricanes gotten worse or more frequent? We focus on the data collection and less on the why, but I can tell you that we were busier this season than last season. I logged 10 hurricane penetrations last year, and this year, I’m up to 50 so far. It varies greatly on the season — we’ve had very busy seasons and very quiet seasons.

Hurricane season typically lasts from June to November. What kind of missions do you fly during the off-season months? We collect data on coastal mapping, flooding and a number of other environmental things to help NOAA either provide forecast data or manage marine life. This January and February, we’ll collect data on north Atlantic storms, and then we’ll go to Alabama to investigate storms that generate tornadoes. ■

THE PROFILE / ALUMNI NEWS / 81


IN MEMORIAM Holy Cross Magazine publishes In Memoriam to inform the College community of the deaths of alumni, trustees, students, employees and friends. In Memoriam content, which is based on obituaries published in public forums or provided directly to HCM by the family, is a limited overview that includes service to alma mater and a survivors listing. Family members are welcome to submit an obituary or additional information, which will be included at the discretion of the editor; due to time and space constraints, the final obituaries will not be sent to family members for approval. Portrait photos from the Purple Patcher appear as space permits and at the discretion of the editor (photos provided by the deceased’s family are not accepted). Obituaries appear in the order in which they are received; due to the volume of submissions and magazine deadlines, it may be several issues before they appear in print. To notify the College of a death, please call the Alumni Office at 508-793-3039 or email AlumniRecords@holycross.edu, attaching a copy of an obituary, if available.

1944 Philip L. McCarthy, M.D. Philip L. McCarthy, M.D., of Hingham and Milton, Massachusetts, died on July 8, 2017, at 95. Dr. McCarthy

Larkin Jr. '41; and three sisters.

1946 Cmdr. Maurice D. Buck, USN (Ret.)

Walter P. Gorman Jr.

from the University of Notre Dame.

Walter P. “Bud”

Founder, president and CEO of the

Gorman Jr., of

National Futures Association, he

Manchester,

served as president and CEO of

Connecticut, died

the Chicago Board of Trade and

on Feb. 13, 2016,

executive vice president and director

graduated from Tufts Medical School

Cmdr. Maurice D. Buck, USN (Ret.),

and specialized in dermatology. He

of Bonita, California, died on Feb.

at 89. An English major at Holy

at the First National Bank of Chicago,

served as a physician in the U.S.

26, 2017, at 93. Cmdr. Buck served 32

Cross, Mr. Gorman had a career in

among other roles. Mr. Wilmouth is

Army during the Korean War. He

years as a naval aviator in the U.S.

journalism. He served during the

survived by four sons; one daughter;

had a more than 50-year career in

Navy. He participated in ROTC at

Korean War. Mr. Gorman is survived

one son-in-law; one daughter-

dermatology and oral medicine,

Holy Cross and was affiliated with

by one brother; one nephew; three

in-law; seven grandchildren; one

practicing in Quincy, Massachusetts;

Naval ROTC. He is survived by his

nieces; one nephew-in-law; one

sister-in-law; and many nieces and

he also taught at Tufts Dental School

wife, Betty, and family members

great-niece; and two great-nephews.

nephews. He was predeceased by his

and Massachusetts General Hospital.

and friends.

He was predeceased by one brother,

wife, Ellen Mary, and brother, Alfred

Raymond E. Gorman ’47.

F. Wilmouth '51.

1949 Andre J. Barbeau

1950 Paul G. Gannon, M.D.

Dr. McCarthy is survived by his wife, Sheila; four children and their

Anthony L. Nicolais

spouses; 12 grandchildren; and his

Anthony L. Nicolais, of Houston,

niece, Katherine Gibson Gormley ’90.

died on June 21, 1995. Mr. Nicolais

He was predeceased by his in-law,

studied mathematics at Holy Cross

Andre J. Barbeau,

Paul G. Gannon,

Joseph J. Fay ’32.

and participated in ROTC; he was

of Manchester,

M.D., of

affiliated with Naval ROTC.

New Hampshire,

Minneapolis,

died on Sept.

died on July 6,

1945 Philip C. Larkin, M.D. Philip C. Larkin, M.D., of White

1947 Charles A. Baily Jr.

15, 2017, at 89.

2017, at 89. Dr.

A graduate of Boston College

Gannon was educated at Marquette

Plains, New York, died on Aug. 19,

Charles A. Baily

Law School, Mr. Barbeau was an

University, the Mayo Clinic (general

2017, at 94. Dr. Larkin graduated

Jr., of Orange,

attorney in the Legal Department

surgery) and the University of

from Holy Cross cum laude and

Connecticut, died

for the State of New Hampshire,

Minnesota (cardiovascular surgery);

from Tufts University Medical

on Sept. 6, 2017,

Division of Employment Security;

in addition to an M.D., he also held

School with honors. A surgeon and

at 88. Mr. Baily

he was a member of the Holy Cross

a Ph.D. He practiced cardiovascular

physician, he practiced urology

graduated from Holy Cross as part of

Lawyers Association. He served

and thoracic surgery for over 40

in White Plains for close to 50

the Naval V-12 program.

in the U.S. Army. He is survived by

years in the Twin Cities. He studied

four sons, one daughter and their

premed at Holy Cross and graduated

spouses; eight grandchildren; two

cum laude. He participated in cross

great-grandchildren; two sisters;

country and track and was a member of the College Orchestra. Dr. Gannon

years; he was a founding partner of Westchester Urological Associates. Dr. Larkin played baseball at Holy

1948

Michael F. Geraghty

Cross and later supported the

Michael F.

one brother-in-law; and several

College as a class agent and class

Geraghty, of

nieces, nephews and cousins. He was

is survived by his wife of 63 years,

reunion committee member. He was

Gloversville, New

predeceased by his wife, Denise; one

Rozalija; two daughters; two sons;

a Douglas Dauntless pilot in the U.S.

York, died on July

son; and one brother.

one daughter-in-law; one son-in-

Navy. He is survived by four sons,

31, 2017, at 94. Mr.

law; and three grandchildren.

including Timothy J. Larkin, M.D.,

Geraghty served in the U.S. Army in

Robert K. Wilmouth

'78 and Edward W. Larkin '75, and

World War II. He stayed connected to

Robert K. “Bob” Wilmouth, of

their spouses; two daughters and

the College as a member of the 1843

Barrington Hills, Illinois, died on

Rev. James A.

their spouses; and 17 grandchildren.

Society, class reunion committee and

Sept. 14, 2017, at 88. A political

Hayes, S.S.J.,

He was predeceased by his wife, Dr.

Holy Cross Lawyers Association. He

science major at Holy Cross, Mr.

died on July 13,

Aimee Diefenbach; his son, Matthew

was also an admissions advisor and

Wilmouth earned his master's degree

2017. He studied

C. Larkin '80; his brother, Edward W.

a class agent.

and received an honorary doctorate

business at

9 0 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

Rev. James A. Hayes, S.S.J.


Holy Cross. He is survived by one

Chicopee, Massachusetts, for many

Association; he was affiliated with

brother, John O. Hayes ’52; one

years. He was a U.S. Army veteran

Naval ROTC. He is survived by

George T. Kelley

sister; and many nieces, nephews,

of the Korean War and was awarded

his wife, Patricia; two daughters,

George T. Kelley,

family members and friends. He was

the Korean Service Medal with three

including Deanne S. Hart '83; two

of Vero Beach,

predeceased by one brother, Patrick

bronze stars, the United Nations

sisters; three nieces; and one nephew.

J. Hayes ’51.

Service Medal and the Presidential

Charles F. Keeley II

Unit Citation. He studied business

Florida, died on Aug. 6, 2017.

John James O'Neill

William L. Maher Sr.

administration at Holy Cross. He is

John James

Charles F. Keeley

survived by three daughters and their

O'Neill, of

William L. “Bill”

II, of Okemos,

husbands; four grandchildren; one

Westborough,

Maher Sr., of Carls-

Michigan, Panton,

sister; and nieces, nephews, great-

Massachusetts,

bad and Del Mar,

Vermont, and

nieces and great-nephews. He was

died on Sept. 1,

California, died on

Portland, Oregon,

predeceased by his first wife, Patricia;

2017. An education major at Holy

his second wife, Elaine; and one sister.

Cross, Mr. O’Neill earned a master’s

Mr. Maher worked in the publishing

degree from Worcester State College.

industry for over 40 years. He served

He was commissioned as a 2nd

in the U.S. Army during World War

lieutenant in the U.S. Army and

II. He is survived by his life partner, Joann Pitts; two sons; one daughter-

died on June 30, 2017, at 88. Mr. Keeley served in the U.S. Army. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.

1951 Thomas E. Davey Sr.

July 7, 2017, at 89.

Mr. Keeley began his law career at

Thomas E. “Ted”

assigned to the armored school at

Sullivan & Gregg in Nashua, New

Davey Sr., of

Fort Knox, Kentucky. His long career

in-law; one grandson; one grand-

Hampshire, and later served as an

Houston, died on

in education included positions as

daughter; and one grandson-in-law.

assistant attorney general for the state

Sept. 1, 2017, at 88.

teacher, coach, principal and assistant

of Michigan for 26 years. He studied

Mr. Davey played

superintendent of schools; he

history and political science at Holy

basketball and participated in ROTC

retired as Nantucket, Massachusetts,

Cross and graduated cum laude. He

at Holy Cross; he was a member of the

superintendent of schools. Mr. O’Neill

James E. “Bud”

served as an admissions advisor and

O’Callahan Society and was affiliated

supported the College as a class agent

Kielley, of Rye,

was a member of the Holy Cross

with Naval ROTC. He was a lieutenant

and as a member of the 1843 Society

New Hampshire,

Lawyers Association. Mr. Keeley is

junior grade of the U.S. Navy, serving

and career advisor network. He is

and Vero Beach,

survived by one daughter; four sons;

during the Korean War. A graduate of

survived by one brother and his wife;

eight grandchildren; and two great-

the Wharton Graduate School at the

one brother-in-law and caretaker;

July 29, 2017, at 85. Mr. Kielley studied

grandchildren. He was predeceased by

University of Pennsylvania, he had

four stepchildren; and many nieces

economics and played basketball

his parents and his wife, Elizabeth.

a long and entrepreneurial career

and nephews. He was predeceased

at Holy Cross, where he also made

in numerous industries, including

by his wife, Grayce; one brother; and

the dean’s list. He earned his law

insurance, logistics, limestone,

one sister.

degree from Fordham University and

Henry A. Sullivan Jr.

1953 James E. Kielley

Florida, died on

Henry A. Sullivan

manufacturer's representation and

Jr., of Shrewsbury,

distribution, and real estate. Mr. Davey

Massachusetts,

is survived by his wife of over 57

died on July 13,

years, Sally; four children and their

Paul J. Gallo Jr., of

officer of Towers, Perrin, Forster &

2017, at 90. Mr.

spouses; and 11 grandchildren. He was

West Springfield,

Crosby. Mr. Kielley supported the

Sullivan received a master’s degree

predeceased by his parents and one

Massachusetts,

College as a member of the Varsity

in education from Worcester State

brother.

died on Feb. 25,

Club, Fitton Society, Holy Cross

2017, at 86. Mr.

Lawyers Association and President’s

College. He served in the Amphibious Force of the U.S. Navy during World

Walter H. Hart

completed Citibank's Management

1952 Paul J. Gallo Jr.

Training Program. He went on to serve as chairman and chief executive

Gallo was a successful salesman

Council; he was also an admissions advisor. He is survived by his wife

War II in the Asiatic Pacific Theatre

Walter H. Hart,

working for several transportation

and the liberation of the Philippines.

of Medford,

companies, before opening his own

of 62 years, Patricia; two sons,

Mr. Sullivan is survived by his sons,

Massachusetts,

business, Zip Carriers. He played

including Robert G. Kielley '80, two

Henry A. Sullivan ’79 and James L.

died on Aug. 23,

football at Holy Cross, and he was a

daughters and their spouses; seven

Sullivan ’82.

2017, at 87. At Holy

member of the Varsity Club. Mr. Gallo

grandchildren; one grandchild-in-law;

Cross, Mr. Hart majored in physics

is survived by his wife, Marilyn; five

and one sister. He was predeceased by

and naval science, played baseball

children with his first wife, Marie, and

his parents and one brother.

Donald F. “Don”

and hockey and participated in ROTC.

their spouses; two stepdaughters; two

Tylunas, of

He graduated from Suffolk Law

stepsons; one stepdaughter-in-law;

Wilbraham,

School and was commissioned into

one stepson-in-law; 20 grandchildren;

William L.

Massachusetts,

the U.S. Navy; he served three years

six great-grandchildren; one sister;

“Bill” Lorenz,

died on June 27,

during the Korean War. A class agent,

and one brother-in-law. He was

of Stoughton,

2017, at 88. Mr. Tylunas owned and

he was a member of the O’Callahan

predeceased by two sons.

Massachusetts,

operated Tylunas Funeral Home in

Society and the Holy Cross Lawyers

Donald F. Tylunas

William L. Lorenz

died on Sept.

IN MEMORIAM / ALUMNI NEWS / 91


IN MEMORIAM 15, 2017, at 86. Mr. Lorenz earned

survived by his wife of over 55 years,

He was a teacher for 37 years in

experience as a practicing estate

his master’s degree in education

Jane; four sons and their wives; nine

the Boylston and Southborough

planning attorney, most recently at his

from Boston State College and

grandsons; two brothers, including

(Massachusetts) school systems. He

own firm, Boyd & Boyd, P.C. He was

was a teacher in the Newton

Robert J. Cullen ’53; two sisters-in-

also served as a lieutenant junior

a member of the Holy Cross Lawyers

(Massachusetts) Public School System

law; and many nieces and a nephew.

grade in the U.S. Navy. A member of

Association. Mr. Boyd is survived by

for 38 years; upon retirement, he

He was predeceased by two brothers,

the Holy Cross Club of Worcester

his wife, Ina; two sons, F. Keats Boyd

was a substitute teacher for Canton

including Charles E. Cullen Jr. ’52, and

and the O’Callahan Society, he was

III '83 and J. Christopher Boyd '88; two

(Massachusetts) Public Schools. He

one sister-in-law.

affiliated with Naval ROTC. Mr. Griffin

daughters-in-law, including Kristen C.

is survived by his wife of nearly 60

Boyd '90; one son-in-law, Edward S.

years, Patricia; one son and his wife;

Skane '83; and seven grandchildren.

is survived by five daughters; four sons-in-law; five grandchildren; and

Thomas C. Hennessey, M.D.

many nieces and nephews. He was

Thomas C. “Tom”

two daughters and their husbands;

predeceased by his wife, Doris.

Hennessey, M.D.,

five grandchildren; one grandson-in-

of Treasure Island,

law; one brother-in-law; three nieces;

Vincent J.

Florida, died on

and cousins. He was predeceased by

“Vinny” Burdulis,

Sept. 22, 2017, at

one daughter and one sister.

of Boylston,

Donald M. Mitchell, M.D. Donald M. Mitchell,

Vincent J. Burdulis

M.D., of Sterling,

85. A biology major at Holy Cross,

Massachusetts,

Dr. Hennessey earned his doctor of

died on Aug. 8,

medicine from New York Medical

William T. “Bill”

17, 2017. Mr. Burdulis received his

2017. Dr. Mitchell

College in Valhalla, New York. He

Rochford, of

master’s degree in education from

graduated cum laude from Holy

worked in private OB/GYN practices

South Burlington,

Worcester State College. He taught

Cross and earned his medical degree

in New Jersey and Florida for

Vermont, died on

secondary mathematics in the Auburn

from Georgetown University School

many years. He is survived by three

May 17, 2017, at

(Massachusetts) Public Schools. He

of Medicine. He served with the

daughters; five grandchildren; and

82. Mr. Rochford served in the U.S.

served in the U.S. Army Reserves for

Massachusetts Army National Guard

many other relatives and dear friends.

Army. He worked for many years as

32 years, retiring as a master sergeant.

as a major. He established a private

He was predeceased by his wife of 46

a human resources manager for IBM.

Mr. Burdulis is survived by his wife

practice in Clinton, Massachusetts,

years, Donna.

He played baseball at Holy Cross and

of 57 years, Maureen; three sons; two

was a member of the Varsity Club. Mr.

daughters; two daughters-in-law; one

Rochford is survived by his wife of 60

son-in-law; one daughter’s friend; 17 grandchildren; one grandson-in-law;

where he also served as town physician. He is survived by his wife

John P. Murphy, M.D.

Massachusetts,

William T. Rochford

died on July

of nearly 60 years, Lois; four sons and

John P. Murphy,

years, Jeanette; five children and their

their wives; and eight grandchildren.

M.D., of Penfield,

spouses; 12 grandchildren; four great-

and two brothers, one sister and their

He was predeceased by two sisters

New York, died on

grandchildren; one brother and his

spouses. He was predeceased by one

and four brothers.

May 18, 2017. Dr.

wife; and many nieces and nephews.

granddaughter.

Murphy practiced

He was predeceased by three sisters.

1954 James G. Cullen

anesthesiology at St. Mary’s Hospital for many years. He studied premed at

1957 Paul A. Bornstein

Robert F. Cox Robert F. “Bob”

James G. “Jim”

Holy Cross and graduated cum laude.

Cullen, of Groton,

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy;

Paul A. Bornstein,

New Hampshire,

Massachusetts,

one son and his wife; one daughter

of Sun City Center,

died on June 22,

died on June

and her husband; six granddaughters;

Florida, died on

27, 2017, at 84.

two great-grandchildren; one sister;

July 18, 2017.

earned his Juris Doctor at New York

Mr. Bornstein

University. He supported the College

Following graduation from Holy Cross,

and many nieces and nephews. He

Mr. Cullen was commissioned as an

was predeceased by two sons.

ensign and served in the U.S. Navy; he retired from the Naval Reserve as a commander. He earned his law

1955 Richard P. Griffin Jr.

Cox, of Dover,

2017, at 82. Mr. Cox

participated in ROTC at Holy Cross

as a member of the 1843 Society and

and graduated cum laude. He was a

as a class agent. He was also a member

member of the 1843 Society and was

of the Holy Cross Lawyers Association

affiliated with Naval ROTC.

and class reunion committee. Mr. Cox is survived by his former wife, Penny;

degree from the New England School

Richard P. “Dick”

of Law and worked as an attorney in

Griffin Jr., of

his own general law practice for over

Worcester, died on

F. Keats Boyd Jr.,

’60; and his nephews, Matthew B. Cox

35 years. Mr. Cullen studied political

Aug. 31, 2017, at 84.

of New Seabury

’89 and Christopher P. Cox, M.D., ’88.

science, English and theology at Holy

Mr. Griffin majored

and Westwood,

F. Keats Boyd Jr.

one daughter; one brother, Paul R. Cox

Ronald P. Donovan

Cross, and participated in ROTC.

in political science and participated

Massachusetts,

He supported the College as a class

in ROTC at Holy Cross. He earned

died on Aug. 11,

agent, was a member of the Holy

a master's degree in education

2017, at 81. Mr. Boyd graduated cum

Donovan, of

Cross Lawyers Association and the

from Worcester State College and

laude from Holy Cross and earned

Kennebunkport,

O’Callahan Society, and was affiliated

a Certificate of Advanced Graduate

his doctorate in law from Stanford

Maine, died on

with Naval ROTC. Mr. Cullen is

Studies from Boston University.

University. He had over 40 years of

July 25, 2017,

92 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

Ronald P. “Ron”


at 82. Mr. Donovan worked in the

Catholic Central High School. Mr.

one daughter and her husband;

sergeant. He is survived by seven

marine insurance industry and

Suter studied business administration

six grandchildren; one sister; three

children and their spouses, and

served in the U.S. Army National

at Holy Cross, and he was involved in

brothers and their wives; and many

many grandchildren and great-

Guard. He later joined the family

the Band and the student radio station,

nieces and nephews, including Anne

grandchildren. He was predeceased by

business, Donovan Food Services,

WCHC. He supported the College as

Reilly Ziaja ’78. He was predeceased

his wife, Agnes.

and went on to establish Lemon Tree

a member of the 1843 Society and as

by his parents; one sister; his brother-

Caterers. Mr. Donovan is survived

a class agent; he was a member of

in-law, John M. Kallaugher ’49; and his

by his wife of 38 years, Lucille; four

the career advisor network and the

niece, Kathleen P. Reilly ’80.

sons; two daughters-in-law; two

HOIAH Marching Band Alumni. He is

stepsons; one stepdaughter; one

survived by one daughter; three sons,

stepson-in-law; one stepdaughter-

including David M. Suter ’94; three

in-law; seven grandchildren;

daughters-in-law; one son-in-law;

Robert A. Augelli,

six great-grandchildren; seven

eight grandchildren; one sister-in-law;

of Whippany,

stepgrandchildren; six step-great-

one brother-in-law; and eight nieces

New Jersey, died

died on June 30, 2017. He prepared

grandchildren; one nephew; and one

and nephews. He was predeceased by

on March 10,

for the priesthood at and later

niece. He was predeceased by his

his parents; his wife of 54 years, Anne;

2012. Mr. Augelli

received a License in Canon Law

parents, one sister and two brothers.

one brother, Frank X. Suter ’52; two

participated in ROTC at Holy Cross;

from the Catholic University in

sisters-in-law; and one brother-in-law.

he was a member of the O’Callahan

Washington, D.C.; he was ordained on

Society and was affiliated with Naval

May 30, 1964. He served many roles

ROTC.

in the Diocese of Fall River, including

John E. Schlapkohl John E. “Captain John” Schlapkohl,

1958 Thomas M. Dougherty Jr.

Rev. Monsignor Thomas J. Harrington Rev. Monsignor

1960 Robert A. Augelli

Thomas J. Harrington, of Fall River, Massachusetts,

chancellor, pastor and director of

Philip J. DeCocco

the annual Catholic Charities appeal,

of Sugar Island,

Thomas M. “Tom”

Michigan, died

Dougherty Jr.,

Philip J. “Phil”

among others. In 1974, Pope Paul VI

on Sept. 21,

of Shrewsbury,

DeCocco, of Fort

designated him a papal chamberlain

2017. At Holy Cross, Mr. Schlapkohl

Massachusetts,

Myers, Florida,

with the rank of monsignor, and in

studied chemistry and graduated

died on July 14,

died on Aug. 30,

1999, Pope John Paul II named him

2017, at 79. An

a prelate of honor of His Holiness.

cum laude; he participated in ROTC,

2017. Mr. Dougherty was on the swim

German Club and Human Relations

team at Holy Cross. He served as a

English major at Holy Cross, Mr.

He also served as chaplain to

Club. After serving in the U.S.

class agent and was a member of the

DeCocco graduated cum laude. He

the fire departments in Hyannis,

Navy, he earned a master’s degree

Varsity Club. He is survived by his

had a successful career in the field of

Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River,

in business administration from

wife of 58 years, Janet; five children,

human resources consulting, holding

Massachusetts. He studied economics

Seton Hall University. He worked

including Thomas G. Dougherty ’84

senior roles with General Electric and

at Holy Cross and graduated magna

as a senior chemist for DuPont. He

and Regina Dougherty Hall ’82; his

International Playtex, before founding

cum laude. As a student, he was a

stayed connected to the College

son-in-law, Timothy J. Hall ’82; 16

his own consulting business, Sturges

member of the Purple Key Society,

as an admissions advisor and

grandchildren; one sister; one brother,

House. He is survived by his wife of

and he later served as a class agent.

member of the O’Callahan Society;

Bernard J. Dougherty ’67; and his

43 years, Patricia “Patty”; three sons;

He is survived by two sisters and

he was affiliated with Naval ROTC.

nephew, John P. Ziegler ’86. He was

three daughters; one sister; and 14

many nieces, nephews, grandnieces

Mr. Schlapkohl is survived by his

predeceased by his brother, Robert G.

grandchildren, including Isabella T.

and grandnephews. He was

wife, Beatrice; three daughters;

Dougherty ’61.

DeCocco '18.

predeceased by his brother, Edward J.

one son; two sons-in-law; and five

Maj. James J. Gallagher, USAF (Ret.)

“Bob” Flynn, of

Maj. James J. “Jim” Gallagher, USAF

Leonard P. Weg,

Kennesaw, Georgia,

(Ret.), of Tucson, Arizona, died on

of Howell, New

John L. Suter, of

died on July 3,

July 26, 2017, at 83. He enlisted in the

Jersey, died on

Rochester, New

2017, at 81. Mr.

Marine Corps and served during the

June 20, 2017, at

by his first wife, Emily, and his parents.

John L. Suter

Robert J. Flynn

Harrington Jr. ’46.

Robert J.

grandchildren. He was predeceased

Leonard P. Weg

York, died on July

Flynn entered the U.S. Marine Corps

Korean War, completing his degree at

23, 2017, at 81.

as a second lieutenant and served in

Holy Cross when his tour was over.

business administration – accounting

Mr. Suter had a

78. Mr. Weg studied

Okinawa, Japan, for two years. He

He was selected for Officer Training

at Holy Cross, and he worked as an

career in financial and operational

worked for MetLife Insurance for

School and was commissioned in

accountant. He is survived by two

management at such organizations

more than 35 years. He participated

the U.S. Air Force, where he received

sons; two daughters; two sons-in-law;

as Security Trust Co. and Conagra

in ROTC at Holy Cross; he was a

multiple awards and recognition for

two daughters-in-law; two sisters-in-

Brands; he also helped found Medical

member of the O’Callahan Society

his service; he completed a one-year

law; 12 grandchildren; and one great-

Claims Assistants in Rochester. He

and was affiliated with Naval ROTC.

tour to Vietnam. He retired from

grandchild. He was predeceased by his

later served as director of business

Mr. Flynn is survived by his wife of

his second career as a Department

wife, Terry; one son; and his brother,

management at Clearwater (Florida)

44 years, Rita; one son and his wife;

of Corrections officer at the rank of

John G. Weg, M.D., ’55.

IN MEMORIAM / ALUMNI NEWS / 93


IN MEMORIAM 1962 Frederick John Carpenter III

Bruce R. McLaughlin Sr.

the Holy Cross Lawyers Association.

where he was founder and medical

Bruce R.

He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving as

director. He is survived by his wife,

McLaughlin Sr.,

a military policeman during the Viet-

Regina; two children; two sisters;

Frederick John

of Poughkeepsie,

nam War. Mr. McNerney is survived

two brothers-in-law; many in-laws,

(Fabs) “F. J.”

New York, died

by his wife, Birgit; two daughters; one

nieces and nephews; and his cousin,

Carpenter III, of

on July 16, 2017,

daughter’s fiancé; seven grandchil-

J. Christopher Collins ’80. He was

Waccabuc, New

at 74. Mr. McLaughlin served five

dren; one brother; one sister-in-law;

predeceased by his father, James F.

York, died on Sept.

years as an officer in the U.S. Navy,

two sisters; one brother-in-law; and

Collins, M.D., ’33, and his uncle, Rev.

2, 2017, at 76. Mr. Carpenter worked

attaining the rank of lieutenant; he

many nieces and nephews. He was

Joseph I. Collins ’35.

for Irving Trust Bank, A.C. Israel and

served in Vietnam, where he earned

predeceased by one sister; one son;

Triple A Sugar Corporation; he retired

several medals. He worked for many

and his beloved dog.

as president of the International

years at IBM as a software engineer

Commodities Export Corporation.

and later as a technical writer. He

He is survived by his wife of 53 years,

studied psychology at Holy Cross

Maureen; four children; two sisters;

and participated in ROTC; he was a

Timothy D. “Tim”

and 10 grandchildren.

member of the O’Callahan Society

Dulaney, of

and was affiliated with Naval ROTC.

Arlington, Virginia,

died on Sept. 5, 2017, at 68. A graduate

Mr. McLaughlin is survived by

died on July 3,

of Boston College Law School, Mr.

2017. Mr. Dulaney

Murphy was a law instructor at the

1963 G. Kenneth McCart

Thomas F. Murphy Jr. Thomas F. “Tom”

1969 Timothy D. Dulaney

his wife of 42 years, Carolyn; one

Murphy Jr., of Wellesley Hills and Chatham, Massachusetts,

G. Kenneth

sister; one brother and his wife;

studied economics at Holy Cross and

U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a

McCart, of Pawleys

one brother-in-law; two sons; two

was a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu

district legal staff officer in Boston

Island, South

daughters; one son-in-law; one

Jesuit Honor Society. He is survived

before working for the Maritime Tort

Carolina, formerly

daughter-in-law; four grandsons; and

by his brother, Arthur A. Dulaney III,

Division of the Justice Department

of Monmouth

many nieces and nephews.

USAF (Ret.), ’66.

in New York and then in private

County, New Jersey, died on Aug. 27, 2017, at 75. Mr. McCart earned an MBA

1965 Stephen G. Bowen Jr.

Steven E. Olchowski, M.D.

practice as a maritime attorney in the greater Boston area. A U.S. Coast

Steven E.

Guard veteran, he also held a Master

Stephen G. “Steve”

Olchowski,

of Marine Affairs degree from the

Bowen Jr., of

M.D., of Lowell

University of Rhode Island. Mr. Murphy

War. He participated in ROTC at Holy

Sharon, Connecti-

and Hawkins,

supported the College as a regional

Cross, and he supported the College

cut, died on July

Michigan, died on

club career counselor and as a member

as a member of the Career Education

6, 2017. Mr. Bowen

from the School of Business at the University of Chicago. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam

Aug. 26, 2017, at 69. A biology major

of the 1843 Society and Holy Cross

& Resource Committee. Mr. McCart

studied economics at Holy Cross. He

at Holy Cross, Dr. Olchowski earned

Lawyers Association. He is survived

is survived by his wife of 49 years,

served as an admissions advisor and

his doctorate from the St. Louis

by his wife of 37 years, Mary Anne;

Kathleen; one daughter; one sister

was a member of the career advisor

University School of Medicine and

two children; and one brother in-law

and brother-in-law; one brother and

network; he also supported Holy

specialized in colorectal surgery. He

and his wife. He was predeceased by

sister-in-law; one niece; two brothers-

Cross athletics. Mr. Bowen is survived

had a long career at the Bon Secours

several relatives who also attended the

in-law; and one sister-in-law.

by his wife, Joan; his children, includ-

Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan,

College: his father, Thomas F. Murphy

ing his son Capt. Stephen G. Bowen III

and at the New Hanover Regional

'33, and his uncles, Paul T. Price '43 and

’00; two grandchildren; and his cousin,

Medical Center in Wilmington, North

Rev. Thomas J. Price '31.

David Bowen ’71. He was predeceased

Carolina. He is survived by his wife of

Stuart J. Long,

by his father, Stephen G. Bowen ’38,

33 years, Penelope; his mother; five

of Washington,

and his grandfather, Thomas J. Bowen,

children; and two sisters.

D.C., died on

class of 1908.

1964 Stuart J. Long

Peter S. Kaminski Jr., of Grafton,

July 29, 2017, at 75. Mr. Long stayed connected to the College as

1971 Peter S. Kaminski Jr. ’71

1968 Stephen A. McNerney

1970 James F. Collins Jr., M.D.

Massachusetts, died on July 10, 2017, at 69. Mr. Kaminski also attended the

James F. Collins Jr.,

Naval Academy. He worked for 13

Stephen A. Mc-

M.D., of Medford,

years in the insurance industry, before

Nerney, of Auburn,

New York, died on

pursuing a career as a bookseller at

Lawyers Association. He was also an

Massachusetts,

July 9, 2017, at 68.

the Book Corner, Tatnuck Bookseller

admissions advisor and supported the

died on Aug. 10,

A lacrosse player

and Borders. Mr. Kaminski is survived

baseball team. He is survived by his

2017, at 70. A his-

a member of the 1843 Society, class reunion committee and Holy Cross

at Holy Cross, Dr. Collins graduated

by his wife, Roxanne; one uncle;

wife, Cherie; two children and their

tory major at Holy Cross, Mr. McNer-

from Tufts University School of

two aunts; one brother-in-law and

spouses; two grandchildren; several

ney also graduated from Suffolk Law

Medicine. He was a surgeon who

his wife; one sister-in-law and her

brothers and sisters; and many friends

School. He practiced law in Worcester

practiced ophthalmology at the Center

husband; and many nieces, nephews

and relatives.

for over 45 years and was a member of

for Eye Care in West Islip, New York,

and cousins.

9 4 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018


1972 Leonard P. Cooper

1974 James P. Griffin

Holy Cross. She earned her master's

Dowd, class of 1910, mother of James

degree in public health from Boston

Connolly '84, Ann Maura Connolly '86 and Mary Connolly Turner

Leonard P. “Lenny” Cooper, of

James P. Griffin,

University and was employed as

Worcester, died on Aug. 14, 2017, at 70.

of South Boston,

the senior director of Corporate &

'89, and grandmother of Margaret

Mr. Cooper studied political science

formerly of

Foundation Relations at the University

Connolly '21, Katherine Turner '19

and government at Holy Cross, where

Dorchester,

of Massachusetts in Lowell. Ms.

and Philip Turner '21; Rhonda M.

he was involved in the Black Student

Massachusetts,

Kral supported the College as an

Cormier, Jesuit community house

Union. A local community activist, he

died on July 17, 2017. Mr. Griffin

admissions advisor and regional

coordinator; William K. Costigan

was employed by the Massachusetts

worked for the MDC and the DCR for

club career counselor; she was also

43, cousin of Mark S. Moloney ’73;

Rehabilitation Commission for almost

over 35 years, as well as Quirk Motors.

a member of the career advisor

Joseph M. D'Allesio, father of Michael

40 years, during which he was success-

He played football at Holy Cross and

network. She is survived by one

D'Allesio '19; Jesse U. De Leaver,

ful in helping to increase the number

was a member of the Varsity Club. He

daughter and her parents.

brother of Rodney V. De Leaver '74;

of blacks and Hispanics promoted to

is survived by one sister, four brothers

middle and upper management. He

and their spouses; and several nieces,

is survived by three sisters and many

grandnieces and grandnephews.

Joan T. Dickie, mother of Catherine

2010 Philip B. Murphy

Dumas of the biology department; Donna Fahey, wife of Laurence J.

Philip B. Murphy,

Fahey '63; Richard C. Fitzgerald 51;

of Watertown,

Richard P. Galloway 46; Richard

Massachusetts,

E.A. Gaudette, father of Richard

James M. Barbaria,

died on Sept. 17,

Gaudette '74; John F. Gibson 51;

John J. LoCascio

of Jamaica Plain,

2017, at 29. An

Francis J. Guaciaro Sr. 50; Mary Ellen

Jr., M.D., of

Massachusetts,

English major at Holy Cross, Mr.

Halloran, wife of S. Michael Halloran

Scarborough,

died on June 16,

Murphy was a Patrick L. McCarthy

'60; William Henderson, father of

Maine, died on

2017, at 62. Mr.

'63 Alumni Scholar. He played on

Lisa Henderson of the environmental

Barbaria graduated from Holy Cross

the rugby team and spent his junior

services department; Kurt Hotte,

67. A biology major at Holy Cross, Dr.

magna cum laude; he earned a Ph.D.

year abroad at the University of Cork,

father of Alyssa MacCarthy '98;

LoCascio earned his M.D. from State

and was a clinical psychologist in

Ireland. He was a member of the

Thomas J. Kearns Jr. 50; Marjorie

University of New York Downstate. He

a private practice in Boston. He is

Holy Cross Alumni Association. He

Ladley, mother of Robert G. Ladley

was a physician and partner at Mount

survived by his father; three brothers;

worked for C-4 Analytics as account

’78; Christina LaPlante, mother

David Clinical Associates in Lewiston,

one aunt; and two uncles.

director. He is survived by his parents,

of Suzanne Sousa of conference

including Brian C. Murphy '58; his

services; Charles MacLachlan,

fiancée, Alyssa Rose; two aunts and

father of Caroline MacLachlan '19;

their husbands; and many cousins

Evangelia Manoussakis, mother of

nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by two brothers and one sister.

John J. LoCascio Jr., M.D.

Aug. 18, 2017, at

1977 James M. Barbaria

Maine, then a medical director in leading global disability insurance companies. Dr. LoCascio supported

1980 Stephen A. Fanning III, D.O.

John Manoussakis of the philosophy

the College as an admissions advisor,

Stephen A. “Steve”

Parents for Class of 2006 and Parents

Fanning III, D.O., of

FRIENDS

department; Rev. Francis Martin 52;

for Class of 2014. He is survived by

North Kingstown,

John P. Albertson, father of Sean

William G. McKechney 71; Kathleen T.

his wife of almost 40 years, Karen;

Rhode Island, died

Albertson '87, father-in-law of Peggy

Nerbonne, mother of Mary Nerbonne

three daughters, Meghan L. Ganschow

on Aug. 4, 2017,

Flaherty Albertson '87 and grandfather

'77 and Michael Nerbonne '82; Joseph

'02, Caitlin LoCascio-King '06 and

at 59. A swimmer at Holy Cross, Dr.

of Meagan Albertson '20; Jerome D.

G. Pyne 51; James Reidy, father of

Shannon L. LoCascio '14; two sons-

Fanning graduated from New England

Anderson, uncle of Mark Anderson

Deirdre Reidy '18 and Clare Reidy

in-law; six grandchildren; two sisters

College of Osteopathic Medicine. He

'89; Henry J. Baluta 51; John Alton

'13; Francis Ring, father of Patricia

and their families; his faithful bichon

served patients for more than 30 years

Barrett, father of Katherine Barrett of

Ring, registrar; Donald Ritchie,

sidekick; and dear friends.

at the Apple Valley Family Treatment

the philosophy department, and uncle

father of Eileen Cravedi of the library

Center in Greenville, Rhode Island.

of Cathi Goulet of the religious studies

department; Blanche Rizoli, mother

He is survived by his wife, Susan B.

department; Judy Beecher, wife of

of Louis Rizoli '71; Guido Rodriguez,

Fanning '80; children; grandchildren;

Thomas Beecher '56 and mother of

father of Guido Rodriguez, Hogan

Mark S. Moloney, of St. Louis, died on

and four siblings. He was predeceased

Kathleen Beecher Moore '90; John

Dining Services (auxiliary services

July 21, 2017. An English and Spanish

by his parents.

B. Brunelle 46; Arthur W. Camire

department); Frank A. Ruggiero 46;

45; Nicholas J. Carenzo Sr., father

Remo J. Soloperto 51; Tara Marlow

of Christina (Chris) Guittar of dining

Studley, formerly of residence life and

services; Anthony B. Cashman, father

housing; Robert V. Talty 47; Robert E. Vaillancourt 46; Gloria Villa, widow

1973 Mark S. Moloney

major at Holy Cross, Mr. Moloney was involved in the College’s Glee Club and WCHC radio station. He is survived

1992 Jacqueline T. Kral

by two sisters; two sisters-in-law; and

Jacqueline T.

of Anthony B. Cashman III of the

many nephews, nieces, cousins and

Kral, of Littleton,

Office of Distinguished Fellowships

of Joel Villa '65 (formerly of audio

friends. He was predeceased by his

Massachusetts,

and Graduate Studies and father-in-

visual services), mother of Cheryl '89

brother, Thomas O. Moloney '55, and

died on Aug. 25,

law of Stephanie Yuhl of the history

and Michael '91, mother-in-law of Lisa

his cousins, John M. Flavan '53 and

2017, at 47. Ms.

department and Montserrat; Ann

Villa '90 of the library department and

Dowd Connolly, widow of James J.

grandmother of Catherine Villa '20 ■

William K. Costigan 43.

Kral studied sociology and premed at

IN MEMORIAM / ALUMNI NEWS / 95


ARTIFACT

The tradition began in the 1990s under the beloved Rev. William J. O’Halloran, S.J., When he decided to gather together the Jesuits of Ciampi Hall in a very special way. (left) Fr. Lapomarda as the Christmas elf to Fr. O’Halloran’s Santa Claus (above) After O’Halloran’s passing in 2008, Fr. Lapomarda took over the job of playing Santa. The youngest Jesuit has the task of playing the Christmas elf and rings the bell to announce Santa’s arrival.

“Please take a break from correcting papers and join us to hang the ornaments and decorations.” So reads the invitation that precedes the official Christmas celebrations. With eggnog, mulled cider, cordials and chocolate for all, The Jesuits adorn their very own residence hall. Shortly thereafter, the whole house comes together For an evening of worship, good cheer and warm respite from wintry Worcester weather…

to continue Fr. O’Halloran’s legacy. “There were no rivals willing to undertake the task,” say Fr. Lapomarda.

The Jesuits’ Santa Suit

L

ike so many traditions, it is hard to pinpoint exactly when this one started. The Jesuit community moved into Ciampi Hall in 1991, and shortly thereafter Fr. O’Halloran began donning a Santa suit during the annual Christmas festivities at the hall. The Christmas party begins with Mass in the chapel at Ciampi. The residents gather for a happy hour and dinner, before coming together in the hall lobby, which has been decorated during a previous gathering, to sing carols and hymns and listen to a reading

9 6 \ H O LY CROS S M AG A ZINE \ WINTER 2018

BY MEREDITH FIDROCKI

of the Christmas Feast from the Roman Martyrology. “Santa” then makes his appearance to distribute gifts to the community. “It was natural to him,” says Rev. Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J., associate professor of history, who served as Fr. O’Halloran’s self-described “Christmas elf.” Fr. Lapomarda credits Fr. O’Halloran’s character and “community spirit” with solidifying this tradition. When Fr. O’Halloran passed away in 2008, Fr. Lapomarda put on the suit

“The Christmas celebration is my favorite night in our community,” says Rev. James Hayes, S.J. ’72, associate chaplain for mission. “Fr. Lapomarda is a witty and charming Santa. The youngest Jesuit is Santa’s elf and he rings the bell to announce Santa’s arrival. We sing Christmas hymns and visit together for some time. It’s a lot of fun.” Fr. Hayes shares that an invitation to join in the festivities is often extended to Jesuits who graduated from the College. So no matter what cold snowy winds blow this winter, we can conjure an image of a warm evening of laughter and Christmas spirit in this special hall on top of this special hill. ■


tom rettig

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ith a breadth of experiential learning opportunities available, from research to internships to semesters away in New York and D.C., how do students choose the right opportunity(ies) for their interests? HCM looks at the resources that support students in their discernment processes, as well as how this prepares them for the world beyond Mount St. James.

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HOLY CROSS RINGS Thanks to all the alumni who sent photos and stories of your class rings to hcmag@holycross.edu (including Charles Polachi ’43, wearing his grandfather George Moran’s ring from 1906). The story is still in the works, and we’re looking for more! Send us photos (high-res, please!) of your Holy Cross class rings, athletics rings and any special memories or stories associated with your ring.

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ONE COLLEGE STREET

UNEARTHING THE PAST WHILE BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE Construction on the Luth Athletic Complex opened a peephole into the history of the Hart Center. Read what was behind the cornerstone that hasn’t been seen in over 40 years on Page 56 and watch the video of the extraction at magazine.holycross.edu. TOM RETTIG

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