News

WORCESTER, Mass. – James Corbett, a member of the College of the Holy Cross Class of 2008, has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to work and live in Germany.

Corbett, a sociology major and German minor, will be a teaching assistant at a German high school where he will teach English and American studies. A huge sports fan, he also plans to involve his students in an after school program that will teach them about American sports, including football and baseball.

As much as he hopes to teach his students about American culture, he hopes to learn from them as well.  “I have been studying German since my freshman year of high school so this seemed like a great opportunity to put that to use and to really immerse myself in that culture.”

On campus, Corbett participates in intramural sports; Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), a student-run community service organization; and was a tutor for elementary school children at the Great Brook Valley Center in Worcester, Mass.
When Corbett returns to the U.S. he plans to live in the Boston area.

Each year approximately 1,000 college students are awarded grants through the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. 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.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Crusader Council No. 2706 of the Knights of Columbus at the College of the Holy Cross held a dinner on April 19 at the Hogan Campus Center to honor Worcester native and Jesuit priest Rev. Fred Enman, S.J., recognizing him for his leadership of the nonprofit charitable organization, Matthew 25, Inc. Established this year, the John W. Spillane Award for Distinguished Christian Leadership is Crusader Council’s highest honor.  It is bestowed on an individual who has made notable intellectual and/or professional contributions to the Catholic community, and in the support of the mission of the Knights of Columbus.

Fr. Enman established Matthew 25 in the early 90s with the mission of providing affordable housing to families in need. Matthew 25 refurbishes old houses and rents them to low income families at 25 percent of their yearly income. Matthew 25 works closely with the Worcester Vocational School for assistance with skilled labor, such as carpentry, electricity, and plumbing.  College students, including members of Crusader Council help with painting, landscaping, and other odd jobs.  Over the past two years, the Holy Cross Knights have worked on Matthew 25’s latest project, helping to renovate a house in the vicinity of the Mustard Seed soup kitchen whose first tenants moved in this winter.

The award is named after the late John W. Spillane ‘54, a prominent lawyer and community activist in the city of Worcester. Since becoming involved with the Knights of Columbus as a student at Holy Cross, Spillane served the organization in various capacities at the local and state level.  At the time of his death this past Christmas, he was legal advisor to the Massachusetts State Council.  In addition, he always made himself a valuable resource for his college council.  Last year he addressed the council at its concluding meeting, where elections were held for this year’s council officers.  Crusader Council’s leadership was very appreciative of his interest and support, and felt it very appropriate that they name this new award after him.  The award was accompanied by a $500 donation to Fr. Enman’s program.

Guests at the event included representatives from the K of C’s Supreme International Headquarters in New Haven, Conn.; Massachusetts state officers; numerous Holy Cross faculty, staff and students, including participants from the recently established Crusader Circle 1422 of the Daughters of Isabella; Fr. Enman and members of the Matthew 25 staff; members of the Spillane Family; and the Crusader Council.

A speaking program accompanied the dinner and award presentation, consisting of remarks from Paul V. Phillipino ’08, grand knight, Scott J. Brunt ’08, chancellor and program director, Maryanne K. Spillane McInturf, daughter of John W. Spillane, and a keynote address from Fr. Enman.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Anne Schroeder, a member of the College of the Holy Cross Class of 2008, has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to work and live in Korea.

Schroeder, an anthropology major from Spokane, Wash., will teach at a Korean secondary school next year where she will aid Korean teachers and help with conversational English.

“I will be living with a host family, which will give me the opportunity to be able to actively participate in Korean culture,” she says.

She studied abroad at the National University of Galway last year. On campus she was involved with Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), a student-run community service organization, where she tutored and worked at a homeless shelter for women.

“I am struck by the close community at Holy Cross.  I have developed meaningful relationships with those whom I have lived, worked, studied and traveled,” says Schroeder. “I have come to appreciate the benefits of a small community and will hold close the relationships and experiences for the rest of my life.”

When she returns to the U.S., she plans to attend law school to focus on international business.

Each year approximately 1,000 college students are awarded grants through the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. 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.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Kaityln Mearn, a senior at the College of the Holy Cross, has received a grant to be a North American Language and Culture Assistant in Spain. Mearn, a mathematics major from Milton, will work as an English language assistant teacher at a school in Leon during the 2007-08 academic year.

Following her experience in Spain, she hopes to study at the University of Kiev in Ukraine from 2008 to 2009, and plans on applying to graduate school to obtain a Ph.D. in comparative literature.

At Holy Cross, Mearn is co-chair of the Student Judicial Advisors, a member of the Residence Hall Caucus, cochair of the Club Volleyball team, and member of the women’s track team.

Grants for North American Language and Culture Assistants in Spain are funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain. Approximately 1,000 grants are awarded each year. Assistants have the opportunity to learn about the Spanish language and culture and use their experience upon their return to the United States, thus helping to develop cultural understanding between the citizens of Spain and the United States. At the same time, the program provides Spanish students and teachers of English an opportunity to broaden and increase their knowledge of the English language and North American culture through interaction with native speakers.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Two mathematics research students, Julianne Kulevich ’08, of Maynard, and Christopher J. Smith ’08, of West Haven, Conn., recently attended a prestigious poster session on Capitol Hill that is designed to showcase the work of talented undergraduate researchers in the natural sciences from around the country. The annual session, called “Posters on the Hill,” is sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR).

Students invite their senators and congressional representatives to attend the event and meet with them (or their aides) beforehand to draw attention to the importance of undergraduate research. CUR invites the Washington science press corps, federal agency program officers, and scientific leaders. Students are selected on a competitive basis from different states. Kulevich and Smith were one of only two successful entries out of all the colleges and universities of Massachusetts.

Congressman James McGovern, who represents Massachusetts’ Third Congressional District, escorted the students to the event and spent time discussing their work at the poster session. Congressman John Tierney, who represents Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District, also attended the event to meet with the Holy Cross students. Kulevich and Smith “were articulate and poised and easily able to explain their work and its meaning to me — an analytical chemist by training who is very happy to have someone else do the math!,” said Kathleen Gorski, former master teacher at the Nativity School of Worcester and currently an Einstein Fellow at the National Science Foundation.

The title of their poster was “Using Algebraic Geometry in the Circular, Restricted Four-Body Problem.” Their research focused on investigating the number and location of equilibria in a special case of the four-body problem in celestial mechanics. Specifically, three large bodies or “primaries” are assumed to be located at the vertices of an equilateral triangle, rotating on circular orbits about the common center of mass. A fourth, infinitesimal body (e.g., spaceship) is inserted into the problem that does not affect the motion of the primaries. The goal is to study the possible motions of this fourth body. A natural question is to locate any equilibria or “parking spaces” and to investigate their positions as the masses of the primaries vary. Numerical and analytic calculations were performed utilizing modern techniques from algebraic geometry.

The researchers located interesting bifurcations in the system and proved that the number of equilibria is finite for all choice of masses, bounded above by 268. Applications of their work include finding low-energy orbits for spacecraft to visit special configurations in our solar system. For example, Saturn, one of its large moons Tethys, and a smaller moon, Telesto (or Calypso), lie on a rigidly rotating equilateral triangle orbit. The equilibria described above represent ideal parking spots to place spacecraft to observe this system for long periods of time at little cost.

Kulevich and Smith began working on their project last summer under the supervision of Gareth E. Roberts, associate professor in the department of mathematics and computer science. They were sponsored by Roberts’ National Science Foundation grant as well as the Holy Cross Fisher Summer Research Program. They continued their research into the academic year under a directed project with Professor Roberts.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Fifteen Holy Cross varsity athletic teams have received Division I Academic Progress Rate public recognition awards from the NCAA. These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.

The Crusader programs to be honored with public recognition awards were baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, softball, men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, women’s indoor track and field, women’s outdoor track and field, and volleyball.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 965 to a perfect 1,000.

Multi-year APR scores for all 6,110 NCAA Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6. The announcement also will include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Recognizing that students stay up late studying during finals period, administrators at the College of the Holy Cross — including President Michael C. McFarland, S.J. — volunteer each semester to serve the scholars breakfast late into the night. Don’t miss out on the late night fun!

The menu includes scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, assorted bagels, Belgian waffles and topping bar, assorted juices and nightly specials.

The events will kick off May 4 from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Kimball Dining Hall. Please join the following members of the College community:

Sunday, May 4 (Kimball Hall)
Timothy Austin, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College
Rev. Michael McFarland, S.J., president of the College
Jackie Peterson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students

Monday, May 5 (Crossroads, 11 p.m. – 1 a.m.)
Victoria Swigert, assistant dean, class of 2008
Margaret Freije, associate professor of mathematics and associate dean of the College
Earl Peace, Jr., assistant dean, class of 2009
Esther Levine, assistant dean, class of 2010
Mark Freeman, assistant dean, class of 2011

Tuesday, May 6 (Crossroads, 11 p.m. – 1 a.m.)
Curran Ford, community development coordinator of Lehy and Healy Halls
Paul Irish, assistant to vice president for student affairs
Shakima McCants, assistant director of residence life and housing
Ferene Paris Meyer, community development coordinator of Hanselman Hall

Wednesday, May 7 (Crossroads, 11 p.m. – 1 a.m.)
Lord Edwin Carreon, community development coordinator of Wheeler Hall
Kristine Cyr Goodwin, associate dean for student life
Rebecca Riopel, director of student programs and involvement

Thursday, May 8 (Crossroads, 11 p.m. – 1 a.m.)
Jesse Anderson, director of audio visual services
Holly Hunt, multimedia resource center supervisor

WORCESTER, Mass. – Elizabeth Morse, a member of the College of the Holy Cross class of 2009, has received a Goldwater Scholarship; she is one of approximately 300 nationally to receive the award from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

Established in 1986, the scholarships are granted to students entering their junior or senior year. The one- and two-year scholarships cover a maximum of $7,500 per year, including tuition, fees, books, and room and board.

Morse, a Shelton, Conn. native, is a biology major with a biochemistry concentration and is enrolled in the College’s Honors Program. An active member of the Holy Cross community, she is the program director of the Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD) English as a Second Language tutoring program, co-chair of the Science Ambassadors, a student leader in the Hour of Power Interdenominational Prayer Group and is a flautist in the Contemporary Music Ensemble. During spring break she took part in one of Holy Cross’ Immersion Programs in Lafayette, La., where she helped with relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

Recently, she was accepted into Alpha Sigma Nu, which honors exceptional students of Jesuit institutions who distinguish themselves in scholarship, loyalty and service. In May, she will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and the most prestigious national academic honor society in America. Next year she will be the co-chair of the Biology Student Advisory Committee.

“I have been immensely impressed with Beth as a student, a researcher and as a teaching assistant last summer for a science workshop I ran for Worcester Public School teachers,” says Robert Bellin, associate professor of biology and Morse’s research mentor. “She has the combination of intellect, self-motivation and an optimistic personality that makes her a top undergraduate science student now, and I believe will carry her far in science in the future.”

Morse plans on taking advantage of the research opportunities provided at Holy Cross and in the Worcester area.  This summer she will be conducting research regarding RNA interference in the lab of Craig Mello, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Morse hopes to attend graduate school to pursue a degree in biochemistry.

The Goldwater Foundation, a federally endowed agency honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater, was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. Awards are made on the basis of merit.

WORCESTER, Mass. – A chapter of the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition (STAND) at the College of the Holy Cross, will inform the community about the action taken by students across the state to fund civilian protection for Darfuris and to continue to raise awareness on the crisis in Darfur.  The event will be held Thursday, May 1 at 1 p.m. in the Campion House at Holy Cross.

The keynote speaker Joseph O’Brien, district director for U. S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, will speak about the importance of keeping Darfur on the U.S. agenda. Tiffany Lee ’08, co-chair of the Pax Christi chapter at Holy Cross and the event organizer, will speak about the College’s successful efforts to raise money for civilian protection.

Colleges, universities, and high schools in Massachusetts participated in a state-wide effort to raise money in a variety of ways to donate to the Genocide Intervention Network, which funds civilian protection efforts.

Participating colleges in this fundraiser include Holy Cross, Brandeis, Clark, UMass Amherst, Fitchburg State, MIT, Tufts, Northeastern, Suffok, Simmons, and Harvard.  Students utilized creative methods for raising the funds including tabling, sponsored fasting, coffee houses, book signings, and a holiday greeting card fundraiser.  Together, these colleges raised over $15,000.

The situation in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, has been declared genocide by President Bush and the U. S. Congress.  Over 400,000 people have been killed and over 2 million displaced from their homes by the violence.  Over 3.5 million people are entirely reliant on international aid.  The food that comes in aid is inedible unless cooked.  Due to scarcity of firewood in the camps, refugees venture out of the safety of the camp to find firewood, which exposes them to rape and violent attack.

The Genocide Intervention Network was created in 2004 by students at Swarthmore College, who wanted to give Americans the opportunity to help protect innocent civilians. They fund civilian protection efforts including giving refugees gas grills to prevent them from leaving the safety of the camp, and giving them food such as agriculture and livestock to enable families to become self-sufficient so they do not rely on international aid.

STAND www.standnow.org is a student movement, consisting of over 500 university, college, and high school chapters across the U.S.  The mission of each STAND chapter and the national STAND coalition is to promote awareness of the genocide in Darfur, advocate for political action, and raise funds for relief and civilian protection.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will host “Bondage and Belonging in Black Worcester,” a celebration of Worcester slave narratives, local African American authors, and Worcester’s black history, on Saturday, April 26 from 8:45 a.m. – 5 p.m. in Rehm Library. The event is free and open to the public.

The program is based on the book, From Bondage to Belonging: The Worcester Slave Narratives, (University of Massachusetts Press 2008) edited by B. Eugene McCarthy, professor emeritus of English at Holy Cross, and Thomas L. Doughton, senior lecturer at the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies at Holy Cross. The book is a collection of autobiographies that tell the gripping stories of eight ex-slaves, who settled in the Worcester area.

Schedule of events:

8:45 – 9 a.m. Welcome: coffee & light refreshments

9:20 a.m. “Worcester’s Historical Black Community” by Thomas L. Doughton, senior lecturer at the Center for Interdisciplinary & Special Studies at Holy Cross.

10 a.m.  William Coleman, community activist, will read from Isaac Mason (slave narrative).

10:15 a.m. “Worcester Slave Narratives” by B. Eugene McCarthy, professor emeritus of English at Holy Cross.

10:50 a.m. Rev. Richard Wright, a pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church, will read from Jacob Stroyer (slave narrative).

11 a.m. “Former Slaves from North Carolina: The Worcester/New Bern Connection” by Janette T. Greenwood, associate professor of history at Clark University.

11:30 a.m. Men of Zion gospel performance

12 p.m.  Lunch break, review displays, purchase books at bookstore display.

1 p.m. Introduction afternoon events

1:10 p.m. “Laboring in the Vineyards of the Lord: Worcester’s African American Clergymen & Their Congregations 1845-1900” by Doughton.

1:45 p.m. Rev. Catherine Reed, assistant chaplain at Holy Cross, will read from Bethany Veney. (slave narrative)

2 p.m. “Encoding Resistance in Veney’s Narrative and African American Women’s Poetry” by Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, associate professor of English at Holy Cross.

2:30 p.m.William Hawley, Sr., from the Worcester African American Seniors Group, will read from Allen Parker (slave narrative).

2:45 p.m. “George Washington Williams, Nineteenth-Century Black Historian at Worcester” by Edmund A. Schofield, a historian and independent scholar.

3:30 p.m. Moderated panel discussion with local contemporary authors of family histories/ autobiographies: Shirley F. B. Carter, author of Colored Of Course (2007), Edna Spencer, director of diversity at Worcester State College and Doughton.

4:15 p.m. “Tea with the Rich Sisters,” two 19th-century African American residents of Worcester, as interpreted by Mary Collins, independent scholar and re-enactor, and Carter.

The event is sponsored by the Africana studies concentration, the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies, Office of the College President, history department, Office of Grants and Corporate and Foundation Giving, English department and the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning. The program is in conjunction with the Charles E. Scott Community Fund of Greater Worcester Community Foundation.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross Chapel Choir is holding the fourth annual concert titled “Songs of Hope” to benefit Abby’s House on Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m. in St. Joseph Chapel at the College. A suggested donation of $8 is requested; $5 for children and seniors. Donations will be accepted at the door. The chapel is handicapped accessible.

Abby’s House serves the needs of low-income and battered women and their children. Founded in 1976 as an emergency shelter, today it is one of the most respected multi-service agencies in Worcester and the state of Massachusetts. In addition to the emergency shelter, Abby’s House currently provides low-income housing and services for women and their children at three locations in the city. In addition to counseling services and referrals, Abby’s House also operates a thrift shop where clothing and home goods are available, and a women’s day center where women can gather for educational programs, community building and recreation. Abby’s House receives no federal or state funds; its more than $1 million annual operating budget comes from grants, donations from the Worcester community and operating fees.

The Holy Cross event will help Abby’s House to continue to open doors to safety and opportunity for women and their children.

Holy Cross women students raised some of the initial funds for the shelter in 1976 and have been actively involved ever since. Students have staffed the emergency shelter three overnights each week throughout the academic year for 32 years without any other staff presence.

In addition, for the past seven years Holy Cross students have run weekly programs at the women’s day center, staff the reception desk at one of the low-income housing buildings four nights each week and one student works at Abby’s House full time during the summer through the Lilly Grant, a private family foundation that follows its founders’ wishes by supporting the causes of religion, community development and education.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Kevin M. Cahill, M.D., a driving force in humanitarian assistance and relief efforts across the globe for more than 45 years and a leading specialist in tropical medicine, will receive an honorary degree from the College of the Holy Cross and address this year’s graduates during the College’s Commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 23 at 10:30 a.m. on the campus.

Physician, teacher, activist, diplomat, and advocate, Cahill is the director of the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, president of the Center for International Health and Cooperation and a University Professor at Fordham University. He serves as the director of the Tropical Disease Center at Lenox Hill Hospital, and has done extensive research and aid work in Africa, Latin America, and the Near and Far East. He is professor of International Humanitarian Affairs at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, senior consultant to the United Nations Health Service, and president-general of the American-Irish Historical Society.

Cahill received degrees from Fordham University, Cornell University School of Medicine, The Royal College of Surgeons in England and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Upon completing his medical degree in 1961, Cahill was awarded a grant to work in Calcutta where he worked with Mother Teresa. He served as director of Clinical Tropical Medicine in Egypt and Sudan while in the U.S. Navy, and continued active medical research for the next forty years in Africa, Latin America, the Near and Far East, with long-term programs in Somalia, Sudan, India and Nicaragua.

He has written or edited 29 books and more than 200 articles on subjects including tropical disease, the global land mine crisis, and health and foreign policy.

James Michael Brennan will give the 2008 valedictory address. Upon graduation, Brennan will complete his B.A. with majors in political science and Russian.  He is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honor Society, and Dobro Slovo, the National Slavic Honor Society.  He studied in St. Petersburg, Russia during the fall of his junior year. A member of the College Honors Program, Brennan is completing his thesis on subaltern resistance to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. Brennan has been a tutor for the Writers Workshop and Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD). This year he served as the director of academic concerns for the Student Government Association (SGA) and has been active in campus ministry throughout his college career.

The College will also bestow four other honorary degrees to the following individuals at Commencement:

David Anderson Class of 1951
Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, Anderson is one of the most acclaimed sports writers of our time.  He retired from full time employment at The New York Times in 2007, but still contributes his sports column.  Prior to joining the Times in 1966 (working first as a general assignment reporter and then, in 1971, as a sports columnist), Anderson was a member of the sports staff of the now defunct New York Journal-American for 11 years. Before that, he was a sports writer with the Brooklyn Eagle, which folded in 1955.  He is the author of 21 books and has written more than 350 magazine articles.   He received the 1994 Associated Press Sports Editors Red Smith Award for distinguished sports column writing. He was inducted into the National Sports Writers and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in Salisbury, N.C. in 1990.

Rev. Robert Athickal, S.J.
A native of India, Fr. Athickal founded Tarumitra (Hindi for “Friends of the Trees”) with some high school students in 1988 in Patna, India.  Later, his Jesuit superior missioned him to be the adviser and support person for this movement—and in 2004, the United Nations accepted Tarumitra for non-governmental status.  Tarumitra currently enrolls 55,000 members through 900 high schools and colleges in 18 states of India, and student delegates attend global conferences around the world every year. Fr. Athickal has built a bio-reserve and training center on 10 acres of the property of the Jesuit novitiate in the state of Bihar.  At one time there were thousands of species of plants and trees in Bihar; now there are less than 50.  In addition to cultivating different plants, shrubs, and trees, students come to the center to learn simple and effective methods for sustaining the environment, to acquire effective skills to handle local environmental problems, to organize campaigns to preserve bio-diversity, and to promote a spirituality that befriends the earth.

Donald P. Moriarty Class of 1952
Former member of the Holy Cross Board of Trustees and longtime head of its investment committee, Moriarty is a philanthropist with wide-ranging interests.  In addition to his generous support of the College over many years—support which has directly benefited Holy Cross’ students, faculty, and academic programs—he is an honorary trustee of the nonpartisan Carnegie Council, a leading voice promoting ethical leadership on issues of war, peace, religion in politics, and global social justice. The council convenes agenda-setting forums and creates educational opportunities and information resources for a worldwide audience of teachers and students, journalists, international affairs professionals, and concerned citizens.  In addition, Moriarty, the father of five Holy Cross graduates, is general partner of the investment company Twin Oaks Partners in New Jersey. Previously, he was managing partner of William A. M. Burden & Co. in New York.  He also was a member of the Florence V. Burden Foundation, the Summit & Elizabeth Trust Co., and the Overlook Hospital Foundation (Summit, N.J.). Currently, he is a member of the Investment Policy Committee of the Smithsonian Institution.

James A. Welu
Since 1974, Welu—an acclaimed scholar of 17th-century Dutch art—has worked as a curator at the Worcester Art Museum and since 1986 as its director.  Under his leadership, the museum has increased visitors through innovative partnerships, such as “Flora in Winter” in collaboration with Tower Hill Botanical Garden.  In addition, he has invigorated the museum’s educational programs to the point where 7,000 children, teens, and adults take classes not only in traditional subjects like painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography, but also in comic art, Web page design, and computer animation.  In addition to ensuring that the museum is a vital cultural resource for all citizens of Worcester, Welu has forged a deep and lasting connection with Holy Cross. His personal interest in the Hope and Healing exhibition, co-curated by Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., associate professor of history at Holy Cross, made it possible for this show to take place in Worcester, in collaboration with Clark University and Holy Cross.  The museum’s library operates in partnership with Holy Cross, and at least three members of the College’s faculty are Corporators of the Museum.