News

WORCESTER, Mass. – Carol Moseley Braun, former candidate for the democratic presidential nomination, will give a lecture at Holy Cross on Thursday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom. Her lecture is free and open to the public.

* Moseley Braun will hold a press conference prior to her lecture from 6 – 6:15 p.m. in Hogan, Room 402.

Moseley Braun served as a United States senator from Illinois from 1992 – 98. Her election was historic, as she was the first female senator from Illinois and only the second African-American ever voted to the U.S. Senate. To date, she is the only African-American woman to serve as a U.S. senator. During her time in office, she served on several committees, including the Finance, Judiciary, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committees.

In 1999, Moseley Braun was appointed a U.S. ambassador by President Clinton. Her ambassadorial duties brought her to New Zealand, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Antarctica. Since the end of her term as ambassador, she has taught law and political science at Morris Brown College and DePaul University and worked as a business law consultant in Chicago.

During her career Moseley Braun also served as a county executive officer, state representative, and assistant U.S. attorney. Most recently Moseley Braun campaigned for the democratic presidential nomination. She dropped out of the race in mid-January.

This event is sponsored by the Black Student Union.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Office of the Dean and the Holy Cross Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa are pleased to welcome Leon Botstein, president of Bard College in New York, as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. He will give a public lecture on Monday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library. His talk, titled “Confronting the Adolescent: The Abolition of High School,” is free and open to the public.

Botstein has served as president of Franconia College, special assistant to the president of the New York City Board of Education, and as a lecturer in history at Boston University. A member of the National Advisory Committee for the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute and the board of the Central European University, he has also served as past chairman of the Harper’s Magazine Foundation and of the New York Council for the Humanities.

Botstein has written extensively on issues related to higher education and the liberal arts and he is a regular contributor to The New Republic and The New York Times. His lecture will draw upon his provocative views on educational reform presented in his book, Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture (Doubleday 1997).

WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross will hold a panel discussion, titled “Aftermath: The Abuse Crisis and the Ministry of Priests,” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 31 in the Rehm Library. The discussion is free and open to the public.

The following priests will address how abuse by fellow priests has affected their work and life as priests, and how they see their own future in the aftermath of the crisis:

* Rev. William Kremel ’61, interim pastor of Nativity Church in Merrimac, Mass.
* Rev. Kenneth Brown, pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland in St. Louis, Miss.
* Rev. William Campbell, S.J., ’87, campus minister at Holy Cross

Sponsored by the College’s Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, this lecture is part of “Beyond Brokenness: Healing, Renewal and the Church,” a year-long series of discussions regarding the renewal and reform of the Church, taking place at Holy Cross. The events scheduled as part of the series are designed to enhance understanding of the problems that have emerged as a result of the ongoing sexual abuse crisis, and to engage in meaningful reflection on them.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Bestselling author Augusten Burroughs will give a talk, titled “Dry: Living Life Without Booze,” on Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at Holy Cross. Burroughs will be available to sign copies of his books after the lecture, which is free and open to the public.

Massachusetts native Augusten Burroughs is the bestselling author of the novel Sellvision and the memoirs Running With Scissors and Dry: A Memoir. Released in 2003, Dry tells the personal story of Burroughs’ difficult emergence into adulthood, out of the closet, and through drug and alcohol rehab programs. During his talk, Burroughs will share with the audience the reality of alcohol dependence — blackouts, broken friendships and an apartment filled with nothing but empty bottles.

People Magazine describes Dry as “more than a heartbreaking tale; it’s a heroic one. As with its predecessor, we finish the book amazed not only that Burroughs can write so brilliantly, but that he’s even alive.”

Janet Maslin of The New York Times describes the autobiography as “a bawdy, outrageous, often hilarious account…In keeping with this book’s dauntless comic timing, this guy doesn’t miss a beat.”

Burroughs’ first memoir, Running With Scissors, recounts his unusual childhood after his eccentric mother left him in the care of her psychiatrist. It is currently in production to be released as a feature film starring Julianne Moore.

This event is sponsored by The Office of the President; Dean of the College; Student Affairs; Athletics; First-Year Program; the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture; English department; Psychology department; and Wellness Programming.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Artist Deborah Muirhead will give a lecture and slide presentation, titled “Claiming a Story: Abstraction and the Power of a Narrative,” at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, in Stein Hall 129 at Holy Cross. The presentation, which is the final segment of the College’s African-American Artists Series, is free and open to the public.

Muirhead’s paintings, drawings and books are “fictional narratives that investigate historical invisibility.” Her identity as an African-American descendant of enslaved persons, her research in genealogy and her interest in African-American literature and history, all form the basis for her provocative and richly layered work. She writes that her work “reflects an examination of history, identity, presence and absence.” Her work combines fragments of text, lists of names, layers of wax, paint, and collaged pictures. Muirhead has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Hearst Fellowship, along with other national awards.

Originally conceived by Kiara Upshaw ‘04, co-chair of the Black Student Union at Holy Cross, the African-American Artists Series was established to provide programming that speaks to the contemporary issues being addressed by African-American artists.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will continue its “Hogwarts at Holy Cross” science series on Friday, March 19, beginning promptly at 6:30 p.m., in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom. The program is intended for children (through 10th grade) of faculty, staff, the College Hill and South Worcester communities, and their families. The event is free.

The science exhibition will feature a variety of experiments and will be fashioned after the “potions” classes offered at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter book series. Special features include an astronomy presentation by the Aldrich Astronomical Society and robotics demonstrations by the WPI Robotics Team.

Refreshments will be available and door prizes will be given out.

This event is sponsored by the Math and Computer Science Club, with co-sponsorship provided by Student Ambassadors Developing External Relations (S.A.D.E.R.) and the Division of Student Affairs.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross theatre department will present Our Country’s Good from Thursday, March 25 through Saturday, March 27, and from Thursday, April 1 through Saturday, April 3 in Fenwick Theatre. Performances are nightly at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7 for members of the Holy Cross community and $10 for general admission. They may be obtained by calling the box office at 508-793-2496.

Eighteenth-century Australia was truly the land down under. Britain transported her convicts to this colony, populating an entire country with the underclass and their jailers. In Temberlake Wertenbaker’s adaptation of the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally (author of Schindler’s List), a humanistic governor permits a group of exiles to mount a comedy of manners that becomes an emblem of their better selves, oppressed by their luckless circumstances. Baron Kelly directs this highly acclaimed drama.

Baron Kelly is the W.E.B. DuBois Fellow in the theatre department at Holy Cross. He is a graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and holds a Ph.D. in theatre history, criticism, literature and theory from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has performed internationally and in numerous productions on Broadway. The host of the Emmy-winning PBS series, Cultural Horizons, his television credits also include Frasier, Law and Order, and Homicide. Kelly will be seen in lead roles in Sergio Arau’s A Day Without A Mexican starring Yareli Arizmendi and Guren Hole’s Nobody American, due out this summer.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The ASL/Deaf Studies program at the College of the Holy Cross will offer swimming lessons to deaf and hard of hearing children, their siblings, and hearing children of deaf parents at the Holy Cross Hart Center Pool this spring. Swimmers of all ages and levels are invited. Instruction will be in American Sign Language (ASL).

The lessons will be taught by qualified members of the Holy Cross swim team, ASL club members, and Deaflympic champion Greg Reese. Lifeguards will also be present.

Lessons begin on Sunday, March 21 and run through Sunday, May 2. Participants have a choice of three time slots; 12 p.m. – 12:40 p.m., 12:40 p.m. – 1:20 p.m. or 1:20 p.m. – 2 p.m.

There is a $20 registration fee per child, with a $30 maximum fee for families registering more than one child. Registration may be paid at the first lesson attended.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The 11th annual Leonard C. Sulski Memorial Lecture in Mathematics will take place on Monday, March 22 at 8 p.m. in Room 519 of the Hogan Campus Center at Holy Cross. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Professor Frank Farris, of Santa Clara University, will give this year’s lecture, titled “The Edge of the Universe: Noneuclidean Wallpaper.”

Farris earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. He taught for three years as a Tamarkin Assistant Professor at Brown University before joining Santa Clara, where he has been a member of the mathematics and computer science department since 1984. Farris won the Trevor Evans Award in 2002 from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for his expository article, “The Edge of the Universe,” which appeared in the journal Math Horizons, and is currently the editor of Mathematics Magazine, an official publication of the MAA. In 1997, he was awarded the David E. Logothetti Teaching Award at Santa Clara. His research interests include the geometry of two-dimensional surfaces in four-dimensional space and symmetry. His talk at Holy Cross will explore the concept of symmetry in hyperbolic geometry. It will be aimed at a general mathematical audience.

The annual mathematical lecture series is a tribute to Leonard C. Sulski who taught in the mathematics department at Holy Cross from 1965 until his death from leukemia in 1991.

The lecture will be preceded by a dinner co-sponsored by the mathematics and computer science department and the Northeastern Section of the MAA. The dinner is open to the public for a price of $15. If you are interested in participating in the dinner, please contact Professor Thomas Cecil at 508.793.2719 or by e-mail at cecil@mathcs.holycross.edu by March 15.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross mock trial teams finished in second, third and fourth place in the Atlantic Regional round of the 2003-2004 National Intercollegiate Mock Trial Tournament held Feb. 20 – 22. Their performances won the College two bids to the National Championship Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa on April 2 – 4. This will mark the fifth time in six years that Holy Cross Mock Trial has competed in the National Championship Tournament.

Three Holy Cross students received individual awards at last weekend’s regional competition:

* Erin Robert ’06 was recognized as the highest ranked attorney of the tournament with a perfect score of 20. She co-captained the fourth place team.

* Samantha Kingsbury ’06 won an outstanding attorney award for the second place team.

* Stephen Bagdasarian ‘05 was recognized with an outstanding witness award.

This year’s Atlantic Regional tournament, held at St. John’s University in New York, featured 28 teams from 15 schools, including two Worcester institutions — Holy Cross and Clark University, who placed seventh. Other schools included SUNY Binghamton, Clarkson, Columbia, Fordham, Hamilton, Iona, John Jay, NYU, Pace, Queens College, Siena, St. Johns, and first place finisher Yale.

The American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) has organized and run college tournaments for the past 20 years. This year’s tournament involved over 266 colleges and universities from all across the United States.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Four-time Deaflympic swim competitor and multiple medal winner Greg Reese will give a lecture titled “Staying Afloat,” in the Hogan Campus Center at Holy Cross on Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be presented in ASL with an English interpreter.

Reese participated in the Deaflympic games in New Zealand, Bulgaria, Denmark and Italy. He set world records in both relay and individual events. An instructor at the American School for the Deaf, Reese will be a coach at Holy Cross’ DEAFinitely Swim Program this year.

The DEAFinitely Swim program features swimming lessons for deaf and hard of hearing children and their siblings. Lessons will be offered on Sunday afternoons from 12 – 2 p.m. in the Hart Center pool. The program begins on Sunday, March 21 and runs until Sunday, May 2. Registration forms will be available at Reese’s lecture.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Carole Terry will perform an organ concert on Sunday, March 21, at 3 p.m. in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel at the College of the Holy Cross. Part of the Holy Cross Chapel Artists Series, the concert is free and open to the public.

The concert, which will take place on Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday, will feature some of his music.

Terry is professor of organ at the University of Washington, Seattle. She also serves as Organist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She has performed throughout the United States and Europe and has recorded extensively. Terry has been often featured as a major artist at the National Conventions of the American Guild of Organists.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester Women’s History Project will present “Yours for Humanity – Abby,” a 30-minute, one-woman play based on the letters and speeches of Worcester abolitionist and women’s rights activist Abby Kelley Foster on Monday, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m. in the Levis Browsing Room (Dinand Library) at Holy Cross. The performance is free and open to the public.

Abby Kelley was a radical abolitionist, crusading publicly against slavery and campaigning for equal rights at a time when women were expected to remain quiet and submissive. Although she was often met with extreme hostility, she remained true to her beliefs. Eventually she began to devote more of her time to women’s rights. William Lloyd Garrison called her “the moral Joan of Arc of the world,” for her dedication to social justice and her efforts to end race and gender prejudice.

Designed to educate the public on the significance of the life and work of Abby Kelley Foster, “Yours for Humanity – Abby” was written by Holy Cross sociology professor Carolyn Howe and Karen Board, a teacher at Auburn Middle School.

The Worcester Women’s History Project is a non-profit volunteer organization founded in 1994 to raise awareness of the importance of the first National Woman’s Rights Convention and to highlight the role of Worcester – a center of radical abolitionist activity – in the early women’s rights movement.

This performance is sponsored by the Holy Cross Women’s Studies program. The Worcester Women’s History Project is the sole owner and distributor of the play, “Yours for Humanity – Abby.” Major funding for the development and initial performances of the play was provided by Fleet Boston Financial Foundation and was supported in part with a grant from the Worcester Cultural Commission.