News

Rabbi Norman M. Cohen ’72, the founding rabbi of the reform Jewish congregation Bet Shalom in Minnetonka, Minn., will meet with students and faculty, visit classes, and attend religious services while he is in residence at Holy Cross on Oct. 28 through Nov. 3. The Chaplain’s Office will celebrate Shabbat on Friday evening (Nov. 2).

This will be Cohen’s fourth College-sponsored visit back to his alma mater. Last year was his first extended stay at the College, and he’s looking forward to doing it again.

“I meet with Jewish students and faculty in a variety of settings,” he says. “When I began my student days at Holy Cross in 1968, I was the only Jewish student and there were only a few Jewish faculty.”

Today, he notes that there are more than a half a dozen Jewish students and about two dozen professors who are Jewish.

“I hope to be helpful to the Chaplains’ Office and supportive of the growing Jewish community on campus. I also hope to serve as a resource for professors who might ask me to visit their classes,” he says. “The Holy Cross environment is also conducive to personal study of the book of Ruth, which is a project I have been working on in my study leave time from my congregation.”

Like his last weeklong visit, Cohen will be staying in Ciampi, the Jesuit residence. “The Jesuits are quite welcoming and hospitable,” he says. Rev. James Hayes, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community, and Rev. Edward Vodoklys, S.J., senior lecturer in classics, were his Holy Cross classmates.

Cohen is sharing his sermons from the Days of Awe (Sept. 13-22). The ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur, the Days of Awe is a time for serious introspection; and a time to consider the sins of the previous year and repent before Yom Kippur.

Related Information:

* Dead Wood and the Living Tree (.pdf)
* Give Me Your Tired (.pdf)
* www.betshalom.org
* Chaplains’ Office

The fall issue of Holy Cross Magazine is taking readers around the world.

The cover story focuses on alumni who are living and working in various parts of the world. Nine alumni share their stories about why they moved to places around the world (including Amsterdam, Brazil, Bangkok, Egypt, Israel, Poland and the United Kingdom), what they’ve learned, and how their Holy Cross education has benefited them.

Holy Cross has long had a strong commitment to international issues. One of the key priorities of the current Strategic Plan is to help prepare students to enter an increasingly diverse and internationally interconnected world.

Indeed, many of the alumni interviewed for the story cite the College’s Jesuit education as helping them in their day-to-day interactions and work.

“The universal principles of a Jesuit education hold true whether you’re in the United States, Africa or Japan,” said Victor Luis ’88, who works at Coach Japan.

Johan (Hans) G. Blickman, M.D., ’74, surely agrees.

“The analytical and Jesuitical thinking skills I received are invaluable in running a major medical center. They also gave me a helicopter view of people, places and things so that I was able to look at the big picture.” He is chairman of the department of radiology at University Medical Center in Nijmegen and splits his time between The Netherlands and Lincoln, Mass.

Also featured in this issue is a story about the College’s V-12 Navy College Training program. Holy Cross was one of 131 institutions across the nation that hosted a V-12 unit during World War II. The program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Read how the College was transformed during the years of 1943 to 1946 as military life swept Mount St. James.

The Himalayan frontier has been a meeting place of the world’s great civilizations: India, China, and the southern portions of the silk route that linked Asia to the Mediterranean. From antiquity, the region has been a significant zone of contact, interaction, innovation and change, says Todd Lewis, professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross.

Even today, the Himalayan region — including portions of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and China (Tibet) — is central to the stability of the world.

To educate teachers on this critical region, Lewis is using a $199,602 award from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue a summer institute that he launched in 2002. The program, titled “Literatures, Religions and Arts of the Himalayan Region,” brings 30 elementary and secondary school teachers from the United States and around the world to Holy Cross for a month next summer to study with Lewis and co-director Leonard van der Kuijp, professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies and chair of the Sanskrit and Indian Studies department at Harvard University.

About 10 scholars from the United States, Asia and Europe will join them. Mathew Schmalz, assistant professor of religious studies at Holy Cross, is among them. He will offer insight on the use of popular Indian cinema allowing the teachers to learn about Hinduism and modern South Asian history.

“We deal with the Dalai Lama, the conflict between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, and the recent Maoist civil war in Nepal that has destabilized the world’s last Hindu monarchy,” explains Lewis. “In the institute, we emphasize religion: shamanism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Just as religion is at the center of culture and culture is what organizes civilizations, we provide rich, detailed content in this area. Building from this, we extend on this core to examine culture in many realms: language, literature, art history.”

The goal, says Lewis, is to give the teachers a rich academic experience so that their instruction in the K-12 classroom will be enhanced.

Professor van der Kuijp is one of the world’s leading Tibetologists, and Lewis is one of the few specialists on Buddhism of the lower, southern mountains of the Himalayas.

“We look at films from the region, have feasts in the Nepali, Tibetan, and Kashmiri styles, and bring to the Holy Cross program a school curriculum expert so the teachers see what books and other resources can be procured to bring the Himalayas into the classroom.”

Staff from Holy Cross’ Educational Technology work closely with institute participants, training each teacher to build a Web page designed to implement new curriculum plans built from the institute’s learning experiences. These are published on the institute’s Holy Cross Web site and available to teachers worldwide.

“It might seem strange, even incongruous, that a program with this content would be held at Holy Cross, a Jesuit college,” says Lewis. “But in fact, it is not strange if you understand the Jesuits’ international traditions and Holy Cross’ mission.”

Lewis says Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of Holy Cross, welcomes new groups each year during their visits and makes precisely this point.

“Fr. McFarland’s remarks always capture my shared sense of the Holy Cross mission: the College is about engaging the world, seeking to understand Asia — like the first Jesuits did, fearlessly, and where many Jesuits still serve today — promoting cross-cultural understanding.”

There’s another reason why holding the institute at Holy Cross has special meaning.

“The teachers love being on this campus. It is, of course, attractive, but what we have gotten in the detailed evaluations from the first program in 2002 onward is that the Holy Cross community is very welcoming, our facilities are extraordinary, and our librarians and Educational Technology staff are exemplary in providing their expertise.”

Not unlike a well-tended vegetable garden, Holy Cross’ partnership with the Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts continues to grow.

On Oct. 26 from 6 to 10 p.m., a Slow Food Gala will take place in the lower dining area in Kimball Hall at Holy Cross to benefit the work of REC’s urban garden programs for youth in Worcester. The event will include a five course meal and a silent auction.

The meal is planned around the Slow Food concept, an international movement dedicated to preserving and supporting traditional ways of growing, producing and preparing food. Marty Dudek, assistant director of dining services at Holy Cross and a member of Slow Food’s Boston chapter, will prepare the meal.

Holy Cross is a strong supporter of REC, which works to build a sustainable urban center in Worcester.

The College is a major sponsor of REC’s Earth Day clean-up program in April. A number of students have worked, interned or volunteered with REC over the past three years, says Catherine Roberts, associate professor of mathematics and director of the environmental studies at the College. Students in Roberts’ classes have also completed many projects that supported various aspects of REC’s mission. In addition to Roberts, several current Holy Cross staff members have served on REC’s board, including Jesse Anderson, director of audio-visual services and Katherine Robertson, special assistant to the president for community affairs. Rev. Michael C. McFarland, president of Holy Cross, is on the host committee for the gala event.

Three students are currently working for REC: Alicia Cianciola ’09, Neil Shea ’09 and Devika Sarin ’08. They will attend the gala and help Roberts run the silent auction at the event.

As part of their work at REC, Cianciola and Shea will grow the seedlings for the YouthGrow and UGROW urban community garden programs. UGROW is a city-wide community gardens program that includes YouthGrow, a summer youth program that employs teens from the city’s low-income communities to maintain organic farms in Worcester. The seedlings are grown in the greenhouse in the biology department.

“I was interested in working for the Regional Environmental Council because it is a great opportunity to be able to grow plants right here on campus and get involved in local activities, which I feel is very important,” says Shea, a biology major with an environmental studies concentration. “UGROW is an outstanding program that also gets the youth of Worcester involved through gardening and I was happy to learn that I could be a part of it just by growing here on campus.”

Shea is proud that Holy Cross is helping sponsor the event.

“The Slow Food Gala will directly benefit the UGROW and YouthGROW programs and it will be a great opportunity to enjoy locally and organically grown foods while getting to know the people involved in the Regional Environmental Council and what they are doing around the community,” says Shea.

Next semester, Shea and Dudek will plant and grow organic seedlings in the greenhouse on top of the O’Neil complex.  The produce will eventually be used in Kimball meals.

REC also has strong academic ties to Holy Cross as a consistent Community-Based Learning site for the College. In fact, Roberts was interested in creating a community-based course that would connect to her environmental math course. Peggy Middaugh, the executive director of REC, “generated loads of interesting and appropriate project ideas right off the top of her head, so it was an instant partnership that has grown over time,” says Roberts, whose interests include environmental justice and environmental advocacy.

“This is a local non-profit group with direct impact on people’s lives,” says Roberts. “They work to make the city of Worcester safer by helping educate people on how to remove toxins from their homes. The mission of REC resonates with the mission of the College — to affect change through local action.”

Related Information:

• Press Release: Slow Food Gala at Holy Cross to Benefit Regional Environmental Council Community Programs
• Regional Environmental Council
• Community-Based Learning

The Student Government Association at Holy Cross has launched a Web site geared specifically for students as a one-stop site for the latest news and information.

The Web site, features news and on-campus events, as well as Student Government initiatives and community updates. It includes a set of quick links to frequently accessed portions of the Holy Cross site, such as Groupwise e-mail and athletic schedules. Also, the ever-popular Kimball menus are just one click away.

“SGA wanted a Web site that organized student-relevant information in one convenient location,” says David Lipke, co-chair of the SGA. “We also wanted to more effectively communicate with the student body, so students could have easy access to SGA and Recognized Student Organization programs.”

The Web site echoes the pulse of the campus, Lipke says. His hope is that it will become an essential way of publicizing on-campus events to students.

The Chaplains’ Office and Student Affairs each get their own section on the home page to spotlight their own current notices.

“Students interested in going on a retreat, an immersion program, or getting involved with religious life on campus, will now have an easy way to learn about the Chaplains’ Office,” Lipke says.

Bob Henry, Web developer in Information Technology Services, designed the Web site. Public Affairs supported the development of the site.

Lipke says the SGA leaders are looking into further additions to the site, including an interactive poll that will ask for student opinions on a range of issues. He encourages students to e-mail suggestions to sga@holycross.edu.

Related Information:

• Student Government Association

Of the 260 current members of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, 11 are recent Holy Cross graduates. Ten members of the Class of 2007, and one member of the Class of 2006, are currently serving in locations around the globe. The 11 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.

In the United States this year, 207 Jesuit volunteers will minister by teaching students of all ages, providing legal services, working with refugees and immigrants, serving with social services and at community centers, organizing in low-income communities and caring for people with HIV/AIDS.

Internationally, 53 volunteers are fulfilling a two-year commitment to Jesuit Volunteers International in Belize, Nicaragua, Peru, Nepal, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Tanzania. The volunteers accompany the poor in these developing countries while they work in schools, with youth and in parishes. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps was founded in 1956, and there are currently more than 12,000 former Jesuit volunteers. More information is available at www.jesuitvolunteers.org.

The 11 Holy Cross alumni who are serving as Jesuit volunteers this year are:

Rebecca Bates ’07 is living in Camden, N.J., and working at Ethel Lawrence Homes.

Nora Blumenstein ’07 is living in Sitka, Alaska, and working at Sitkans Against Family Violence.

Francesca Bove ’07 is living in Newark, N.J., and working at Covenant House Youth Advocacy Center.

Matthew Mann ’07 is living in Philadelphia and working at Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project.

Caroline Burke ’07 is living in Dar-Es Salaam, Tanzania and working at Loyola High School.

Caitlin Corneliess ’07 is living in Chuuk, Micronesia and working at St. Cecilia’s School.

Rufino deSantos ’06 is living in Punta Gorda, Belize and working at Julian Cho Technical as a teacher.

Sarah Schufreider ’07 is living in Mobile, Ala., and working at Bay Area Food Bank.

Ashley Sonson ’07 is living in Nashville, Tenn., and working at Oasis Center, Inc.

Jason Hernandez ’07 is living in Los Angeles and working at Chrysalis Center.

Cara Ryan ’07 is living in Sacramento and working at Women’s Empowerment.

Related Information:

• Volunteer Fair allows students to learn about various post-grad opportunities

Right after A.J. Cabrera graduated from Holy Cross in May 2005, he joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) and became a high school teacher in a small community in Chuuk, Micronesia. He says he “absolutely loved” the experience and has “a completely new perspective of the world and my place in it.”

He returned to the United States this June, and has been talking to college students about devoting their post-grad time to volunteering.

“I am strongly encouraging college students to do any sort of volunteering service after graduation because it is such a rewarding and meaningful experience,” says Cabrera. “Holy Cross students are incredibly equipped to make a strong impact in any volunteer program because the idea of ‘men and women for others’ is thoroughly taught at the College. JVC was by far the best program for me and I think it appeals to many students looking for a chance to serve the poor directly, as well as have a personal formation experience.”

As a recruiter, Cabrera does a lot of traveling to colleges — mostly Jesuit and Catholic — across the East Coast. On Oct. 24, he will visit Holy Cross to be part of the College’s 10th annual Volunteer Fair, sponsored by the Chaplains’ Office, in the Hogan Ballroom from 6 to 8 p.m.

Close to 50 organizations that offer volunteer opportunities across the nation and the world will be present at the fair, according to Cara Joyce ’09, Volunteer Fair student coordinator. The organizations will focus on domestic volunteer work, international volunteer work, and teaching. Other organizations include Teach for America, Maryknoll China Service Project, Nativity School of Worcester, and Christian Appalachian Project.

Each organization will have a table in the Ballroom, along with a recruiter. Many organizations will also have participants and alumni of the programs available to speak with students.

As a Jesuit institution, one of the most popular volunteering programs for Holy Cross students is JVC. Within the last three years, Holy Cross has had close to 50 students go on to dedicate a year of service through the organization.

Cabrera, who graduated with a major in political science and a minor in film studies, decided to volunteer after he heard so many positive things from former volunteers when he was a student.
“I wanted to live out the four values during my time in service — social justice, simple life-style, community and spirituality — as well as for the rest of my life. I felt that the support for the volunteers was very strong, and the work placements were very diverse.”

In addition to JVC, many students go on to do post-grad volunteer work through teaching positions. Just this year, 28 members of the Class of 2007 began volunteer teaching positions, 23 of whom committed themselves to Teach for America’s two-year program.

Joyce says that Holy Cross, as a Jesuit institution, has a special responsibility to the world’s poor and powerless.

“The Holy Cross mission statement urges Holy Cross students to ‘make the best of their own talents, to work together, to be sensitive to one another, to serve others, and to seek justice within and beyond the Holy Cross community.’ Volunteer work following graduation allows students to do just this; to take what they’ve learned within the gates of Holy Cross and put it into action in pursuit of the betterment of others and of themselves.”

Students who are not able to attend the fair, and who are interested in learning more about JVC can e-mail Cabrera at eastrecruiter@jesuitvolunteers.org. Students can also e-mail Marybeth Kearns-Barrett, associate Chaplain and director of Service and Social Justice Programs, at mkearns@holycross.edu.

Related Information:

• Chaplains’ Office

Holy Cross senior Sarah E. Fontaine says she’s the first to admit that she has no clear solution to ending the war in Iraq, but that doesn’t stop her from encouraging dialogue to explore non-violent ways to resolve conflict.

“We should be calling peace every single day of our lives. I respect everyone’s opinions about the war and I certainly understand the logic of those who say it would be irresponsible for us to pull out of Iraq now. I admit that I am not a political scientist or even perhaps a realist. All I can see is that men and women my age — American men and women — are dying in Iraq. This statement does not even call to mind the thousands of Iraqi men, women and children who continue to suffer due to the civil unrest that plagues Iraq. If we do not call peace and an end to all war now, when will we?”

For those reasons, Fontaine, a sociology major with a Peace and Conflict Studies concentration from Somers, Conn., is organizing a coach bus that will bring students and professors from Holy Cross to a peace rally on Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. in Boston. Fontaine estimates that about 25 people from the College will attend the peace rally. The cost, which will cover the transportation, is $8. To sign up, e-mail Fontaine at PaxChristi@holycross.edu.

The event is sponsored by Pax Christi, a local chapter of a national organization called Pax Christi USA, which calls for the nonviolent solutions to armed conflicts. Fontaine and Tiffany Lee ’08 are serving as co-chairs this year.

The group of Holy Cross demonstrators won’t be alone. The Boston rally is one of 11 anti-war rallies to take place around the nation on Oct. 27, called for by United for Peace and Justice, the largest anti-war coalition in the nation. Tens of thousands across the United States are expected to participate in the coordinated day of opposition to the Bush Administration war in Iraq, according to www.oct27.org.

“Rallies like this bring to people’s consciousness that the war is still going on,” says Fontaine. “People continue to question the need for violence. We are just hoping to raise awareness and to put pressure on all of our leaders to readjust our strategy.”

Fontaine has been involved with Pax Christi since her sophomore year.

“I first became involved in Pax Christi because some of the people I truly admired were members. I knew little about Pax Christi when I started, but I soon came to love the community and commitment to bringing about peace and justice through Catholic social teaching.”

Fontaine believes that encouraging a dialogue against the war in Iraq is an obligation, not an option. She estimates that half of the students at Holy Cross who have signed up are not in Pax Christi.

“I think as a Catholic institution that values all forms of life, Holy Cross has as special responsibility to be involved in all conversations that promote life. Peace and nonviolent resistance promote life. We are the present and future decision makers of this country. We owe it to ourselves to become educated on all issues of peace and justice, as well as to actively resist what we may see as unjust,” she says.

Fontaine stresses that peace goes beyond avoiding conflict.

“Our country must remain open to exploring nonviolent ways to resolve conflict. Peace is not simply the absence of war. It is the willingness to lay down your arms and recognize conflicts can be solved with nonviolent means.”

Related Information:

• Chaplains’ Office

David Chu, director of the Ciocca Office of Entrepreneurial Studies, knew that the inaugural Women in Business Conference held at Holy Cross in October of last year would be popular, but he didn’t know just how popular.

An e-mail sent to Holy Cross alumnae across the Northeast months before the event elicited an enthusiastic response.

“We had originally thought we would get 40 responses from alumnae. Those 40 seats were filled up in one day. It was sent at 10 o’clock on a July morning and by the end of that day, more than 40 people had signed up — and this was peak vacation time!”

In the end, Chu was able to accommodate almost all of the more than 130 alumnae who were interested in attending.

“The purpose of the conference is for women in business, or — in the case of students —interested in business, to learn something new and to network,” he says. “The reaction from alumnae was a testament to the need for more networking opportunities for women.”

Last year’s conference was largely a celebration — marking 30 years of Holy Cross women in the business world. The first women students entered Holy Cross in 1972. (That group consisted of 29 sophomores and juniors who had transferred from other schools as well as 244 freshmen.) Last year marked the anniversary of the first four-year class of women who graduated in 1976. At the conference, four keynote speakers and panelists, representing Holy Cross graduates from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s addressed the participants.

After suggestions from last year’s participants, the theme to this year’s conference on Oct. 26 and 27 will be “Integrating Savvy and Integrity for Success.” The keynote speaker will be Mary Ann Rettig-Zucchi ’76, principal consultant at Jupiter Consulting Group. Through her presentation, titled “Organizational Savvy: Avoiding Political Blind Spots, Increasing Impact and Maintaining Integrity,” she will help participants develop an understanding of various political styles within organizations, as well as practical strategies for working with “overly-political” colleagues or bosses.

Rettig-Zucchi agrees with Chu that these conferences are extremely important for women in business.

“The many highly accomplished alumnae business leaders attest to the significant contributions that well-educated, capable women make to business,” she says. “Sadly, a great deal of that potential remains untapped. Based on their 2006 consensus, Catalyst [a non-profit organization working to advance opportunities for women and business] reports that ‘even though women make up over 50% of the management, professional, and related occupations, only 15.6% of Fortune 500 corporate officers and 14.6% of Fortune 500 board directors are women.’ The Catalyst research found that men are still viewed as ‘default leaders’ and women as ‘atypical leaders,’ with the perception that they violate accepted norms of leadership, no matter what the leadership behavior.”

She continues, “In addition to the limitations springing from misconceptions, women frequently report that their influence is thwarted by limited access to vital communication networks in their organizations. Businesses benefit when women are attuned to these challenges and capably equipped to overcome them. This conference offers a wonderful opportunity for students and alumnae to better understand the realities for women in business, learn from one another and build their professional networks.”

Rettig-Zucchi is looking forward to empowering this new generation of Holy Cross women students before they enter the business world.

“One of the most common comments I hear from seasoned business leaders in the Organizational Savvy programs I conduct in major corporations is ‘I wish I had this 20 years ago — my career would be in a different place!’ I hope that students will realize they can — and indeed must — enter the arena of inevitable organizational politics without sacrificing their integrity. Similarly, I look forward to prompting alumnae to expand the ways in which they can have influence in their jobs, impact in their organizations and develop their careers while remaining true to their values.”

“The conference is even more important at a liberal arts college like Holy Cross,” says Chu.

“People in business benefit from a liberal arts education background because they can see the world in a holistic way — beyond their specific area of professional expertise,” he says. “Yet liberal arts students also need to acknowledge the reality of the professional world beyond Holy Cross. What better way than to connect them with alumnae who are in the business world?”

The Women in Business Conference is only one of many programs developed by Chu to reach out to alumnae. A golf workshop was held in Stow, Mass., last month to help alumnae take advantage of the unique business tool, and a wine tasting and networking event was held in Manhattan in early October.

“Ultimately, I would like to see Holy Cross women and their successes recognized at the same level with Wellesley, Smith, Pomona, Harvard, and other schools that boast so many women business leaders,” he said. “While this program is in its infancy today, I see Holy Cross moving toward having a seat at that table.”

Pictured: Sheila Cavanaugh ’81, senior vice president at Fidelity Investments, at last year’s Women in Business Conference.

When Angelica Rosales’ mother was pregnant with her, she was advised to have an abortion. Instead, her mother risked her life to continue her pregnancy. Today, her mother’s courage is a motivation for Rosales, who founded a pregnancy center shortly after graduating from college. She continues to run it in her hometown in the Southwest.

On Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. in Kimball Theatre at Holy Cross, Rosales will give a talk titled “Did I Deserve the Death Penalty? I Am That Exception.” Rosales is a college outreach program speaker for Feminists for Life, a pro-life feminist organization.

The talk is sponsored by Students for Life, an on-campus organization that attempts to foster increased concern and respect for human life. Marissa Athanasiou ’09, a history major, and Emily Turner ’10, an English major, invited Rosales to the College to encourage dialogue on the issue of abortion.

“Many women feel trapped when they become unexpectedly pregnant and often feel great pressure to have an abortion, says Athanasiou. “Spreading the word about the need for greater resources for pregnant young women is necessary and makes people more aware of the hardships young women go through when making life-altering decisions. This topic is also important because it gives hope to people who have had abortions, who have considered having one, or who would not. The message is that women are important and deserve to have every resource available to them especially in their times of need — feminism at its best.”

Athanasiou and Turner hope that students who are not members of Students for Life — or pro-life — will consider attending Rosales’ talk and listen to her message.

“We believe that Feminists for Life promotes an important aspect of the pro-life movement and we believe that their message will appeal to many students from different backgrounds and beliefs,” says Athanasiou. “Feminists for Life believes that ‘women deserve more than abortion;’ that they deserve to have choices and resources available to them so that they may have their child without giving up on school or other life goals.”

Students for Life is part of a national dialogue on this issue. On Oct. 17 at 8 p.m., the organization will hold its annual 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the Field House. The proceeds from the tournament will be used to fund a coach bus that will bring students to Washington, D.C., in January to participate in March for Life, the annual pro-life rally protesting abortion.

Shirish Korde, professor and chair of the music department at the College of the Holy Cross, has always liked to incorporate the sounds of different cultures (especially Indian) into his music.

His latest work is no different. Svara-Yantra, a concerto for violin, tabla and orchestra, combines elements of Western music with instrumental techniques specific to the music of India.

Svara-Yantra will have its United States premiere on Oct. 17 when the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra comes to Mechanics Hall to kick off Music Worcester’s 148th season.

“Normally they don’t do contemporary work, but Benjamin Zander [conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra] really liked the piece,” says Korde.

Indeed, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra brochure states that it is their “most unusual program ever.”

The genesis of Korde’s new work began with a request from renowned violinist Joanna Kurkowicz. In addition to her role with the Boston Philharmonic, Kurkowicz also serves as concertmistress of the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra.  Internationally renowned soloist Pandit Samir Chatterjee, originally from India, will perform on tabla.

“Joanna is an amazing violionist,” says Korde, an internationally celebrated composer. “The way the piece came about is that she had performed in a piece of mine, an opera, which was done by the Celebrities Series of Boston about five years ago. So she asked me to write her a piece. The piece was commissioned by her and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, which premiered it in Poland.”

As a Western trained violinist, Kurkowicz had to learn certain techniques that are specific to Indian classical music, Korde says. Rhythm plays a very important role in this piece.

“A lot of the techniques that are employed draw on Indian classical music, jazz, and contemporary Western music. That meant she had to learn certain techniques that are known as gamakas (decorations of notes), which is very unique to Indian music. The other element that is very important in this piece is the use of the Indian rhythmic system called Tala.”

The result is a hauntingly beautiful composition that melds together two cultures.

In Indian music, Svara refers to music notes: Sa, Re, Ga … (i.e., Do, Re, Mi …). Svara might also mean audible sound. Yantra is a geometric diagram, usually constructed from intersecting triangles and circles, which is used to harness the mind in meditation. The composition Svara-Yantra represents three sonic structures (diagrams), which are conceived as devices for meditations through sound.

“I like the listeners to have an intense listening experience,” says Korde. “I want them to get lost in the music and go through a journey, something like a meditation on sound.”

Svara-Yantra was premiered in Poland by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2005. Over the past year, Svara-Yantra has been performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington at the Asia Pacific Festival in New Zealand, and the Koszalin Philharmonic in Poland and has received rave reviews from music critics.

In addition to the Worcester date, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra will present Svara-Yantra at Harvard’s Sanders Theater in Cambridge on Oct. 18 and Oct. 21 and Jordan Hall in Boston on Oct. 20. The concerts will also feature Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes and Ravel’s transformation of Mussorgsky’s classic Pictures at an Exhibition.

Korde came to America from East Africa in 1965 when he was 20 years old to study music. He studied jazz at Berklee College of Music, composition and ethnomusicology at the New England Conservatory, and advanced ethnomusicology at Brown University. He teaches theory and composition, world music, and jazz at Holy Cross.

“I love teaching, I love my students, I enjoy my classes,” he says. “It allows me to share what I’m doing in my creative life with what happens in the classroom. I also learn from contemporary popular music from my students.”

He continues, “That’s the only thing I ever wanted to do. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

Related Information:

• Press Release: Holy Cross Professor Kicks off Music Worcester with the National Premiere of His Concerto
• www.shirishkorde.com
• Music department

No car? No problem.

Holy Cross students who have a license but no car won’t have difficulty getting off campus starting today (Oct. 12), the Student Government Association proudly announced.

That’s because the College has signed a deal with Zipcar, a car sharing company, to bring two cars on campus.

A reporter from “Worcester News Tonight” along with three members of SGA — Matt Broggini ’09, director of communications; co-chair Dave Lipke ’08; and Melissa Ogonowski ’09, director of environmental concerns — went on the first ride this afternoon.

SGA, along with the Office of Student Programs and Involvement, as well as Auxiliary Services, worked with Zipcar to get the deal signed.

“SGA really pushed hard to get them on campus, and it was because of our efforts that we are the first college in Worcester to have them, and still in the minority of colleges in the nation,” says Jonathan Niconchuk ’09, director of community relations for SGA.

The cars, a Toyota hybrid and a Ford Escape, will be parked in the student lot behind the Hogan Campus Center.

Niconchuk says the leaders wanted to assist students who didn’t have a vehicle on campus and help build community with the Worcester community — all while being environmentally conscious.

“One of the major concerns of students that we find is that they don’t have a way to get off campus,” says Niconchuk. “Students who don’t have their own car feel isolated in a lot of ways.”

In terms of building community, he says: “You can’t develop a relationship with the Worcester community if you can’t get into the community. You can’t get to know someone if you can’t see them,” he says.

Niconchuk also says that SGA is committed to College-wide environmental sustainability efforts, which is why one of the cars is a hybrid.

So far the response has been enthusiastic, says Niconchuk. The cars are also available to the general public.

“I was explaining it to the College Hill Civic Association, a community group made up of neighbors around the College, and they also had a positive response to the idea.”

So how did the first ride go?

“It drives really well!” says Lipke.

Related Information:

• Press Release: Holy Cross is the First College in Worcester to Have Zipcars on Campus
• Student Government Association

When Mary Dixon ’08, a former member of the Holy Cross women’s varsity rowing team from St. Louis, was diagnosed with stage 2 lymphoma last month, her teammates immediately knew they had to do something to help.

On Sept. 14, just one day after Dixon was diagnosed, Alyssa Trometter ’08, from Gladwyne, Pa., began to research different organizations that raise money for cancer research. She found the “Light the Night Walk,” a signature event of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society that is held annually throughout the United States to raise funds for cures.

The team started contacting people they knew would help — such as family members and friends — and were met with overwhelming support. Twenty-nine students participated in the walk on Oct. 4 on the Boston Common and the final amount raised was an impressive $18,428 — the second highest amount among any team in the Massachusetts chapter, according to Rebecca Longworth, campaign coordinator for the Massachusetts Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“All of the girls on the Holy Cross rowing team wanted to help our former teammate and instantly became involved in starting to fundraise,” says Trometter. “As her best friend I knew we had a team of girls that really wanted to help her and I thought it could be a way we could all join and fight toward finding a cure for this disease.”

In addition to Trometter, the following students who walked or raised money included: Laura Andrews ’09, Jennifer Beaudoin ’09, Clare Bracikowski ’09, Katherine Byrns ’11, Jamie Carusi ’08, Johanna Cubelli ’09, Mary Cullen ’10, Mary Dixon ’08, Katie Donnelly ’10, Michelle Dwyer ’09, Elisabeth Flaherty ’09, Erika Furtado ’08, Abigail Hammond ’10, Maura Hogan ’09, Jaclyn Jankowski ’11, Emily Joseph ’09, Allison Kaufman ’08, Mary Maher ’08, Meridith Malysz ’09, Monika Mangsen ’10, Caroline Paul ’10, Mara Piltin ’10, Christine Repoli ’08, Caitlin Rushworth ’08, Kelly St. Germain ’09, Andrea Simari ’10, Emily Turner ’10, and Victoria Vergara ’08.

Dixon also participated in the “Light the Night Walk,” raising $5,640. She is being treated at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, which receives funding support through the annual Walk to Cure Cancer.