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When you first hear that her entire senior year was devoted to the study of British fabric design — specifically, chintz — you might assume that Meredyth Winter ’11 spent weeks and months poring over very particular art history texts and visiting specialized museums and collections.

Your assumption wouldn’t be wrong — but that’s only a small part of the remarkable story of this year’s Fenwick Scholar at Holy Cross.

In fact, Winter’s original Fenwick research spans centuries, continents, and disciplines.

She studied India’s dying and manufacturing technology in the 17th century — the printing and hand-painting techniques that created chintz. Incorrectly considered by many to be prototypically British in design and invention, chintz actually has its roots in India. As part of her research, Winter gained rare access to museum storerooms in London and Paris to explore fabrics and records. She incorporated trading routes between India and England into her research, exploring the economics of the day as well as the soaring popularity of design and the legal precedent that for a time banned imported chintz.

She conducted numerous visual analyses of patterns and fabric samples, comparing, for instance, the patterns from 18th century India with the work of 19th century British artists such as William Morris.

The yearlong study fueled her passion for art history.

“Art history is an ever-evolving discipline,” she says. “It’s fascinating to me to think that since the 1950s, the theory has been that the British East India Company sent patterns to India to be manufactured into chintz, and that assumption has been more or less upheld since. We need to look further back, before chintz became popular, to where the line between Indian and British designs was blurred. Only then can we ask, How did it become popular? How did it shape the development of fabric design?”

These questions began percolating for Winter during her junior year spent in Dijon, France, which included trips to Victorian and Albert Museum, which has an extensive collection of Indian textiles.

Winter, of Kansas City, received the Fenwick Scholar Award at the end of her junior year after a rigorous review process. The Fenwick Scholar Award is one of the College’s oldest and most prestigious academic distinctions. The recipient, selected on the basis of a proposal by a committee including the president and vice president for academic affairs and dean, designs a program of independent study and research, with the consultation of one or more faculty members. At the end of the academic year, the Fenwick Scholar makes a public presentation to showcase the project. The award is named in honor of the late Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick, S.J., the founder of Holy Cross.

Working with advisors Mika Natif, visiting assistant professor of visual arts, and Susan Rodgers, professor and chair of anthropology, Winter designed her course of study and spent three weeks in the fall of 2010 in London and Paris doing original research.

“Professors Natif and Rodgers were instrumental in sharing their contacts with me, connecting me with museum professionals and experts and helping me get access to non-public collections.”

Also, with the assistance of Roger Hankins, director of the Cantor Art Gallery, she also developed an exhibit of chintz patterns from 1550 to 1900 on display on the fourth floor of Fenwick Hall.

A member of the College Honors Program and an art history major, Winter has been active in the Student Advisory Committee for the visual arts department.

Winter’s public lecture titled “InConspicuous Consumption: Understanding the Role of Indian Chintz In Shaping British Fabric Design,” opens the College’s 2011 Academic Conference.

After graduation, Winter will head to New York City. “I will be pursuing a master’s degree in decorative arts, design history, and material culture at the Bard Graduate Center, where I will also have the opportunity to get curatorial experience in their gallery.”

As the academic year concludes, the College of the Holy Cross will host its annual Academic Conference from April 27 through April 30. The four-day conference provides students with an opportunity to present the results of their independent work and for the entire community to celebrate the relationship between Holy Cross’ liberal arts curriculum and the learning taking place in varied environments — from Study Abroad to the Worcester community; from research labs and art studios to libraries with original source material.

The programs, projects, poster sessions, and performances presented by students at the conference were developed with the guidance of faculty members. The conference showcases the independence, creativity, and intellectual discipline of students, as well as the role faculty have played as mentors and model teacher-scholars.

Approximately 300 Holy Cross students from all classes are involved in the conference this year. Academic Conference 2011 is free and open to the public.

The conference includes works from the arts, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. Students will present an array of topics including:

• “The Richest People in the World: An Ethnography of Poverty in America,” Dominick Abbate ’11
• “Exploring Ethnic Diversity in Cameroon through Music,” Chelsey Andrea ’11
• “Synthesis of New Metallopolymer Precursors to be Used as Polyelectrochromic Materials,” Patrick Burns ’12
• “From Hymns to Hip-Hop: The Evolution of African-American Self-Expression Through Music,” Deirdre Foley ’11
• “The Process and Constraints of Making Art: A Case Study of a Pakistani Woman Artist,” Katie Hunter ’12
• “Political Accountability: How Can We Keep Our Government Officials Accountable and Our People Engaged?,” Eleanor Miller ’11
• “Exploration of the HIV Crisis in Spain,” Andrew Mainini ’11
• “Nonviolence as a Sustainable Option,” Matthew Tyksinski ’11

The conference will open with a lecture by this year’s Fenwick Scholar, Meredyth Winter ’11. The Fenwick Scholar Award is one of the College’s oldest and most prestigious academic distinctions. Departmental nominees design, with several advisors, a program of study leading to a significant research or creative project that will be an entire senior-year curriculum.

Winter has spent the academic year working with Mika Natif, visiting assistant professor in visual arts, and Susan Rodgers, professor and chair of anthropology. Her lecture, “InConspicuous Consumption: Understanding the Role of Indian Chintz In Shaping British Fabric Design” will be presented at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library on April 27.

A reception, open to the entire Holy Cross community, will follow the lecture at 5 p.m. in Moran Lounge, on the fourth floor of Smith Hall.

Other highlights of the conference include:

• On April 28, 12 studio art majors will participate in “Major: Works From the Senior Concentration Seminar” at the Cantor Art Gallery. The opening exhibition and reception for the artists will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Preceding the opening will be presentations by the students from 12 to 1 p.m. The exhibition will be open to the public through May 27.
• On April 27 at 7 p.m. in Brooks Concert Hall, the Chamber Orchestra will play all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, which will feature one student from each class year.
• On April 28 at 4 p.m. in Brooks Concert Hall, the Chamber Music Festival will feature eight student and three faculty performers.

The conference is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the College.

Academic Conference Program 2011 [PDF].

Roald Hoffmann, an applied theoretical chemist at Cornell University who received the 1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry, visited Holy Cross over the course of three days this month.

His visit was made possible by an $18,500 grant that chemistry professor Richard Herrick received from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. through their Jean Dreyfus Boissevain Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions program. After the visit, Herrick remarked that, “Professor Hoffmann gave three great talks. Each was easy to follow showing that he is a great communicator as well as a great chemist. It was a real pleasure to have him visit Holy Cross and meet with our chemists.”

Here are five highlights from his visit.

1. Noted for his ability to break down complicated scientific processes to a general audience, Hoffmann delivered a keynote lecture, titled “Chemistry’s Essential Tensions: Three Views of a Science” before a packed audience in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom on April 6. His talk emphasized chemistry’s cultural and psychological dimension and its tie to the arts.

2. Science students and faculty also took in a more technical lecture the following day titled “The Chemical Imagination at Work in Very Tight Places” in Rehm Library. “Professor Hoffmann’s current research examines the chemical consequences of applying extremely high pressures to simple molecules. As his eloquent talk pointed out, chemical intuition does not coincide with the results observed from his calculations,” says Herrick.

3. His visit wasn’t all strictly science. An accomplished writer, poet and playwright, Hoffmann attempts to bridge the distance between the arts and science. In Rehm Library, he read several of poems including “Jerry-Built Forever” about hemoglobin, providing commentary along the way about his work and how science influences his poetry. His presentation was moderated by Herrick and Bob Cording, James N. and Sarah L. O’Reilly Barrett Professor in Creative Writing.

4. Over the course of three days, Hoffmann interacted with many members of the Holy Cross community. Several students had a lunch with the Nobel winner at the science café, where they discussed their studies, post-graduate plans, and, of course, chemistry. “I was particularly intrigued by his poetry,” said chemistry major Lindsey Tonge ’11. “He kept saying that science and the humanities should not be split. He saw his poetry as a chance to bridge the gap between science and English. It was nice to hear a science professor asking us about what liberal arts classes we were taking. He didn’t really want to talk so much about science. He was much more interested in us as whole people. He really is the embodiment of a liberal arts education.”

5. Faculty members from the chemistry, psychology and English departments met one-on-one with Hoffmann. English professor Maurice Geracht says, “It turned out that we had common experiences a) he in Poland, I in France, and we exchanged, in general terms our stories — we did not need to fill in details, theses were close and familiar enough; b) we are the same age, came to the United States within months of each other, grew up as teens in Queens N.Y., and while we did not go to the same high school or college, we knew many of the same neighborhood kids, hung around the same places, and had similar social lives.” They also talked about current common interests, including poetry and narratives in graphics illustrations. “It was fun and we packed in a lot in 30 minutes. He is a joy to talk with primarily because is passionately and widely curious about what is at hand, and genuinely eager to connect even with the person he just barely meets. He is very generous, and out of the blue he gave me a signed copy of ‘Soliton,’ a collection of his poems.”

Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., ’49, president emeritus of Holy Cross, received the Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Award from the New England Province of Jesuits during the 11th annual Jesuit Gala on April 12 at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston. The honoree video screened at the event featured interviews with Fr. Brooks, Rev. Earle Markey, S.J., ’53, vice president emeritus and associate director of Admissions, and P. Kevin Condron ’67, chair of the Holy Cross board of trustees.

The Province’s AMDG award honors those who selflessly give of themselves for the greater glory of God.

Fr. Brooks served as president of Holy Cross from 1970 to 1994. He joined the Holy Cross faculty in 1963 and was appointed vice president and dean of the College in 1968. Just two years later, he was named the 25th president of Holy Cross. During his tenure as president, Fr. Brooks oversaw the College’s transition to coeducation, an increase in the College’s endowment, 23 years of balanced budgets, and the development of Holy Cross into a nationally recognized liberal arts institution of the highest reputation. Fr. Brooks currently works in the Development Office.

In addition to Fr. Brooks, Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., president of Fairfield University from 1979-2004 and Fr. J. Donald Monan, S.J., president of Boston College from 1972-1996, were honored at the Jesuit Gala. Together, the three AMDG Award winners have served the Society of Jesus as “outstanding educational leaders” for 75 years.