29 minute read
Senior Stories
Pursuing the Political Life
Name: Damien Walz
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Hometown: Irving, TX Major: Politics Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Playing in the Division II nationals championship game for rugby his senior year; attending the consecration of UD’s Irving campus to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Future Plans: This summer, interning with COR Expeditions in Wyoming as an assistant guide; in September, moving to Washington, D.C., to join a political PR and consulting firm.
The son of Department Chair and Associate Professor of Philosophy Matthew Walz, Ph.D., MBA ’20, Damien Walz, BA ’22, grew up around UD and fell in love with its liberal arts curriculum. The decision to come to UD was a relatively straightforward one, but which major to pursue was not: Walz changed his mind approximately seven times before settling on politics. His favorite class was Politics and the Family, taught by Associate Professor Daniel Burns, Ph.D. “UD taught me how to think in an incredibly adaptive and Christian manner,” said Walz, who served as Student Government president his senior year. “I am able to explore different perspectives, examine cultural issues, and pose realistic questions and solutions.”
Moving the World Forward
Name: Joseph Galasso
Hometown: Tucson, AZ Major: Biology Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Receiving the Cardinal Spellman Award; representing UD as a 2021 Goldwater Scholar and a 2022 Marshall Scholarship Finalist. Future Plans: Pursuing a Ph.D. in bioinformatics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Joseph Galasso, BS ’22, initially considered other science majors at UD but ultimately decided on biology; the program allowed him to pursue his interests beyond the classroom. His favorite classes were molecular biology with Associate Professor of Biology William Cody, Ph.D., and Western Civilization II with Associate Professor of History Charles Sullivan, Ph.D. He explained, “The latter helped me build a more cohesive picture of how scientific, political, economic and cultural forces have shaped the world we live in today.” He emphasized, “I would encourage students to explore career pathways that will ultimately move the world forward.”
Sinking into Philosophy
Name: Elizabeth Regnerus
Hometown: Austin, TX Major: Philosophy Notable UD Memories/Achievements: “I am most proud of my fellow students’ ability to preserve and reinvigorate UD traditions and spirit the past few years in spite of the challenges our world has faced.” Future Plans: Pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy at Baylor University in Waco.
As a homeschooled student, Elizabeth Regnerus, BA ’22, chose to skip her last year of high school, starting her freshman year at UD instead, a decision for which she is eternally grateful. “When I saw the quality of friendship, intellectual curiosity and vibrancy of faith students so clearly displayed, I was immediately confident that UD was where God wanted me,” she explained. She entered as a politics major with plans for the public policy field, but in her Core classes, she “discovered that the sort of things I desired to study were the most fundamental ones: who is man, what is his mission, why is there something rather than nothing? Philosophy emerged as the field through which I could sink into these wonderings and give a rational account for who I am and why I exist.”
Capturing Curiosity
Name: Catherine Schwenk
Hometown: Croton-on-Hudson, NY Major: Politics
Notable UD Memories/
Achievements: Being chosen as the Class of 2022 valedictorian; singing “Red Is the Rose” at the Senior TGIT, arm-in-arm with her class. Future Plans: Working as a business analyst at Grant Street Group, pursuing her M.A. in politics at UD and getting married next May.
Catherine Schwenk, BA ’22, intended to double major in psychology and philosophy. However, after taking Principles of American Politics in the fall of her freshman year, she knew that politics was what she really was meant to study. “I currently work in a completely different field,” she said. “Yet, I couldn’t do what I do now without my degree. The ability to be curious, to see the gaps in my knowledge and know where to go to fill them, to reason and evaluate well, to have the strength to act morally are skills the UD education has given me. I think UD shapes you into a certain kind of intellectual and moral person, and the challenge after graduation is to keep being that person.”
Teaching Toward Truth
Name: Faith Starnes
Hometown: Helotes, TX Major: Theology Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Receiving the Helen Corbitt Award; passing senior comps with distinction; planning and executing, as co-chair, a record-breaking Charity Week during COVID. Future Plans: Serving as a Seton Teaching Fellow in the Bronx, New York, bringing the Catholic faith to children and families in underserved communities.
Entering into UD, Faith Starnes, BA ’22, planned to be a biology major, on a pre-physical therapy track. As a sophomore, she added a theology concentration, which opened her eyes to the beauty of theology and made her realize her deep love for the discipline. After Rome, she changed her major to theology, acknowledging an attraction and excitement for those classes that she did not have in the same way for biology. One of her favorite classes, however, was bioethics with Adjunct Instructor William Stigall, M.D., MA ’09. “This class opened my eyes to the integration of mind and body in a new way,” she said. “It is arguably one of the most important classes at UD—offering answers to ethical issues the medical field faces every day.”
Promoting the Power of Poetry
Name: Thomas Thompson
Hometown: Brainerd, MN Major: English Notable UD Memories/Achievements: Receiving the Sorensen Award for Excellence in the Study of the Novel; playing drums at Groundhog, but even more, the countless nights of singing, conversations and laughter. Future Plans: This summer, fishing for Dungeness crab in Sitka, Alaska, then canoeing a 30-day loop through the Canadian Wilderness with his dad; afterward, teaching while pursuing graduate school.
Thomas Thompson, BA ’22, had planned to go to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where one of the professors astounded him “with his piercing intellect and charismatic lecture.” However, this professor was a UD alumnus who persuaded Thompson to look more closely at UD. “I realized that UD provided a better opportunity for me to truly learn and grow,” said Thompson. “At UD, I discovered that the pursuit of truth is not a collection of answers to be held like trophies, but rather, an endless path of questions and mystery.” Thompson hopes “to establish the power of poetry as a profound way of seeing and experiencing the world. Wherever I end up, I will use my degree to keep thinking and reading! Becoming a rockstar drummer is plan B. Becoming a hobo poet is plan C.”
Building Community
Name: Jeanine Dorrough
Hometown: Bandura, TX Major: Business & English
Notable UD Memories/
Achievements: Receiving the Ann Heller Maberry Award; creating and coordinating the First-Generation College Student Small Group Program and seeing its positive impact; meeting her best friend at freshman orientation and rooming with her for three years. Future Plans: Serving as project coordinator for IN2 Innovation in Addison, Texas, then building a career in novel publishing as an editor or a literary agent.
First-generation college graduate Jeanine Dorrough, BA ’22, hadn’t even planned on going to college—then she received a postcard from UD in the mail and felt pulled to apply. Dorrough is particularly grateful to Director of Academic Success and Seven Arts of Language Matthew Spring, PhD ’15: “Soon after meeting Dr. Spring, he became one of my biggest role models. He is kind, generous, and shows genuine care to anyone he meets. He presented me with numerous opportunities to build and develop my small group program. It is thanks to Dr. Spring that I was able to embrace the UD community as well as contribute to it.” She added, “I will always be grateful for the way that UD cultivated my mind. It taught me how to think independently and presented me with numerous opportunities to guide and help others in the UD community.”
Read more at udallas.edu/seniorstories-2022
he University of Dallas has, for the past 15 years, quietly and with steadfast determination been developing a sophisticated astronomy/astrophysics program under the direction of Professor of Physics Richard Olenick, Ph.D. During this period, UD developed a working relationship with the University of North Texas that led to a partnership in the sharing of teaching resources and hardware instrumentation and, most recently, to the creation of the Swenson Observatory for Astronomical Research (SOFAR). With the construction of this observatory, UD students have a resource that very few undergraduate institutions possess.
The SOFAR site is not only readily accessible but has a very dark sky, one level up from the darkest spot in the U.S. This photo of the night sky taken at the site exemplifies the clarity with which one can observe the stars.
Top right: an artist's impression of exoplanets, or planets orbiting a distant star. Bottom left: "Star Queen," an image captured by the SOFAR observatory. Bottom right: an astronomy class at UD in the Haggerty Observatory.
The primary focus of the UD astronomy and astrophysics program has been in analysis of cataclysmic variable stars and exoplanet searches, which use similar observational techniques. A cataclysmic variable is a “vampire star” consisting of a close binary system in which a white dwarf accretes—feeds on—matter from a normal star. Typical separations between the white dwarf and companion stars are equivalent to the diameter of the sun, and the resulting orbital periods range from one to six hours. Exoplanets are planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Recently NASA announced that more than 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed.
UD students and faculty have carried on a comprehensive campaign to search for new exoplanets at various observatories and with various instruments. UD also monitors existing exoplanets because they need to be watched for changes in their circumstances, and professional astronomers do not have the time to do this.
At an observatory in
Colorado, UD students carried on search activities for a number of years during the summer in the beginning years of the program. A major hurdle to successful research is obtaining enough observing time. Research success is strongly tied to how much data you can obtain. In the early years of the UD program, students would have to travel to places like the top of a mountain in the summer and sit out in the cold all night to get data. And they would have to haul the equipment to and from the observing site. Or they would have to network with other universities and try to arrange for time and equipment access to observe.
We are entering what some call the third industrial revolution—and it is robotics. Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in the field of astrophysics and astronomy.
Very soon, astronomers will never stare into an eyepiece or sit at a telescope. Advances in robotically controlled telescopes and digital instrumentation systems have made the “remote observatory” not just a possibility, but from now on, a necessity. Finding a very “dark sky” site for observing is a difficult job these days. Light pollution has spread over the
United States to the extent that there are very few good spots from which to observe. In 2017, UD researchers convinced the Swenson Cattle Company owners to build a remote observatory in the middle of their 40,000-acre ranch; the dark skies there are only exceeded by those in far West Texas, even though it is a three-hour drive from DFW, northwest of Throckmorton.
Subsequently, SOFAR was created for the purpose of furthering education and research in astronomy/astrophysics at all educational levels.
Additionally, UD has installed a wideangle survey telescope and a 16-inch telescope for the research programs they pursue. This observatory, funded by the Swenson family, is totally robotic and controlled via the internet from any location.
The University of Dallas Department of Physics and Astronomy also has a long history of research and reaching out to young people, including those from low-income families and special-needs children in K-12. One such program was a summer science class for underprivileged kids from the Promise House in Dallas. The six-week STEM class was held in Dallas, during which the kids worked and performed laboratory experiments. Afterward the kids were taken to Colorado, where they hiked, panned for gold, rode on ski lifts and went on long sightseeing trips.
Currently, the Physics Department is conducting summer research with students from three high schools in the Dallas area: The Highlands School, Cistercian College Preparatory School and Great Hearts Academy of Irving.
Background image: "Mukund First," an image captured by the SOFAR observatory. Top left: students in the Haggerty Observatory. Bottom left: the SOFAR observatory site; it has a roll-off roof. Top right: "Pillars of Creation," an image captured by the SOFAR observatory. Bottom right: "Trifid" (left) and "Thor's Helmet" (right), images captured by the SOFAR observatory. Far right: Students (left to right) in front of TESS data they analyzed:
Alessandra Bergkamp,
The Highlands School;
Mariah Houser and James Latour, both UD physics majors; John Paul Hays, Cistercian Prep; Brendan Villanueva, Founders Academy. Not shown: Shelly Nguyen and Alex Tam of
The Highlands School.
The students meet with Olenick for three hours twice a week and are using SOFAR telescope data and NASA Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) data to analyze and search for new exoplanets. At this time, there is a significant chance that these students have found several new multiple exoplanets orbiting perhaps some binary star systems.
Arthur Sweeney is the
physics laboratory manager at UD. He is a senior computer systems and electrical engineer who has a passion for astronomy and extensive experience in the aerospace industry.
UD Astronomy is supported by the Donald A. Cowan Institute of Physics and The Joe Neuhoff Fund For Astronomy Research. The Physics Department has supervised 21 undergraduate theses in astronomy since 2011; the following are the most recent: HD 90352/TIC 464340013 Exoplanet Candidate Analysis, Cecilia Hassan, 2021. Development of An Eclipse Mapping Routine Using Python for Analysis of Kepler Data, Nathan Oliver Smith, 2019.
Kepler 212700993 (HS Vir): A Cataclysmic Variable in Superoutburst in the Kepler Campaign 17 Field, William Morris, 2019. Kepler and STExTS Observations and Analysis of the Algol Variable KIC 201325107, John Paul Jones, 2018.
Transit Evolution of HD 189733b, Philip D. Lenzen, 2018.
APPLYING PHYSICS
PHYSICS ALUMNUS RECEIVES SMART FELLOWSHIP
By Callie Ewing, BA ’03 MH ’22
Peter Hedlesky, BS ’21, spent this summer interning with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The physics alumnus was selected to participate in the Space Scholars Program with mentors Robert Rockmore, Ph.D., and Sean Krzyzewski, Ph.D. The 12-week, onsite internship was part of the Department of Defense (DOD) SMART Fellowship program.
“Our group at the Space Force was seeking to replace conventional atomic clocks, like the one for NASA’s deep space atomic clock, with integrated photonics chips (PICS)—so basically, we were developing better clocks for our satellites,” explained Hedlesky, who has been pursuing his doctorate in applied physics, with a focus in photonics, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) since graduating from UD last year. “The issue facing GPS is that atomic clocks are expensive, and about the size of a suitcase. The size may seem trivial, but it costs a lot per kilogram to put a satellite in orbit. Meanwhile PICS are small, a bit bigger than a grain of rice, require little power, and are cheap to manufacture.”
Read more about Hedlesky's work at udallas.edu/applying-physics.
his June, I had the opportunity to participate in a weeklong seminar at Harvard University, examining the philosophical foundations and political implications of sex differences. In her opening lecture on the metaphysics of sex, theologian Angela Franks wrote these three questions on the board, identifying them as the core questions of the Western world:
Who am I? How am I to live? How are we to live together? Thanks to my UD education, these questions are not new to me. I’ve been grappling with them since I was a starry-eyed freshman. Back then, I felt such urgency to figure out all the answers. Even though the books we read in our Core courses were thousands of years old, the dilemmas they addressed felt immediate and pressing. My classmates and I stayed up late into the night, talking about Aristotle’s vision of friendship, Plato’s tripartite psychology, and how these ideas connected to our own lives, our relationships with each other, and our struggles to figure out who we were and what we should do with our lives.
More than a decade later, my existential angst has faded, calmed by the accumulation of personal and professional choices that now give shape to my life. The world is not quite so wide open as it was back then. I have responsibilities as a wife and mother, and I have made career choices that opened some doors and closed others. Yet I still find myself drawn back to these fundamental philosophical questions—not primarily for myself, this time, but in an attempt to understand the deeply different beliefs that men and women hold about what it means to be human and how to live well. I want to be able to navigate deep disagreements with my friends and neighbors with both charity and clarity. And I am called to fulfill my role as my children’s first teacher, forming them well and giving them the tools to seek truth. As Dr. Sue Hanssen might say, channeling Henry Adams, our answers to the three questions listed above give us a spool around which to wind the disparate threads of our knowledge and experience. Like Adams, we live in a time in which rapid technological advances and disorienting social changes can make us question inherited truths. This is particularly apparent in the context of sex and gender, which is the topic of much of my current research and writing. devices and then using liquid helium to cool them down to almost absolute zero, when the motion of even subatomic particles is slowed almost to stillness. This allows him to use electronic pulses to manipulate and measure the spins of individual electrons. The goal is to use the spin state of electrons as a replacement for zeros and ones that make up the binary code in traditional computers, which would make computing many orders of magnitude faster and smaller. In the meantime, however, Anthony also has to act as a mentor and leader to his group of graduate students and postdocs. He needs to use practical wisdom to discern how best to help each of them learn and grow as researchers and as people. He has to negotiate the complicated politics of the
contemporary academy—from relationships with administrators to compliance with new policies on diversity, equity and inclusion —with the very high stakes of tenure on the line. And he has to draw on his writing skills to put together multimillion-dollar grant proposals to fund his research. Whether consciously or not, in all of these pursuits, Anthony is guided by the core set of ethical principles instilled by his parents and refined by his education at UD. I suspect the same is true of our fellow UD alumni in all lines of work, from homeschooling their children to working in finance, politics, education or STEM fields. They might not have reached all of the same conclusions that I have, particularly on prudential political questions—UD is the Catholic school for independent thinkers, after all!—but they have been given the tools to think deeply about assumptions and arguments that lie behind the questions that they face in their personal lives and in our shared familial, communal and political life. That’s the beauty—and the enduring gift—of a UD education.
In my work as a writer, I try to connect new ethical dilemmas and complex contemporary questions back to the core philosophical assumptions that lie beneath. How should we respond to the popularization of postmodern gender theory, which tells us that our identity as men or women is determined by our internal sense of self, not our physical bodies? If a friend or family member asks us to use pronouns that do not accord with his or her bodily sex, how should we respond? Should we support laws that seek to ban “gender-affirming” medical treatments for minors? These are difficult questions, and answering them demands both prudence and compassion. But they are much easier to work through if you have a clear sense of the core philosophical claims involved in each potential answer.
In the seminar I attended this summer, which was hosted by the Wollstonecraft Project and taught by both Dr. Angela Franks and legal scholar and pro-life feminist Erika Bachiochi, we traced the evolution of views about men and women from the classical period (Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas), the modern (Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau), all the way up to the present (Margaret Sanger, the National Organization for Women, Judith Butler, Andrea Long Chu). There were several other UD alumnae and students in the class. We spoke often of the ways our education prepared us to encounter these texts. In some cases, such as John Locke, the readings presented by our seminar leaders were in tension with the narrative we had been taught at UD. Yet the skills we acquired from our alma mater allowed us to critically evaluate both interpretations and decide for ourselves which came closest to the truth.
In my case, the way I use my UD education is clear. But not all UD alumni are quite as into philosophy as I am. My husband, Anthony, for example, was happy to leave his Core classes behind and move on to his physics coursework. Still, that doesn’t mean that the answers to the three core questions I listed at the beginning of this essay don’t affect his life and his work.
Today, he is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, leading a quantum computing research group. He spends a good part of his days designing and fabricating tiny
Serena (White) Sigillito is
editor-at-large of Public Discourse, the journal of the Witherspoon Institute. She recently completed a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship and writes often on topics relating to work, motherhood, sex, gender and embodiment.
Thirty or so pre-health students are engaged in UD's Alumni Health Care Mentoring Network—launched by the Biology Department and the offices of Personal Career Development and Alumni Relations in fall 2021 to help pair students with alumni—receiving firsthand insight into their desired professions from those who walked before them.
BIOLOGY 101
Dissecting Success at UD
By Aaron Claycomb
ver the past half-decade especially, biology has grown to one of the largest majors at UD (with remarkably fewer faculty than the university’s other 26 liberal arts disciplines), boasting one of the highest medical school acceptance rates for U.S. undergraduate institutions—88.7% compared to a national average of 53.7% for students with a 3.59 GPA and above.
What’s their key to success? “We meet students where they are,” says Associate Professor and Chair of Biology William Cody, Ph.D. “They can just walk into our offices and talk to us.”
Making certain that students receive ample experiences beyond the classroom from day one is also a big part of that. “Every science major knows what DNA is and what a cell is, but when they show up freshman year, it's still this very nebulous concept,” Cody explains. “Small class sizes, professors with open-door policies, and tutoring help students better understand course concepts, while internships and research talks and opportunities help them see how they'll apply their learning in their chosen careers.”
There’s no mistaking Cody’s calm demeanor, which lends him grace in the classroom while he also manages the department’s summer programs, coordinates with students and alumni in UD’s Alumni Health Care Mentorship program, advises students as they pursue internships in health care, and performs any number of other tasks related to helping students get the most of their education.
If not in his office or a classroom, you may find him down the hall conversing with colleagues or students, or perhaps conducting his own lab research on the opportunistic bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common cause of healthcare-acquired infections and the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis patients. (One student gifted him a small, handmade cross-stitch cushion—proudly displayed on his bookshelf—inscribed with the name of his research.)
Become an alumni mentor at udallas. edu/mentor
Tower sat down with Cody to discuss the popularity of biology among undergraduates and ways for alumni to get involved in students’ success. Q: How do you engage students beyond the classroom? A: Everything we do in the research lab is an extension of what we’re doing in the classroom. We want as many students as possible in research labs each summer; that’s what prepares them for those opportunities to go into graduate or medical school. And those medical schools are really looking for that research experience—they want to see that a student can do more than just consume knowledge and regurgitate information. But the reality is there are fewer and fewer of these undergraduate research positions due to funding, and some of the students need to generate some income over the summer to help pay for school. Q: Why is biology so popular at UD? A: Many students who are attracted to the University of Dallas are looking to impact their communities, so that’s why we get so many students who are interested in biology and health care. They don't want to just get a job and show people they're smart. They want to have a positive impact on those around them and on their community, on society, for all the same reasons they are attracted to a great Catholic university. Q: Do you have any changes planned for next year? A: We’ve been sending five students each summer to participate in UD’s Rome Research Experience at Università di Roma Tor Vergata. Now we’re looking into the potential of sending students to Sapienza Università di Roma, one of the oldest universities in the world, but that’s going to be dependent on getting some external funding. Q: How can alumni get involved? A: If you’re looking for a way to support students in the early stages of their career, consider becoming an alumni mentor. It’s an amazing opportunity for you to share your knowledge and experience with the next generation of health care providers.
Read more at udallas.edu/ defining-home
Defining Home
By Megan Wagner, MH ’16
hreenidhi Ayinala had an interest in technology from a young age, exploring Scratch and basic coding in elementary school, and in eighth grade jumping into robotics, then studying computer science throughout high school. This past school year, as a senior at Heritage High School in the Frisco Independent School District north of Dallas, for her second year in the district’s Independent Study and Mentorship program, Ayinala wanted to examine how technology affects people. She found UD’s Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Renita Murimi, Ph.D., CISSP, on LinkedIn and reached out to see if Murimi would consider being her mentor for the school year. Murimi gladly accepted.
The two focused on the nature of smart homes, first defining home as “an emotional investment, a retreat, a safe space.” Ayinala added, “A home is where an individual can find comfort, be themself and not worry. It provides privacy, one’s own space and familiarity.”
A smart home, then, is a home with smart devices that collect data and connect to the internet and often to other devices, including smart photo frames, lightbulbs, refrigerators, doorbells, thermostats, baby monitors and so on. Murimi pointed out that throughout history, homes have had “technology and tools appropriate to the time. Computers, etc., are our tools. There are smart devices in so many categories of a home today—saltshakers and cat litter boxes, for example.”
Murimi and Ayinala then contemplated, “What if this information is hacked?” They looked into the psychology of those impacted by hacks and breaches, which typically result in emotional distress. The theory of territoriality proposed by Douglas Porteous in 1976 provided the foundation for their research; Porteous proposed that “individuals exert jurisdiction over [their] personal space.” Murimi said, “A home is an extension of territoriality.”
“Home is supposed to provide identity, security and stimulation,” explained Murimi. “Smart homes should give us these things. We ought to have the ability to choose what data to share.” Ayinala added, “However, if security is taken away from an individual, their experience of home is altered.” Boundaries are erased through a breach or hacking. The resident may struggle with their sense of security and identity.
Murimi explained, “Technology must work well with people. How do these devices help us—not replace us?”
Ayinala and Murimi presented their paper titled “On a Territorial Notion of a Smart Home” at ACM SIGSAC’s first International Workshop on Cybersecurity and Social Sciences, which was held virtually on May 30.
DARING TO DBA
THE PAYOFF OF PERSISTENCE
People describe Misty Sabol, DBA ’21, as persistent. Once in a demanding career as an oil and gas stock analyst, a desire to strike a better work/ life balance led her to begin teaching at Lone Star College in Houston. Seeking a doctoral program that would complement her family and career life, she found UD’s Doctor of Business Administration program offered through the Gupta College of Business. After completing the program during the pandemic while she taught, parented and studied, her persistence has paid off: She is now a professor at the University of South Alabama. Read more at udallas.edu/ the-payoff-of-persistence.
MOTIVATED BY GOD
After nine years in oil and gas, one night, Brad Winton, DBA ’21, and his wife decided their family needed a change. Winton had earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Millsaps College in 2009, a master’s in geoscience from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2011, and a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University Texarkana in 2015. After a life-altering conversation with his wife, he enrolled in UD’s DBA program. “Just to be blunt, my motivating factor was God,” he emphasized. Winton is now a tenure-track assistant professor of management at the University of Southern Mississippi. Read more at udallas.edu/motivated-by-god.
A NEW MILESTONE
Our Lady, Our Patroness and Protector
By Clare Venegas
early 400 students, faculty, alumni, staff and friends of the University of Dallas gathered at the Irving campus on May 6 for a historic celebration and consecration of the university to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas and of the Diocese of Dallas.
Dallas Bishop and University Chancellor the Most Rev. Edward J. Burns concelebrated an afternoon Mass at the Church of the Incarnation with Bishop Greg Kelly, BA ’78 M.Div ’82, Abbot Peter Verhalen of Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey, UD Chaplain Father Joseph Paul Albin, O.P., and Father Fernando Carranza with Redemptoris Mater Seminary. Priests representing orders and seminaries through the diocese, such as Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Opus Dei, Cistercians, Dominicans, were also in attendance, along with altar servers from Holy Trinity Seminary.
Opening Mass was followed by a one-mile eucharistic procession around campus, with the first stop at the university’s unique Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine. At the end of the procession, attendees gathered in the Church of the Incarnation for the conclusion of Mass and a special prayer of consecration.
The idea of consecrating the university to Our Lady originated with President Jonathan J. Sanford soon after he was appointed as the 10th president of the University of Dallas.
The special event invited the wider Dallas community, from parish pastors to parish communities throughout the diocese.
“Consecrating the University of Dallas in a public way, and welcoming the wider Dallas community to participate, is a powerful expression of who we are as a Catholic, liberal arts university,” Sanford said, adding that the university’s Catholic identity is attractive to Catholic students as well as students of all backgrounds and faiths.
TO UNITE AS ONE
YOU CAN DO WHAT WITH A CLASSICS DEGREE?
By Kate Friend, BA ’07
Raymond Heipp, Ph.D., BA ’86, designs assistive technology and facilitates its use, crediting his UD classics major with providing role models who became lifelong inspirations and “the opportunity to explore texts in their native languages [for] a better understanding of the wholeness of humanity.”
Assistive Technology (AT) helps people with disabilities navigate the abled world. Heipp works to help school districts, therapy centers and hospitals understand what AT is available and how it can support students and patients. He seeks to have AT become a natural part of classroom environments “so that it does not create an aura around anyone using it as having ‘something wrong with them.’”
Normalizing AT means creating inclusive environments where people with disabilities are seen for what they bring to the table, not for their disability. Heipp uses the example of glasses—assistive devices so common that people don’t even think of them as assistive, nor of glasses-wearers as disabled. Yet, take away someone’s glasses and they would be functionally disabled. Other, less-common forms of AT also simply support people to accomplish goals despite their disabilities.
Heipp credits UD with giving him a vision of us all as “one human family,” with “the utmost faith that we will get through all pitfalls in this world to unite as one.”
Read more at udallas.edu/ to-unite-as-one.
