University of Dallas Tower Magazine Summer 2021 by University of Dallas

+ DOING SCIENCE

Hillcrest Grant Upgrades Lab

Jonathan J. Sanford Takes the Helm as UD’s 10th President

summer 2021

+ D.C. DOG RUNNER

From Biology to Business

+ Charming, Helpful & Solid

Beautiful Books, Practical Uses

F I RS T W O R D

TOWER PRESIDENT Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D. VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Clare Venegas DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI & DONOR RELATIONS & PROGRAM SERVICES Julie Abell, MBA ’91 SENIOR EDITOR Callie Ewing, BA ’03 MH ’22 DESIGNER Sarah Oates

o say that the University of Dallas has weathered some storms this past year hardly does justice to their rapidity or ferocity: COVID, a restructuring and a presidential transition, to name a few. On the other end of this year, we can now see that we are a greater, a better, a more excellent University of Dallas, not in spite of the challenges we have faced together but through our collective response to them. We have persevered with purpose. Fittingly, Commencement weekend was in turns poignant and celebratory in new ways. The baccalaureate Mass, movingly celebrated by our chancellor, Bishop Edward Burns, was followed by a beautiful evening of conviviality on the mall. Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil, Iraq, who has emerged as a global leader in the quest for religious liberty, gave witness to the irrepressible power of hope and joy in the midst of suffering. One hallmark of his response to religious persecution in his native land has been the founding of schools and a university, the Catholic University of Erbil, with which we are now partnering in several ways. Offering a genuine Catholic education is always a profound witness to hope. Courageous perseverance is guided by hope. But in what do we hope? What are the goods we hope to achieve? In my Commencement remarks, I reminded our graduates that our purpose as a Catholic liberal arts university is to cultivate truth, wisdom and virtue, and to do so with a thoroughgoing commitment to excellence. That is why we exist. We pursue these goods in the spirit of friendship — friendship with the truth, friendship with each other and, ultimately, friendship with God. In doing so, we dedicate ourselves to the great culture- renewing work of living lives of deep meaning and purpose, striving to do great things for the glory of God and love of our neighbors. This is no small purpose but one that calls on each of us to live magnanimously. It is just such an effort that gives purpose to our perseverance.

Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D. President, Professor of Philosophy

To update your address or other contact information, email udalum@udallas.edu. Send comments, letters to the editor or other communication regarding this publication to Clare Venegas, University of Dallas, Office of Marketing & Communications, 1845 E. Northgate Dr., Irving, TX 75062; cvenegas@ udallas.edu. Tower magazine is published twice annually by the Office of Marketing & Communications for the University of Dallas community. Opinions in Tower magazine are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the university. Postmaster: Send address changes to Tower, Office of Marketing & Communications, 1845 E. Northgate Dr., Irving, TX 75062. The university does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its programs and activities. Any person alleging to have been discriminated against in violation of Title IX may present a complaint to the Title IX coordinator. The coordinator assists in an informal resolution of the complaint or guides the complainant to the appropriate individual or process for resolving the complaint. The university has designated Luciana Hampilos, J.D., as director of the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX. She can be reached at 972-721-5056. ©University of Dallas 2021. All rights reserved.

photos: jason anderson, jeff mcwhorter.

Perseverance with Purpose

CONTRIBUTORS Ryan Anderson, Ph.D. Father Thomas More Barba, BA ’09 ’10 Peter Burleigh, BA ’21 Aaron Claycomb Alyssa Coe, BA ’19 Tracey Dillard, MA ’98 Chris Hazell Kate Friend, BA ’07 Shelley Gayler-Smith Kim Leeson Madeleine LiMandri, BA ’21 Anthony Mazur, BA ’21 Jeff McWhorter Daniel Orazio, BA ’13 Matthew Quinlan, BA ’22 Justin Schwartz, BA ’16 Aspen Daniels Smith, BA ’19 Ken Starzer Megan Wagner, MH ’16 Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda George Weigel

Inside FEATURES

By What We Give

Created by grateful, generous alumni, parents and friends, eight new funds support our students.

Doing Science

The Hillcrest Foundation has given the Biology Department a $100,000 grant to upgrade lab equipment, preparing the growing number of science majors for postgraduate research.

A New Springtime

Jonathan J. Sanford takes the helm as UD’s 10th president. Learn a little more about his roots, family life and aspirations for our alma mater.

You Can Do WHAT With a Biology Degree?

With just $40 worth of flyers and a single pair of tennis shoes, biology alumnus Bryan Barrera started his dog-running business. Now he’s a published author to boot.

Vitruvius Comes to Irving

In fall 2020, classics alumnus Taylor Posey founded the Irving Book Company, a bookstore and book publisher that is best defined apophatically: It is not a glorified Half Price Books, and it is no mere printer.

RECURRING 02 05 19 20 26 29

UD360° Heard Around Campus Class Notes Diversions Senior Stories Last Word

SUMMER 2021

NEWSFEED Serving for the Good. President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., announced the appointment of Associate Professor and Chair of Economics Tammy Leonard, Ph.D., as interim provost for the 2021-22 academic year. “I try to advance my students’ education to better their lives and to encourage using their gifts and talents in service of others,” said Leonard, who officially assumed this role on June 1. “Dr. Leonard is a leader of remarkable vision, energy and dedication to the good of all those she serves,” said Sanford. Read more at udallas.edu/ serving-for-the-good.

Sisters Serving UD

‘From Happy Hours to Holy Hours’

1 2

By Madeleine LiMandri, BA ’21 ister Mary Gabriel Devlin, S.V., BA ’96, withdrew from her faith life in seventh grade after being mocked by her two best friends for belting a hymn during a school Mass. However, her sophomore year at UD, she realized that even though her “superficial goals” were being met, she “still had a restlessness and sadness” within her. On a walk home from UD’s library, she felt drawn to the chapel and upon entering, got a strong sense of God’s presence. All at once, she knew God was real and that He loved her. After graduating, Sister Mary Gabriel moved to New York City to be a nanny. She came to realize she would give her life for the children in her care, and for any children. At the same time, while volunteering in the South Bronx and praying the rosary with “the little old ladies” after Mass, she thought, “I’ve traded my happy hours for holy hours!” The first time she visited the Sisters for Life convent, Sister Mary Gabriel had a sense of being home both in the community and in their charism to protect vulnerable human life.

TOWER MAGAZINE

Satish Gupta, MBA ’81, was named a 2021 Influential Leader by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), a distinction only 25 business college alumni worldwide received this year to honor those who are using their business education for societal impact. Gupta and his wife, Yasmin, MBA ’82, are the namesakes and longtime benefactors of UD’s business college. Read more at udallas.edu/influencing-business.

designing Excellence. 1 “Receive your own life as a

gift,” advises Sister Mary Gabriel, urging those discerning to let go of anxiety and fear of the future so “you can become the best person you can possibly be and give the gift of yourself.”

2 Read more about Sister Mary Gabriel and other UD sisters at udallas.edu/sisters-serving-ud.

In February, the Dallas chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized UD architects Jane and Duane Landry with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Landrys’ contributions to UD include the Church of the Incarnation and the Student Apartments, as well as the Art Village, Braniff, Gorman and Haggar in collaboration with O’Neil Ford. “The Landrys’ award is well earned,” said Michael Terranova, Ph.D., BA ’85 MA ’93.

photos: justin schwartz, kim leeson, aaron claycomb, ud archives, ken starzer, steve bisgrove, jeff mcwhorter.

Influencing Business.

UD360

+ Taking the Title The 2021 Cor Challenge, which ran March 23-27, broke records for the second year in a row in both number of donors and dollars raised, taking the title from 2020 as the most successful Cor Challenge ever. With 957 donors (a 30% increase over 2020), it raised a total of $286,258 (a 43% increase over 2020), including a $50,000 match from UD Trustee Nick Serafy.

Trending + Making the Rank

UD made The Princeton Review’s list of “Best Value Colleges,” ranking No. 4 for Most Popular Study Abroad Program and No. 5 for Happiest Students. The Edvocate, an education support and advocacy website, named UD’s DBA program one of 2022’s Best Doctorate Degree Programs in Business Administration.

+ Into the Deep UD Chaplain Father Thomas More Barba, BA ’09 ’10, departs UD this summer for his next adventure as chaplain of Tulane University in New Orleans. Barba is succeeded as chaplain of UD by Father Joseph Paul Albin, who has his complete support and confidence — as does UD itself. He emphasized that he will remain involved as an alumnus, and leaves the community with these words of wisdom, drawing upon St. JPII: “Be not afraid to put out into the deep, whatever that deep might look like.” Read more at udallas.edu/ into-the-deep ... and his reflection on the Year of St. Joseph in the Last Word, p. 29.

SUMMER 2021

Previously offered through the Ann and Joe O. Neuhoff School of Ministry, this program will continue in the Ann and Joe O. Neuhoff Institute for Ministry and Evangelization.

Empowering Evangelization

UD Offers Certificate Program in Spanish to Local Parishes By Chris Hazell D has teamed up with two Dallas parishes — St. Francis of Assisi in Frisco and Our Lady of Lourdes in Dallas — to offer its Certificate of Pastoral Ministry (CPM) Program in Spanish to better serve the large Spanish-speaking community in the Dallas area. The CPM is designed to form, educate and prepare adults to serve in their parishes, schools and other Catholic organizations. Students can take courses in theology, morality, pastoral ministry, evangelization, marriage and family life, and more. Father Fray Luis Gerardo Arraiza of Our Lady of Lourdes sees the program as a wonderful blessing for nourishing the diverse members of his parish. Even though his parishioners hail from traditionally Catholic countries such as Mexico and El Salvador, many of them know very little about the traditions and teachings of Catholicism. “In the Hispanic communities of the past, the grandmothers were the ones who transmitted the faith, but this is not the case now. People need to know what the Catholic faith means, and the more they know, the better influence they are going to have in transmitting the tenets of the faith to our young families and youth,” said Arraiza.

TOWER MAGAZINE

Read more at udallas. edu/empoweringevangelization.

UD360

HEARD around CAMPUS ever so lucky. For over 15 years, Monsignor Thomas Fucinaro has served as chaplain on UD’s Eugene Constantin Campus (aka Due Santi) just outside of Rome. However, in May, Pope Francis reassigned him to his home diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, beginning in February 2022 as pastor of the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. “Monsignor will be missed tremendously by Rome, but Lincoln is ever so lucky!” said Vallery (Bergez) Hrbacek, BA ’14. Read more at udallas.edu/ever-so-lucky.

Animating Principles. The 2021 King Fellow is Professor of Management J.Lee Whittington, Ph.D., and the Haggar Fellow is Associate Professor and Chair of Biology William Cody, Ph.D. “Thank you for making this university fully alive with the animating principles of truth, wisdom and virtue,” said President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., to all faculty. Read more at udallas.edu/animating-principles.

Hope, love, faith, the transcendent and seeking out commonalities in our stories even as we appreciate each other’s differences: These are some of the takeaways from the past semester’s events, lectures and panel discussions.

“God calls us to a true, lasting love for every person — a love which is sacrificial, a love which is both tender and fierce, a love based on objective truth and a love that extends even to one’s enemies.”

photos: justin schwartz, jeff mcwhorter, stephen henderson.

Business Excellence. In February, the Gupta College of Business celebrated its 2021 Hall of Fame inductees: Ramesh Bhatia, MBA ’81, former president and CEO of Atco Rubber Products and founder of The Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation; Sonia Kirkpatrick, MBA ’11, founder and CEO of PediaPlex; and Bruce Evans, professor emeritus of management.

Course for Growth. After nearly a year of planning, UD announced a comprehensive plan to reduce business operations costs and restructure some academic programs over the next three years, setting a course for growth. Read more at udallas.edu/course-for-growth.

“Ought one then to abandon all hope, all faith … ? I want to suggest that that’s the wrong question. In fact, I want to suggest that part of the difficulty that many people experience in their lives is in not realizing that that’s the wrong question. One of the glories of our faith is that it elevates our gaze to a good that surpasses our nature.” President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., during the EnCore lecture “History, Tradition and Hope” in March. Lisa M. Ong, Wishing Out Loud President & Founder, during the Spring 2021 Women in Business Leadership panel.

“Seeking out experiences in which you’re the only one builds your life hard drive. Look for others who are the ‘only ones,’ and learn their stories.”

Trustee Louis Brown, during the February lecture “Christian Identity in a Time of Racial and Social Conflict.”

Class of 2021 Valedictorian Patrick Andrews, BA ’21, during Senior Convocation.

“I came in one way and came out another. … UD was a college that let me grow in my faith, which now I think is rare.” Trustee Mary Devlin Capizzi, J.D., BA ’88 MBA ’89, mother of a UD alumna and a current student, during an April Parent Council event.

Infinite New Treasures “As someone who came into the Catholic Church as an adult, the faith for me has an astonishing freshness, with infinite new treasures to be discovered and shared,” said Distinguished Research Scholar in Politics Tim Shah, Ph.D. Read about Shah’s appointment at udallas.edu/infinitenew-treasures.

SUMMER 2021

What Give

By We

Global Giving Answer to My Prayers One of the many ways UD embraces religious liberty is through a partnership with the Catholic University of Erbil in Iraq, in which CUE students have the opportunity to study at UD. A newly endowed scholarship named for a martyred Chaldean Catholic priest in Iraq will help make studying at UD a more affordable option for these and other international students. Excited by the CUE partnership, Charles and Linda Neubecker generously created the Father Ragheed Ganni Endowed Scholarship after witnessing a similar partnership bear fruit in Ukraine. Alumna Amandhi Matthews, BS ’21, a biology major and first-generation international student from Sri Lanka, emphasized the importance of scholarships like this one. “Endowment scholarships have been the answer to my prayers,” she said. Read more at udallas.edu/answer-to-my-prayers.

But the Same Spirit Mike Wehrle, D.D.S., BA ’85, along with classmates Bill Schofield and Jennifer (Coyle) Byrne (both also BA ’85), launched the Class of 1985 Endowed Scholarship in hopes of inspiring both their classmates and other current and future alumni to invest in the value of a UD education.

Mike Wehrle, BA ’85

TOWER MAGAZINE

Citing 1 Corinthians 12 (“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone”), Wehrle issued two challenges. The first was to his own classmates, that they would both give some amount and participate in the scholarship’s mentoring program; the second was to other UD classes, that they would strive to support and mentor UD students in a similar way. Read more at udallas.edu/but-the-same-spirit.

Essential for Human Happiness Larry Nee, MA ’94 PhD ’98, believed friendship was essential for human happiness, and he spent much of his time putting this principle into practice. The Laurence D. Nee Memorial Scholarship in Politics was created to honor a friend and seeks to allow a future UD graduate student to experience the great minds who informed Nee’s thinking on the importance of friendship. “We thought this was a good way to remember our dear friend while supporting the institution that he insisted provided him with the philosophical underpinnings of his everyday life,” said Ed Gramling, MA ’93, who established the scholarship along with his wife, Bridget (Barvick) Gramling, BA ’90, his brother Chris Gramling (who took classes in the Braniff Graduate School in the 1990s), and Chris’ wife and Bridget’s sister, Sheila (Barvick) Gramling, BA ’92. Read more at udallas.edu/essential-for-human-happiness.

photos: courtesy of acn united states, aaron claycomb, courtesy of julie pecha.

Alumni Commemorating Community

G e n e r o s it y Monsignor Donald Zimmerman, BA ’69 MTh ’73

Parents Paying It Forward Most Important in the World For UD parents Brian and Maria Dean, whose daughter Anna is a doctoral student in UD’s Institute of Philosophic Studies (IPS), the pursuit of philosophy at its highest academic levels is a paramount task for today’s generation.

First-Gen Fervor Reducing Sacrifices for Dreams The newly endowed Monsignor Donald Zimmerman First-Generation Scholarship honors the longtime pastor of Christ the King parish in the Diocese of Dallas, and the example he has set as a UD alumnus. The scholarship will provide financial assistance to high school students who are the first in their families to go to college, and also sets up a support system to facilitate a smooth transition into college. Bryan Velazquez, a sophomore who benefited from a first-generation scholarship, said, “Both of my parents have made sacrifices to ensure that I will be able to gain a college education. Earning a scholarship was my way of reducing the sacrifices they had to make so that I can achieve my dream.” Read more at udallas.edu/reducing-sacrifices-for-dreams.

Finding Tradition Adelaida and Al Kagan are the parents of two UD alumni, Sofia Kagan, BS ’18, and Alexander Kagan, BA ’21, and a current student, Ana Kagan, BA ’24. A family of academics, the Kagans deeply appreciate the education their children have received at UD. “Parents are the primary educators of their children,” said Adelaida Kagan. “UD didn’t steal 18 years from us, but built upon our work.”

“There was a time when we could speak a common language as Americans,” said Maria Dean. “But when you remove things that are true, good and beautiful in our educational system, you lose what is most important in the world.” With a generation-changing mindset, the Deans made a gift of $100,000 to help alleviate some of the day-to-day financial pressures that IPS students may face as they pursue a degree. Read more at udallas.edu/most-important-in-the-world.

‘All Our Happiness’ “We lived only for them,” St. Zélie Martin once wrote of her children. “They were all our happiness.” Like the Martins, the UD parents who established the Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin Scholarship believe deeply in the happiness engendered by one’s children and by nurturing a faithful family life. They are grateful for the education their two alumni children received and the unique place UD holds in Catholic higher education today. Fully aware of the financial burden of giving multiple children access to UD’s education, they have designated this scholarship specifically for the second, third or subsequent child in a family to attend the university.

“There are a lot of great legacy families at UD,” they said. “We want those legacies to continue and new ones to be formed by new families coming to UD and the next generation of UD students and families. We especially want to help form faithful Catholic families.” Read more at udallas.edu/ all-our-happiness.

Continuing the Legacy Julie and Erick Pecha consider themselves a new, different kind of UD legacy. While not alumni themselves, they are the parents of five alumni — Brennan Pecha, BS ’11, Camille (Pecha) Kennedy, BA ’13 MA ’15, Luke Pecha, BS ’15, Gabe Pecha, BS ’17, and Josephine Pecha, BA ’21; and an incoming student, Katerina Pecha, BA ’25. Further, the Pecha parents are alumni of the St. Ignatius Institute (SII) at the University of San Francisco, which, when they attended, resembled UD’s liberal arts curriculum grounded in community and a solid foundation in the Catholic faith and the Great Books. Father C.M. Buckley, S.J., was an integral part of the SII program and their guiding light, hence the choice of namesake for the scholarship they established, the Father C.M. Buckley Scholarship. “We began this scholarship in his name both to honor him and to encourage other SII alumni to support UD, which is continuing the legacy of education that we received and want to pass along to our children,” said Julie Pecha. Read more at udallas.edu/continuing-the-legacy.

Sophie (Athas) Pecha, BA ’16, Luke Pecha, BS ’15, and their daughter

When seeking a way to express their appreciation with a meaningful gift, the Kagans became aware of the need for further first-generation student support and immediately felt the rightness of creating the Fides et Ratio Kagan Family Scholarship for First-Generation Students. As first-generation alumna BeLynn Hollers, BA ’21, told them, “I’m not a legacy student, but I came to find tradition here at UD.” Read more at udallas.edu/finding-tradition.

SUMMER 2021

he University of Dallas has received a $100,000 grant from the Hillcrest Foundation to upgrade the Biology Department’s laboratory equipment and prepare the growing number of science majors for postgraduate research and education in STEM fields. All undergraduate science students have the opportunity to undertake an undergraduate research project, because of which UD students have a long, successful history of acceptance into both health-related professional schools and highly competitive summer research programs. Increasingly, however, the equipment used for on-campus research projects had become outdated or in need of repair. This is where the Hillcrest Foundation grant came in. The new equipment purchased with the aid of the grant includes largescale capital pieces whose acquisition would have been beyond the capacity of the department budget. “When we can get equipment like that in the hands of freshmen, they can do more, and they are better prepared to participate in research as sophomores

and juniors,” said Associate Professor and Chair of Biology William Cody, Ph.D. “We’re trying to get students hands-on with things sooner and expand their research capability in the lab.” One aspect of working at UD that greatly appealed to Assistant Professor of Biology Sunny Scobell, Ph.D., was that even though it is a small university with a small biology department, the quality of the research is on par with that of larger universities. “I love that my colleagues are interested in doing cutting-edge research at an undergraduate institution with undergraduates,” she said. The biology faculty will appreciate having a core facility where they can all work with equipment together because many of their research interests overlap. “I like this idea that we operate as a core facility,” said Assistant Professor of Biology Drew Stenesen, Ph.D. “All of us have experience with R-I institutes where each individual lab would have this equipment, and the redundancy and the wastefulness of that kind of model is not how we’re using this grant. All of us will have access to all of it. This is

truly the department’s equipment list, and everyone will use it at some point, either in the classroom or in their research.” The department plans to reorganize this summer to create this core facility with new equipment purchased with the grant. This type of arrangement creates further opportunities for faculty and student collaboration and for students to learn from each other while interacting and using the equipment for different projects in a common space. “Students come in and expect to do the scientific method like it’s a cookbook,” said Scobell. “The real experience of doing research is that you try something and it doesn’t work, so you tweak it and try it again. It’s messy. Until students do science, they don’t understand how messy it is. There’s such value in understanding the process before they leave us. Some students won’t ever get back to research in their careers, and they’ll go out and do big and important things, and having that level of scientific literacy, understanding how science is truly done and having that critical lens, is really important for modern times.” – Callie Ewing, BA ’03 MH ’22

Hillcrest Foundation Supports State-ofthe-Art Research

SCIENCE

Read more at udallas.edu/ hillcrest.

the year of st. joseph

Embracing the Virtue of True Masculinity

photos: chokniti khongchum, jeff mcwhorter. artwork: Helen Maier, BA ‘21.

By Matthew Quinlan, BA ’22 n a society that cheapens manhood and discourages any sign of masculinity, labeling it as “toxic,” men are placed in a precarious situation. Do we cave in and submit to what our postmodern society tells us to be? Or do we brashly rebel against society and beat our chests in defiance? The answer is that we do neither. Within the Catholic tradition, there are numerous examples of virtuous masculinity: from St. Thomas More, the chancellor of England who bravely embraced martyrdom by refusing to consent to Henry VIII’s immoral actions, to St. Louis the King, who led the kingdom of France while supporting his wife and 10 children. Yet, while these are excellent examples, they can seem difficult for us to emulate today. There is one man who is more relatable for us in this age, and one that the Holy Father Pope Francis recognized: St. Joseph. In proclaiming the Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis has called our attention to the oft-overlooked member of the Holy Family, who never speaks in the Gospels, yet was instrumental in the fulfillment of God’s plan for our salvation. It is precisely St. Joseph’s humility, a virtue heavily emphasized by Pope Francis in his preaching, that all people, but particularly fathers, are called to emulate in their own lives and the lives of their families. St. Joseph’s humility permeated his entire life and led him to become the foster father of Jesus. When told by the angel of the Lord in the Gospel of Matthew to not be afraid of bringing Mary into his home, he humbly “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took his wife into his home”(Matthew 1:24). He did not reject the responsibility of caring for his wife and abandon her, citing what he must have previously believed to be a scandalous affair. When he was urged by the angel once more to flee for Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod, he immediately “rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed”(Matthew 2:14). He did not cower away from what was asked of him, fearing what dangers lay on the road to that foreign land.

During what is known as the Hidden Life of Jesus, he passed onto Jesus his own trade, carpentry, not only to encourage the practicality required of being a man in the world, but also to emphasize the importance of what St. Josemaria Escriva refers to as “the little things,” small parts of our work that give glory to God in their wholehearted completion. And throughout this time, he loved and supported Our Blessed Mother. By humbly providing for the Holy Family, St. Joseph models for us what true masculinity and fatherhood look like, and what we must strive to return to in order to restore the institution of the family, the basic unit of society. Only by living out strong humility in the family can we hope to restore our culture.

Matthew Quinlan, BA ’22, is a rising senior business major and winner of our first Tower Student Essay Contest.

SUMMER 2021

Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., Takes Helm as UD’s 10th President.

New By Clare Venegas

t. John Paul II, in Ex corde Ecclesiae, observes that the university has historically served as a center of “creativity and dissemination of knowledge for the good of humanity.” St. John Paul’s view of the purpose of the university — an earnest pursuit of truth through rigorous thinking in order to live righteously — resonates deeply with Jonathan J. Sanford, who took the helm as the University of Dallas’ 10th president in March and will be formally inaugurated on Oct. 1.

TOWER MAGAZINE

A product of the JPII generation, it should be no surprise that Sanford, 46, is inspired by the life and work of the late pontiff and great saint. Perhaps you have read some of Sanford’s published works or heard some of his speeches; this interview aims to reveal some facets of the man himself. Here, Sanford shares his thoughts on the purpose of higher education, his optimism for UD’s future, and how his family life, and in particular his wife, Rebecca, have helped him embrace this providential time in the life of UD.

theology read and discussed in seminar style every school day for four years. Although I was less naturally attracted to math and science, the dedicated teachers helped me appreciate the beauty of those disciplines, while the fine arts cultivated a deeper desire for excellence. The school emphasized developing the arts of liberty. An orientation toward doing all things excellently, in pursuit of the true, good and beautiful, seeped into my soul. It was a great honor when I was invited to give Trinity’s commencement address in 2015, the same year my mom retired.

Outside of school, what was life like? You were raised in the Midwest. What were some of the important lessons or values from your childhood that you still carry with you? Both Rebecca and I grew up in South Bend, Indiana. I have four siblings, and we had two foster children and a cousin who lived with us, so it always felt like a full house. Certainly, a strong work ethic was implanted in us. I had my first job when I wasn’t technically old enough to hold one, subbing for my brother and his friends on their paper routes before eventually getting my own. My dad had, and still has, a small law practice, and our family put a high premium on dinner table discussion; we had plenty of practice in the art of rational disagreement. My mom was a teacher and writer with a strong attachment to the Catholic charismatic renewal movement, and the life of faith was foundational for our family. I learned some important principles through childhood, like looking for ways to serve

others, mowing lawns or fixing roofs for sick or elderly neighbors. We’d never leave a gathering without cleaning up; simple principles like that became ingrained. My parents also put a premium on independence. I rode my bike or took the bus everywhere. My father made it clear that we always needed to have jobs and would be financially independent by the end of high school; this clarity in expectations provided a definite focus.

How did your family view education? My mom taught at my 7-12 school, Trinity School at Greenlawn, an ecumenical Christian school and one of the first classical education schools in the country. Performing well in school was always valued, but education in our household was also valued for its own sake. My parents were both first-generation college students. They wanted us to read and think for ourselves but didn’t necessarily look at education as the only way to be successful. The trades were just as valuable as professions in their eyes; their outlook was much more about having a strong work ethic and finding your vocation.

How did attending a classical school influence your path in life? One of my eighth-grade teachers, Dr. Rollin Lassetter, actually taught at UD after leaving Trinity, and he was very influential on me. He gave me a vision for how to be an intellectual, and I began to imagine becoming one. I became deeply interested in the life of the mind. I was particularly drawn to the Humane Letters sequence of history, philosophy, literature and

I grew up playing lots of sports — baseball, basketball, soccer — probably more basketball than anything else. I met Rebecca in seventh grade, which marked the beginning of the most important relationship of my life, but I also developed many other deep friendships that endure to this day. Around 15, I started working as a house painter during the summers, a job I held through high school and college. After my first year, I was promoted to foreman, which was a good experience because it provided the opportunity to work with college students and adults from all backgrounds while bearing the responsibility to make sure we got the jobs done well.

Your journey to college and into philosophy began at Xavier. What was life like there? Xavier offered me a scholarship for a wonderful program, built on the old-school Jesuit model of the ratio studiorum, that required four years of reading literature in Greek and Latin, as well as courses in history, science, math, literature, philosophy and theology. I was initially also an English major, but I found that much of my interest in literature was philosophical. Also, my philosophy professors liked when I disagreed with them — not so much my English professors! Rebecca and I married after sophomore year. Through our marriage preparation, we began thinking more concretely about what we wanted our family identity to be. More than anything, we wanted to build our marriage on Christ. About two months after we married, we were expecting our first child. I completed my last season as the captain of our rowing team and started picking up extra work:

SSUUM MM MEERR 22002211

tutoring, mowing lawns, driving a university shuttle and working almost full time while maintaining a full course load. Rebecca finished her RN before our first son, Isaac, was born, and went on to finish her BSN with high honors. But even with generous scholarships and multiple jobs, things were financially precarious. Both Rebecca and I were involved in the Students for Life club. Eventually, I became president. Other student groups attempted to shut down our funding and strip us of our status as a club, so that was an awakening to the highly politicized currents in American Catholicism. But even then, my reaction was not to become politicized on the other side, but to recognize the deeper truth of the matter — that when you focus your life on Christ, your ultimate identity is as a son or daughter of God, and therein one finds true confidence.

What led you to pursue graduate school? I was initially interested in law school, and I did really well on the LSAT. Some universities reached out after receiving my scores, some even promising scholarships, but I just could not bring myself to apply. I remember one night just sitting in a chair thinking and praying about this dilemma, unsure of what direction I should take. By the morning I realized I was going to give graduate school and university teaching a shot. I felt this was the best way to express my gratitude for the gifts I had received from my own teachers. I scrambled to complete the GRE and applications in time and was fortunate to have some options, eventually going to the State University of New York in

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Buffalo on the advice of one of my professors because of their strengths in the history of philosophy, classics and phenomenology.

How has your family been a source of support during this time of transition? There is no way I could do what I do without my family. I want to be clear: I am a husband, and then a father, before I am the president of UD. My family does not always see as much of me as either they or I would like, but we have found many ways to stay deeply connected even in especially busy times. Rebecca is truly remarkable — adventurous, idealistic, rooted in her faith, and my greatest cheerleader. We, like most parents, are amazed at how different each of our children are from one another, and we have worked hard to find ways to encourage each of them to cultivate their unique gifts and talents. Like their parents, our children live busy lives. Our older children are excellent mentors for the younger ones, and one of the reasons I have been able to dedicate so much time to UD is that I can confidently rely on our older children — and Rebecca’s excellent coordination of it all, of course!

You were at Steubenville for 13 years. How did UD come into the picture? I delighted in teaching and researching, but I kept taking on leadership positions, eventually becoming associate vice president of academic affairs. In that role I was able to help complete some important work, such as strengthening the core curriculum. I was not applying for jobs elsewhere, but I received an invitation to apply for the

Constantin College dean position. I initially said no but ultimately decided to explore it. After having conversations with and giving an address to faculty (and fielding some really excellent questions), I just felt like, “These are my people.” The way that UD integrates faith and reason and is dedicated to inquiry in a robust fashion — the ethos of the place was pretty much in my own DNA. We had a lot to consider with relocating eight kids. Our oldest had just finished his first year at Franciscan; Rebecca was very involved in ministry, and her nursing career was taking off. But a good friend, a Jesuit priest, gave us some good advice on opening ourselves more fully to the possibility that God may be calling us to this move, and after careful discernment, we felt like we were indeed being called to UD. After six years here, we really do feel that this is our home. Not just UD, but Irving and Dallas/Fort Worth. Rebecca actually loves Texas summers. I love the entrepreneurialism, ethnic diversity and patriotism of Texas, and the people are so friendly.

Who has inspired you personally and in your career? My major inspiration has long been St. John Paul II. Although I was quite young, I remember when he was elected. My dad’s half-Polish, so there was a cultural connection. But really it was his role in the struggle with communism that was most inspiring. St. John Paul II was and is a hero in that fight — that made a huge impression on me. As I read and came to understand his writings and encyclicals, I was inspired by them. When Fides et Ratio came out, I was just electrified by it as well as by Crossing the Threshold of Hope. Love and Responsibility was deeply influential. I found it philosophically rich and took it as guidance for how to live my life.

You’ve been president for a few short months. What do you see in UD’s future? I see so many opportunities. In too many places there’s been a drift away from the true purpose of universities, which is to educate. At UD, we think seriously about our mission, what it means to educate and to be educated, and work to maintain that focus. What we should be known for — and what our university has always emphasized — is our commitment to the virtues of liberal education, which enables us to flourish personally and professionally. Fundamentally, genuine education is a matter of building culture, and

we are dedicated to reclaiming our culture for the good. We need to do that even more intentionally, effectively and proactively.

Last year, the board adopted a new strategic plan. How does that inform your view of our future? The strategic plan represents the expression of our commitment to excellence in education, excellence in the formation of the human person and recognition of the human person as an integrated whole. We are an institution that takes seriously the founding principles of this country — the principles that undergird the Judeo-Christian tradition, especially in the Catholic Church. We want those “first principles” to be deeply instilled in our students and in each other, doing so in a way that enables us to practice well the art of rational disagreement in our quest for the truth.

each other mark them and prepare them for enriching friendship with others throughout their lives. Though surrounded by religious communities, the fact that no religious order controls us enables our intellectual vision to be the unifying force of the University of Dallas, and at the heart of that intellectual vision is the integration of faith and reason.

What role can UD and our alumni play in renewing our culture? I want our graduates to invest in their local communities and to be really outstanding professionals. I don’t want them to ever be content with saying, "I had a good education and am a practicing Catholic, so I’m doing well." No — we’re called to excellence.

I want our graduates to have an orientation toward greatness — to be the most trusted doctors and lawyers, the most creative entrepreneurs, the most effective politicians, the most principled managers, the most nurturing mothers and fathers, the holiest of priests and sisters, the best in whatever walk of life they’re called to. I want to find additional ways to foster this, because that is how culture will be renewed — with truly virtuous people exercising their great gifts in promotion of the common good, a culture marked by a constant commitment to the true, good and beautiful, a culture of love and justice. With its distinctive approach to education, the University of Dallas is playing a key role in forming the excellent leaders our culture needs.

How does UD stand out from the crowd? UD is deeply Catholic, which amongst other things entails a welcome embrace of those who are not. We are confident in our Catholicism and neither smug nor sanctimonious, humbly striving to be courageously, joyfully Catholic. From this deep Catholicism springs a rich understanding of the essence and purpose of liberal education, one that sees how professional training is best nurtured from a liberal arts foundation. Another thing that sets us apart is our commitment to shared knowledge in the undergraduate Core — imparting the best of the Western intellectual tradition over those first two years and building outstanding majors on that foundation. We similarly have core curricula in all our graduate programs, and the combination of traditional liberal arts formation with professional education is profoundly powerful. Our students learn to think, write and express themselves well, and I cannot count how many graduate schools and corporations have remarked on how much our students stand out for their clear, creative and rigorous thinking. It is notable that we have higher medical school and law school placements than nearly every other school, including the Ivies. Those and other practical fruits of our education occur not despite but because of the attention we give to learning things for their own sakes. Through it all, the friendships our students share with

“An orientation toward doing all things excellently, in pursuit of the true, good and beautiful, seeped into my soul.”

Above: The Sanfords’ oldest son, Isaac (25), his wife, Rachel, and their granddaughter, Felicity (2). Below: The Sanford family, pictured from top left: Joseph (22); his fiancée, Franziska; Elijah (17); Benjamin (20), a junior at UD; Jonathan (15); Mary (12). From bottom left: Anna (7); President Sanford with Jacob (2) on his lap; David (10); Rebecca.

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ince the settling of our shores, let alone the founding of our nation, Catholics in America have been debating and disagreeing with each other about politics. Current debates on these matters are simply the latest in a several-hundred-years-long running conversation. Perhaps we’ll eventually settle the issues. Perhaps not. But before turning to our shores, let’s start in Rome. In 1832, Pope Gregory XVI condemned the freedom of the press and the separation of Church and state. He also called the claim “that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone” an “absurd and erroneous proposition.” In 1864, Pope Pius IX issued his Syllabus of Errors, condemning the proposition that “it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.” In this document, the pope famously rejected the proposition that “[t]he Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization.”

This essay is adapted from Ryan T. Anderson’s introductory remarks at the University of Dallas’ inaugural St. John Paul II conference, “America, Liberalism and Catholicism,” held at UD April 15-16, 2021.

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Just a decade later, Cardinal St. John Henry Newman would speak in defense of conscience, toasting the pope, but conscience first, explaining that “conscience has rights because it has duties.” Here, I might suggest, Newman is relying on a rather different conception of conscience from the one Pope Gregory XVI had condemned. Over a century later, in his 2005 Christmas address, Pope Benedict XVI would explain that “The martyrs of the early Church died for their faith in that God who was revealed in Jesus Christ, and for this very reason they also died for freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess one’s own faith — a profession that no State can impose but which, instead, can only be claimed with God’s grace in freedom of conscience.” In other words, it only took 150 years to go from one pope condemning “liberty of conscience” as an “absurd and erroneous proposition” to another pope highlighting the martyrs as witnesses to God’s gift of “freedom of conscience.” Is this a contradiction? A development of doctrine? Or were Popes Gregory and Benedict using the phrase “freedom of conscience” to refer to different concepts?

This question leads me to offer a caution — and a suggestion — to all those who would engage in conversations about America, liberalism and Catholicism. You’ll want to be attuned to how terms are being used. In any given usage, does “liberalism” refer to theological liberalism, philosophical liberalism, political liberalism, liberal ideas or liberal institutions? Are there connections between these various forms and usages of the word liberal? Is it misguided to try to distinguish between the good and the bad forms of “liberalism”? Do our political structures promote human flourishing and the common good, or do they lead to individualism, hedonism and the dictatorship of relativism? Do our political institutions embody a misguided liberal ideology that deforms the souls of citizens? Or are our political institutions the

providential embodiment of Catholic thought that orders the soul to the Highest Good? Were the bishops at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore correct when they claimed that the founders “built better than they knew”? Is Hillsdale professor Nathan Schlueter correct when he counters that the Founders “knew more than they said”? Or did the Founders simply get it wrong? Is Orestes Brownson’s distinction between liberal philosophy and liberal institutions sustainable? Or do liberal institutions necessarily embody and express and shape the souls of citizens according to liberal ideology? And then there’s a prudential question of what faithful Catholics in America should do today. How do you evaluate the various ideas and the various institutions that will influence how you evaluate today’s threats to human dignity and human flourishing — and thus what practical steps faithful

Catholics need to take? Do we need to return to the Founders’ vision? Or, if today’s problems are the inevitable logical outgrowth of that vision, what concrete reforms should we establish?

system like ours, but both are detrimental to the intellectual process. Do not think of this discussion as a battle royal between competing camps — but as a conversation among friends seeking the truth in community.

As you consider all of these questions, keep George Will’s advice in mind. In his view, “the most important four words in politics are: ‘up to a point.’” Few of the questions I’ve posed here lend themselves to pat answers. Liberty of conscience: good or bad? Separation of church and state: right or wrong? Freedom of speech: pro or con? All require definition of terms, application to historical circumstances and then determination of the limits. Rather than black and white issues, we may be dealing with various shades of gray, where determining which shade is most appropriate is the hard work. Liberty of conscience? Up to a point. Which point is the challenge.

The reality is that none of us has all the right answers, and none of us on our own can arrive at all the right answers. We need community. Indeed, we need community for a variety of reasons. In this context, we need an intellectual community to share and discuss ideas with, to think together, if we are ever to make intellectual progress. I need a community of scholars to help me see when I’ve made intellectual mistakes. This is why the Catholic Church throughout the ages has taken university life so seriously and the intellectual give and take of arguments, reasons, evidence so seriously. For this intellectual process to achieve its telos — arrival at knowledge of the truth — certain intellectual and moral virtues must be embodied: charity, humility, honesty and fidelity being foremost among them.

Resist the temptation to outsource your thinking to a team or a party. Rooting for a team is appropriate in sports, and partisan politics may be a necessity of a political

photos: jimmy teoh.

Ryan Anderson, Ph.D., is the St. John Paul II Teaching Fellow in Social Thought. The St. John Paul II conference lectures can be viewed at udallas.edu/jpii-conference.

Read more at udallas.edu/ america-liberalismcatholicism.

Liberty of conscience: good or bad? Separation of church and state: right or wrong? Freedom of speech: pro or con? All require definition of terms, application to historical circumstances and then determination of the limits.”

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oung Robert Scott Dupree, Ph.D., BA ’62, returned to UD in 1966, fresh from grad school at Yale, to teach this time. But he found a place he barely knew — so much had changed in the four years since his graduation as valedictorian of UD’s third class.

When he had first come as a freshman, the campus was a 1,000-acre wilderness with a few brick buildings. There was no Las Colinas, were no major highways, was not even a Northgate Drive, much less a rundown apartment complex across it.

By Aspen Daniels Smith, BA ’19

From the slight rise of campus, the students looked out across empty land toward the Dallas skyline. To Dupree, the city seemed like a distant civilization. Almost everything that happened, happened in Carpenter Hall. This two-story building housed the library, administration, academic departments and classes, and student lounge. Besides Carpenter, there was Lynch Auditorium, a men’s dorm (now Anselm Hall), a women’s dorm (now O’Connell Hall), a chapel where the Drama Building now is, and a tiny cafeteria that became the Margaret Jonsson Theater. It was an intimate community, and Dupree was friends with most of the students in those first classes. But he couldn’t study in the dorm room he shared with three other guys. “I sought peace and quiet by taking refuge in the broom closet down the hall,” he wrote in some personal notes. So he gave up a scholarship that paid for his room and commuted from home.

Left: Robert Scott Dupree, Ph.D., UD’s longestserving faculty member.

At that moment, I knew that my goal would be to return and help build the place to which they had already given so much, to say nothing of what I owed to them for what they had given me.” – Robert Scott Dupree

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About this time, Dupree overheard the first academic dean, Eugene Curtsinger, talking with a visitor in Carpenter. “But what will you do for room?” the visitor asked. “Oh, there’s plenty of room … outside,” Curtsinger shot back. The students did enjoy the woods. They would spread out blankets to picnic and read. And that was where they threw UD’s first parties. They didn’t have a groundhog yet, so their campus mascot was “Pearl,” a stray dog that wandered into one of these parties. After the students shared their beer with her, the drunk animal made it to the nuns’ convent, where the nuns named her after the Pearl brew of beer. When Dupree was a sophomore, Donald and Louise Cowan joined the faculty as chairs of the physics and English departments, respectively. Dupree took Louise’s survey of British literature and was blown away the first day she walked into class and began to lecture. Her love of poetry set her apart from anybody he had ever met. “I would give up my life for poetry,” she told the class. “I didn’t know anybody who would say, ‘I would risk my life for physics’ — you know,” Dupree said. Her contagious passion inspired Dupree to dedicate his life to literature, first as a major and then as a professor — now going into his 56th year of teaching.

“She realized that a lot of what is central to our lives is summed up in works of the imagination, that we pass it off as entertainment and don’t realize that much of what we are is captured and reported in literature,” explained Dupree, affirming not just Louise’s belief but his own. “But more than that, literature is also an experience,” he added. “It’s not just a message, it’s not just didactic — it expands our lives through the imagination that is crafted into works of art. And this is something I had never heard from anybody before.” While he was still a student, Dupree watched the first two presidents and interim president come and go. The day after he graduated, UD chose Donald Cowan as its third president, and Dupree knew that this president would be different. “Things are really going to happen now,” he thought. It was about that time that Louise asked him to come back and teach. “At that moment, I knew that my goal would be to return and help build the place to which they had already given so much, to say nothing of what I owed to them for what they had given me,” he wrote. In the four years that he was gone, the Cowans struggled to raise funds and establish the university’s reputation. “The baby will live,” Louise Cowan finally wrote to Dupree while he was studying at Yale. When Dupree returned, Gorman Lecture Center had just been finished, the Mall was being built and the graduate program was about to open.

“I was at a different UD,” said Dupree. The changes weren’t just physical; they were also academic. “When I got back, I had to teach classes that I had never had myself … I’d had nothing that resembled the current UD Core Curriculum.” The original curriculum was demanding but similar to those of other universities; students primarily learned from textbooks rather than original texts. In 1959, a few students read full works as part of a shortlived honors program. So Louise Cowan asked the other faculty members, “Why are not all our students honors students?” She sparked a transformation of the curriculum that started with the English Department and slowly spread across UD. When Dupree was a student worker in the English Department, he overheard some of the teachers brainstorming about what would become the Literary Tradition sequence. They were all well-educated but only in specialized domains. So under Louise’s leadership, they met to catch each other up on the works and criticism each knew. Looking back, Dupree is surprised that the Lit Trad curriculum hasn’t changed much even though the English professors were always tinkering with it. “We were constantly trying things that didn’t work,” Dupree remembered. “And so we said, ‘OK, we won’t do that.’” Through all the experimentation, UD’s educational model hasn’t changed since the '60s. “You know, you have to be ready to adjust constantly, but you have to bear in mind that there is a certain basis for all you do that you mustn’t violate, and that’s been the challenge all along: how to keep the spirit of things going, how to keep the whole communal aspect of UD going,” said Dupree.

Left: A view of the Irving campus in the late 1950s. Middle: Dupree as a freshman pictured with UD’s first president, Kenneth Brasted, and another student. Right: Dupree teaching a group of students outside.

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core discipline

You Can Do WHAT With a Biology Degree? DC-Based Alumnus Publishes “The Ultimate Guide to Running With Your Dog” By Aaron Claycomb ith just $40 worth of flyers and a single pair of tennis shoes, Bryan Barrera, BA ’09, embarked on his canine running venture. In 2013, after competing in the Dallas Marathon and reading about a dog runner in Chicago, he launched Dallas Dog Runner. “I thought, hey, if I could get paid to run, that’s definitely what I want to do,” he recalled. “And obviously, I love dogs.” Later that year, his family moved to Washington, D.C., where he held a part-time bookkeeping gig and renamed the company, appropriately, D.C. Dog Runner. Within three months, the former Wells Fargo mortgage officer doubled his income. “And after six months, I didn’t look back, and I’ve been running with dogs full time in some capacity ever since,” he said. Overwhelmed with the exhausting routine of daily appointments and too few dog runners aboard, Barrera convinced his wife, Suzanne Marie, BA ’07, to help with the business. “Once she stepped in,” he continued, “that allowed me to really focus on the operations and other facets.” In surveying and researching the niche dog running market, Barrera explained, “Everybody has a yard in Texas, so there’s not this big, robust market for dog running. But in D.C., it’s so much a part of the culture because people live closer together in smaller spaces, and they still need to get their dogs out.” “Our job is to actually figure out how far and how fast,” he said. “That’s the real work that has to be done and what my book aims at, in fact.” The Ultimate Guide to Running With Your Dog: Tips and Techniques for Understanding Your Canine’s Fitness and Running Temperament was released in mid-March and is available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target and more. A comprehensive how-to guide for outdoor companion runners, the book weaves together personal experience with practical assessment and instruction, with topics ranging from the best terrains and running with multiple dogs to the best collars and leashes for active dogs, and what to do if your dog gets injured.

Bryan Barrera, BA '09, graduated with a biology degree but is now a successful entrepreneur and author in Washington, D.C.

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Waggin’ Success This marks the seventh year of D.C. Dog Runner. As of today, more than a dozen dog runners and about 60 dogs help make up the company's roster. “As far as running and operating a dog-running business, in some instances I definitely get that I’m like a glorified dog walker,” said Barrera. “But my entrepreneurial success is proof you can do great things from humble beginnings. “Writing the book sort of helped me figure out what I wanted to do,” said Barrera, “and now it’s going to help solidify that we are the best in the country at doing this.” Barrera recalled of his time as a UD student, “All the writing I had to do was just like pulling teeth, but I definitely came out well-rounded.” A biology major who envisioned himself one day working in the health care field, he said, “I knew pretty early on that wasn’t me. “Ultimately,” explained Barrera, “there’s the conversation of work-life balance. I have a great respect and admiration for my friends who are now physicians, Ph.D.s, attorneys and the like.” Unwilling to forgo his family obligations, he said, “I wasn’t going to stop being Dad because I was writing a book. My goal was always to understand that my career is subordinate and subservient to my family. … I have a business to build,” added the father of five, “but I also have a family that needs Cheerios.”

Beyond Biology “I was the first in my family to graduate from college,” added Barrera, who is particularly grateful to his mother for inspiring his intended pursuit of medicine and decision to ultimately attend UD. “My mom was a nurse and was super influential, because without her I wouldn’t even know about the University of Dallas,” he said. Although Barerra pursued a career outside of health care, he completed his biology degree at UD. He continued: “I still have my liberal arts degree. I still took the Core. I still learned a lot of different things that other biology majors don’t have.” Crediting his wife foremost, Barrera paused briefly, sharing acknowledgments from the book. “Thank you to the University of Dallas,” he said. “You turned me into a writer after all.” Do you have an alumni-owned business? Like D.C. Dog Runner, register your business on our nationwide Alumni Business Directory at udallas.edu/alumni-portal.

Class Notes 1980s Mark Zeske, BA ’80, assumed office in the Irving City Council on Dec. 17, representing Place 3 in Texas. Jeff Vaughn, MA ’81 MFA ’83, had work featured in multiple exhibitions this spring. Jeff is a professor of art at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois. Stephen Schlacks, MBA ’82, is celebrating 25 years of his civil trial law practice in The Woodlands, Texas. He received the 2020 AV Preeminent rating from the Martindale-Hubbell Texas Bar and Judiciary Edition and the 2020 Texas Bar Foundation Badge of Honor. Dolores Njoku, BA ’83, is director of pediatric anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and anesthesiologist-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Robert Stringer, MBA ’83, is VP and business development officer of Small Business Administration lending for Merchants Bank of Indiana, overseeing strategy. Bret Ronk, MBA ’86, is publisher and VP of sales for Global Trade Magazine, leading by example.

1990s National Alumni Board director Jeff Mobus, BA ’90, took office as town manager of Springfield, Vermont, in February. Laura (Earls) Smyczek, BA ’91, is head of school at Forest Bluff School, a Montessori school for children ages 18 months to 14 years in Lake Bluff, Illinois. Emily Jacir, BA ’92, was the featured artist of Kashmir Images in December. A Palestinian artist and filmmaker, Emily lives and works between Palestine and New York in a variety of media, mainly focusing on themes of displacement, exile and resistance within the context of Palestinian occupation. Therese Milbrath, BA ’92, is assistant superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, and is finishing a Ph.D. Jody Hatcher, MBA ’93, was appointed to the board of directors of PDI Software. Texas State Representative and UD Trustee Tan Parker, BA ’93, filed the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, which passed on May 31. James Callan, MBA ’95, is CEO of Superior Technical Ceramics.

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D I V ERS I O N S

The Kate McGrady Show The Host: Katie Prejean McGrady, BA ’11, is an international Catholic speaker who travels over 100,000 miles a year. She has written three books with Ave Maria Press, represented the U.S. at the Vatican’s Pre-Synod gathering of young adults in 2018, and writes for various Catholic outlets, including Blessed Is She, Catholic News Service, Grotto Network, America Magazine and Life Teen. In a Nutshell: “I try to combine thoughtful and engaging commentary on current events, pop culture happenings, and the intersection of normal life and striving to be a little bit holier every day,“ said McGrady. “I learned the art of good conversation while at UD, and I think UD folks will enjoy the wide-ranging chats we have on the show every day.” Start Listening: Tune into the Catholic Channel on Sirius XM.

The Author: History major Jason Henderson, BA ’93, has published 11 novels and 12 graphic novels; he is a co-publisher at Castle Bridge Media. He lives in Colorado with his wife and two daughters. In a Nutshell: The first book of the Alex Van Helsing trilogy, Vampire Rising, was named by the Texas Library Association to the 2011 Lone Star Reading List, which comprises the top 20 books published in the previous year for young readers. The summary begins, “Two vampire attacks in his first three days at boarding school and Alex Van Helsing realizes there’s more to the family name than he thought — and more to this area of Switzerland than meets the eye.” Start Reading: Visit jasonhenderson.com. Also follow @jasondhenderson on Twitter.

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Treasure of the Castilian or Spanish Languages The Translator: Post-Doctoral Fellow of Spanish Janet Hendrickson, MFA, Ph.D., BA ’03, examines the use of dictionaries and encyclopedias in contemporary hemispheric experimental poetry, focusing on Argentina and Brazil. In a Nutshell: According to the website, “Sebastián de Covarrubias’ famous Treasure of the Castilian or Spanish Language was first published in 1611. A contemporary of Cervantes, Covarrubias wrote his encyclopedic dictionary to explore the heterogeneous origins of words and their hidden connections to the moral, transcendental and everyday meanings of the world.” Start Shopping: Visit ndbooks.com/book/ treasure-of-the-castilian-or-spanish-language.

photos: courtesy of katie prejean mcgrady, jeff mcwhorter, courtesy of the archer family.

Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising

shared mission Discover more at udallas.edu/ pavers.

Parent Council Pays It Forward UD’s Parent Council recognizes current and former UD parents who partner closely with the university in support of our shared mission. Theresa and Chris Archer are just such parents. “All four St. Louis Archers graduated from UD, and each in very different disciplines,” said Chris Archer. “Patrick Archer, BA ’14, was business/ accounting; newly ordained Father Charlie Archer, BA ’16, was philosophy; Joe Archer, BS ’17, was physics; and Claire (Archer) Andrews, BA ’21, was English.”

On This Mud Hill

Paving the Path Forward

1 2

The paver purchased by Professor Emeritus of Art Lyle Novinski and retired University Historian Sybil Novinski reads: Lyle and Sybil Novinski On this mud hill With faith in God Made art Gave counsel Raised a family Planted trees Threw parties Taught the future Anyone familiar with the Novinskis and their legacy at UD would probably agree that these words encapsulate perfectly what they have meant to the life and growth of this university. The question is, what legacy would you like to commemorate? That of an influential professor, a cherished friend, your alumni children, your parents? What words on a paver would perfectly capture what they mean to you or to the University of Dallas — or what they mean to your experience as part of the web of stories that together create the unique ethos of the UD community?

1 The Novinskis arrived at UD in 1960, initially only intending to stay a couple of years, and have been contributing to the life and culture of the university ever since. 2 Pavers are installed on the walkway from Lynch Circle off of Northgate Drive, which leads to Haggar University Center and the Mall. Design your paver at udallas.edu/pavers.

The Archers first learned about UD through family friends Jean and Frank O’Brien. “As our children thrived at UD and made many wonderful friends, we gradually increased our awareness of what a special gift UD was and how much our children were benefiting,” said Theresa Archer. “Through frequent visits and many stories of professors, classes and other things, we realized this was something we wanted to encourage and share so other families could benefit as we had.”

“Parents’ support is an important piece of the puzzle at UD,” added Theresa. Read more about the Archers’ experience and Parent Council at udallas.edu/shared-mission.

Join today at udallas.edu/ parent-council.

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Class Notes (Continued from p. 19) Explore more at udallas.edu/ alumni-portal.

Therese (Power) Barrett, BA ’96, is an artist, a certified professional photographer, and a member of both the West Texas Photographers Association and the Professional Photographers of America. She was recently awarded the Master of Photography degree from the PPA. Jim Hannon, MBA ’96, is president of Altus Analytics. Bobby Jivnani, D.D.S., BA ’96 ’99, has built an exclusive family and cosmetic dental practice in Plano. Deborah Larkin-Carney, RN, BSN, MBA ’97, is senior VP of quality and patient safety and patient experience at RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey. John Greenwood, MBA ’98, is chief strategy officer of Digital Crossroad.

alumni at work

Aida (Pantaleon) Seeraj, BS ’98, received the Liberty Bell Award from the Jacksonville Bar Association in Florida. Aida is founder and CEO of the nonprofit Inspire to Rise Inc.

7 Ways to Connect With Your Alumni Community

2 Business Directory: Find and support alumni-owned small businesses in your community or nationally. 3 Class Agents/Regional Reps: The National Alumni Board has launched a reinvigorated alumni engagement program. Among other things, Class Agents help gather their classmates back to the Irving campus for Alumni and Family Weekend, planned for Oct. 15-17 this year. Regional Representatives

connect alumni in their area for Groundhog celebrations, represent UD at college fairs, and promote EnCore events or other UD-related speaking engagements. Discover more at udallas.edu/represent. 4 Job Board: Hire a University of Dallas alumnus/a by posting your company’s open positions on the Alumni Job Board. Looking for a job? Check out all the open positions by simply clicking “search.” 5 LinkedIn Groups: Connect with fellow alumni and friends of UD in your region or by industry. Here are the groups so far: Regional Groups: Chicago Houston Washington, D.C. Dallas St. Louis Industry Groups: Business Health Care Technology Entrepreneurs Law 6 Mentoring Program: Alumni Relations and the Office of Personal Career Development have launched the UD Mentoring Program. You can select from several mentoring opportunities to make a difference for a current UD student, including career exploration, interview preparation, resume reviews, first-generation leaders and more. 7 Welcome to the City: These are new events hosted by the National Alumni Board in select cities, during which you’ll meet up with new graduates and welcome them to your city. Stay tuned for more information!

TOWER MAGAZINE

Sister Josephine (Toni) Garrett, BA ’03, professed her final vows with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in November. Cody Worden, BA ’03, is elite talent director for Real Salt Lake (Major League Soccer) and assistant coach for the Real Monarchs. Sylvia Ambrogio, MBA ’04, deputy director of finance and administration for Sacramento County Department of Airports, is the Sacramento Business Journal’s 2020 CFO of the Year honoree. Julie Borlaug, MBA ’04, president of the Borlaug Foundation and VP of external relations for Inari, joined the World Food Prize Foundation Council of Advisors. John Lynch, BA ’04, joined the law firm Clouse Brown in Dallas. John is a member of the Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Young Lawyers Association and the St. Thomas More Society, a Catholic law organization. Stephanie Wissel, BS ’04, is assistant professor of physics and of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University; she and her collaborators working on the Antarctic balloon mission, PUEO, have been selected for the new NASA Pioneers program. Adrian Ramirez, BA ’07 MBA ’14, was selected for the inaugural cohort of the Career Leaders 2021 Fellowship Program. Adrian is

photos: jeff mcwhorter, aaron claycomb, wikimedia commons.

1 Alumni Portal: Join the Alumni Portal, a one-stop shop for UD alumni to connect, update contact information, search for fellow alumni in the online directory, submit a class note, post a job, join the business directory, and/or become a class agent or regional representative. Visit udallas.edu/alumni-portal.

2000s

The following is adapted from a lecture George Weigel gave at UD in April.

director of career development and college relations at the University of Texas at San Antonio. View the entire lecture at udallas. edu/the-truthof-things.

Markus Schmitz, MBA ’07, is managing director of the U.S. operation of Axnes. IT professional Brion Jackson, MBA ’08, is director of IT systems and data analytics at INROADS. Keith Loftin, MH ’08, presented at the second spring C3 Christ Church Culture Lecture Series event in April on “Calling and Career.” Keith teaches at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has edited or authored several books. Biology alumna Johanna Weston, BS ’08, a Ph.D. candidate in marine science at Newcastle University in England, has named another deepsea species.

2010s The Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives recognized Dexter J. Freeman II, MBA ’11, on its list of 2020’s 40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders Shaping the Chamber Industry. Dexter is VP of operations and administration for the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce. Jake Rodgers, MH ’11, is head of school for Pinecrest Academy, a private pre-K-12 Catholic school in Cumming, Georgia.

the truth of things

Looking Forward Through the Eyes of JPII hat is this church of the new evangelization as St. John Paul II understood it? It is a church in which every Catholic understands himself or herself as a missionary disciple and thinks of everywhere as mission territory. Catholics must no longer think of mission territory as exotic places far away. Mission territory is all around us, not least in the Western world. The Catholic Church is also converting the world to truth, reconverting the world to reason and the capacity of reason to order human affairs. The two go together by being a church permanently in mission. The church of the new evangelization is critically important to the rescue of the Western civilizational project, for it is this church and its work of proclaiming the Gospel, and its public witness, that will help Western civilization recover Jerusalem and, therefore, nearby recover Athens and the cultural confidence that reason can grasp the truth of things. If we look into the present and the future with the eyes of St. John Paul II, we see a great challenge. Yet looking into the present and the future through the prism of his teaching and his thought, we also see a template for ecclesial renewal and civic reform. That gives us hope of bringing to fruition the grand vision he proposed, the vision of what he called a new springtime of the human spirit.

Economics alumnus John Paul Mulhern, BA ’12, is director of Capital Markets’ Seattle office. David Ramirez, BA ’13, and Edgar Ramirez, BA ’17, were both ordained deacons for the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter by the Most Reverend Joseph Strickland, BA ’81 MDiv ’85, bishop of Tyler, Texas, on March 13, in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln, Nebraska. Braniff painting alumna Erin Schalk, MA ’14, is the third artist-inresidence at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Southern California for the 2021 season. Celebrated for his two-volume biography of St. John Paul II and many other intellectual contributions, George Weigel is the distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the father of two UD alumnae, Gwyneth (Weigel) Susil Spaeder, M.D., BA ’00, and Monica (Weigel) McCarthy, BA ’04.

Amanda (Kerr) Sheffield, MS ’14, started a baseball and softball private lesson business with her husband in Brownwood, Texas. Alexandra Pellegrino, BA ’15, a doctoral student in sociology, will serve as the next student representative on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Campus Advisory Board. Joshua Wyche, MBA ’15, an accomplished pharmacist with an extensive background in business management, is Augusta University Health’s AVP of strategic planning and pharmacy services.

SUMMER 2021

‘Charming, Helpful and Solid’

Vitruvius Comes to Irving By Daniel Orazio, BA ’13

TOWER MAGAZINE

Read more at udallas.edu/ irving-bookcompany.

It is just such books that the IBC publishes, too, striving to meet the standard set 2,000 years ago by the Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius: Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas. A book, like a building, ought to be “charming, helpful and solid.” A student both of the long-established publishing orthodoxy and of the few good publishers left today, Taylor will absolutely never print digitally, instead employing offset lithography for better blacks and crisper lines, and as a designer, his one care is for his reader, who should in no way ever be distracted from careful, sustained reading. The IBC’s publications will largely be commercial, not collectible or letterpress, but its first, released through its imprint, Taylor Posey, Publisher, is special: a very fine, limited-run, first-posthumous publication of Karl Maurer, Ph.D., who taught the classics at UD for 16 years before his death in 2015. This volume, representative of the content but not of the form of the future catalogue, is intended as “a beautiful and humble memorial to a man to whom I, and so many others, owe very much.” Titled An Introduction to Robert Frost: A Talk with Notes, the text is based on a seminar that Maurer gave at the English Institute of Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1985, on the poetry of Robert Frost. At the book’s core is a lecture that speaks luminously of Frost, poetry and life, instructing us — in words that I shall never forget — that “as any real poet knows, poetry is only love’s servant.” To frame Frost in Argentina, the IBC is using specially made decorative paper, handmade and hand-blocked with an original and exclusive design, bound in quarter-cloth and slipcased. The design, crafted by the father-daughter team at Michigan’s Papillon Press with a motif specific to Mar del Plata, aims to give a glimpse of that city, as flowers might give a whiff of spring: a glimpse not of Munich or Paris or Kiev, but of Mar del Plata her particular self. Do not get the wrong idea: Books made by the IBC are “published to be used,” for “beautiful books are the most sturdy.” Readers, bids Taylor, should “beat the hell out of them,” even whack a burglar with them. Truth in advertising, no? Charming, helpful and solid indeed.

photos: ud archives, courtesy of taylor posey, jason anderson.

An intimidating and eccentric professor, Karl Maurer (pictured top right) was notorious among students for his demanding assignments, affectionate insults and class emails sent at 3 a.m. beginning “Dear People ... ” Taylor Posey (below), alumnus and owner of the Irving Book Company, will be publishing a volume of Maurer’s work on Robert Frost.

aylor Posey, BA ’13 MA ’18, my classmate and friend, was a Fromer. Today, those most-Dionysian oats having been sown, this classics major is ready to become respectable, for eight years on from graduation, he has answered his vocation: He is a “bookman.” In the fall of 2020, Taylor founded the Irving Book Company, a bookstore and book publisher that is best defined apophatically: It is not a glorified Half Price Books, and it is no mere printer. Taylor works in the book trade, buying and selling secondhand and rare books, with specialties that befit a UD alumnus: classical texts; pre-1960s Catholic titles; Modern Library volumes; and excellent editions of the Great Books. As is common in his trade, he has no storefront, making all his sales online. As is also common, those who patronize his shop often become his steady clients, drawn by a curated collection of fine books in good condition. For Taylor, a book’s content and form, as with a poem’s, are inseparable, hence his disdain for those who value only a book’s words (the “creepy pureidea” types who “give no credence to mundane sacramentality”) and those who value only the physical item (the dread “collectors” who put pretty books on a shelf but never read them). Taylor, instead, sells the sort of books that he likes to buy: handsome, physically sound and well-written.

This is an excerpt from the Commencement speech given by Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil, Iraq, at UD’s 62nd annual graduation ceremony on May 16, 2021.

Facing Down Darkness

Toward Light, Toward Hope n August 2014, ISIS attacked the Christian towns of the Nineveh plain in northern Iraq, and most of the Christians fled to Erbil, the home of our archdiocese, about 60 miles away. They had only minutes to leave their houses, and when they arrived in Erbil, they were mostly on foot. In less than 24 hours, over 100,000 of them arrived at our doorsteps, and they had nothing. I watched as they arrived, filling up our churches and streets. What could we do? Well, somehow, through the mercy of God and the help of many friends from around the world, we survived these days. But something I remember very clearly was the sacrifice, joy and teamwork of our young people, who had to do their work looking directly into the face of absolute darkness. In this time, they would seem to have had every right to fall into despair, anger, hatred, revenge and retribution. But they faced down their darkness with other means: forgiveness, mercy, humility, compassion, love and an acceptance of personal responsibility for the displaced community around them. It is for this reason that our

community is still alive in Iraq, that it still has a chance to survive, perhaps to still even thrive. In these past years, I have learned many things about the importance of young people to the survival of community. Perhaps most importantly, do not let your lives be wasted by following crowds that walk only on a selfish and destructive path. Choose who you follow with great care and consider what lies at the end of that path. If in your heart and in your prayers you know your path is different, then have the courage to lead in a different direction, toward light, toward hope. The first reaction is often to look for a job that will grant you happiness and social privileges. However, do not ever forget that we have a collective responsibility toward our world, a world yearning for peace, and education is what makes peace possible. Never stop learning or looking for ways to serve. Please pray for me and the persecuted and marginalized people around the world, as I will pray for you. I wish you all the joy and happiness that this world can bring. God bless you all.

Read more at udallas.edu/ toward-lighttoward-hope.

SUMMER 2021

SENIOR STORIES Advocating for Public Policy

Pouring Heart Into Service

Name: Veronica Garcia

Name: German Lopez

Hometown: Mission, TX

Hometown: Katy, TX

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Playing soccer and interning with the Department of Homeland Security.

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Taking a trip to Spain during his Rome semester and making the Dean’s List in the fall of his junior year.

“Growing up in a Hispanic household, I’ve always been keen on remembering my roots and learning more about my culture,” said Veronica Garcia, BA ’21. Garcia didn’t know she wanted to be a Spanish major when she first came to UD, but upon arriving and suddenly finding herself in the minority, she became more interested than ever in her Spanish classes. Assistant Professor of Spanish Néfer Muñoz-Solano, Ph.D., was influential in Garcia’s decision to major in Spanish. He encouraged her to pursue graduate school and apply to work for the U.S. government. “In times of doubt, he really has a way of reassuring you that you are capable of whatever success you aspire to attain,” she said.

“My heart has always belonged to ministry — it’s definitely what I want to do at some point in my life,” said German Lopez, BA ’21. “However, I really found a great work environment in the Admissions Office as an intern, and an opportunity opened up to stick around. It was like the Holy Spirit telling me that there was still work to be done for me here at UD.” He has deeply appreciated his classes with Assistant Professor of Theology Father Thomas Esposito, O. Cist., BA ’05. “Father Thomas combines an incredible grasp of theological material with an accessible lecture style characterized by his trademark humor and a levity that made me believe that yes, it is possible to understand and comprehend this stuff!” laughed Lopez. “He helped me retain a fascination and love for the subject.”

Future Plans: Pursuing an M.A. in Spanish at Baylor University in Waco, then working for the U.S. government and eventually becoming a lawyer.

Future Plans: Joining the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at UD as the transfer counselor.

Taking Intellectual Fervor to Phoenix

Putting Principles Into Practice

Name: Claire Haley

Name: Maureen (Mo) Shumay

Hometown: Phoenix, AZ

Hometown: Cleveland, OH

Major: English

Major: Philosophy

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Junior Poet; playing intramural sports each year; winning the volleyball championship.

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Attending an infamous thrift store party her freshman year and doing well in some particularly difficult classes.

“Claire always displayed a spirited and open intelligence that could bring the details of a novel into the essential question,” noted Associate Professor of English Brett Bourbon, Ph.D., of Claire Haley, BA ’21. Haley always knew that the lenses through which she wanted to explore the truths of the world were those of literature and poetry. Her favorite achievement at UD was what many English majors consider the flagship project of the English program: Junior Poet. She can proudly boast that she chose William Wordsworth to study. “I’m grateful for my UD education because of the brilliant professors, the fascinating classes and the wonderful friends I have made throughout,” said Haley.

“UD’s education has shaped me not only as a student, but also most profoundly as a person,” said Mo Shumay, BA ’21. “At the heart of UD’s unique approach is the recognition that its students aren’t only potential future workers or members of society, but also that each is a developing person and potential future saint.” Shumay is thankful for all her professors, most recently Associate Professor of Philosophy Matt Walz, Ph.D., MBA ’20, and adjunct instructor William Stigall, M.D., MA ’09, who have guided her with classes, future career plans, and how to live joyfully and well. “Maureen is the model UD student,” said Stigall. “She is bright and curious and articulates things clearly and rationally with charity. She lives her principles and applies what she has learned to make the world a better place.”

Future Plans: Working at American Philanthropic as an executive assistant; continuing creative writing projects on her own or with a publishing company.

Major: Theology & Pastoral Ministry

TOWER MAGAZINE

Future Plans: Spending a year as an assistant for the L’Arche Kilkenny Community in Kilkenny, Ireland.

photos: jeff mcwhorter, Madeleine LiMandri.

Major: Spanish

C L A SS O F 2 0 2 1

Accelerating Toward Law School

Heading to Work and Back to School

Name: Meg McDonough

Name: Blaise Schneider

Hometown: Helotes, TX

Hometown: Mound City, KS

Major: Physics

Major: Business

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: “Where could I even begin? I have four years of memories, and I can’t possibly choose the best one. Some people might think I’m evading the question; they might be right. Maybe the best ones aren’t meant to be published.”

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Going to Greece during his Rome semester, treasuring the opportunity to see the beautiful landscape and learn about historical events where they actually happened.

Future Plans: Heading to law school at the University of Texas at Austin.

Future Plans: Working at Vizient in Irving while continuing his education in UD’s 4+1 Business Analytics program starting in the fall.

Meg McDonough’s, BS ’21, favorite class was Philosophy of Being with Associate Professor of Philosophy Chad Engelland, Ph.D. The class combined her “two favorite loves,” physics and philosophy, particularly when discussing the cause and reason for being itself. McDonough remembers sitting down to write her first paper for this class, addressing the prompt “Why is there something rather than nothing?” and being overwhelmed by the enormity of the question. “Such questions cross every person’s mind at some point in their existence,” she said. “I had the privilege to study and discuss them in the light of the greatest thinkers of Western civilization, guiding me to reach true answers to the biggest questions about reality.”

“I enjoy solving problems and helping bridge the gap between business and technology, so my hope is to eventually move into business systems analysis,” said Blaise Schneider, BA ’21. In a world focused on utility, he’s very grateful that UD’s education prepared him to enter the workforce while enriching his soul. UD challenged him academically and most importantly allowed him to understand others’ perspectives and to ask the critical question “Why?” “Blaise never merely accepted the materials. He analyzed the models, the readings, and brought the critical thinking skills he developed and honed at UD to bear on each topic,” said Professor of Management J. Lee Whittington, Ph.D.

Healing the Whole Person

Venturing From Sri Lanka

Name: John Rolwes

Name: Amandhi Mathews

Hometown: St. Louis, MO

Hometown: Colombo, Sri Lanka

Major: Biology

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Taking a spring break trip to San Diego, California, with a group of friends his freshman year.

Future Plans: Serving in a multidimensional role at UT Southwestern in the Hematology/Oncology Department and working on medical school acceptance for fall 2022. “Today more than ever, medicine needs physicians who understand the duality of the person,” said John Rolwes, BA ’21. “If one is only able to assist the physical needs, then the underlying, spiritual/ mental causes will continue to prevent the patient from fully recovering. UD has helped me understand this relationship well, and the education I’ve received will help me be a physician who can attend to both.” Rolwes’ favorite UD class was bioethics taught by adjunct instructor William Stigall, M.D., MA ’09. “Firstly, Dr. Stigall is an incredible teacher who presents evidence-based bioethics and promotes fascinating discussion,” he said. “Secondly, it was a pivotal class in my pre-med preparation as it helped me truly understand what a physician is and the importance of the well-rounded education I’ve received in becoming one.”

Major: Biology

Notable UD Memories/Achievements: “My greatest achievements at UD are the relationships I take with me.”

Future Plans: Continuing on to graduate school at the University of Notre Dame to complete a Ph.D. in the Department of Biological Sciences. “I am passionate about regenerative medicine, and I hope to work in stem cell biology,” said Amandhi Mathews, BS ’21, who as a high school student in Sri Lanka found UD on the internet. Knowing that she wanted to study science, the liberal arts education with an opportunity to read classic literature was an added bonus. “But of course, I am open to learning and exploring different fields of science,” she added. “Additionally, I want to work with the Association for Women in Science at Notre Dame to create and enhance opportunities for women in STEM!” “From day one, Amandhi demonstrated the ability to step outside her comfort zone and be guided by her enthusiasm,” said Associate Professor and Chair of Biology William Cody, Ph.D.

Read more at udallas.edu/senior-stories-2021.

SUMMER 2021

Class Notes (Continued from p. 23)

Jerome Cabeen, MA ’18, had a photography exhibit, “Strange Beautiful,” at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, Texas, in June. Taylor May, MBA ’18, is director of sales for ZeroEyes.

In Memoriam

Due Santi Sparkling Rosé ellarBrowser, the new brand distributing Due Santi Wines, will release the first sparkling wine produced from UD’s Eugene Constantin Campus in Rome, Italy, this fall. The label for the forthcoming Due Santi Cammin sparkling rosé was designed by Angie (Bleichrodt) Geehan, BA ’04, professional watercolor artist and former Rome assistant. Her inspiration? “The 2021 label symbolically portrays students walking between three cypress trees as they

return to Due Santi’s campus along the Appia Antica,” Geehan said. “Whether returning from an adventure in Rome or from a distant excursion, every Romer has some kind of encounter with this ancient and majestic pathway. A multitude of martyrs, saints and popes are buried along it. It was only fitting to use this well-trodden road, traveled by the campus’s own patron saints, Peter and Paul, on the Due Santi label.” Discover more at cellarbrowser.com.

UPCOMING EVENTS Events are subject to change. Stay up to date on UD’s alumni social media channels. UDallasAlumni

MOVE-IN DAY

The largestever UD freshman class (around 500 students!) moves into the residence halls.

AUG. 20

UDallasAlumni

UDAlumniOffice

calendar.udallas.edu

NORTH TEXAS GIVING DAY

PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

First-gen clubs and student leaders commandeer the Mall with music, games and food trucks.

Last year the UD community broke records with their giving on this day — let’s do it again!

Mass and a campus celebration mark Jonathan J. Sanford’s inauguration as UD’s 10th president.

SEPT. 3

SEPT. 23

OCT. 1

MALL FIRSTGENERATION TAKEOVER

TOWER MAGAZINE

ALUMNI & FAMILY WEEKEND

Double the reunions (to make up for 2020), at least double the fun! Join us.

OCT.15-17

Joanne Stroud Bilby, MA ’72 PhD ’75 MA ’80, died in March. Among the first doctorate recipients of UD’s Institute of Philosophic Studies, Joanne taught as an adjunct at the university for 12 years before co-founding the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, and was a 2017 Distinguished Alumna. Read more at udallas.edu/ joanne-stroud-bilby. Margie Cruse, class of 1962 and wife of former Trustee Dan Cruse, BA ’61, died in June after battling Alzheimer’s for eight years. Read more at udallas.edu/margie-cruse. Larry Allen Eastwood, MBA ’80, died in May. Larry married Nancy in 1984; he was extremely proud of his only child, Andrew, and would tell you about him every chance he got. Michael Ewbank, BA ’70, died in April. He taught at Loras College and Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary. His book, Thinking About Thinking: Logic, appeared in December. A Thomasian thinker, Michael published 30 scholarly articles. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Wilhelmsen, Ph.D., BA ’71, two cousins, and sisters-in-law Alexandra Wilhelmsen, Ph.D., BA ’67, and F. Juliana Wilhelmsen. James Millard Fougerousse, BA ’67, an early Rome Program director, died in February. According to his obituary, “Jim was very proud of having been instrumental in establishing both a study-abroad program for UD, and the quirky tradition of celebrating Groundhog Day. … Dearer to him was the love he was surrounded by all his life.” Read more at udallas.edu/foug. Andre James Hampton, MBA ’92, died in February. According to his obituary, “He was an active father who supported his daughters in everything they pursued. He truly enjoyed being a grandfather and hanging out with ‘the grandbabies.’” Father Bede Leckner, O. Cist., who taught at both UD and Holy Trinity Seminary, died in November. According to his obituary, “Although he thought early on that he did not have the practical, ‘vivacious,’

photos: Vasile Chiriac, anthony mazur, jeff mcwhorter, wikimedia commons.

PREVIEW

LAST WORD

extroverted spirit to teach children … his humble, reserved presence slowly formed many minds, molded many characters, and charmed many friends to whom he remained very devoted.” Aidan Malone, BA ’15, died of a heart attack in August 2020. Aidan was a drama major at UD. “His courageous, funny and always beautiful work was seen in Ghosts, Candide, Arcadia, Big Love, All’s Well, Three Sisters, Candide and Frog Prince, among others,” said Associate Professor of Drama Stefan Novinski, MFA, BA ’92.

Love That Transformed His Soul By Father Thomas More Barba, O.P., BA ’09 ’10 arvel superheroes regularly appear in my homilies. Tony Stark’s self-sacrifice, Loki’s gradual redemption and Steve Rogers courageously facing death by the armies of Thanos are attractive cinematic examples of heroic virtue. As Catholics, these illustrations allow us to identify confluences between our faith and secular society and call to mind our relationship with the saints. Similar to a child wielding a trash can lid, pretending to be Captain America, we are meant to be transformed by and practice virtue. While some saints are known for dramatic, public acts of holiness, St. Joseph quietly but powerfully invites us to heroic virtue. Although none of St. Joseph’s words are recorded in Scripture and his appearance is brief, his actions exemplify authentic righteousness. He is described as a “righteous man”(Matthew 1:19). A righteous man is zealous for the truth. We may imagine external, dramatic displays of zeal, but Joseph reminds us that any authentic visible manifestation of a zeal for truth is contingent upon allowing one’s own soul to be shaped by truth: Before seeking to shape others, a man must himself be shaped. He was “unwilling to expose her [Mary] to shame”(Matthew 1:19). Joseph knew something was wrong: Mary should not have been pregnant. As her future husband, acting upon feelings of shame and betrayal, publicly expressing vengeance, would have been justified. Yet he refused to do so. He was ruled by truth, by love that transformed his soul. In a way, he anticipated his heavenly son’s behavior toward the woman caught in adultery (John 8:111). The law permitted such dispensations of justice, but Christ and His foster father show us that authentic, heroic masculinity does not give vent to emotions of hurt and anger. A virtuous man does not shame another person. “Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. … When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him”(Matthew 1:20, 24). Joseph was not obstinate in his resolution to quietly divorce Mary. He listened. His mind and heart were open to being changed. Being truly virtuous, the truth lived in Joseph, but not in a way that all of its applications were immutably predetermined. Joseph’s strength and wisdom allowed him to discern when to be resolute — and when to change course. If we believe a virtuous man steadfastly resists all influences, we have mistaken St. Joseph for Captain Ahab. This year of St. Joseph invites us to reflect on heroic virtue, especially as men. Being zealous for the truth, being truly virtuous, requires a discerning mind and heart. Allowing anyone or anything indiscriminately into our souls is just as foolish as being so resolute that we allow nothing and no one to change our mind. To be virtuous, to act with virtue and holiness, we who discern must ourselves be formed. May St. Joseph intercede for us!

Svetozar “Steve” Pejovich, one-time interim president and economics professor at UD, died in February. According to one tribute from a colleague, “He was a man whose attitude toward life, his moral norms, honesty and spirit were the best examples of the strength and true energy of liberalism – the energy of a liberated and free individual!” Retired University Historian Sybil Novinski said, “He was a fascinating fine man ... and a brilliant economist.” Erik Singh, BA ’04 MBA ’11, died Nov. 13 due to complications of cancer and Crohn’s disease. He was a drama major and became a teacher, marrying his wife, Emily, in 2015. He was much loved by his friends for his kindness and humor. Charlie Steadman, director of Campus Safety, died in April. “Unlocking dorm rooms for students. Rounding up a raccoon scampering in the ceiling tiles. Talking electoral strategy with the professors of the Politics Department. Unraveling the philosophic storylines of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other pop culture phenoms to his student workers. Walking along the pathways with the UD president because the president wanted to consult him,” recalled Rebecca Burgess, BA ’06 MA ’10, in a tribute to Charlie on realcleardefense.com. James Walter, BA ‘66 MA ‘70 PhD ‘75, died in December. His son-inlaw Michael DiResto, BA ’92 MA ’96, wrote: “Knowing the special place in his heart that Jim held UD … his wife, Marguerite, and his daughter Rachel asked that I share with you the sad news of Jim’s passing. He was … such a fine gentleman and scholar, and we know that nothing, besides the time he spent with his family, sparked his energy, intellect, enthusiasm and joy more than being in the company of other gentlemen and scholars like yourselves.” Submit Class Notes at udallas. edu/alumni-portal.

SUMMER 2021

University Advancement 1845 E Northgate Drive Irving, TX 75062-4736

AnneMarie Johnson, BA ’18, studied in the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts painting program at UD and will be attending the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts for further study in fall 2021. This oil painting of the UD Mall and Braniff Memorial Tower was part of her undergraduate senior exhibit three years ago.

Angelus (2018, oil on canvas, 22.5″ x 27″, private collection).

University of Dallas Tower Magazine Summer 2021

Articles inside

You Can Do WHAT With a Biology Degree?

A New Springtime

Perseverance with Purpose

Heard Around Campus

Last Word

UD360°