News

WORCESTER, Mass. – The General Alumni Association (GAA) presented the annual In Hoc Signo Awards at the College’s reunion banquet held this past June. This year’s recipients were Richard B. Fisher ’47, Paul T. McEnery, M.D., ’60 and Martha M. McGuane ’77. First presented in 1960, the award is an expression of respect and admiration for those alumni who have given generously of their time and talents to the College.

Richard B. Fisher ’47
Dick Fisher is the founder of Federated Investors, long one of the largest and most successful mutual fund companies in the nation. Today, he is chairman of Federated Securities Corp., where he works with another Crusader – his son John, of the Class of 1979. A lifetime member of the President’s Council, Fisher is also a member of the Cornerstone Society. He has served as both a class agent and as a member of the alumni board senate. A former member of the College’s investment committee, he has held the office of president of the Western Pennsylvania Regional Club. Fisher resides in Pittsburgh, Pa., with his wife, Barbara; they are the parents of seven children.

Paul T. McEnery, M.D., ’60
Paul McEnery earned his medical degree at the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Chicago, Ill. After pursuing a pediatric residency and a fellowship in pediatric nephrology at the Cincinnati (Ohio) Children’s Hospital Medical Center, he joined the hospital faculty in 1971. Appointed a professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine in 1988, McEnery is the author of more than 80 publications; he is an authority on chronic kidney disease in children. A longtime admissions advisor, McEnery also has worked with the Alumni Job Network and the Career Advisors Network. A former president of his regional club, he has served as a board member of the General Alumni Association. McEnery lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Charlotte; they are the parents of three Crusaders – Christina Dumont ’92, Jennifer ’94 and Emily ’00.

Martha M. McGuane ’77
Martha McGuane earned her Master of Arts degree in public communications from Fordham University, New York City, in 1983. For the last two decades, she has taught at Malden (Mass.) Catholic, an Xaverian Brothers high school, where she serves as the chair of the English department. A member of the President’s Council at Holy Cross and a class agent, McGuane has served as president of the General Alumni Association. She has also been active in the Merrimack Valley Regional Club, holding the posts of president, vice president and secretary. A prominent alumni interviewer of prospective students, McGuane has logged countless hours as an alumni representative at college fairs; a member of the Bishop Healy Committee, she has served on the Alumni Admissions and the Book Prize committees. McGuane is a resident of Lowell, Mass.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The General Alumni Association has announced the names of those alumni nominated to serve as officers and members of its board of directors.

According to its constitution, the purpose of the GAA is “the promotion of the life of the College of the Holy Cross and the establishment of a mutually beneficial relationship between the College of the Holy Cross and the alumni.” The GAA represents the 33,000 alumni of Holy Cross.

President
Brian Cashman ’77 is the manager of security and investigations for AT&T Broadband, New England region. An alumni admissions advisor, he is a member of the President’s Council and the Varsity Club. He lives in Londonderry, N.H., with his wife, Madeline, and their children, Emily and Patrick.

President-elect
Kathleen M. Troidle ’83 is the program director for IBM Trusted e-Payments Solutions in IBM’s financial services sector. She has served on the board of the GAA and as a class agent. She lives in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

Immediate Past President
Marcy M. Vandale ’87, who is a past president, vice president, treasurer and secretary of the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester, currently sits on the club’s board of directors. A class agent, she has served the GAA as vice president and is currently co-chair of the communications committee. Marcy resides in Holden, Mass., with her husband, Richard, and three children, Nicole, Zachary and Emily.

Vice Presidents
John R Hayes Jr. ’91
Mark W. Powers ’85

2005-08 Directors

1996-2005
Brian C. Bennici ’04
Joseph W. Campbell ’04

1986-1995
Maura A. Fredey ’94
Colleen M. Doern ’89

1976-1985
James F. Kenny ’85
Elizabeth Murdy ’81

1966-1975
Jerome J. Cura ’71
Robert A. Klein ’73

1900-1965
Paul T. Hart ’65
Lawrence J. Oberlies ’57

2005-2008 Directors (Regional Club Presidents)
Mary Ellen Eagan ’75
Colleen F. Amann ’92

The 2005-06 Executive Committee
Richard E. Onofrey Jr. ’87
Colleen F. Amann ’92

The 2005-06 Athletic Council
Francis J. Larkin ’54

WORCESTER, Mass. – Renee A. Laverdiere and Elizabeth A. Mills are this year’s co-recipients of the Mrs. Kate C. Power Medal. This award is presented to the highest ranking student(s) in the second-year class. Lavardiere and Mills share top ranking among the 662 students in the Class of 2007.

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

Lavardiere, a math major and philosophy minor from Eliot, Maine, is a member of the Holy Cross Woodwind Quintet and the Magis program, lectors, and volunteers with DEAFinitely Figure Skating. She is the student coordinator of Weekend Workshops on Journaling and Reflection and student coordinator for Parent and Selection for the Gateways Orientation Program. This summer she is working as a tutor for the math component of the Passport program. This is her second summer participating as a Summer Orientation Leader.

She was a Dana Scholar last year and is an Ignatian Scholar.

Mills, a biology major with a biological psychology concentration from Brightwaters, N.Y., is involved in the dance ensemble, liturgical ministry and is a teaching assistant for biology and chemistry.

She was the recipient of the Teresa Churilla Sophomore Book Award for biology.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Kenneth V. Mills, assistant professor of chemistry at the College of the Holy Cross, has received a five-year, $795,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development program. The program supports early career-development activities of teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century, according to the NSF.

The grant will support Mills’ ambitious project titled “CAREER: Alternative Mechanisms of HINT Domain Autoprocessing: An Integrated Undergraduate Research and Education Program.” The research component explores unanswered questions about the chemical mechanism of two related proteins, hedgehog proteins and inteins, which share a HINT domain. Inteins are protein segments that both excise themselves from, as well as tie together, flanking protein segments. The project will broaden the understanding of inteins in particular and biochemical catalysis in general. This knowledge can be applied to hedgehog proteins, which play vital roles in development and whose mutation can result in the development of certain cancers.

In addition, Professor Mills, 30, of Charlton, Mass., will make significant educational contributions to both introductory and upper-level courses at Holy Cross and the biochemistry concentration, which focuses on the chemistry underlying biological structure and function.

One component will be the design and implementation of new labs for the Discovery Chemistry curriculum, which introduces students to science through the lab rather than through textbooks and lectures alone. Since 1989, Holy Cross has experimented with laboratory-based, process-oriented curriculum – becoming a pioneer in the pedagogy of the chemistry discovery process.

“A major issue is to ensure that our students are exposed to a research environment by having labs that rival those in research institutions,” said Mills. “These grants allow us to move closer to that goal and allow our students to have close contact with faculty and do research at the highest level possible.

“At the early stages of their education at Holy Cross, the Discovery Chemistry program can make science come alive for our students and hook them into science, encouraging them to experience careers in the sciences and medicine.”

New programs will be introduced to increase the vitality of the biochemistry concentration to better prepare students for graduate studies, including a journal club, a new seminar series, and travel to local and national meetings and symposia.

The grant will allow research to be conducted by three students each summer over the next five years. They will be working to fulfill the research aims of the project while gaining valuable experience in the lab and preparation for their future education and careers. Their projects are intended to lead to publications in leading research journals and presentations at national meetings.

Nationally recognized for excellence, the Holy Cross department of chemistry is among the nation’s top producers of chemistry graduates certified by the American Chemical Society.

Mills, who has been a professor at the College since 2001, also received a $250,000 grant from the NSF in 2003 as the co-principal investigator with Robert Bellin, assistant professor of biology at Holy Cross. The grant was used to establish a protein purification core facility at the College, which is currently used by both faculty and students in research and teaching labs. Mills’ research has also been funded by the Research Corporation and by the Donors of the Petroleum Research Fund, as administered by the American Chemical Society.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Edward H. Thompson, Jr., of the sociology and anthropology department at the College of the Holy Cross, has received fellowship status with the Gerontological Society of America, a group in which he has been a member since 1992.

“Dr. Thompson received this award as recognition by his peers for outstanding contributions to the field of gerontology,” said Laurie Johnson, fellowship coordinator with the society. “GSA Fellows represent the highest class of membership and are recognized by peers for outstanding contributions to the field of gerontology.”

Thompson, of Westborough, Mass., is the director of the Gerontology Studies Program, a cooperative, academic program of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, Inc. The program’s mission is to develop an interest among undergraduate students in the field of aging and to provide these students with a basic understanding of the spectrum of needs, concerns and issues facing the elderly population today and in the years to come.

Thompson, who has been at Holy Cross since 1977, received his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland the same year. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University in Sacramento and also taught at both universities.

An expert in aging, family caregivers, family values and men’s studies, Thompson is often quoted in the media. Courses he has taught include Sociology of Men; Aging and Society; The Family; Men & Violence; Sociology of Mental Health; Religion, Aging and Health; Men, Women, and Medicine; and Myths of Equality: Age, Class, and Race.

The GSA was founded in 1945 and is the oldest and largest national multidisciplinary scientific organization devoted to the advancement of gerontological research. Its membership includes some 5,000 researchers, educators, practitioners, and other professionals in the field of aging. The society’s principal missions are to promote research and education in aging, and to encourage the dissemination of research results to other scientists, decision makers, and practitioners.

WORCESTER, Mass. – There will be an international conference held at the College of the Holy Cross from June 27 to June 29 titled “Illness: Representation in the Arts & Literature.” The event, held every other year since 1986, marks one of the largest gatherings of international scholars in the humanities around a single theme.

Thirty-two academics from around the world will be attending the conference to present papers and participate in conversation on the links between verbal and non-verbal representations of illness. Attendees include art historians, literary scholars, sculptors and filmmakers from such countries as France, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Argentina, and the United States.

The conference will feature as its plenary speaker professor Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, and author of The Body in Pain (1985), On Beauty and Being Just (1999) and Dreaming by the Book (1999).

Members of the Holy Cross faculty have been part of this multi-disciplinary conference since its inception 19 years ago. This year’s International Word & Image Conference will extend the theme as well as reflect the Hope and Healing exhibition at the Worcester Art Museum.

“I believe the conference, like the Hope and Healing exhibit, reflects the intellectual and scholarly interests, as well as the values of the College and its mission,” said Maurice Geracht, conference co-chair and professor of English at Holy Cross.

The event is sponsored by the international French/English journal Interfaces, the University of Paris 7 and the College of the Holy Cross. Papers submitted for the conference will be considered for publication in “Interfaces,” co-edited by the University of Paris 7 and Holy Cross.

For a complete schedule of events visit the conference’s Web site:
http://www.holycross.edu/departments/english/website/iwic/index.htm

WORCESTER, Mass. – 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 J. Michael Steele, an experienced educator and administrator, as principal.

Steele succeeds Alex Zequeira ’90, who led the school since its founding in September 2003, and is now teaching at Belen Jesuit Preparatory in Miami, his alma mater, and managing a family business.

Steele is currently a teacher at Loyola High School in Detroit, where he has taught since 1996. While at Loyola, he developed the English department curriculum, implemented an innovative reading program, coordinated the summer mission service program, and directed the Loyola Work Program for students. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy, teaching courses in secondary education methods and policies.

He is a graduate of Alabama State University and received an M.A. in education from Central Michigan University.

He is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English and the Jesuit Secondary Education Association, among other professional organizations.

“The Jesuit mission is grounded in the formation and education of the whole person – not only intellectually, but also emotionally, spiritually, and socially,” Steele said. “Having worked in Jesuit education since 1996, I look forward to bringing what I’ve learned to the Nativity School, the boys, and their families.”

Sponsored by the Society of Jesus in New England and the College of the Holy Cross, the Nativity School of Worcester (www.nativityworcester.org) 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. With only 15 students in each grade 5 through 7 (the school will add an eighth grade in 2006), 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.

Commenting on Steele’s appointment, Joanne G. McClatchy ’79, executive director of the Nativity School, said: “J. Michael has the talent, experience and commitment to lead this school. He understands the academic, social and spiritual components central to the Nativity mission, and students and teachers alike are delighted to be working with him.”

Steele is relocating to Worcester and will begin work in early July.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Suzanne Kohn, a senior at the College of the Holy Cross from Elmsford, N.Y., who spent the 2005-2006 academic year studying in Scotland, is one of 72 students nationwide named a Student Ambassador by the British Council USA to help promote study-abroad experiences in the United Kingdom. The British Council USA is the United Kingdom’s international organization for educational and cultural relations.

The council started the Student Ambassador Program in 2002-2003 to involve students who have recently studied at a British university in study-abroad activities at their U.S. college or university. Students are selected on the basis of advisor recommendations and a demonstrated enthusiasm for their overseas study experience.

Kohn, a history major with a visual arts minor, studied at the University of St. Andrews because of its unique history and interesting setting.

“I enjoyed taking up golf in the birthplace of golf itself, living near the beach of the North Sea, and visiting the historic castle remains that were literally down the street from my dorm,” she said.

Kohn will promote the study abroad program at Holy Cross, highlighting educational, cultural and scientific opportunities in the United Kingdom.

“I can only hope that students interested in studying abroad, especially in the U.K., truly appreciate the opportunity being presented to them. There is so much history and culture there, and I feel really fortunate to have gotten the chance to experience it,” she said. “I look forward to encouraging as many students possible to take advantage of this opportunity and be able to share in this experience.”

At Holy Cross, Kohn is a member of the mock trial team; Campus Activities Board, where she will hold the position of publicity co-chair at the organization this coming year; and Student Programs for Urban Development Program (SPUD), where she participates in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program at the Canterbury Street School in Worcester.

Following graduation, Kohn plans on attending law school.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Rev. Brian Linnane, S.J., an accomplished scholar currently serving as Assistant Dean of the College and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, has been elected the 24th President of Loyola College in Maryland by the College’s Trustees.

Fr. Linnane succeeds The Reverend Harold Ridley, S.J., who died in office on January 18 after serving as Loyola’s president since 1994.

“We wish Brian Linnane all the best as he takes on this very important position,” said Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of Holy Cross. “Loyola is very fortunate to have him. He brings many gifts to the position and a strong sense of the Jesuit mission. I am sure he will bring outstanding leadership to a fine institution. Brian will be missed at Holy Cross where he has made extraordinary contributions in many areas as a scholar, teacher, pastoral leader and class dean.”

Fr. Linnane entered the Society of Jesus in 1977 and was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood on June 14, 1986. He earned an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Boston College in 1977 and an M.A. from Georgetown University’s Department of Government in 1981 before undertaking divinity studies at the Jesuit School of Theology, where he earned a master’s degree in 1986. He earned master’s degrees from the Yale Department of Religious Studies in 1990 and 1991, and the Ph.D. in 1994. He earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley the same year.

Fr. Linnane joined the Religious Studies Department at Holy Cross in 1994. He has served as Assistant Dean at Holy Cross since 2003 and has been a Loyola College Trustee since 2000.

He has taught courses in Christian ethics at Holy Cross, and has also offered advanced courses in morality, medical ethics, and virtue theory. His scholarly publications are extensive, and include the areas of fundamental moral theology, health care ethics, and virtue ethics.

Fr. Linnane has served as National Vice President of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society, and as a member of the Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education. He was a Chair of the Catholic Theological Society of America’s Committee on Admissions.

Fr. Linnane will assume his new position at Loyola in July.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross will present the exhibition 25 / 50: Reunion x 2 – Recent Work by James Stroud ’80 and James Paradis ’55, from June 4 – June 30, 2005.

Recent Work by James Stroud celebrates the 25th anniversary of Stroud’s graduation from Holy Cross. Stroud, a painter and master printmaker, is the founder of the Center Street Studio in Boston. For the past several years Stroud has produced a series of minimalist-inspired multi-sectional geometric abstract paintings, some measuring as much as 8 feet by 4 feet. Stroud uses a technique borrowed from printmaking where ink rollers are used to lay down coats of ink onto sheets of square plates of polished aluminum. These “rolled” paintings, while related to the printmaking process inking metal plates, allow Stroud to use this process to apply and build up multi-layered translucent oil paint into complex compositions of overlapping colors and hues.

After graduating from Holy Cross, Stroud traveled to Paris where he studied with the renowned printmaker, Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17. In 1984, he received his master of fine arts degree in printmaking at Yale University. Stroud is both a painter and printmaker and has shown his work frequently throughout the United States and abroad. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Boston Public Library, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as well as Holy Cross. Stroud founded the Center Street Studio as an artist oriented in fine arts press in Gloucester, Mass. in 1984. He later moved his press to Boston and finally to its current location in Milton, Mass.

Recent Work by James Paradis celebrates the 50th anniversary of Paradis’ graduation from Holy Cross. Paradis, a Boston-based artist, worked in the real estate market for many years before retiring in 1995. In 1999, Paradis was accepted into the bachelor of fine arts degree program in painting at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, where he recently graduated. Paradis has shown his work at the French Library and Cultural Center of Boston, 2003; Centre d’Exchange Cultural d’Auvillar, France, 2003; and, most recently, at the Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show 2005.

Paradis’ work explores a sculptural approach to painting by re-forming finished paintings into folded and crumpled shapes with jagged edges which jut out from the wall, somewhat resembling large boulders fastened to the wall. The exhibition of his work will also include a body of 17 oil on paper abstract paintings.

The following events, in conjunction with the Holy Cross Reunion Weekends June 3 – 5 and June 10 – 12, will be held at the Cantor Art Gallery:

• Reception for James Stroud, June 4, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
• Reception for James Paradis, June 10, 4 – 6 p.m.

Gallery Information

The hours for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery are Monday – Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; closed weekends except for special events. 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. – A new soccer stadium being built at the College of the Holy Cross will be named The Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium, it was announced yesterday at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Located behind the Hart Center, construction of the soccer stadium began in early spring. A state-of-the-art soccer stadium was deemed necessary to support a nationally recognized Division I soccer program, and to continue the success both the men’s and women’s teams have enjoyed in recent seasons.

Linda Johnson Smith is wife and business partner of Park B. Smith ’54, and both are leading contributors to the major fundraising campaign for construction of the stadium.

The stadium will feature a top-quality grass field, and permanently installed aluminum stands seating approximately 1,250 spectators. Surrounded by a fence, with an attractive entrance where tickets can be sold and collected, the facility will include a press box at the top of the bleachers, with space for the public address announcer, media and a VIP section. The stadium will also have sufficient lighting for night games, as well as a large scoreboard.

The facility will primarily be used by the varsity programs, but could also be used to host regional events.

The cost of the facility is in excess of $2 million. The money is being raised through a fund raising campaign, as part of the Lift High the Cross Campaign, which seeks to enhance Holy Cross’ place among the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges.

In addition to the Smiths, major contributors in attendance at the groundbreaking were: Michael Greene ’84; Sean ’76 and Cathy ’77 O’Neil; Tim Egan ’77; and Chris ’80 and Cathy ’80 Collins.

The stadium will be the first new playing facility on campus since the debut of the lighted artificial turf field and running track in 1988.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The purchasing directors of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, in cooperation with the Worcester UniverCity Partnership, will host “Bring Your Business to Campus!” on June 8 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. Admittance is free.

The event is one of the first initiatives under the auspices of the new UniverCity Partnership, designed to join together the resources of Worcester’s area colleges, the City of Worcester, and private business to generate local economic development.

Nicknamed a “reverse vendor fair,” the colleges will have display tables set up allowing vendors to introduce themselves and hand out business cards. Business leaders throughout the region are encouraged to attend and meet college personnel who may be interested in the goods and services they can offer.

Purchasing agents and other purchasers at Worcester area campuses will describe how purchasing decisions are made and what goods and services they are looking for, such as educational and general supplies and technological services. Vendors will learn how to do business with the City of Worcester, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and colleges and universities in the area.

Armand W. Carriere, newly appointed executive director of the UniverCity Partnership, says this is an excellent opportunity for local businesses to make contact with area colleges.

“We would like local businesses to play a bigger part of economic activity for local vendors, to get to know what is available at local colleges and universities and to benefit from the opportunities they have to offer,” he said. “It’s all about supporting local businesses.”

Speakers at the event will include Councilor-at-large Michael Perotto, who will speak for the City, and Bob Flynn from W.B. Mason, who will talk about his experience with the Consortium Joint Purchasing Group, which establishes group purchase contracts for the financial benefit of the consortium’s members.

Representatives from the City Purchasing Department, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium (MHEC) will also be in attendance.
Refreshments will be served.

An online registration form to attend the event is available at http://www.cowcworks.org/Biz2CampusRSVP.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Three Holy Cross third-year students recently received Avon Science Scholarships for their academic accomplishments at the College of the Holy Cross. Made possible by a grant from the Avon Products Foundation, Inc., to the College, this prestigious award carries with it a $6,000 scholarship toward each recipient’s senior year.

The Avon Science Scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding Holy Cross women science students and is based solely on merit. Recipients are invited to Avon’s New York headquarters to meet with senior executives and to spend a day with a fellow female scientist in the company’s chemistry facility.

The recipients are:

Christine Higham is a chemistry major with a pre-medical concentration from Ringwood, N.J. She is a member of Student Programs for Urban Development where she served as the director of the Hope Lodge program this past year. Next year she will be one of six interns running SPUD. She is also co-chair of Institute for Children with Cancer and Blood Disorders, an on-campus group that raises money for the Institute for Children with Cancer and Blood Disorders located in New Jersey. She has also held the positions of general member and member of the executive board. Higham’s career goal is to attend medical school to become a doctor.

Sonia Kuhn is a biology major with a pre-medical concentration from Cincinnati, Ohio. She plays varsity field hockey and will be captain of the team next year. She was named to the Patriot League second team this season and finished seventh nationally for save percentage. She has been a member of the Patriot League and National Field Hockey Association of America all-academic squads for three years. She is also a member of the Athletic Council at Holy Cross. Kuhn’s career goal is to attend veterinary school to become a veterinarian.

Suzanne Kulevich is a chemistry major from Maynard, Mass. She plays clarinet and alto saxophone and holds the position of drill coordinator in the Holy Cross Marching and Pep Band. She is a soprano and cantor in the Holy Cross Chapel Choir and president and founder of the Holy Cross Figure Skating Club. She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, College Honors Program, Student Alliance for the Advancement of Alternative Fuels and Energy, and Cross and Crucible Society. Kulevich plans to earn a doctorate degree in analytical chemistry with emphasis on analytical methods applicable to environmental issues. Her career goal is to become a chemistry professor.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Meghan Kenney, a junior at the College of the Holy Cross, has received a national scholarship from the National Association of Campus Activities for her work as a student leader.

Kenney, a psychology and religious studies major from Medfield, Mass., has received the NACA New England Region Scholarship for Student Leaders. The scholarship will be used for education expenses.

In a letter nominating Kenney, Kelly McGill, assistant director of Student Programs wrote, “She has incredible time management and organizational skills. Meg’s easy going nature and hard work provide a good example from which other students can learn.”

NACA links the higher education and entertainment communities in a business and learning partnership.

Kenney was also recently appointed to the position of Regional Student Representative for NACA’s Northeast Region, for the May 1, 2005 – April 30, 2006 period. As a representative, she will represent the views of students in the region to the Regional Leadership Team.

At Holy Cross, Kenney is a member of the student advisory council in the Religious Studies department. She works as an office assistant in the Student Programs and Leadership Development Office. She was president of the Campus Activities Board this past year, a group in which she has held several other positions, including social committee co-chair.

Next year, she will serve as director of student life issues for the Student Government Association. She will also be a senior interviewer and tour guide for the Admissions office.

Kenney hopes to earn a master’s degree in higher education administration. Her career goal is to be a professional in the field of student affairs in higher education.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross announced today that beginning with students matriculating in September 2006, standardized test scores will no longer be an admissions requirement. Students can now opt not to include SAT I, SAT II, and ACT scores as part of their applications without any negative impact on admissions decisions.

“This decision – made after several years of study, discussion, and serious consideration -reflects our existing admission policy,” said Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of Holy Cross. “We have a highly personalized admissions process that already de-emphasizes standardized test scores. In addition, the application process itself is a window into the academic and intellectual life at a college, and we want prospective students to understand that Holy Cross is committed to the holistic education of young men and women.”

Admissions decisions at Holy Cross have historically placed more weight on a student’s high school course of study and other qualitative evaluations than on standardized test scores, said Frank Vellaccio, Senior Vice President, who oversees admission policy.

“We look at the whole student,” he said. “We evaluate a student’s academic career and consider the choices he or she has made both in the classroom and outside activities. While standardized scores give some snapshot indication of a student’s abilities, we are increasingly concerned with the inherent racial and socioeconomic bias in standardized testing – as well as the fact that no test can communicate a student’s passions, interests, motivations, and achievements.”

Director of Admissions Ann McDermott added that when questions and published reports arose this spring about changes in the SAT and the addition of essay-writing to the test, the College was convinced that it was an appropriate time to drop the requirement.

“We see the stress students and their parents experience during test-taking season, as well as the amount of money and time spent in test preparation,” she said. “Since classroom work, writing, and intellectual exploration are more important to Holy Cross, we wanted to send the message that that’s where students should be spending their time and energy.”

She noted that any student may opt to submit scores if they believe a standardized test score helps present the fullest picture of their academic and intellectual accomplishments. “We want to put the responsibility of portraying their academic career back into the hands of the student.”

International students whose first language is not English will still be required to submit results of the standardized test TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).

Information related to this decision and specifically for applicants can be found on the Admissions Web site: http://www.holycross.edu/departments/adm-fa-bur/admissions/newtesting.htm