News

Holy Cross graduates are again responding to the call to give back by serving in classrooms across America.

The College ranks fifth this year among small colleges and universities (2,999 undergraduates or fewer) contributing the greatest number of graduates to Teach For America with 17 recent Holy Cross alumni joining the program.

Teach For America is the national corps of top recent college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in under-resourced urban and rural areas of the United States, and become leaders in the pursuit of educational equality.

Admission to Teach for America this year was highly selective, with an 11 percent acceptance rate among the record 48,000 individuals who applied. Incoming corps members earned an average GPA of 3.6, and 100 percent have held leadership positions.

Throughout Teach For America’s 20-year history, more than 130 Holy Cross alumni have taught as corps members.

• Washington Post: “Teach for America 2011 acceptance rate: 11 percent”

Thomas Schmitt ’13, of Kirkwood, Mo., studied at Roehampton University in London from June 19 to July 19 under a Fulbright Summer Institute scholarship. He is a history major in the premed program.

He was among 12 participants from a cross-section of universities across the United States who spent four weeks studying the issue of citizenship and human rights in the United Kingdom. The program involved academic sessions and field trips to various parts of London and the U.K., including Brick Lane, the Houses of Parliament, Brighton and Windsor, as well as getting involved directly in London’s diverse community by volunteering in local schools.

At Holy Cross, Schmitt is a tutor at the Nativity School through Student Programs for Urban Development. He plans to go to law school.

Malik Neal ’13, a history major from Philadelphia, participated in the inaugural Roehampton University Summer Institute last year.

Created by treaty in 1948, the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission is the only bi-lateral,
transatlantic scholarship program, offering awards and summer programs for study or research in any field, at any accredited U.S. or U.K. university. The Commission is part of the Fulbright program conceived by Senator J. William Fulbright.

The U.K. Summer Institutes are a new initiative, designed to introduce students to the United Kingdom, while also developing their academic skills and encouraging leadership.

Earlier this year, 10 recent Holy Cross graduates were awarded Fulbright grants to work and teach abroad.

Matthew S. Mohorovich ’08, from Astoria, Queens, N.Y., has been selected as one of 16 Lilly Graduate Fellows, as announced by the Lilly Fellows Program.

The Lilly Graduate Fellows Program supports, during the course of their graduate education, exceptionally well qualified young men and women who have bachelor degrees from Lilly Fellowship Program Network Schools and who are interested in becoming teacher-scholars at church-related colleges and universities in the United States.

This is the third highly-competitive award Mohorovich, who received a bachelor’s degree in biology and philosophy at Holy Cross, has received in recent years. In 2008, he was awarded a Watson Fellowship for his self-designed research project titled “All that Jazz: Feeling the Beat in the Balkans.”

In 2009, he received a four-year Javits Fellowship, awarded to students of superior academic ability — selected on the basis of demonstrated achievement, financial need, and exceptional promise — to undertake study at the doctoral and master of fine arts level in selected fields of arts, humanities, and social sciences. He received a master’s degree last spring from the New School for Social Research in New York through the fellowship.

This fall, Mohorovich will pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy at Boston College. He will remain a Javits Fellow during most of his time there.

With an interest in political philosophy and political thought, his current research is on the problem of solipsism as laid out in the history of German Idealism (Fichte, Schelling), and how that problem is pivotal to the contemporary philosophical discussion concerning “violence” and “non-violence” as well as to contemporary issues in environmental ethics.

The 16 Fellows were selected by a nine-member selection committee who interviewed 24 finalists (selected from 61 applicants) in April in Indianapolis. Following an inaugural conference, the fellows will embark on a long-distance colloquium, engage in one-on-one mentoring relationships, and participate in three additional conferences. All 16 are pursuing doctoral degrees in the humanities or the arts.

The Lilly Fellows Program recently named Charles Strauss ’02 to a similar program, a Lilly Postdoctoral Fellow in Humanities and the Arts at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

The Lilly Graduate Fellows Program is funded by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Charles Strauss '02

Charles Strauss ’02 has been named a Lilly Postdoctoral Fellow in Humanities and the Arts at Valparaiso University in Indiana.  He is one of three scholars nationally to receive the prestigious appointment this year.

Begun in 1991, the Lilly Fellows Program provides two-year postdoctoral fellowships for exceptional teacher-scholars who seek to enrich their intellectual and spiritual lives while preparing for leadership roles in church-related higher education.

As a fellow, Strauss will teach history in Christ College, Valparaiso University’s honors college, and in its College of Arts and Sciences. He will also participate in a weekly colloquium on Christianity and the academic vocation and conduct scholarly research.

Strauss’s main research goals include turning his dissertation, titled “Catholicism, Central America, and U.S. Politics during the Cold War, 1943-1988,” into a book as well as writing an article on the religion and history of human rights in the 1970s and 80s.
Strauss explains, “My dissertation explores how religion shaped U.S. foreign policy on Central America during the second half of the twentieth century by focusing on missionaries, particularly Catholic priests, brothers, and sisters of Maryknoll.”

Timothy Austin, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, said of Strauss’ appointment:  “We congratulate Charles on receiving this prestigious academic fellowship.  His scholarly work illustrates the strengths of a Holy Cross education, which encourages students to reflect on questions of meaning and purpose and to discern their own life’s work, and for that we are especially proud.”

Austin says many Holy Cross alumni are connecting their career paths to their faith, in response to the opportunities they had to explore the College’s Jesuit, Catholic mission during their undergraduate years.

Strauss says he found his vocation while working on his Fenwick Scholar thesis during his senior year at Holy Cross under the direction of Edward O’Donnell, associate professor of history, and David O’Brien, professor emeritus of history and Loyola Professor of Roman Catholic Studies.  It was O’Brien who challenged him to consider the possibility of aspiring to be a “Catholic intellectual,” and to think seriously about his vocation.

He explains, “My experiences at Holy Cross have helped me to appreciate global forces at work in United States history such as immigration and Catholic social thought. It has also guided my goals for teaching, particularly the principles of human dignity, solidarity, and call to family, community, and participation. These are principles that Holy Cross affirmed for me and that professors like David O’Brien have always modeled.”

Strauss was a history and peace and conflicts studies double major.  He earned master’s degrees in history at the University of Cape Town and the University of Notre Dame.  Strauss received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Notre Dame in May 2011.

Holy Cross is one of a group of 96 colleges and universities that make up the Lilly Fellows Program National Network.  Representing a diversity of denominational traditions, institutional types, and geographical locations, member institutions explore and discuss the relationship of Christianity to the academic vocation, and strengthen the religious nature of church-related institutions through a variety of activities and publications.

By Sara Bovat ’14

Shakespeare in the Park

Members of the College of the Holy Cross community play Shakespeare in the park this summer. Five alumni are part of the Worcester Shakespeare Company, which is presenting the sixth annual Shakespeare Under the Stars at the Memorial Hill Amphitheater in Green Hill Park.

The summer season titled Lunacy, Lovers & Mayhem will showcase Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Hamlet. Alumni include actors Vasilios Asimakos ’09, Daniel Goodman ’11, and Eric McGowan ’11, Lighting Designer Emily McCourt ’10, and choreographer Jennifer Walsh ‘07. Holy Cross Costume Designer Kurt Hultgren lent his support to the company as well. 

“I am thrilled that our alums are continuing their association with the Worcester Shakespeare Company,” says Edward Isser, professor and chair of the theatre department at Holy Cross. “The summer festival is a fantastic bridging experience that allows them to hone skills and gain experience while preparing to launch careers.”

The Comedy of Errors reinforces the idea of the chaos and bewilderment that results from a case of a mistaken identity, featuring rambunctious characters including two sets of twins, an imprisoned merchant, and a witch doctor. Hamlet, opening later in the season, famously and controversially analyzes the obscurity surrounding what it means to be human.

The productions run from July 20 through Aug. 21. Due to last year’s overwhelming success, the final two gala performances will once again be held at the Hanover Theatre.  For a complete schedule visit the Worcester Shakespeare Company. 

Related Information

• Lowell native plays a little Shakespeare – The Lowell Sun (July 14, 2011)