News

WORCESTER, Mass. – The music department at the College of the Holy Cross will present the following musical performances on campus during January and February 2008. All events are free and open to the public. For additional information, please contact the music department events line at 508-793-3528.

Thursday, Jan. 24; 8 p.m.
Qx String Quartet; Presented by the Holy Cross Chamber Players
Brooks Concert Hall

Sunday, Jan. 27; 3 p.m.
Andrew Paul Holman, organ
Michael Calmes, tenor
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel

Tuesday, Feb. 5; 8 p.m.
Suzanna E. Waldbauer Memorial Concert; Presented by the Holy Cross Chamber Players
Brooks Concert Hall

Sunday, Feb. 10; 3 p.m.
Stephen Hamilton, organ
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel

Wednesday, Feb. 13; 8 p.m.
Chamber Orchestra Concert
Brooks Concert Hall

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross community is getting into the spirit of Christmas with generous donations of time and other resources to many charities and other causes.

Among these efforts:

• Sponsored by Human Resources, the Candy Cane tree allows participants in early December to select candy canes from a Christmas tree and buy a gift for a patient at St. Mary’s Health Care Center, The Dalton Nursing Home on Cambridge Street, or for a needy child in the Main South neighborhood of Worcester.
• Organized by Human Resources, the Thanksgiving food drive, which benefits members of the Holy Cross community on medical or family leave, faculty and staff were able to send fruit baskets, food baskets, or floral arrangements to 8 families.
• Money raised in the annual AIDS Compassion & Awareness Charity Banquet in November, sponsored by the Bishop Healy Multicultural Society, will go to AIDS Project Worcester and the Pendulum Project, a non-profit humanitarian organization that helps families and communities care for, support, and protect orphans and vulnerable children in parts of the world that are severely impacted by AIDS. They raised $3,000, and donations are still being made.

  “Our mission each year is to draw the campus community’s attention to the striking effects of AIDS, both domestically and internationally,” explains Ani Nalbandian ’09, co-chair of the Bishop Healy Multicultural Society. “But even more, the challenge is to make people realize that the statistics are just references to collective groups of people, with every additional number, there is the story of human suffering.”

• For the second year in a row, the Class of 2010 Class Council participated in Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan’s Purse, by gathering and shipping gift-filled shoeboxes to needy children across the world. Students, faculty and staff helped and the officers sent 80 shoeboxes filled with stationary, shoes, toys, toiletries, sweets, and games, among other items.
• Toys for Tots donations were collected at the annual Holy Cross Dining Holiday Luncheon on Dec. 6.
• Pax Christi sold holiday greeting cards raising $1,766 to aid the refugees in Darfur.  The prices ranged from $1 to $80 with the different monetary denominations used to buy different levels of supplies and protection for Darfurians who are struggling to find food, water, and wood in the midst of the turmoil which they live.

  “Pax Christi would like to thank all those who supported us and say we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the HC community,” says Sarah Fontaine ’08, a member of Pax Christi.

• The Chaplains’ Office and Alpha Sigma Nu (the Jesuit Honor Society) collaborated in collecting toys at worship services on campus during the first weekend of advent. The toys will be donated to churches in Worcester for distribution to children at Christmas.
• The College Republicans collected supplies (magazines, beef jerky, non-perishables) and monetary donations, then assembled care packages to send to troops stationed in Iraq.
• Year-round, Dining Services donates surplus food to the Central Mass. Shelter for Homeless Veterans, in Worcester.  Students involved with Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), a community service organization on campus, bring the food to the shelters.
• The Purple Key Society organizes a giving tree every year, to collect Christmas gifts for the children at the Nativity School in Worcester. This year they went with an athletic theme and each boy received a basketball.

  “We collected 53 basketballs in two days, due to the overwhelming generosity of the Holy Cross community,” says Heather Martone ’08, co-chair of the Purple Key Society.

  Because they reached their goal so soon, the Society decided to raise money so the school could purchase new basketball uniforms for the students.

• Since 1987, the Physical Plant/Building Services department donates used furniture from office and residence hall upgrades, and conducts a winter clothing drive among staff, faculty and students to benefit the following Worcester organizations: Henry Lee Willis Community Center, PIP Shelter in Worcester; Central Mass. Housing Alliance; Abby’s House; and Central Mass. Shelter for Homeless Veterans. “Donations continue to grow over the years,” says Jack McCann, assistant director of Physical Plant/Building Services, who says many were coats alone were donated this year. “It’s amazing how much is dropped off.”
• Throughout the year ITS has given computers and networking equipment to the Nativity School of Worcester, Burncoat High School in Worcester, and the Beverly School in Kenya. The have also consulted with the South Worcester Neighborhood Improvement Center free of charge.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Karen Teitel, assistant professor of accounting at the College of the Holy Cross, has received the 2007 JIAR Outstanding Manuscript Award, for her study “The Effects of the Mexican Corporate Governance Code on Quality of Earnings and its Components.” Each year, the American Accounting Association International Accounting Section selects one paper published in the Journal of International Accounting Research to receive this award.  The paper, published earlier this year, was co-authored by Susan Machuga, an assistant professor at the University of Hartford.  The award will be presented at the AAA International Accounting Section and IAAER Joint 2008 Midyear Conference in San Diego on February 7-9, 2008.

“My co-author and I are continuing to investigate the changes in earnings quality surrounding the implementation of the Corporate Governance Code in Mexico by examining associations with firm and board of director characteristics such as size, auditor, independence of board members, disclosure of board composition and shared directors,” explains Teitel. “This line of research fits in with my general research agenda of investigating earnings quality in both the international and domestic contexts.”

Teitel’s research found that the Corporate Governance Code resulted in management of Mexican firms reporting higher quality earnings, which helps attract more foreign and local investors and bring more capital into the Mexican economy.

Teitel, a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2004, earned her Ph.D. and B.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and her M.S. from Bentley College. Her teaching interests include external financial reporting by business enterprises, preparation of financial statements and disclosures, and financial reporting policy and regulation. Before coming to Holy Cross, she was an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut School of Business and a senior auditor at Arthur Andersen & Co., L.L.P. She resides in Hopkinton, Mass.

The International Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association seeks to encourage, support, and promote interest in international accounting by providing a venue to discuss international accounting research and to share information about international accounting courses taught throughout the world.

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 Dec. 9 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Kimball Dining Hall. Please join the following members of the College community:

Sunday, Dec. 9 (Kimball Hall)
Rev. Michael McFarland, S.J., president
Frank Vellaccio, senior vice president
Timothy Austin, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College
Ellen Keohane, director of information technology services
Michael Lochhead, vice president for administration and finance
Paul Sheff, vice president for development and alumni relations
Jackie Peterson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students

Monday, Dec. 10 (Crossroads)
Kristine Goodwin, associate dean for student life
Jackie Peterson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students
Becky Riopel, director of student programs and involvement
Alexandra Los, associate director of recruiting (Career Services)
Christine Pitz, housing coordinator
Mable Millner, assistant dean and director of Multicultural Education

Tuesday, Dec. 11 (Crossroads)
Victoria Swigert, assistant dean, class of 2008
Earl Peace, Jr., assistant dean, class of 2009
Esther Levine, assistant dean, class of 2010
Mark Freeman, assistant dean, class of 2011

Wednesday, Dec. 12 (Crossroads)
Eric Butler ’06, research analyst
Kate Hanscom, assistant director of the Holy Cross Fund
Kristin McCue ’01, associate director, stewardship programs

Thursday, Dec.13 (Crossroads)
Jane Van Doren, professor of chemistry
Bianca Sculimbrene, assistant professor of chemistry
Sarah Petty, assistant professor of chemistry
Jude Kelley, assistant professor of chemistry

WORCESTER, Mass. – Join Rev. William O’Halloran, S.J., special assistant to the president, for the annual tree lighting ceremony on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 5 p.m. on O’Kane Porch. The evening will feature a performance by the Holy Cross Chamber Singers, a sing-a-long with Santa, and a residence hall decorating contest. Free food and hot beverages will be served.

The event is sponsored by the Purple Key Society and the Offices of Student Life.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Peter Stoltzfus Berton, concert organist and choir director at All Saints Church in Worcester, will perform Sunday, Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel at the College of the Holy Cross.  Berton will be assisted by the All Saints Choirs for Boys and Girls. The concert is free and open to the public.

As part of the Holy Cross Chapel Artists Series, the program will include music by J.S. Bach, J. Michael Bach, Louis-Claude Daquin, Anton Heiller, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Hans Friedrich Micheelsen, and Keith Chapman.  The All Saints Choirs for Boys and Girls will sing chorales and a setting of Away in a Manger by David Hill. This concert, as well as the entire 2007-2008 Holy Cross Chapel Artists Series, is dedicated to the memory of renowned composer Daniel Pinkham, who died in December of 2006.

Berton earned degrees at both The University of Michigan School of Music and the Yale University School of Music. He trained as a church musician through assistantships at Saint Thomas Church in New York City, Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, Conn. and St. Paul’s Cathedral in Detroit, Mich. Prior to Berton’s appointment at the All Saints Church in 2003, he was minister of music and organist at Christ Episcopal Church in Los Altos, Calif., and at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y.

He is an active composer and has recorded several CD’s on distinguished Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner instruments for JAV Recordings. Recent performances include Washington National Cathedral; Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Calif.; Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, Ore.; All Saints Church, South Hadley, Mass.

Berton has served as sub-dean of the Worcester chapter of the American Guild of Organists for the last four years, has been part of the faculty of the Guild’s Pipe Organ Encounters for young organists in Worcester in 2004 and Northampton in 2007, and will host the opening event at All Saints Church, Worcester, for a Pipe Organ Encounter in July 2008.

The All Saints Choirs for Boys and Girls are thought to be the oldest professional choirs of their type in continuous existence in America, founded in 1868 (Boys) and 1878 (Girls). They are well-known in the greater Worcester community and beyond as a regional center of excellence in vocal training and repertoire for children ages 7 1/2 and up. Currently fourteen boys and seventeen girls are enrolled.  They train and perform separately and combine occasionally for special performances.

The Choir will be traveling to England in August 2008, to attend the 281st Three Choirs Festival held this year in Worcester, to train with distinguished choirmasters Adrian Lucas and Barry Rose, and to sing daily services at Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford Cathedrals for two weeks. Other upcoming performances include the Worcester Art Museum, a Christmas Brown Bag concert broadcast live from Mechanics Hall, Fitchburg Public Library, Groton School, and a benefit concert for Abby’s House at Wesley United Methodist Church.

Pinkham, one of America’s most active and most-performed composers, taught at New England Conservatory from 1958 until 2000.  In addition to composing, he was an organist, harpsichordist, conductor, pioneer in the early music movement, and longtime music director at Boston’s historic King’s Chapel. With an A.B. and an M.A from Harvard University, his scholarship and work were recognized with a Fulbright Fellowship in 1950 and a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1962. He received six honorary degrees: New England Conservatory, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Adrian College, Westminster Choir College, Ithaca College, and the Boston Conservatory.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Faculty experts in a wide range of political and related disciplines from the College of the Holy Cross are available to offer distinctive perspectives on some of the hot-button political issues expected during debates, the primary elections and throughout the 2008 campaign.  For more information, or for assistance scheduling an interview, please call Kristine Maloney at 508-793-2419 or kmmalone@holycross.edu. Experts listed below may also be contacted for comment directly.

Political Parties/Special Interest Groups/Primary Elections/Role of the Internet
Daniel Klinghard, assistant professor, political science
508-793-2361 (office)
dklingha@holycross.edu
Klinghard specializes in political parties, focusing on differences in party organization and candidate strategy over time.  He can comment on how changes in primary election schedules, fundraising practices, special interest group involvement, and technology (particularly the Internet and sites like MoveOn.org) have altered the strategic environment for candidates.  Interested in the ways in which institutions shape and restrict the behavior of politicians, he can provide insight into how particular candidates might approach integrating new policies (such as a health care program or social security reform) into the current institutional environment.  Klinghard is currently completing a book on political parties in the late 19th century, which aims to explain the nature of so-called “party decline” throughout the 20th century.

History of Elections/Wartime Campaigns/Role of Religion
Edward O’Donnell, associate professor, history
508-793-3730 (office)
eodonnell@holycross.edu
O’Donnell has expertise in the history of presidential elections and campaigns, and has published articles on John F. Kennedy’s campaign, and the 1884 and 1928 presidential elections – all three of which involved questions about Catholicism.  The author of several books, including the forthcoming textbook, Visions of America: A History of the United States (Longman, 2008), which covers presidential elections from 1848 to 1916, he can address presidential campaigns that took place during wars, such as Lincoln’s (1864) and Wilson’s (1916) re-elections. O’Donnell has extensive media experience and is a former Morning Edition commentator for NPR member station WNYC.

Mormonism/Mitt Romney
Mathew Schmalz, associate professor, religious studies
508-793-2557 (office)
mschmalz@holycross.edu
Schmalz specializes in politics and religion, particularly new religious movements like Mormonism.  The author of a recent Commonweal cover story on Mormonism in mainstream culture (http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2055), he is available to comment on the role of Mormonism in Mitt Romney’s campaign.  Schmalz has published op-eds in national media outlets and has provided expert commentary to USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, U.S. News & World Report, and NPR, among others.

Foreign Policy/International Security/Terrorism/Private Security Companies – Blackwater
Ward Thomas, associate professor of political science
508-793-3445 (office)
wthomas@holycross.edu
Thomas can provide insight on U.S. foreign policy, especially involving military or security issues; international law as it pertains to war; international ethics, the use of private security companies (Blackwater-type issues), and terrorism.  He is the author of The Ethics of Destruction: Norms and Force in International Relations (Cornell University Press, 2001), and his articles have appeared in International Security, Security Studies, Armed Forces & Society, Sciences Humaines (Paris), The Boston Globe, and other publications. He is currently working on a book about normative change and the use of force by nonstate actors, particularly Private Military Companies (PMCs).

American Political Thought/Terrorism
David Schaefer, professor, political science
508-793-2252 (office)
dschaefe@holycross.edu
Schaefer, whose scholarly research focuses on political philosophy and American political thought, can provide expert analysis on a multitude of issues related to the current presidential campaign.  He has published essays on such issues as judicial activism, church-state relations, economic inequality, campaign finance regulation, race relations, and labor policy in The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, and The American Enterprise. As a 2007-08 fellow of the Institute for the Defense of Democracies, he has studied the problem of world terrorism and has provided commentary for several radio talk shows.

Climate/Environmental Policy
Loren Cass, associate professor, political science
508-793-3683 (office)
lcass@holycross.edu
Cass is an expert on U.S. climate policy, candidate positions on climate change, and international climate negotiations.  He is the author of The Failures of American and European Climate Policy: International Norms, Domestic Politics, and Unachievable Commitments (SUNY Press, 2006), a book that address the politics of climate change, international climate policy and American environmental foreign policy.

Inequalities in American Education
Ericka Fisher, assistant professor, education
508-793-3732 (office)
efisher@holycross.edu
Fisher, whose areas of expertise include racial and economic inequality in American education, can provide special commentary on the role these issues will play in the upcoming election.

The Presidency
Donald Brand, associate professor, political science
508-793-3402 (office/preferred)
dbrand@holycross.edu
Brand specializes in the study of the presidency and American politics.  He has provided expert commentary to the media on a number of politically controversial issues, including the war in Iraq and civil liberties and the Patriot Act.  Brand is the author of Corporatism and the Rule of Law: A Study of the National Recovery Administration (Cornell University Press, 1988), and numerous articles in journals such as Political Science Quarterly and Political Science Reviewer.  He serves as the faculty advisor to the Holy Cross College Republicans.

History of Democracy
Thomas Martin, professor/chair, classics
508-793-2550 (office)
tmartin@holycross.edu (preferred)
Martin specializes in the ancient history of democracy, its roots in Athens, and how it compares with modern American democracy. Author of Ancient Greece from Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times (Yale University Press, 2002), he has served as an expert commentator in several publications and as a consultant to numerous television programs. Most recently, he appeared on “The Dark Ages,” a History Channel special exploring the period spanning the fall of the Roman empire and the Renaissance.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Olivia Schum, a member of the College of the Holy Cross Class of 2009, has been awarded a $1,500 Charles Braver Language Exploration Grant to fund her language studies in Moscow, Russia during the spring 2008 semester.

A double major in Russian and history, Schum will study at the Lomonosov Center at Moscow State University this spring, where she is enrolled in a program titled Russian as a Second Language.  The curriculum focuses on discussing, reading, and writing in Russian, and then applying those lessons to daily Russian life through current events, history, and cultural studies.

“Fully grasping the Russian language will help me tremendously with my future career ambition of working for the U.S State Department, especially in the bureaus pertaining to Russia and Russian foreign policy,” explains Schum. “In the near future, I want to become as fluent as possible in order to be able to conduct research in Russian for my senior thesis on aspects of Russian history.”

According to one of her instructors, Amy Adams, associate professor of Russian at Holy Cross, “the Charles Braver Language Exploration Grant is awarded to students who demonstrate clear goals in gaining an understanding of Russia – the country, its people, and its language. Olivia Schum is one of our most talented Russian students, with a fine appreciation for the culture and a talent for the language.”

On campus, the Wilton, Conn. native is actively involved in the Russian Club, the History Student Advisory Committee and the Purple Key Society.  She is a board member for the Alternate College Theatre (ACT), a student-run organization, and is choreographing the musical Sweet Charity which will debut in January.  Schum also serves as a Manresa retreat leader, a campus tour guide, a head greeter at mass, and a big sister to a little girl in Worcester.

The Charles Braver Language Exploration Grant is awarded in memory of Charles Braver, an educator who worked for many years to promote and practice cross-cultural teaching, learning, and geographical and intellectual exploration.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Ann M. Sheehy, assistant professor of biology at the College of the Holy Cross, has received a $200,000 Smith Family New Investigator Award for newly appointed junior faculty engaged in basic research in the areas of AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neuroscience.  Awarded by The Medical Foundation in Boston, the grant will be distributed over two years, beginning in 2008.  Since 1991, more than $13 million has been awarded to nearly 100 researchers; Sheehy’s award marks the first time the grant has been given to a strictly undergraduate college.

Sheehy specializes in the fields of immunology and virology.  She has conducted extensive research on HIV and has published articles on the subject as well as others in the field of biology. Her most major contribution to science so far has been the discovery of an anti-HIV gene, which has led to new approaches to HIV research.

Sheehy says she will use the grant money to fund scientific research which continues to investigate the possibilities of controlling this human protein and enhancing its anti-HIV capabilities. Holy Cross students will be involved in all of the research.

“We feel very fortunate to have her on campus, where a significant part of our effort is devoted to undergraduate education,” says Mary Lee Ledbetter, professor and chair of the biology department. “To our delight, Dr. Sheehy shares our enthusiasm for designing, conducting, presenting and publishing research projects that include significant undergraduate participation.”

Sheehy earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and her B.A. from Kalamazoo College. She received postdoctoral fellowships to work at the University of Pennsylvania and at Kings College, London. Sheehy resides in Worcester.

The Smith Family New Investigator Award comes on the heels of the sixth consecutive year of AIDS Compassion and Awareness Week at the College sponsored by the Bishop Healy Multicultural Society.  The group has planned a week of events dedicated to educating the community on the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Sheehy’s class on the HIV pandemic will run a poster session at the AIDS Compassion & Awareness Week Charity Banquet on Nov. 30 at 4:30 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross departments of theatre and music will present a concert of their famed Balinese gamelan orchestra, Gamelan Gita Sari, under the directorship of visiting fellow in Balinese performing arts, I Made Bandem, on Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. in Brooks Concert Hall. This concert marks Bandem’s debut as a visiting fellow at Holy Cross. These semi-annual concerts, free and open to the public, are routinely standing room only and provide for a thrilling evening of Balinese music and dance.

Gamelan Gita Sari was founded in 1999. Gita Sari translates as “the essence of song.” The company is composed entirely of students and faculty from the College. The group performs on its Gong Kebyar gamelan, built for Holy Cross in 1998 by master Balinese craftsman Pande Made Sukerta. Following a blessing ceremony in Mengwitani, the gamelan was shipped to Massachusetts, where a second ceremony was conducted in July 1999. This coincided with Holy Cross being awarded a Henry Luce Foundation Grant to fund a Balinese scholar-artist-in-residence for four years.

Gamelan Gita Sari has performed at Brown University, Wesleyan University, for the New Hampshire Humanities Council, and for the conference Continuities and Change: A Celebration of Balinese Music, Theatre and Dance at Holy Cross, as well as holding two concerts a year at Holy Cross. Members of the ensemble have played and danced at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bard College. Bandem of the Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) is the third appointment, following the distinguished artists, Desak Made Suarti Laksmi and I Wayan Dibia in the exchange program established eight years ago.

Bandem is one of the most well-known figures in Bali’s art world today.  After graduating from a conservatory in Bali, he won a scholarship to become one of the first Balinese dancers to study in the U.S. He earned his M.A. in dance from the University of California in Los Angeles, and in 1980 he earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Upon his return to Bali, Bandem became the director of the Indonesian College of the Arts in Denpasar, a position he held for 16 years. Last year he was promoted to the position of recktor of the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) of Jogyakarta, the oldest art institute in Indonesia. Throughout his career, Bandem has been involved with numerous committees on art and culture in Bali. He is the founder and director of Cipta Budaya Foundation, and was a member of the Indonesian House Assembly from 1988 until 1998. Bandem was also a member of the Art Consortium of the Indonesian Education and Culture Department, from 1988 to the present time.

Bandem, a renowned scholar, has published many articles and books concerning music, dance, and art in general. As an artist he has performed throughout the world. He has led many performing groups to different world expositions, including those in Vancouver, Brisbane, and Sevilla. In 1982 Bandem founded a performing group known as Dharma Shanti and started its first tour in Japan for the anniversary of Japan Foundation. He was chosen to be the artistic director for many colossal performances for PATA conferences, WTO Meetings and several other international conferences. In 1994 Bandem received an International Music Council Award from UNESCO for his efforts in the preservation and development of art in Bali, and in 1995 he received the Dharma Kusuma, the highest honor the Government of Bali can bestow.