News

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will host the New England Association of College Admissions Counselors (NEACAC) College Fair on Sunday, Oct. 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Fieldhouse on campus.

The NEACAC sponsored event will feature representatives from 173 colleges and universities, who will be available to answer high school students’ questions and concerns and also provide information about their schools.

The fair is designed to help high school guidance counselors, students, and their families learn more about colleges and universities and explore different opportunities at higher education institutions throughout New England and other areas in the U.S.

For more information on the colleges and universities attending the College Fair, please visit www.neacac.org.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Regional Environmental Council (REC), in partnership with the College of the Holy Cross, will hold a Slow Food Gala fundraiser on Friday, Oct. 10, from 6 – 10 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center on the Holy Cross campus to benefit the REC’s UGROW and YouthGROW programs. The event, which includes a five course meal and a silent auction, is open to the public. Tickets are $75 for REC members and $85 for non-members.  To purchase a membership to REC with a ticket to the event,  the cost is $100.

About Slow Food:

Slow food, an international movement dedicated to preserving and supporting traditional ways of growing, producing and preparing food, was developed by renowned food and wine writer Carlo Petrini in 1986 in response to the opening of fast-food franchises in Rome. As opposed to fast food and all it implies, Petrini advocated the value of sitting down and enjoying your meal with company.

Martin Dudek, assistant director of dining services at Holy Cross, and Holy Cross Chefs Edward Rome and Timothy Trachimowicz will prepare the slow food for the Gala using only seasonal ingredients that are locally or organically grown. Some of the vegetables in his menu have been grown in REC’s YouthGROW farm in Worcester, and all ingredients for the meal will come from sources within 100 miles of Worcester.

“Slow food has been a great addition to our dining program.  It has given us the opportunity to work with local farms and manufactures to showcase their products,” says Dudek. “It makes us slow down and enjoy our lives — if only for a short time.”

The menu follows:

• Sweet Potato Soup
• Cheddar Polenta Cake with Tomato Chili Sauce
• Mesclun Salad with Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar
• Organic Beef Short Rib “Osso Buco” with Spicy Mocha Sauce or Gnocchi with a Saffron Cream Sauce
• Lentil Wheatberry & Rice Pilaf
• Greens from the YouthGROW Farm
• Chocolate Raspberry Torte

All guests will receive a complimentary Slow Food Recipe Book.

This year, four people will be honored at the Gala for their contributions not only to the REC, but to a safe, healthy environment for all of Worcester and Central Massachusetts.  They are: State Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr., D-Worcester; Evelyn B. Silver, REC founder and environmental activist; Steve Krosoczka, Sem-Tec, Inc.; and Peggy Middaugh, outgoing executive director of REC.

About UGROW and YouthGROW:

The UGROW program oversees a network of more than 30 urban community gardens and 350 gardeners.

“Community gardens are oases of greenery, activity, and food in the middle of some very urban neighborhoods,” says UGROW/YouthGROW Coordinator Casey Burns.  “Gardens bring people together to improve their neighborhoods and share the things that are most important to all of us: food, family, and a safe community.”

The YouthGROW summer program takes place from June to August on an inner city farm. The youth workers maintain the farm, while they complete an educational curriculum that includes public speaking, event planning, and community building. Every summer YouthGROW raises over 2,000 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables, most of which is donated to food pantries and families in need.

Holy Cross has had numerous students work, intern and volunteer with the REC over the past three years.  Four current Holy Cross staff members and one alumnus have served or are serving on the REC board including, Alice Laffey, associate professor of religious studies; Kathy Robertson, special assistant to the president for community affairs; Catherine Roberts, associate professor of mathematics; Jesse Anderson, director of audio visual services; and Jabian Gutierrez ’08.

Founded in 1971, REC is a grassroots, non-profit organization that is dedicated to building strong, healthy communities and improving the quality of life in Worcester.
For more information, visit the Regional Environmental Council website.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Junior goalkeeper Thomas Booth  (Patchogue, N.Y.) has been named the BRINE Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week in men’s soccer for competition from September 22-28. In the opening week of Patriot League play, Booth earned his fourth shutout of the season and made five saves in a 1-0 victory over Colgate. Booth received the league honors for the second week in a row.

Booth currently tops the Patriot League in goals against average (0.59), save percentage (.857), shutouts (four), and shutouts per game (0.50). Ranked 23rd in goals against average (.592) and 26th in the nation in save percentage (.857). Booth’s outstanding efforts in goal have also ranked Holy Cross 30th in the country in shutout percentage (0.50). With 30 saves on the season, Booth has only given up five goals in eight games.

The Crusaders returns to action on Tuesday, September 30, traveling to Quinnipiac for a game scheduled at 4 p.m.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will host a panel on globalization on Friday, Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m. in the Seelos Theater. Panelists include U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, Xiangming Chen, dean and director of the Center for Urban and Global Studies at Trinity College, and George Cary, an anti-trust lawyer with ties to Washington. The three speakers will address the pros and cons of a global world, focusing specifically on the following areas: the ways in which globalization affects developed and developing countries differently; the impact of globalization around the world; and the tensions between domestic issues and foreign relations that globalization often brings about. The discussion, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Montserrat, a universal program for first-year students designed to integrate more effectively academic, co-curricular and residential experiences at the College.

The panel will open with brief remarks by all three speakers, after which members of the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in a discussion on these key issues.

McGovern, a Worcester native, is currently serving his sixth term in Congress. He was first sworn in as U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’ Third Congressional District in January 1997. He’s been elected to the Democratic Leadership team as regional whip for New England. McGovern is also the vice chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Chen was recently appointed inaugural dean and director of Trinity’s new Center for Urban and Global Studies (CUGS) and the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Sociology and International Studies at Trinity College. His current research focuses on comparative and transnational elements of global-urban relations in both local and regional areas of China and Asia, with a specific focus on Shanghai.

Cary is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. His practice focuses on anti-trust counseling and litigation. Since joining the Washington firm in 1998, Cary has represented companies in many mergers and acquisitions that have transformed the industry.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Edward P. Jones ’72 will give a reading on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. in the Seelos Theater at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture is part of the College’s Visiting Writers Lecture Series. Sponsored by the College’s Creative Writing Program, it is free and open to the public.

Jones, a New York Times bestselling author, received the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his novel The Known World (2003), a sprawling saga which examines the antebellum world of free blacks who owned black slaves.  The novel also received the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award.

Jones’ debut collection of short stories, Lost in the City (1992), won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was nominated for the National Book Award. The collection of short stories deals with African American working class and underclass experiences in mid-20th century, inner-city Washington, D.C.

His second collection, All Aunt Hagar’s Children (2006), was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. Similar to Lost in the City, it is a collection of short stories that deals with African Americans revolving around Washington, D.C.

In 2004, Jones received a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his work and contribution to society.

Jones was one of about two dozen African American students who enrolled at Holy Cross during a racially tense time in the nation’s history. An English major while at Holy Cross he has taught fiction at Princeton University, George Mason University, and the University of Maryland.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Rev. Paolo Gamberini, S.J., International Visiting Jesuit Fellow in the religious studies department, will give a talk titled “Christology at the Crossroad: in Dialogue with Judaism and Islam,” on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a welcome reception for Fr. Gamberini at the Moran Lounge in Smith Hall.

In his talk, Fr. Gamberini will highlight new perspectives in Jewish-Christian and Islam-Christian dialogue, particularly in light of Pope Benedict XVI’s controversial talk at the University of Regensburg in September 2006. Fr. Gamberini will address Christology, a field of study within Christian theology which explores how the divine and human are related in Jesus’ person, and how it enhances interreligous dialogue between Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Fr. Gamberini comes to Holy Cross from the Pontifical Theological Faculty in Naples.  He received a doctorate in philosophy from Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, and a doctorate in theology from the Philosophisch-theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt.  Since 1985, he has worked on ecumenism with Anglicans and Lutherans, and recently attended his third Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, which takes place every 10 years and is the one occasion when all bishops can meet for worship, study and conversation.  In 2001, he was appointed by the superior general of the Jesuits as Southern European assistant for interreligious dialogue.

He is currently teaching a course titled “Mystical dimension of religions: a way of encounter between East and West” and performing research on Christology in a postmodern and interreligious context.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross freshman midfielder Katherine Donnelly, from Londonderry, N.H., has been named the Brine Patriot League Rookie of the Week in women’s soccer, for games played from Sept. 15-21. Donnelly scored three goals as the Crusaders split a pair of contests against Fairfield (2-1 loss) and Wagner (3-1 victory).

In the Fairfield game on Friday night, Donnelly scored early in the second half to give Holy Cross a 1-0 lead, before the Stags came back to win with two late goals. She then had her first career two-goal game in the victory at Wagner on Sunday afternoon. Donnelly’s first goal broke a 1-1 tie early in the second half and proved to be the game-winner, then she added the final goal of the game less than five minutes later.

On the season, Donnelly now leads the team in scoring with nine points on four goals and one assist.

Holy Cross (1-7 overall) returns to action on Wednesday, Sept. 24, when it plays host to Siena at 7 p.m.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Paul Reville, recently appointed secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, will give a lecture on Monday, Sept. 29, at 5 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk, titled “The Readiness Project: The Massachusetts Initiative to Prepare Students for the Twenty-First Century,” is free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by the Holy Cross education department.

In his talk, Reville will describe the ambitious agenda set out in the Commonwealth’s plan to improve education from preschool through the postsecondary years, as well as the challenges this plan raises for various constituencies.

Shortly after his acceptance of the position of secretary of education in July 2008, Reville stepped down from his role as the director of the Education Policy and Management Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is currently still a senior lecturer on educational policy and politics at Harvard University.

Reville has a long history in education, beginning his career as a VISTA volunteer youth worker, a national service program through AmeriCorps that is designed specifically to fight poverty. He also worked as a teacher and a principal in two urban, alternative high schools. He received his Ed.M. from Stanford University.

He has played an important role in the Massachusetts political scene for the sake of education. Reville was founding executive director for the Alliance for Education, an educational improvement system that targeted Worcester and central Massachusetts. He was also one of the founding executive directors of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE), which provided important leadership for the Education Reform Act in 1993. From 1996-2003, Reville served as chair for the Massachusetts Education Reform Review committee. Most recently, he served as the chair of the Massachusetts State Board of Education from 2007-08.

Additionally, Reville served as president of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, which is dedicated to the improvement of PreK-12 public education. He was also the executive director of the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform. Throughout his time as an educator, he has served on many additional task forces and committees seeking to improve the quality of education in Massachusetts, which he continues to do through work as board member or advisor to numerous organizations, including the Nativity School of Worcester. He also frequently writes and speaks about school reform and educational policy issues.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Students, faculty, and staff from the College of the Holy Cross will join thousands of people from Central Massachusetts on Sun., Sept. 28 for the 10th annual Walk to Cure Cancer, a day of celebration, remembrance, and action.

The College is a flagship sponsor of this unique fundraising event, which over the years has raised millions of dollars to support cutting-edge cancer research and build the UMass Memorial Cancer Center, the world class research center in Worcester.

Last year, 250 students, faculty, and staff from Holy Cross participated in the walk and raised over $18,000. With more extensive outreach this year, the College hopes to exceed those records.

“When I began the Walk six years ago it was to support a Holy Cross employee, in the years to follow I added my aunt, my best friend, my mother-in law, my mother, my stepfather and now my stepmother,” says Elizabeth Rice, a participant and conference services manager at the College. “With the exception of my mother-in-law and aunt, they all continue to bravely fight to win the battle. The walk is always a glorious day filled with inspiration and a day that gives me hope.”

Molly Cook ’09, is one of the many students organizing teams and raising money among friends and classmates, “I have decided to join the Walk to Cure Cancer this year because it allows those of us who have not had cancer the opportunity to stand strongly beside our companions who have. My aunt is battling cancer right now, and I am continuously impressed by her resilience. I will be walking for her on September 28th.”

The Walk to Cure Cancer begins and ends at UMass Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, and follows a five-mile (or optional one-mile) loop around Lake Quinsigamond. Every Holy Cross walker will receive a purple T-shirt, with space on the back to write the name of the person for whom you’re walking.

Holy Cross participants will meet on campus the day of the walk (Sunday, Sept. 28) from 10:30 a.m. – 11 a.m. in the Hogan Campus Center third floor lobby, for walker registration. Pledge sheets and money will be collected, and T-shirts will be distributed.  Bus service to and from UMass Medical School will be provided the morning of the walk, leaving from Hogan at 11:15 a.m. A group photo of all Holy Cross participants will be taken upon arrival at the walk, at 11:30 a.m. on South Rd., station 1.

Holy Cross participants providing their own transportation to UMass on the day of the walk can register with pledge sheets and donations, and receive a T-shirt at the Hogan first floor lobby table on Friday, Sept. 26, from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Pre-walk entertainment includes a concert by Recording Artist and Star of The Young and the Restless Michael Damian.

Walker Registration Forms and Sponsor Sign Up Sheets are available in displays at Cool Beans, Crossroads, and other locations throughout Hogan. They are also available online.

If you’re not available to walk, but would still like to participate, Holy Cross needs help with set-up, T-shirts, collecting registration forms, and other logistics at Hogan the Sunday morning of the Walk. Please contact Laura Searles in public affairs to volunteer or if you have any questions.

For more information about the walk visit www.walktocurecancer.com.

WORCESTER, Mass. – James Higdon, award winning concert organist, will perform on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 3 p.m. in the Saint Joseph Memorial Chapel at the College of the Holy Cross.  The event is free, handicap accessible, and open to the public.

As part of the Holy Cross Chapel Artists Series, the program will feature organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Jehan Alain.

Higdon is the Dane and Polly Bales Professor of Organ and director of the Division of Organ and Church Music at the University of Kansas. He is also director of music at the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Kansas City. He earned his B.M. from St. Olaf College, his M.M. from Northwestern University, and his D.M.A. from the Eastman School of Music.

Higdon has recorded extensively and has served on international organ competition juries in the U.S., Canada and Europe.  He has performed throughout North America and Europe and in famous venues including the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the St. Stephen Cathedral in Vienna.  He is a champion of contemporary American organ music and has performed works by composers such as Samuel Adler, Stephen Paulus, and James Mobberley.  The University of Kansas presented him with a W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence at the beginning of the 1997-98 academic year, making him the first University of Kansas professor from the arts to be recognized with this prestigious award.

For more information or directions, please call the music department at (508) 793-2296.

WORCESTER, Mass. – World-renowned duo Min Kwon, pianist, and her sister Yoon Kwon, violinist, will perform on Friday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. in Brooks Concert Hall at the College of the Holy Cross. The event, free and open to the public, has been made possible by a generous alumnus.

The pair will play the works of Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Ysaye, and Ravel.

Yoon and Min Kwon, both natives of Korea, started playing instruments by the age of three. Min made her professional debut at age 12 with the Seoul Philharmonic, and her U.S. debut in 1987 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Yoon started her professional career in the U.S. at age 13 as the youngest winner ever of the New Jersey Symphony Young Artists Audition in 1993.

A soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, Min has performed in more than 45 countries. She earned her B.M. from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and her M.M. from The Julliard School of New York. Min is currently the youngest ever assistant professor of music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where she teaches piano, chamber music and a graduate seminar in piano literature. She previously taught as the assistant to the late Samuel Sanders at The Julliard School.

Yoon has won the hearts of audiences and critics around the world with her compelling musicianship, electrifying virtuosity and engaging stage presence. She received her B.M., M.M., and artist diploma from the Juilliard School. She is currently the youngest member of the first violin section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She released her debut CD on BMG/RCA Red Seal label in Korea in 1997, becoming the first Korean artist to record for the label. She previously taught at The Juilliard School and the Kuhmo Festival.