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Scholars from around the world will meet at Holy Cross to explore interdisciplinary themes as the International Word and Image Conference returns to Holy Cross June 24-26.

This is the fourth time the conference has met at Holy Cross. Sponsors, along with the College, are the international French/English journal Interfaces and the Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot. The conference venue alternates between the two campuses.

The focus of this year’s conference is on “practitioners of the verbal and plastic arts.” In conjunction with the conference, a special exhibition — Word/Image/Text — at the Cantor Art Gallery has opened and will continue through July 22.

Plenary speaker is Wendy Steiner, the Richard L. Fisher Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, founding director of the Penn Humanities Forum, and past chair of the Penn English department. Her fields are 20th-21st-century literature and visual art, contemporary fiction, and ethical issues in the arts. Among her recent books are Literature as Meaning: A Thematic Anthology (2005); Venus in Exile: The Rejection of Beauty in Twentieth-Century Art (2001); and The Scandal of Pleasure: Art in an Age of Fundamentalism (1995). Steiner’s cultural criticism has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, London Independent, London Review of Books, and Times Literary Supplement.

She will be a showing a full-length recording of her opera, “The Loathly Lady,” with composer Paul Richards and artist John Kindness, which includes short animation clips, still painted images, and footage of the performers.

Members of the Holy Cross faculty have been part of this multi-disciplinary conference since its inception 21 years ago. Maurice A. Geracht, professor of English at Holy Cross and co-chair of the International Word and Image Conference, has been involved in the conference since its founding and is also co-editor of Interfaces.

Co-edited by the University of Paris 7 and Holy Cross, Interfaces is a bilingual illustrated journal focusing on the dividing line — the “interface” — between language and the image, two means of expression different and yet inseparable. This interface was displaced when the cinema made the image move, then speak, thus making time its medium and creating a new type of discourse. But the old interface between language and the static image still remains and its power is enhanced by modern technology.

Frédéric Ogée, professor of English literature at the Université Paris7 Denis Diderot, is co-editor of Interfaces and co-chair of the conference.

The accompanying exhibition, WORD/IMAGE/TEXT brings together the work of three contemporary artists who all explore the intersection of word, image and meaning within their chosen media. The work of Joseph Farbrook, Zoey Stites and Anik Vinay will be on view from June 24 – July 22, with an opening reception on Wednesday, June 24, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the gallery. A selection of early prints by Shusaku Arakawa, lent by a private collector, will also be presented in the entrance area of the gallery.

For more information, visit the International Word and Image Conference Web site.

Pictured: Anik Vinay; Voyelles En Partance, 1993; fruit wood, paper; 8 x 2, 5 x 5 cm

Sixteen members of the Holy Cross Class of 2009 will serve in locations around the globe as Jesuit Volunteers next year. The alumni have dedicated themselves to a year or more of living and working for social justice alongside people living in poverty or on the margins of society.

Jesuit Volunteers minister by teaching students of all ages, providing legal services, working with refugees and immigrants, serving with social services and at community centers, organizing low-income communities and caring for people with HIV/AIDS. Although numbers have not yet been finalized, about 250 Jesuit Volunteers each year work in the United States and in seven countries around the world.

The following students will be serving as Jesuit Volunteers next year:

East: Bridget Croutier, Alana DiPesa, Sarah Durkin, Elisabeth Flaherty, William Landergan, Rachel Snyder

International: Patrick Flynn, Joseph Howell, Maureen McCarty

Midwest: Sean Kiely

South: Meaghan McCormick, Amy Mullen

Southwest: Edward Hairston, Kaitlin Juleus, Amanda McLaughlin, Lindsay Williams

Throughout the last decade, Holy Cross has been one of the largest contributors to Jesuit Volunteers Corps:

• 2008-2009: 8
• 2007-2008: 11
• 2006-2007: 21
• 2005-2006: 18
• 2004-2005: 19
• 2003-2004: 7
• 2002-2003: 19
• 2001-2002: 26
• 2000-2001: 16
• 1999-2000: 32
• 1998-1999: 27

This month, 100 scholars from around the globe convened for an interdisciplinary conference on medieval studies at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. The conference was organized by Daniel J. DiCenso ’98, a visiting professor in music at Holy Cross, and James Wade, a professor at Penn State University. DiCenso is completing his Ph.D. in musicology at the university.

With sessions on music, literature, history and religion, “Knowledge and Learning in the Middle Ages: A Conference Celebrating the 800th Anniversary of the University of Cambridge,” was one of a number of events taking place throughout the year in celebration of the university’s founding.

Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the 2009 Fund which is supporting the university’s anniversary celebrations, DiCenso says he was able to attract the finest scholars in the field of medieval studies.

“Every session involved hearing from the best,” he says. “But more than that, top scholars mixed with visiting graduate students and other audience members. The conference was truly an exchange of ideas — not only between the top scholars giving lectures, but between all levels of those interested in the Middle Ages.”

A highlight of the conference, says DiCenso, was the keynote address delivered by Margot Fassler, Robert Tangeman professor of music history at Yale University.

“Professor Fassler’s paper about the use of medieval chant in present-day Coptic and Roman Catholic religious communities drove home the point that while the Middle Ages were very long ago, so many medieval practices continue to influence our lives today — from the way that we worship in communities to the ways that we express ourselves and our histories through song,” he says.

DiCenso is the first student from Holy Cross to have won a highly-competitive Gates Cambridge Scholarship, a full-cost award given to students from outside the United Kingdom to pursue graduate study and research at the university. In the fall, he will be teaching both medieval music courses and popular music courses at Holy Cross, and apply for post-doctoral research positions and tenure-track jobs.

“It’s been a privilege to be back at Holy Cross for two years,” he says. “I think that what’s most wonderful about teaching at Holy Cross, apart from the students, is to be a part of an institution worth believing in. Holy Cross is about opening minds to new possibilities — asking questions, not giving ‘answers.’ ”

Twenty members of the Holy Cross Class of 2009 have joined Teach For America, a program that trains top students to teach in low-income communities. Among small colleges (2,999 or fewer undergraduates), only Barnard College has more graduated seniors (21) committed to Teach For America.

Teach For America is the national corps of top recent college graduates who commit to teach for at least two years in urban and rural public schools.

During the 2008-09 academic year, Teach For America received a record 35,000 applications from graduating seniors, postgraduates, and professionals. This fall, approximately 4,100 new corps members will start teaching in schools across the country. The 2009 corps earned an average GPA of 3.6, and 89 percent held leadership positions as undergraduates.

In the last four years, a total of 46 Holy Cross graduating seniors, attracted by a commitment to public service, have joined Teach For America:

• 2005: 6
• 2006: 9
• 2007: 24
• 2008: 7

Related Information:

• Floyd ’09 Joins Scores of Holy Cross Grads Who Bring Social Justice Experiences to Teach For America

The month of June marks a turning point in the life of Holy Cross. Almost immediately after seniors commence from Fitton Field, the campus begins transforming itself to welcome first-year students.

June also marks the end of the College’s fiscal year. So, along with preparing for the arrival of more than 700 new students, Holy Cross is continuing to examine — and proactively manage — the current economic situation and its affect on students, faculty and overall operations.

Holy Cross, like most colleges and universities, is navigating a sea of financial challenges: a significant drop in endowment value; the increasing financial need of students and their families; and the repercussions when benefactors feel the pinch in their own lives and portfolios.

Yet what, specifically, do today’s economic realities mean on Mount St. James?

It’s a big question and the next issue of Holy Cross Magazine will tackle it. A special report, “How the Economic Crisis Affects Holy Cross (and You),” will be available in print and online at the beginning of July.

In the meantime, here are several facts worth knowing — and considering:

• Holy Cross remains committed to admitting the most qualified students without regard to their ability to pay.

• Applications for the incoming Class of 2013 were very strong. There was a slight drop in the number of applications, but the yield percentage of students accepting admission was on par with previous years.

• More than 60 percent of Holy Cross students receive some form of financial aid.

• Despite a major hit to the endowment, Holy Cross has maintained its commitment to providing financial aid and has increased funds for this purpose.

• The College has had to make some immediate budget cuts and put several projects on hold, but thus far has avoided any cuts that would affect the academic experience.

• Over the past few years, Holy Cross has succeeded in lowering the student-faculty ratio to 10:1; smaller classes benefit students and professors alike.

• Tuition and fees provide about 66 percent of revenue; endowment earnings last year accounted for another 14 percent.

• Support of the Holy Cross Fund (which closes on June 30) therefore takes on greater significance, both now and for the coming years. Gifts are put to work immediately, and can be targeted specifically to underwrite financial aid and faculty resources.

You’ll read much more on the economic picture in the next issue of Holy Cross Magazine, including an exclusive interview with U.S. Rep. Timothy Bishop ’72, a vigorous supporter of federal funding for higher education … comments and advice from Holy Cross’ faculty experts … and resources available for alumni who may be feeling the impact of the global recession.

Related Information:

• Holy Cross Fund
• Make a Gift
• From the Office of the President: Economic Conditions and Holy Cross

As a psychology major with premedical and biological psychology concentrations at Holy Cross, Alice Simcoe-Matthews ’10 has learned quite a bit about autism through her studies.

This summer she will help further research on the developmental disorder, which affects 1 in 150 individuals, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined.

Simcoe-Matthews, of Somers, Conn., will be an etiology science intern in the New York offices of Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and funding to find answers to the causes of autism. Autism Speaks was co-founded by Bob Wright ’65 and his wife, Suzanne.

During the full-time internship, which runs through Aug. 14, Simcoe-Matthews will blog about her work and life in New York. She earned the internship through the College’s competitive Summer Internship Program. Internships are developed through the strong network of Holy Cross alumni, parents, and friends throughout the country and are earmarked and designed specifically for Holy Cross students. This year a record 148 students are doing internships at 101 internship sites offered through the program.

“I hope to expand my knowledge about current research being conducted in the areas of etiology, biology, diagnosis and treatment,” she says. “I also hope to gain more extensive research experience myself and learn firsthand how the goals of Autism Speaks to raise awareness, provide services, and fund research are intertwined.”

At Autism Speaks, Simcoe-Matthews will help develop a background report that will inform activities of Autism Speaks Global Autism Public Health Initiative. “Specifically, I will help identify key autism awareness organizations, service providers, and available research infrastructure around the world, focusing on some of Autism Speaks priority territories — those in which Autism Speaks has current research investments or opportunities,” she explains.

After graduation, Simcoe-Matthews plans on working in the health care field while preparing to apply to medical school. Her goal is to be a pediatric specialist.

Related Information:

• Summer Internship Program
• Explore: Sciences

Last week, Holy Cross hosted the 2009 Liberal Arts Career NetWORK Summit. The annual event, which rotates among the network’s 30 highly selective liberal arts colleges from throughout the United States, features two days of meetings and networking with career services professionals with a focus on internship development, online career resources and negotiating with vendors as a consortium.

The network began more than 10 years ago with a mission to collaboratively maximize technology in developing innovative resources and initiatives, positioning students and graduates for a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

“By sharing resources and working collaboratively, members of the Liberal Arts Career NetWORK are able to enhance internship opportunities as well as expand online career resources provided by participating institutions,” said John Winters, director of Holy Cross’ Career Planning Center.

In his welcoming remarks to the approximately 50 attendees, Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of Holy Cross, said the network combines two of his greatest passions — technology and students.

“My background is in electrical and computer engineering, and I think that the appropriate integration of technology into higher education has had many great benefits — including the ability for schools like ours to come together and pool our resources in order to help our students grow and succeed,” he said.

Fr. McFarland said that a liberal arts curriculum does the best job of preparing students for all aspects of life, and that internships provide relevant work experience required by employers.

“Students learn to think critically and independently, communicate clearly, and become problem solvers — skills that are highly valued in any career,” he said. “But it is also important that we give them opportunities to strengthen and build on these skills in a professional setting; and internships in the business and non-profit worlds are a meaningful and concrete way to do that.”

Additional information on the Liberal Arts Career NetWORK, activities, affiliate schools, and services for employers — including the free job and internship listing service — can be found at http://www.lacnjobs.org/.

Related Information:

• Career Planning Center
• Summer Internship Program

The College’s community garden has taken root. Here’s all the dirt!

1. The idea first blossomed in a tutorial on philosophical issues related to food taught by Andrea Borghini, assistant professor of philosophy.

2. The grounds department, headed by Jim Long, prepared, fenced and tilled the site, and provided a water supply.

3. Seed money for tools and supplies came from the Environmental Studies program.

4. The topsoil for the garden, which was tilled last week, came partly from the new lacrosse field at Holy Cross.

5. All vegetables were planted directly from seed or grown from seed in greenhouses maintained by the biology department or grounds department.

6. The garden, located next to the Hart football practice fields, will grow tomatoes, corn, carrots, beets, lettuce, Swiss chard, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, red and green cabbage, broccoli, onions, leeks, cucumbers, zucchini, winter squash, Brussels sprouts, radicchio, radishes and cantaloupe, as well as half a dozen herbs, including basil and two varieties of parsley.

7. Planting is being timed to produce a harvest from late August through late October.

8. Monika Mangsen ’10, a religious studies major with an Environmental Studies concentration in the Teacher Education Program, and Selina Carter ’11, a political science major in the College Honors Program, will tend the garden this summer as part of a work-study program in conjunction with Worcester’s Regional Environmental Council.

9. Chemical pesticides will not be used and inorganic fertilizers will be kept to a minimum.

10. The food grown in the garden will be used in several ways on campus, possibly including Slow Food dinners in the dining hall, sale at the campus farmers market and for occasional meals at Campion House.

11. Food will also be donated to shelters in Worcester, such as Abby’s House. Holy Cross students have been actively involved in the nonprofit organization that assists battered women and children since its founding in 1976.

12. The garden is part of a network of about 40 community gardens in the Worcester area.

Related Information:

• Read more about the community garden in a story published in the Telegram & Gazette.
• Read a story and watch a video about Holy Cross’ Slow Food program in the Boston Globe.
• Environmental Studies
• Sustainability at Holy Cross

In addition to their own lab and scholarly work, the 60 students participating in the College’s rigorous summer research program have a weekly opportunity to hear firsthand from professors conducting groundbreaking studies in an array of disciplines.

The summer seminar series takes place each Wednesday, and the talks include some of today’s hottest research topics, ranging from entomology to atomic physics to neuroscience and behavior.

The series, open to faculty and students, is sponsored by the Fisher Summer Research Program

“This is a great opportunity for summer research students to learn about different projects,” says Daniel Bitran, associate professor of psychology and science coordinator. “The series helps students foster broader thinking about a particular research project. It also fosters collaborative projects that might cross disciplinary boundaries.”

Nearly 100 students and faculty members attend the weekly seminars. This year’s series kicked off on June 3 when Gregory DiGirolamo, associate professor of psychology, gave his talk titled “Controlling Behavior: Consciousness, Impulsivity, & Drug Dependence.”

Faculty in the summer research program are from all natural science departments (mathematics and computer science, physics, chemistry, and biology), as well as from some social science departments (psychology, sociology and anthropology, and economics).

The rest of the schedule is:

June 10
Karen Ober, assistant professor of biology
“An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles: Darwin and Discovery”

June 17
Tomohiko Narita, associate professor of physics
“The Power of the Dark Side: Sealing the Fate of the Universe”

June 24
Sarah Petty, assistant professor of chemistry
“Protein Misfolding and Disease”

July 1
Matthew Koss, associate professor of physics
“To Write and Present Science: Some Unsolicited Advice”

July 8
Constance Royden, associate professor of mathematics
“Change Blindness and Inattentional Blindness: Why You Should Not Drive While Talking on a Cell Phone”

July 15
Bianca Sculimbrene, assistant professor of chemistry
“The Story of Vancomycin: Development of Chemical Tools for Understanding and Treating Disease”

July 22
Timothy Roach, associate professor of physics
“Getting (Nearly) to Absolute Zero with Laser Cooling”

July 29
Daniel Bitran, associate professor of psychology and science coordinator
“Is There a Neuroscience of Ethics?”

Related Information:

• Integrated Science Complex
• Explore: Sciences
• Explore: Social Sciences

Last month, 44 members of the Holy Cross College Choir, along with choir director Pamela Mindell, embarked on a nine-day concert tour in Spain. They visited the cities of Madrid, Sevilla, Toledo, Granada and Malaga.

The choir performed four concerts at Catedral de Alcalá de Henares in Alcalá de Henares; Iglesia de la Anunciación in Sevilla; Basilica de San Juan de Dios in Granada and Iglesia de San Agustín in Málaga. Music included sacred Latin music, Spanish folk songs, Latin American pieces and North American folk songs and spirituals.

Here, Laura Taylor ’11, a double major in English and psychology from East Hartford, Conn., reflects on the trip.

*

Picture it, Madrid 2009. There we were; a group of 44 droopy-eyed Americans plopped down in the middle of a cramped restaurant with far too many colors on the walls. Even if we could have moved, there was nowhere to go; we were stuck. So, we stared blankly at our plates overflowing with some rice dish, which smelled vaguely of a New England wharf, praying that this excursion would be quick and relatively painless. If we could just survive another 60 minutes, we would be allowed to return to the comfort of our hotel rooms and sleep off the 24 hours of passport flashing and airplane food we had just endured. And then it happened.

Three men filed onto the miniature stage, guitars in hand, followed by a middle-aged woman in a long red and white polka dot dress. She looked as though she had jumped straight out of a Disney film, and yet something in her step demanded our respect. As the music began, the woman moved about the stage stomping her four-inch heels and clicking a pair of dark-wood castanets in time with the guitars behind her. As the pace of her step picked up, so did that of our hearts. For nearly two hours, we sat entranced as one flamenco dancer after the next crossed that stage, filling our eyes and ears with Spanish culture. When the music finally stopped and the daze broke, the realization of where we were and what we had seen struck us squarely on the head like a falling safe in a Warner Brothers cartoon. As Holy Cross students, we had been given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not just to share our songs, but to experience the rich music, art and history of this beautiful country as well, and we would not let it pass us by.

So, we made our way from the royal palaces of Madrid to the narrow streets of Toledo, a city famous for its overlapping of Christian, Jewish and Moorish influence; and from Toledo to Sevilla, where we climbed 100 meters to the top of La Giralda, the bell tower of the largest gothic cathedral in the world. Our next stop was in Granada, where we had the privilege of singing with another choir from the Universidad de Granada in the magnificent Basilica San Juan de Dios. Though only one or two of us were able to converse with the other students, we understood one another clearly through the power of our music, whose words of rebellion, love and justice left our audience in tears.

Whether it happened on the altar of that basilica or as we held an impromptu performance in the middle of the resonant Palace of Charles V or during one of our bumpy (and rather comical) bus rehearsals, we became a family. As we sat together on the beach in Málaga preparing to return home, that ignorant daze which had plagued us on that first night made its final ascension. We experienced first-hand the wonders of a whole new world: one which did not always speak our language or share our customs, but one whose value could no longer escape our thoughts.

For some it was a chance to see the world and make themselves heard; for others, a final hurrah at the end of their Holy Cross journey. For me, however, this tour was much more than a page in my scrapbook. With our minds opened and our voices raised, the Holy Cross College Choir and Chamber Singers will return to our own St. Joseph Chapel in the fall to share our experience and continue to serve our community with these gifts of song with which we have been so graciously afforded.

Related Information:

• Photo Gallery: During Tour, Holy Cross Choir Takes in Breathtaking Views of Spain
• College Choir

When Christine Giamattei ’10 saw an opportunity to work as a marketing intern this summer at an up-and-coming design and fashion retailer in Brooklyn, she applied faster than a New York minute.

“I am passionate about determining how to market products, researching consumer trends, representing a company or clients, working as a team on creative and challenging projects, and serving as a go-between for the company and clients or the press,” she says.

As marketing, public relations, and e-commerce intern, Giamattei will be involved in all of that at Brooklyn Industries, a design company and retailer that sells clothing, bags and accessories exclusively through its 11 retail stores and Web site.

During the full-time internship, which runs through July 31, Giamattei will blog about the excitement of working at an entrepreneurial company, and her adventures in New York.

This isn’t Giamattei’s first summer in New York. Last year, she interned in the sales and marketing division of Starwood Hotels and Resorts in New York City under the tutelage of Robert Yienger ’80.

Giamattei, a history major from Salem, landed both internships with the help of alumni through the College’s competitive Summer Internship Program. Internships are developed through the strong network of Holy Cross alumni, parents, and friends throughout the country and are earmarked and designed specifically for Holy Cross students. This year a record 148 students are doing internships at 101 internship sites offered through the program.

Her immediate supervisor at Brooklyn Industries is Judy McDermott ’01, Internet and marketing manager. And just like last year, she is living at the Fashion Institute of Technology, in the heart of the Fashion District and a stone’s throw from Times Square.

Related Information:

• Summer Internship Program

James Michael Brennan, valedictorian of the College of the Holy Cross class of 2008, has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to study Russian language and conduct research on national identity in Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan.

Beginning in August, Brennan will spend 13 months researching Kazakh culture and government.  His work will include interviews with Kazakhstanis, participation in cultural events, and study of Kazakh history and lore.

“The Fulbright is a wonderful and exciting opportunity to experience and immerse oneself in the other, that which is unfamiliar and foreign, and to integrate that experience into a broader understanding of one’s life in the world,” said Brennan.  “My project will help me to learn what it means to be Kazakhstani, to understand how the Kazakh government utilizes or contrives national identity to cohere a nation state in the modern world, and to analyze how these versions of Kazakh national identity influence the way Kazakhstan interacts with the United States and Russia.”

As a double major in political science and Russian at Holy Cross, Brennan studied abroad in Saint Petersburg, and was a four-year member of the Russian Club.  He wrote his honors thesis on subaltern resistance to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s.  Outside the classroom, he served as a writing tutor on campus and a special needs tutor for middle school students in Worcester.  He was the director of academic concerns for the Student Government Association, and served as a member of both the Academic Affairs and Honorary Degree Committees.  Brennan is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa; Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society; and Dobro Slovo, the National Slavic Honor Society.

Upon his graduation from Holy Cross, Brennan worked for the Obama campaign as an early vote organizer in Columbus, Ohio before moving to Washington, D.C., where he focused on health care and energy reform as an intern with a government relations firm.

A native of North Smithfield, R.I., Brennan currently resides in Washington.  After returning from Kazakhstan, he hopes to get his master’s degree in international relations and work, in some capacity, for the Obama administration.

Fulbright Grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception in 1946, more than 250,000 participants — chosen for their leadership potential — have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions. 

Brennan is one of four Holy Cross students to be awarded a Fulbright Grant this year.  Read more about the other recipients: Gerald Dickinson, Benjamin Rayder, and Kathryn Zingarelli.

Final exams are over, diplomas handed out, and members of the Holy Cross Class of 2009 have said their goodbyes — to each other and to the campus.

Yet the experiences they’ve had on Mount St. James will be with them always. And for many graduates, those experiences have shaped their very next steps.

Take David Floyd, for example. The double major in philosophy and Catholic Studies (which he designed) is heading to Texas with Teach For America, in part because of what he learned in and out of the classroom. Over the last few years, numerous Holy Cross students have joined Teach For America following graduation.

“The big thing that Holy Cross has done for me is give me the exposure to reality I needed to realize how much suffering there is outside of what we see every day,” says Floyd.

He credits his experiences at Holy Cross with helping him discover and nurture his passion for social justice work. After being involved with the Chaplains’ Office during his freshman year, Floyd opted to go on an immersion trip to Mexico in the summer of 2006.

“Going to Mexico with the Chaplains’ Office was the first true experience and contact I had with poverty. It was shocking, to say the least,” he says.

The following year he went on the Holy Cross Spring Break Immersion Program, and worked gutting houses in the heart of Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. Floyd’s involvement in the program earned him the position of co-chair during his senior year, a year in which one-tenth of the student population participated.

“Being able to co-chair the largest Spring Break Immersion Program allowed me to make some kind of mark and really get involved with seeing the program through to the end,” he says.

Floyd also explored poverty in the United States by spending the summer of 2007 interning with a non-profit social services agency in the Bronx, where he learned about “the reality of unacceptable poverty here in our own country.”

The classroom helped Floyd, a Warren, N.J., native, cultivate his mind and prepare him to pursue his interest in service-oriented work.

“I think philosophy has trained me to have a critical mind that evaluates all the different truth claims being thrown at us and hopes to arrive at a well thought-out and articulated view,” he says.

To complete his Catholic Studies major, Floyd completed a capstone titled, “Seeking Divine Accountability in Light of Suffering.” He describes it as “an exploration of how it is we’re traditionally encouraged to deal with suffering from a religious perspective and whether that is adequate.” Floyd believes that the fusion of these two disciplines has been crucial to his development and preparation for life after graduation.

Floyd will bring the spirit of service that he has cultivated in Mexico, New Orleans, the Bronx, and Worcester with him to Houston, where he will work for Teach For America beginning this fall.

“My experiences at Holy Cross have helped me understand that, even if it’s a small contribution, to discount any kind of social justice work as ‘ineffective’ is to underestimate it.”

By Anthony Curotto ’09

Related Information:

• Twenty Members of the Class of 2009 Will Teach For America