News

WORCESTER, Mass. – A new citywide collegiate student group that will provide a sounding board for private and public sector organizations seeking to tap into Worcester’s huge student market was announced today at a 3 p.m. press conference in the Fuller Conference Room at the Worcester Area Chamber of Commerce, 339 Main St.

Worcester Intercollegiate Government (WIG) is an organization representing students from Worcester’s nine colleges and universities.

“With 30,000 students and a permanent population of nearly 176,000 residents, Worcester rivals places like Boston and Cambridge as a college town,” said Patrick Murray, a senior at the College of the Holy Cross who serves as WIG’s chair. “The City, through the UniverCity Partnership, has stressed economic development as a top priority. We feel that Worcester’s college students are a critical component to that development. Making student leaders available to businesses, developers and municipal officials allows for the necessary communication that will help Worcester succeed. Students are interested in being a part of the Worcester community and this provides them with an outlet.”

Murray said WIG was developed to serve the Worcester community, individual colleges, and student governments. Its principal goals include:

• Promoting economic development in the downtown area
• Formation of a student “think tank”
• Serving in a student advisory capacity on municipal policy issues
• Increasing focus and participation in the Colleges of Worcester Consortium and intercollegiate activities

The establishment of WIG was the major recommendation of a white paper developed last spring by two Holy Cross students, Nicholas Buonome ’06 and Murray, who assessed past strategies for capitalizing on Worcester’s position as a college town. The students convened a committee of representatives from Worcester’s colleges and universities to identify the city’s strengths and shortcomings when it comes to attracting the student market. A 2002 study by the Worcester Consortium concluded that students and visitors to the city’s colleges and universities inject more that $300 million annually into the local economy. The question, said Murray, was how to improve on that.

According to Murray, each institution will appoint a representative to WIG who will be charged with communicating with the student body. Members will also be available to participate in focus groups and to provide input on cultural, policy, transportation and economic development issues. WIG will also provide a point of contact for people interested in accessing student opinion.

“The creation of the Worcester Intercollegiate Government will provide the business community and the city administration with a unique vehicle to participate in ongoing dialogue with Worcester’s college student population and to solicit valuable student input on issues that are critical to the development and revitalization of the City.  The Worcester UniverCity Partnership is grateful to the students from the College of the Holy Cross who had the vision and determination to implement their concept into a working organization and we are looking forward to collaborating with WIG on future projects,” said Julie A. Jacobson, assistant city manager for economic and neighborhood development.

“The creators of WIG have taken a lot of research and analysis, and come up with a clear description of how the city can capitalize on the vast numbers of students who attend its Colleges while, at the same time, creating a more attractive place for students to shop and recreate,” said Armand Carriere, executive director of the UniverCity Partnership and an advisor to the organization. “They have created a sustainable, effective model that should bring tangible benefits to the city of Worcester.”

According to a 2006 Worcester Regional Research Bureau Report, Worcester is losing its educated young people, said Paul Giorgio, president of Pagio Inc. and publisher of Pulse Magazine. While 41 percent of its students come from the area, only 38 percent of all college students plan to stay in the area after they graduate resulting in a net loss of population. “An increased young population is critical to the economic stability and growth of central Massachusetts,” he said. “We have to end the brain drain and encourage people when they graduate to make Worcester their home.”

Participating students represent Assumption College, Clark University, Becker College, Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester State College, Quinsigamond Community College, University of Massachusetts Medical School and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

* * *

For more information contact:

Patrick Murray ’07, Chair
Holy Cross
Worcester Collegiate Government
303-564-0029
plmurr07@holycross.edu

Armand Carriere, Executive Director
UniverCity Partnership
508-753-2924
carriere@univercitypartnership.org

Jonathan Weaver ’06
Assumption College
860-933-0060
weaver.jon@gmail.com

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross will present The Spiritual Landscapes of Adrienne Farb, 1980-2006 from August 30 to Dec. 16. Consisting of more than 29 works, this is the first survey exhibition of Adrienne Farb, an abstract painter who has spent her career rigorously working with color and shape.

A series of events in conjunction with the exhibit will be held at the Cantor Art Gallery and other venues on campus:

September 12, 5 p.m. Gallery talk by Adrienne Farb, Cantor Art Gallery.

October 13, 5:30-7 p.m. Reception for the artist, Cantor Art Gallery.

Also on October 13, contemporary art curators, gallery owners, and critics will gather on the Holy Cross campus for a symposium titled “Contemporary Art and the Future of Abstraction.” Moderators will be Holy Cross faculty members Joanna E. Ziegler, professor of visual arts; Christopher A. Dustin, associate professor and chair of the philosophy department. Ziegler and Dustin are the authors of Practicing Mortality: Art, Philosophy, and Contemplative Seeing. The symposium will take place from 2 – 5 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center, Room 519.

Symposium participants include: Charlotte N. Eyerman, Ph. D., curator of modern art, Saint Louis Museum; Carter Foster, curator of drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art; James Panero, managing editor, The New Criterion; Allyson Spellacy, director, Angela Hanley Gallery, Los Angeles; Judith Tannenbaum, Ph. D., Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; and Karen Wilkin, writer and frequent contributor to The New Criterion, Partisan Review, and Hudson Review.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the dean of the College, the departments of philosophy and visual arts, the Cantor Art Gallery, and private donations.

November 14, 5 p.m. “The Act of Looking: The Paintings of Adrienne Farb”
An interdisciplinary discussion with Holy Cross faculty members Christopher A. Dustin, Mark Freeman, Maurice A. Geracht, Cristi Rinklin, and Joanna E. Ziegler. Stein Hall.

Adrienne Farb was born (1956) and raised in Chicago. Her exposure to art began at an early age, as her mother was a pianist and her father was an artist. Her father, Leonard Farb (1915-2005), was a Chicago-based designer and graphic artist who studied at the Institute of Design (formerly the New Bauhaus) evening program with Gyorgy Kepes, László Moholy-Nagy, and Harold Cohen. Farb’s mother, Leanora Kohn Farb (1917-2001), was a professional pianist. Her uncle, Misch Kohn (1916-2002), was one of America’s foremost mid-20th century printmakers; and another uncle, Harold Cohen, is a practicing graphic artist. A great-aunt, Ann Medalie (1896-1991), was a painter whose career spanned many countries — the United States, Mexico, South Africa, and Israel. Medalie became friends with renowned Mexican artists Diego Rivera (1886-1957) and Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) while assisting Rivera on a mural at the 1939 San Francisco’s World Fair. Adrienne Farb cites her great-aunt’s determination and conviction as some of her most important influences.

As a young adult, Farb studied art history at Brown University. The esteemed art historian, Kermit Champa (1939-2004), had a tremendous impact on her direction and development and was the first critic to recognize and champion her painting. Champa’s articles and critical essays on Farb’s work began in 1981 and ended shortly before his death in 2004. After graduation, she moved to Paris to pursue painting full time. She remained in Paris until moving to London with her husband Clément Bernard in the late 1990’s. In 2001, she moved to New York City where she currently resides, although she still maintains a studio in Paris. Her work is in public and private collections internationally.

Because issues of geographic place have been central to Farb’s work, the exhibition groups objects based on their cities of production: Paris, London, and New York.

A fully illustrated catalogue of the exhibition will be available with essays by Jay A. Clarke, Christopher A. Dustin, Charlotte N. Eyerman, and Joanna E. Ziegler.

Gallery Information

The hours for the Cantor Art Gallery are Monday – Friday 10 a.m. – 5p.m., Saturdays 2 – 5 p.m. Located in O’Kane Hall, 1st Floor, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, MA, 01610. Admission to the gallery is free. Public parking is located on Linden Lane, gate 2, off College Street.

For more information, call the Cantor Art Gallery at 508-793-3356 or visit the Gallery’s Web site at: www.holycross.edu/departments/cantor/website/index.html.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Sister Helen Prejean, a leading advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, will deliver a lecture titled “The Death of Innocents and the Death Penalty” on Monday, September 11 at 7 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross.  The event is free and open to the public.

Taking place on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., her talk is part of the Lectures on Ministry series, through which church leaders and ministers in a variety of ministries speak about their own vocations and the challenges they see the church needing to focus on in the 21st century.  It is presented under the auspices of the College’s Lilly Vocation Discernment Initiative.

It is a return to the Holy Cross campus for Prejean: she received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the College in 1999, several years after her award-winning book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, was published and adapted into the film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

A member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, Prejean is also the author of a second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions.  In it, she tells the story of two men whom she accompanied to their executions. The book also examines the recent history of death penalty decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States and looks at the track record of George W. Bush as Governor of Texas.

Her activism began in New Orleans in 1981 through a correspondence she maintained with a convicted murderer, Elmo Patrick Sonnier, who was sentenced to death by electrocution. She visited Sonnier in prison and agreed to be his spiritual adviser in the months leading up to his death. The experience gave Sister Helen greater insight into the process involved in executions and she began speaking out against capital punishment. At the same time, she also founded Survive, an organization devoted to providing counselling to the families of victims of violence.

Prejean has since ministered to many other inmates on death row and witnessed several more executions. She served as National Chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1993 to 1995. She bases her work at the Death Penalty Discourse Center in New Orleans.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The first home games for the Holy Cross men’s and women’s soccer teams will take place on the new, state-of-the-art Linda Johnson Smith Stadium, which has been under construction since last spring.

The stadium features a top-quality grass surface, permanently-installed aluminum stands with seating capacity for 1,320, and lights for night games.  Surrounded by a fence, with an attractive entrance, the facility also includes a press box and large scoreboard.
The stadium, the first new playing facility on campus since the debut of the lighted artificial turf field and running track in 1988, is named in gratitude to Linda and Park B. Smith ’54, for their leadership gift to the $2 million project.

The women’s team, coached by Deb Flaherty and led by senior captains Lisa DeMari, Natalie Gebo Lauren Pereira, and Danielle Reilly, will open the season with afternoon home games against Providence (Aug. 25) and Manhattan (Aug. 27).  The 2006 Crusaders are returning 10 out of 11 starters from last year’s team, which went 3-15 overall and 1-6 in the Patriot League.

Coached by Elvis Comrie, the men’s team is returning 13 letterwinners from last year’s team and will be led by captain Josh Trott ’07, two-time All-Region and three-time All-Patriot League selection.  The Crusaders will host eight home games, seven of which will be night contests. The home opener on the new field will be against Maine on Sept. 2, followed by St. Bonaventure on Sept. 8.  The Holy Cross men finished the 2005 campaign with an 8-8 overall record and a 2-5 mark in the Patriot League.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross announced today that it has concluded the most successful capital campaign in its history, raising a total of $216.3 million – far surpassing its original goal of $175 million.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for Holy Cross,” said Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., who became the College’s 31st president in 2000, the year before the campaign was publicly announced.  “Both the stated campaign goal of $175 million and the final achievement were close to three times what they were in the College’s last campaign.   The many generous gifts we have received have already had a significant impact on our ability to offer an undergraduate experience comparable to the best found anywhere; and to make it accessible to any student who is admitted, regardless of ability to pay.”

He added:  “We are most grateful to all the volunteers and staff who worked so hard on the campaign and to all of our contributors, from Park Smith to all the thousands of people who faithfully support the annual fund each year.”

Fueling the record levels of giving was a challenge to Holy Cross alumni by Park B. Smith ’54, founder of the home textile company Park B. Smith, Ltd., and noted restaurateur and wine connoisseur.  In the fall of 2005, when it was apparent that the campaign would indeed exceed the original goal, Smith and his wife Linda Johnson Smith announced that if alumni would stretch beyond the goal to $190 million, they would contribute an additional $10 million to reach $200 million (“I like round numbers,” said Smith at the time.)  Alumni, parents, and friends of the College rose to the challenge, contributing more than $17 million in the months following the Smith announcement.

The “Lift High the Cross” campaign began in 1998 with a three-year “quiet” phase, then publicly launched in September 2001.  During the course of the campaign, the College received a record 39 gifts of $1 million or more.  A total of 12 new faculty positions were established, along with more than 75 newly endowed scholarships for students.  The campaign provided support for the renovation of the Mary Chapel as well as construction of new facilities on campus, including Smith Hall (which houses the new Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture); a five-story apartment-style residence housing 244 seniors; and a new 1,350-seat soccer stadium.

The campaign’s goals also included efforts to lower the student/faculty ratio and increase diversity on campus.  Today, the student/faculty ratio is nearly 10:1, among the best in the nation; and ALANA students (African-American, Latin American, Asian-American, and Native American) now represent 17% of the incoming class.

The campaign has contributed significantly to the overall long-term financial health of the College.  During the history of the campaign, the College’s endowment grew to more than $525 million, approximately $100 million of which is due to gifts.

“Although our campaign goal was very ambitious, we are delighted with the outcome,” said Jack D. Rehm ’54, National Campaign Chair.  “What the College has gained puts us squarely in the midst of top-ranked liberal arts colleges with campaigns of this magnitude, and it’s profoundly gratifying to see students benefit.”

“The success of this campaign was built on the overwhelming generosity of alumni and friends, and on the enthusiasm of volunteers across the country,” said Paul E. Sheff, vice president of development and alumni relations at Holy Cross.  “Whenever we asked, they gave unflinchingly in terms of resources and time.”  In addition to Rehm and Sheff, founding members of the Campaign Steering Committee were Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J. ’49, Michael F. Collins, M.D. ’77, P. Kevin Condron ’67, Ann Marie Connolly ’74, Constance A. Eagan ’81, William F. Glavin ’53, Jack Lentz ’67, the late Charles E.F. Millard ’54, Fr. McFarland, and Frank Vellaccio, the College’s senior vice president.

“The beneficiaries of the Lift High the Cross campaign are our students and all those whom they will ultimately serve with the talent and generosity they developed and refined at Holy Cross,” said Fr. McFarland.  “We will continue to count on the support  of our loyal and generous alumni and other benefactors as we strive to make Holy Cross the very best it can be in the face of the many escalating cost factors in higher education.”

The conclusion of the campaign will be formally celebrated this fall at events in Washington, D.C., and on the College’s campus.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Board of Directors of the Nativity School of Worcester, a private Jesuit (Catholic) inner-city middle school for boys living in Main South and other vulnerable neighborhoods of Worcester, has hired a new executive director and new principal.

Matthew A. Brunell, an attorney and former teacher with extensive experience in education policy and strong ties in the Worcester area, will succeed founding executive director Joanne G. McClatchy. Rev. William Campbell, S.J., former executive director of Boston’s Nativity Preparatory School will take a one-year leave from his position as associate chaplain at the College of the Holy Cross and serve as acting principal, succeeding J. Michael Steele.

Brunell was a seventh grade teacher and coach with Teach for America in a poor, inner-city neighborhood of South Phoenix for two years after his graduation from Boston College. He developed his interest in education law and federal and state education policy while working for law firms and concentrated in this area during his studies at Boston College Law School. In his capacity as an attorney, Brunell served as a child advocate in his work with the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts and the Court Appointed Family Law program.

A graduate of St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, he was a volunteer (with his parents) at the Mustard Seed soup kitchen in Worcester from a very young age.

“I’ve long admired the Nativity model because it promises one of the most fundamental of human rights — the right to an excellent education — while challenging its student body and faculty to stay true to the tenets of Catholic social teaching,” Brunell said. “I look forward to building upon the tremendous foundation laid by Joanne and Brian McClatchy and pursuing the Jesuit educational mission of caring for the mind, body and spirit of our student body.”

Brunell and his wife, Catherine, who is a campus minister at Boston College, live in Natick and are parents of a 17-month-old son.

Fr. Campbell graduated from Holy Cross in 1987 and was ordained in 1998. He also holds degrees from Gonzaga University and Weston Jesuit School of Theology. During his five-year tenure at Boston’s Nativity Prep, the school relocated its entire facilities and successfully completed a $6 million capital campaign. Before returning to Holy Cross as one of the College’s chaplains, Fr. Campbell served as an assistant lecturer in the department of educational studies University of the West Indies, and as an assistant lecturer at St. Michael’s Seminary (both in Kingston, Jamaica). He has also assisted with pastoral ministry at several parishes in Massachusetts and Montana, and currently serves once a month as a celebrant for the daily televised Mass for the Diocese of Worcester. Fr. Campbell recently returned from a year in India and Nepal where he was furthering his Jesuit studies.

Commenting on the appointments, Nativity Board Chairman Charles Weiss said: “In its short history, this school has been blessed with a strong and visionary leadership team. Founding executive director Joanne McClatchy and director of development Brian McClatchy established a legacy that will live on. Matt Brunell and Fr. Campbell fully understand the academic, social and spiritual components central to the Nativity mission, and have extraordinary skill and the deep commitment to excellence that will ensure that every student reaches his highest potential.”

ABOUT NATIVITY SCHOOL OF WORCESTER: Sponsored by the Society of Jesus in New England and the College of the Holy Cross, the Nativity School of Worcester (www.nativityworcester.org) opened its doors in 2003. The school offers a high quality education focused on academic, physical, social, moral and spiritual development to students from low-income urban families who would not otherwise have access to such an education. In June, the school graduated its first class of eighth graders, all entering some of the best high schools in central Massachusetts. With only 15 students in each grade 5 through 8, the school is able to offer intensive instruction and attention, as well as extended day programming, evening study and tutoring, summer camp, and parental involvement. The school is modeled upon the Jesuit-based Nativity Network, which opened its first school in 1971 on the Lower East Side of New York City for students who could not afford private school education. Today, the network consists of 47 private, independent Catholic schools nationwide that promote values including respect for each person’s dignity and potential, a sense of responsibility to assist those in need, social justice and nonviolence.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross has announced that Virginia C. Raguin, professor of visual arts, has been named the next Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., Professor in the Humanities, and Judith A. Chubb, professor of political science, has been named the next W. Arthur Garrity, Sr. Professor in Human Nature, Ethics and Society. These rotating professorships are being awarded for a term of four years each.

As the Brooks Professor, Raguin will work with students to analyze and evaluate the substantial collection of art with religious subject matter that the College has acquired over time. Consisting of more than 100 paintings and sculptures, the entire collection is in need of evaluation to identify the maker, date, subject matter, and context of each piece as well as to ascertain its physical integrity and conservation needs.

Raguin is an expert on medieval and Renaissance art and, especially, on European and American stained glass. She has curated many exhibitions in Holy Cross’ Cantor Art Gallery, including this year’s successful Catholic Collecting, Catholic Reflection 1538-1850. She also curated two exhibitions at the Museum of Biblical Art, New York City, on historical stained glass and its restoration Glory in Glass and on stained glass of the 20th century, Reflections in Glass. The author of several books, Raguin’s most recent is titled Women’s Space: Patronage, Place, and Gender in the Medieval Church (State University of New York Press, 2005), which was co-authored with Sarah Stanbury, associate professor of English at the College. She has been an active participant of the affairs of the College for more than 30 years. Raguin received her bachelor’s from Marymount College and her master’s and Ph.D. in art history from Yale University. She has been a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1972. She lives in Medford.

Chubb’s scholarship and teaching both address the kinds of questions concerning human nature, ethics, and society appropriate to the Garrity Professorship. During her tenure in the professorship she will undertake two initiatives. First, she will design and teach a year-long course for first-year students that focuses on the theme of “Violence and Non-Violence in Theory and Practice.” Secondly, she plans to develop a complementary study abroad program in Kenya that will be concerned with themes of political violence, conflict resolution, and underdevelopment as a violation of human dignity.

A respected scholar in comparative politics, Chubb is an expert in Italian, Russian, Chinese and Indonesian politics and has written two books on Italian politics in the post-war period. She has served as chair of the department of political science for 10 years and on many major committees. She received her bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University, her master’s from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been at Holy Cross since 1978. She lives in Bolton.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Kathryn Casey, a 2003 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross from Long Island City, N.Y., is among 77 recipients of the 2006 Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship. She was chosen after a nationwide selection process that drew 1,100 nominations from across the nation, making it among the most competitive scholarships in the United States.

Casey will receive up to $50,000 per year over two years to study international affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, with a concentration in human rights. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in peace and conflict studies at Holy Cross.

Selection criteria for the scholarship included academic achievement and financial need as well as a will to succeed, leadership, and community involvement.

After attending graduate school, Casey plans to work either in the government or non-profit sector advocating for women’s rights in developing countries.

“Through my studies and work, I hope to increase the understanding of the relationship between gender egalitarianism and prosperity, while simultaneously helping to create economic and social opportunities for women in their communities,” she said.

“I am deeply grateful to the graduate studies committee that nominated me and to the Holy Cross community in general,” she said. “My essays for the applications — and indeed, my graduate and professional goals as well — drew upon lessons, themes, and ideas I gained from courses and activities through professors, friends and peers at Holy Cross.”

Casey is currently the assistant to the executive office at the Tanenbaum Center in New York, where she manages interns, government relations, and assists in program projects, among other duties.

Founded in 2000, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation established by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke to help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education. According to the foundation, “Each award covers a portion of educational expenses, including tuition, living expenses, required fees, and books for the graduate degree chosen. The amount and duration of awards vary by student based on the cost of attendance and the length of the graduate program as well as other scholarships or grants received. The maximum available per student per year of study is $50,000 and the maximum length is six years.”

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross and Redfeather Theatre Company have partnered to present Shakespeare’s As You Like It from Aug. 2 to 20, Wednesdays through Sundays, at 7 p.m., at the Memorial Grove Amphitheatre in Green Hill Park. General seating is $14; $10 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the event. The production is directed by Edward Isser, associate professor and chair of the theatre department at Holy Cross.

The partnership between Redfeather and Holy Cross is the latest community development project the College has undertaken. Timothy J. Smith, founder and artistic director of Redfeather, was hired as an adjunct professor in the theatre department at the College, and the relationship between Redfeather and Holy Cross flowered. Redfeather began the tradition of Shakespeare in the Park for the Worcester area last year with their production of The Tempest. While there are dozens of Shakespeare festivals held throughout the country in the summer, Worcester has been without one for almost 10 years.

As You Like It is about a group of people who have lost their rightful status in society and are banished to the Forest of Arden, a foreboding wilderness. Fearful of the unknown, hungry and without hope, they are shocked to find an idyllic place of song, comradeship and love. The characters discover that their forced banishment becomes a respite — an escape from the harshness of the outside world. However, they also find that the real dangers in the forest are the complexities and mysteries of their own hearts. The play in comedic fashion examines the terrifying and transformative nature of love — in all its permutations.

Isser has been directing Shakespeare regularly at Holy Cross since he joined the faculty more than a decade ago. His first Shakespeare production at the College, Measure for Measure, won an award in directing from the American College Theatre Festival. Since then he has directed Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet at Foothills Theatre and four other Shakespeare productions on campus.

The cast of As You Like It is made up of students, alumni, members of the local community and esteemed Holy Cross theatre professor Steve Vineberg.

For more information, visit the Redfeather Theatre Co. Web site. For press tickets and publicity photos, please contact Joe Mader in the theatre department at 508-793-3490 or jmader@holycross.edu.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Katherine L. Fitzpatrick ’08 from Queensbury, N.Y., is this year’s recipient of the Mrs. Kate C. Power Medal. The award is presented to the highest ranking student(s) in the second-year class. Fitzpatrick holds the top ranking among the 684 students in the Class of 2008.

Funded by an anonymous bequest in 1942, the award consists of an engraved medal and a cash prize.

A math major with a pre-med concentration, Fitzpatrick plays on the varsity volleyball team, volunteers at a local elementary school with her team, and tutors at Calculus Workshop. She is currently serving a summer internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

She was twice chosen as a Dana Scholar, an honor given to students of outstanding academic ability, strong character and leadership. She has made the dean’s list each semester of her college career and was awarded the Annual CRC Press Freshman Chemistry Achievement Award in the spring of 2005.

After graduation, Fitzpatrick plans on entering the medical or physical therapy fields.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Victoria Rodrigue ’07, a music major with a German minor from Bolton, Conn., will be spending her summer in Germany after receiving a scholarship from the DAAD, the German Government’s Academic Exchange Service. She is among only 50 students nationwide to receive the scholarship.

Rodrigue will be attending a program titled Language and Music Culture in Germany Today at the Institut für Internationale Kommunikation und Auswärtige Kulturarbeit e.V. (IIK Bayreuth) in Bayreuth, Bavaria. The program entails intensive language study, performance, a seminar on music culture in Germany today and excursions to different historical sights.

At Holy Cross, Rodrigue is a principal flutist in the Holy Cross Chamber Orchestra and director and founder of the Holy Cross flute choir. She is on the Student Advisory Committee for the music department and a member of Schola Cantorum, Purple Key Society, and Alpha Sigma Nu. She was the Dana Scholar for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 academic years.

Rodrigue is currently applying for Ph.D. programs to study musicology.

“I am especially interested in opera and musical theater, most specifically questions of genre involving the intersection between between serious and popular musical styles in the 20th century,” she said. “One day I hope to become a professor of musicology.”

As the German national agency for international cooperation in higher education, DAAD serves to promote international academic relations especially through funding the exchange of students and faculty between Germany and other countries. Supporting more than 50,000 individuals a year with competitive grants, the DAAD is the largest such organization in the world.