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
