Alumni return to Cabrini for careers

CHRISTINE BLOM ASST. COPYAND PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

CBB722@CABRINI

Edu

A steady career is one thing that all college students hope for in their four-year tenure. It is no different at Cabrini.

Shirley Dixon, member of the Wolf ington Center staff, graduated from Cabrini College in 1984 with a degree in early childhood education.

“When I had received my associate’s degree, I started looking into schools where I could continue my studies. Eastern University had actually informed me about Cabrini’s program,” Dixon said.

In 1989, Dixon received her master’s degree from Cabrini as well, also in early childhood education.

After leaving Cavalier Country in the late 1980s, Dixon became a fifth grade teacher at Girard Middle

School where she later became principal before returning to Cabrini. As a member of the board, Dixon was the first member of color. As a result of this, when President Iadorola first came to Cabrini, Dixon was asked to help with the diversity initiative at the college.

“The growth of the college really is impressive,” Dixon said. “The physical size of the college and number of majors is really outstanding.”

Even though the campus has almost doubled in size since Dixon was in attendance, the diversity is something that she would like to see focused on.

“It’s a decent mixture of students now but we do need to work more with diversifying the campus. It is something that we have been and will continue to work on,” Dixon said.

When Dawn Francis, associate professor of communications, g raduated in 1993, she never expected that she would be back at Cabrini for anything other than Alumni activities and reunions.

Francis, an English and communication major, was one of Dr. Jer ry Zurek’s advisees and sought his advice for everything.

Like many other post-college coeds, Francis attended graduate school in Athens, OH, at Ohio University. She was attending the School of Journalism while doing an internship with an interactive multimedia firm.

Keeping in touch with Dr. Zurek all that time did come in handy for Francis. When she decided to return to the Delaware Valley, Dr. Zurek got her a job in the field of advertising.

After expressing her unhappi- ness at her job, she received word that there might be an opening in the communications department at Cabrini.

“Dr Zurek told me that they needed someone to teach advertising. I interviewed in January of 2002, and then I heard within a shor t period of time that I was hired,” Francis said.

After starting in the fall of 2002, Francis had a bit of adjusting to do when she returned to campus.

“It was so hard from going to looking at my professors as heroes to peers,” Francis said. “Thank goodness I finally got over the initial shell shock, but it did take me a while. I just started calling Dr. Zurek by his first name sometime last year.”

Now, Dixon and Francis can be found around campus on a daily basis. Who knows? Your adviser may con you into returning to Cabrini in a few years.

Girard’s tale of the Jersey Devil Girard’s tale of the Jersey Devil

ANGELINA WAGNER STAFF WRITER AMW722@CABRINI EDU

The puzzling and terrifying American myth of the New Jersey Pine Barrens and the stories surrounding the Jersey Devil have captivated adults and children for more than two hundred years of histor y. Geoffrey Girard, award winning fiction writer and son of Dr Jolyon Girard, has captured the spirit of sightings, folklore and events through fourteen chapters of f ictional tales in his new book “Tales of the Jersey Devil.”

“Geoffrey did all of the fiction writing and I took care of the historical accuracies,” Dr. Girard, history and political science professor, said. With the help of Girard’s excellence in history and Jared Barber as the illustrator of the book, Geoffrey Girard has captured the legend of the Jersey Devil from birth and up into the Jersey Devil Club of today. Tales of the Jersey Devil begin with his birth in 1735 where he was the thirteenth child of the Leeds family. The sightings and folklore continue throughout the years with various sighting of the Jersey Devil or Leeds Devil watching near the house where he was born. Geoffrey Girard’s “Tales of the Jersey Devil” goes through the years from the story of Daniel Leeds to the fossil site in 1978.

“My wife and I actually went out to the Pine Barrens,” said Dr. Girard. The legend of the Jersey Devil goes that he was born as the thirteenth child to the Leeds family. The rumors supposedly were that either Mother Leeds herself dabbled in dark arts or that she was cursed by a gypsy. The legend continues to go on and say that the child was supposed to look like Lucifer himself. The child was bor n and looked like a nor mal human baby but then the child began to transform into a creature that had the face of a horse and a long serpent’s tail.

Oral folklore and many stories sur rounding the mere-than-myth Jersey Devil have been keeping children awake on dark nights and fascinating believers alike. This American legend is even believed to be more than a myth just like the Loch Ness monster. Whether the stories are true or not, there’s one thing for sure. New Jersey isn’t just about the shore and malls, it’s about a location that’s hundreds of miles long called the Pine Barrens, that holds the dwelling place of the Jersey Devil. Geoffrey Girard’s book “Tales of the Jersey Devil” is now on sale in Cabrini’s bookstore and at online bookstores.