News

WORCESTER, Mass. – The music department at the College of the Holy Cross will present the following musical performances on campus during the spring 2006 semester. All events are free, unless otherwise stated, and open to the public. For additional information, please contact the music department events line at 508-793-3528.

Jan. 31; 8 p.m.
Quartet San Francisco, presented by the Holy Cross Chamber Players
Brooks Concert Hall

Feb. 10; 8 p.m.
Choir Valentine Cabaret
Hogan Ballroom

Feb. 17; 8 p.m.
Joanna Kurkowicz, violin, presented by the Holy Cross Chamber Players
Doris Stevenson, piano
Brooks Concert Hall

March 1; 8 p.m.
Chamber Orchestra
Alexandre Warman ’06, cello
Brooks Concert Hall

March 16; 8 p.m.
Suzanna E. Waldbauer Memorial Concert, presented by the Holy Cross Chamber Players
Brooks Concert Hall

March 19; 3 p.m.
Karel Paukert, organ
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel

March 28; 8 p.m.
Sarah Grunstein, piano
Brooks Concert Hall

April 1; 4 p.m.
Senior Recital: Matthew Jaskot, piano
Brooks Concert Hall

April 2; 8 p.m.
Orlando Cela, flute
Franziska Huhn, harp
Brooks Concert Hall

April 5; 8 p.m.
Chamber Orchestra
Brooks Concert Hall

April 7; 8 p.m.
Chamber Singers
Brooks Concert Hall

April 9; 3 p.m.
David Heller, organ
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel

April 20; 8 p.m.
Jazz Ensemble
Hogan Ballroom

April 21; 8 p.m.
College Choir and Chamber Orchestra Concert
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel

April 23; 3 p.m.
Senior Recital: Jeffrey Wood, organ
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel

April 25; 8 p.m.
Chamber Music Festival
Brooks Concert Hall

April 27; 8 p.m.
Contemporary Music Concert, presented by the Holy Cross Chamber Players
Brooks Concert Hall

April 28; 8 p.m.
Gamelan Gita Sari Concert
Brooks Concert Hall

April 29; 2 p.m.
Senior Recital: Gregory Geehern, piano
Brooks Concert Hall

WORCESTER, Mass. – A round-table discussion on “Promoting Dialogue between Islam and the West: Perspectives on Religion, Gender and Diplomacy” will be held on Jan. 30 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The event is free and open to the public.

The discussion will include Adil Najam, associate professor of international negotiation and diplomacy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University; Shahla Haeri, professor of anthropology and director of the women’s studies program at Boston University; and Adam Gaiser, visiting assistant professor in the religious studies department at Holy Cross. George Lane, lecturer in the political science department at Holy Cross, will moderate the discussion.

Panelists will address questions such as: What are the challenges for a better dialogue between Islam and the West? Are there areas for common ground? What are the common misconceptions on both sides? How can research and practice in the fields of international relations, women’s studies, and religion contribute to fostering dialogue?

The discussion is the fourth of a six part series titled “Islam and the West: A Clash of Civilizations or a Search for Common Ground.” The series is sponsored by Holy Cross’s Peace and Conflict Studies.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Six employees of the College of the Holy Cross, all Worcester area residents, have received the 2005 Claire B. Burns Awards. The awards program, now in its ninth year, was established and endowed in 1997 by Donal J. Burns ’49 in honor of his wife, Claire, an alumna of the Class of 1990. The awards are presented annually to active and retired hourly and full-time employees who best demonstrate a commitment to fostering a spirit of family both in their conduct of their campus duties, and in their interaction with coworkers and other members of the Holy Cross community.

The recipients will be honored at an awards banquet on Jan. 11 at noon in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom. Photographers are welcome.

The honored employees have a combined total of 128 years of service to the College.

The recipients are:

Patricia T. Griggs, of Millbury, who works in Dining Services and has been an employee since May 1971.

Warren H. Lohnes, of Worcester, Physical Plant/Trades & Shops; employee since April 1984.

Chouchanik Y. Mastro, of Oxford, Dining Services; employee since October 1990.

Marion L. Parsons, of Worcester, Dining Services; employee since September 1998.

George A. Query, of Worcester; Physical Plant/Grounds; employee since April 1973.

Leonard J. Soloperto Jr., of Webster; Public Safety; employee since June 1986.

WORCESTER, Mass. – WCHC 88.1 FM, the student-run radio station at the College of the Holy Cross, has started live Web streaming of its broadcast content, 24 hours a day, seven days a week via its Web site: http://college.holycross.edu/wchc.

Listeners are now able to tune into WCHC, including student-run music and talk radio shows and a number of Crusader Division I basketball and hockey games, outside the 15-mile radius broadcast coverage area.

Christian Santillo ’06, chief engineer and Webmaster, is excited about the development at the completely student-run radio station with the slogan “Worcester’s Only Alternative Source.”

“A lot of people are now on the Internet at home and at work,” he said. “Especially for alumni and friends who want to listen, it gives people two options to listen to the shows: on the radio in the local area or online anywhere in the world. WCHC is one of the few stations that plays unsigned bands. People that tune in like the unique music we play. They can’t hear that on many other stations.”

The Web stream comes amidst a number of significant improvements to the radio station. A new transmitter, which replaced the last one which malfunctioned, has increased the clarity of the broadcast. “It now comes in rock-solid in the 15-mile radius,” Santillo said.

Other enhancements that are expected to arrive spring semester include a new CD player, microphone processors, CD decks and a computer, which will help support the Web streaming. A new hip-hop studio, complete with a mixer for the turntables, will allow the station to play the urban music that so many disc jockeys are eager to spin. Another exciting development includes Web-based DJ reporting forms that will allow Web site visitors to view the titles and artists of the songs played on WCHC in real time.

“As DJs play the song, they’ll type it in and it’ll appear on the Web site and viewers will be able to see what artists are playing,” he said.

Listeners to the Web stream will need the free RealPlayer software to access the feed.

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.

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. 11. Kimball Dining Hall will open at 10 p.m. and administrators, donning aprons, will serve until midnight.

Sunday, Dec. 11
Margaret Hayden Bramley, Associate Director of the Holy Cross Fund
Thomas Cadigan, Assistant Director of the Holy Cross Fund
Kristin McCue, Assistant Director of Donor Relations
KeriAnne Travis, Assistant Director of the Holy Cross Fund

Midnight breakfast for the remaining nights will take place in Crossroads in the Hogan Campus Center from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. The lineup follows:

Monday, Dec. 12
Mark Freeman, Assistant Dean, Class of 2007
Margaret Freije, Associate Dean of the College
Esther Levine, Assistant Dean, Class of 2006
William Morse, Associate Dean of the College
G. Earl Peace Jr., Assistant Dean, Class of 2009

Tuesday, Dec. 13
Stephen Ainlay, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College
Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., President
Frank Vellaccio, Senior Vice President

Wednesday, Dec. 14
Shakima McCants, Loyola Community Development Coordinator
Mable Millner, Director of Multicultural Education
Jacqueline Peterson, Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students
DeJongh Wells, Director of Residential Enrollment and Projects

Thursday, Dec. 15
Katelynn Coy, Wheeler Community Development Coordinator
Curran Ford, Clark/Lehy Community Development Coordinator
Ferene Paris, Graduate Assistant, Residence Life
Devon Skerritt, Hanselman Community Development Coordinator
Amy Weit-Lane, Interim Assistant Director of Residence Life

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College Chaplains and the College Choir of the College of the Holy Cross will sponsor the 27th annual Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols on Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact the Holy Cross music department at 508-793-2296 or the Chaplains’ Office at 508-793-2448.

The service will consist of nine Advent and Christmas scripture readings, beginning with Old Testament prophecies and concluding with the Gospels. The readings, proclaimed by various members of the College community, will be interspersed with carols performed by the College Choir including Morten Lauridsen’s “O Nata Lux” and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Sleepers, Wake.” All will be invited to join in familiar tunes such as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and “Adeste Fideles.”

The College Choir and the Office of the College Chaplains have presented the Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols since December 1978. The religious service is based on one celebrated each year at King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Bishop Healy Multicultural Society has planned a week of events dedicated to educating the community on the effects of the AIDS/HIV epidemic and to building compassion for victims and their loved ones. This is the fourth consecutive year of AIDS Compassion and Awareness Week, the largest and most important event the Society sponsors. The events, free and open to the public unless otherwise noted, run between Nov. 28 and Dec. 3.

November 28 – 30

Face-to-Face AIDS Mosaic
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.; Hogan Campus Center, First Floor
The AIDS Photomosaic is a unique artwork consisting of two panels of portraits of HIV-infected people. Each panel measures 12 feet high by 12 feet wide. Holy Cross will showcase one panel from Nov. 28 through Nov. 30 before its unveiling at Boston Medical Center for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. Each panel contains 48 black and white sepia-toned photographs. The portraits capture men and women, young and old, healthy and sick, happy and sad. The photos lie in a framework created to look like soil. Scattered among the portraits are photos of southern African flowers in various states of blossom.

November 28 – Dec. 1

Make Your Own Quilts (For Students)
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.; Hogan Campus Center, First Floor
Open to all students who would like the opportunity to showcase their thoughts and feelings about HIV/AIDS, whether or not they have been affected directly. Quilt pieces made will be hung at the AIDS Banquet on Dec. 2.

November 28

Speaker – Wilson Cruz
7 p.m.; Hogan Campus Center, Room 519
Wilson Cruz played Rickie Vasquez on the popular television show My So-Called Life. He will be speaking about HIV/AIDS.

November 29

Multicultural Student Organizations Quilt Presentation
7 p.m.; Hogan Campus Center, Room 519
Each Multicultural Student Organization at Holy Cross has constructed their own quilt piece that serves to depict the effect the HIV/AIDS epidemic has had on their respective communities.

November 30

Talk by Ellen McCurley ’82
7 p.m.; Hogan Campus Center, Room 320
McCurley, founder of the Pendulum Project, a non-profit organization that helps children who are orphaned and vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS, poverty and war, will give a talk titled “Are We Making Progress in Combating HIV/AIDS? Comparison of Two African Countries: Botswana and Malawi.”

December 1 – World AIDS Awareness Day

Luncheon
12:30 – 2 p.m.; Hogan Campus Center, Room 304
The luncheon, titled “How Can the U.S. Government ‘Keep the Promise’ to Those Living with HIV/AIDS?,” will explore issues of government policies as they relate to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and those affected by it. Members of the community familiar with HIV/AIDS government legislation are encouraged to attend this discussion.

AIDS Vigil
5:30 p.m.; McCooey Chapel
Daniel Corrou, assistant chaplain, will lead a meditation in remembrance of those who lost their lives as a result of the AIDS epidemic, and offer prayers in support of all whose lives have been touched by the disease. It will be a time to ask God for strength, understanding, and an acceptance for all.

December 2

AIDS Compassion & Awareness Week Charity Banquet “Keep the Promise”
Doors open: 6 p.m.; Hogan Campus Center Ballroom
Admission: $20 students; $40 others

Tickets can be purchased at the Hogan Lobby Tables, First Floor, Nov. 28 – Dec. 1 from 11 a.m. – 3 a.m. Val Philippe ’07 or Bronwyn Vogler ’07 may also be contacted to purchase tickets. Checks should be made payable to Bishop Healy Multicultural Society. Cash will also be accepted.

The banquet will serve as an education event and fundraiser open to the Holy Cross and Worcester community. The banquet is themed “Keep the Promise,” as the Holy Cross community lives by its mission statement of “men and women for others.”

Attire is semi-formal. Dinner will be served. There will be raffle drawings, student performances, a slide show, speakers, giveaways, and displays of special projects from AIDS Project Worcester and Holy Cross students. Those who have helped with the week’s preparations will give special presentations.

Money raised from the banquet and other events support AIDS Project Worcester, the primary and most comprehensive AIDS service organization in Central Massachusetts and the Pendulum Project, which raises funds that go directly to grassroots community groups in Uganda, Malawi, Ghana and South Africa to help support children and families affect by HIV/AIDS.

The Bishop Healy Multicultural Society seeks to enhance the understanding of diversity represented at Holy Cross.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will present “Hogwarts at Holy Cross VII: Caring for Earth’s Magical Creatures” science series on Dec. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. The program is intended for children (through 10th grade) and families in Worcester, particularly the College Hill and South Worcester communities. The event is free.

The event will feature hands-on science activities for the whole family plus a live animal show from Earth Limited. In past years, audiences of the show saw a kangaroo, an enormous turtle and other animals not frequently seen on College Hill. The program will involve children in exciting scientific experiments and educate them about Earth’s natural resources and threatened habitats. Earth Limited is a nonprofit organization based at Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, Mass.

The event is sponsored by Holy Cross Science Ambassadors, Holy Cross Biology Society, Holy Cross Marshall Fund, Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation and Students Ambassadors Developing External Relations.

Photographers are welcome to attend the event.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross Alternate College Theatre presents George Axelrod’s hilarious 1952 marital comedy, The Seven Year Itch on Dec. 1 and 2 at 8 p.m.; Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. in Fenwick Theatre at the College of the Holy Cross. Tickets are $7 for the Holy Cross community and $10 for the general public.

The production follows the thoughts and fantasies of a middle-aged, married New Yorker as he works through a midlife crisis. After his wife of seven years and their child leave town for the summer, Richard Sherman finds himself alone in his Manhattan apartment with an upstairs neighbor who just happens to be a gorgeous woman in her 20’s. Boredom leads to temptation, and soon Richard is exercising his rusty dating skills. But will he succumb to a midlife crisis and scratch that “seven year itch”?

The play was turned into a 1955 film vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, but lost its structure and most of its charm in the process. The rarely-produced play is both more daring and sweeter in its depiction of the characters, while the famous fantasy sequences focus on more than just the girl upstairs, making for a far funnier and more satisfying show.

The Alternate College Theater is a student-run organization. All aspects of the production — from the directing to the lighting design — are done by Holy Cross students. Edward Elliott ’06 plays Richard, Kristen Fleming ’08 plays The Girl, while Tom Layman ’06 directs. Other members of the production staff include costume designer Katherine Fritz ’08, set designer Flynn Jebb ’06, and lighting designers Patrick Gavin ’06 and Michele Minora ’06. Rachel Mergens ’07 and Jennifer Goodell ’09 produce.

The Seven Year Itch is suitable for all audiences.

For press tickets or for more information, please contact Rachel Mergens at ramerg07@holycross.edu or call the ACT box office at 508-793-3536.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross departments of theatre and music will present the first concert of their famed Balinese gamelan orchestra, Gamelan Gita Sari, under the directorship of visiting fellow in Balinese performing arts, I Wayan Dibia, on Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. in the Brooks Concert Hall. 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, at 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. I Wayan Dibia of the Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) is the second appointment and continues the exchange program established six years ago. Desak Made Suarti Laksmi of ISI was the first to hold the post.

Dibia is one of the world’s most distinguished performers, composers, and choreographers of Balinese music and dance. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA and has held a professorship in Balinese choreography at the prestigious National College of Indonesian Arts in Denpasar, Bali. He is the author of Kecak: The Balinese Vocal Change of Bali and the seminal text and guidebook, Balinese Dance, Drama, and Music. He is a member of the Bali Art Council and the Society of Indonesian Performing Arts. He has performed in a variety of international tours in Australia, Europe, and the United States.

For more information about the concert and Gamelan Gita Sari, contact Joe Mader at 508-793-3490.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Ed Rice, who authored a book on the legendary baseball player Louis Sockalexis Class of 1897, will give a talk on Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Suites B & C (fourth floor) of the Hogan Campus Center at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk is free and open to the public.

In Baseball’s First Indian, Louis Sockalexis: Penobscot Legend, Cleveland Indian (Tide-Mark Press, 2003), Rice sheds light on the myths and legends surrounding Sockalexis’ feats on the diamond. He makes a strong case that Sockalexis was one of the greatest college baseball players of all time while playing at Holy Cross. Then, as the first Native American to play major league baseball, he fought a battle much like Jackie Robinson to gain acceptance and ultimately inspired the change of name from the Cleveland Spiders to the Cleveland Indians.

An accomplished journalist, Rice wrote the biographical profile of Sockalexis that appears each year in the Cleveland Indians Media Guide. He also spearheaded the nomination drive that led to the induction of both Louis and cousin Andrew Sockalexis (a U.S. marathon medal winner in the 1912 Olympics) into the national American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in Lawrence, Kan., in April 2000.

The event is sponsored by the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester and the Holy Cross department of athletics.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Anisa Mehdi, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer of documentaries on Islam for National Geographic, PBS, ABC News, and CBS, will give a talk titled “Islam in America” on Nov. 30 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The National Geographic documentary by Mehdi, “Inside Mecca” will be shown on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. in Rehm Library, with a discussion led by Professor Adam Gaiser of the department of religious studies. Both events are free and open to the public.

Mehdi will talk about the experience of Muslims living in American society and culture, about being Muslim and being American, in these difficult days of international tension.

“Inside Mecca” focuses on the pilgrimage of three individuals: from the USA, Malaysia and South Africa to Mecca for the hajj. Mehdi’s lecture on Nov. 30 will focus on the experience of Muslim Americans who, much like Catholic Americans, find themselves in a tense international situation, struggling to be Muslim and American.

An internationally renowned expert on Islam, Mehdi specializes in religion, the arts, and people. For more than 20 years she has reported, written, directed and produced television news and documentary programs for major American media outlets, including National Geographic, PBS, ABC News and CBS. Her commentaries have been heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” She has written perspective pieces for newspapers, magazines and Internet sites. Mehdi is founder and president of Whetstone Productions, a New Jersey-based production and consulting company.

She began her career as a news writer for WBZ-TV in Boston and later worked as an associate producer for CBS News in New York.

The events, sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, are part of the Peace and Conflict Series “Islam and the West: A Clash of Civilizations or a Search for Common Ground,” which runs into the spring semester.