News

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Saturday, Oct. 25 at 8:00 p.m., a celebration of the life of Bruce Miller, longtime music professor and director of the Holy Cross College Choir and Chamber Singers, who died unexpectedly this past summer, will take place in the Hogan Ballroom at Holy Cross. Music will be provided by a 40-piece orchestra and the combined vocal forces of the current choir and many alumni – more than 150 singers in all.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature three testimonial speeches and a video presentation on Professor Miller’s life.

Early arrival is highly recommended, as many friends and alumni are expected to attend.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Professor Edward T. O’Donnell, of the Holy Cross history department, is available for comment on yesterday’s Staten Island ferry crash.

O’Donnell recently published a book on a previous New York boating disaster, titled Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum(Broadway Books, 2003). Ship Ablaze tells the story of the June 15, 1904 fire on board the General Slocum, in which over 1,000 of New York’s Lower East Side residents perished.

O’Donnell is an expert on catastrophic disasters and has commented recently on the Rhode Island nightclub fire and the future memory of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He has extensive media experience and is a former Morning Edition commentator for NPR member station WNYC.

O’Donnell earned his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross and his Ph.D. in American history from Columbia University. The author of 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish-American History (Broadway Books, 2002), he is currently completing a social biography of Henry George due out later this year. O’Donnell lives with his wife and their four daughters in Holden, Mass.

He may be contacted by phone at 508.793.3730 (day), 508.826.1572 (evening) or by e-mail at eodonnel@holycross.edu.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30 in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom, children (age 12 and younger) of faculty, staff, and the College Hill and South Worcester communities are invited to participate in chaperoned “trick-or-treating” through the College residence halls. The schedule of events is as follows:

* 5 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Story Time
* 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. – Coloring and Games
* 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. – “Trick-or-Treating” in Residence Halls
* 7:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. – Costume Contest

This event is being sponsored by S.A.D.E.R. (Student Ambassadors Developing External Relations), and the Office of Student Affairs.

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Dec. 10, 1968, Thomas Merton, the celebrated Trappist monk and writer, was accidentally electrocuted in Bangkok, Thailand, while attending an Asian monastic conference. His final statement of his last conference at Bangkok was, “So I will disappear.”

And so Thomas Merton did disappear, but his legacy and writings remain current and relevant for all of us today. On Dec. 10, 2003, the 35th anniversary of Merton’s death, the College of the Holy Cross will hold a conference, titled “So I will disappear,” Insights into the Writings of Thomas Merton.

The all-day program will begin at 8:15 a.m., with the last presentation starting at 7:30 p.m. Several papers that touch upon prominent themes in the Merton canon will be presented. In addition, there will be an opportunity for question and answer dialogue after each presentation.

The conference is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is strongly recommended as space is limited to 100 people. Participants who pre-register may also choose to pre-register for lunch ($12) and/or for a reception and dinner ($25). Meal pre-registration must be received one week in advance of the conference. Books written and edited by conference presenters will be available for purchase at the Holy Cross bookstore during the conference.

“So I will disappear” is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at Holy Cross. To register, or for more information, contact Patricia Hinchliffe at 508-793-3869 or phinchli@holycross.edu.

To view a complete schedule of events visit the conference Web site at www.holycross.edu/departments/crec/website/merton.htm. Biographies of presenters and a schedule of events are included below.

Information on panel presenters:

Christine M. Bochen is a professor of religious studies at Nazareth College, Rochester, N.Y. A founding member and past president of the International Thomas Merton Society, Bochen edited The Courage for Truth, a volume of Thomas Merton’s letters to writers; Learning to Love, the sixth volume of Merton’s journals; and Thomas Merton: Essential Writings, an anthology of his writings published in the Modern Spiritual Masters Series (Orbis). With William H. Shannon and Patrick F. O’Connell, she co-authored The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia (Orbis, 2002).

John Collins is a lecturer and former director of the Teacher Certification Program at the College of the Holy Cross. In June 2001, Collins presented a Thomas Merton/Walker Percy paper at the ITMS Conference, Bellarmine College; it was subsequently published in The Merton Annual 15, Fall, 2002. He also presented a paper, titled “We Are Prodigals in a Distant Land-A Perspective on Evil by Thomas Merton,” at “The Anatomy of Evil” symposium, held at Holy Cross in 2002. It was published in The Merton Seasonal, spring 2003. Collins holds a Ph.D. from Boston College.

Thomas Del Prete is the author of Thomas Merton and the Education of the Whole Person (1990) and past president of the International Thomas Merton Society. He is currently director of the Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education and chair of the education department at Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

Jonathan Montaldo was the director of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, the official repository of Merton’s legacy, from 1998-2001. President of the International Thomas Merton Society from 2001-2003, he is the general editor of the Fons Vitae Thomas Merton Series, a multi-volume compendium of Merton’s writing on world religions. His works include edited volumes Entering the Silence, The Merton Journals, Volume 2, 1996, and – with Patrick Hart – The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals (1999). The Intimate Merton has been translated into 10 languages. His Dialogues with Silence: Thomas Merton’s Prayers & Drawings, already translated into five languages, appeared in October 2001. Montaldo, who most recently edited Merton & Hesychasm: The Prayer of the Heart (2003) with Bernadette Dieker, is writing a text to accompany the photographs of Harry Hinkle, to be published as The Landscape of Contemplation: A Pilgrimage to Thomas Merton’s Gethsemani by the University of Kentucky Press in 2004.

Patrick F. O’Connell ’69 is an associate professor in the departments of English and theology at Gannon University, Erie, Penn. O’Connell holds a doctoral degree in literature from Yale University and one in theology from Fordham University. He served as fifth president of the International Thomas Merton Society and is currently editor of The Merton Seasonal, a quarterly journal jointly published by the ITMS and the Merton Center of Bellarmine University. O’Connell is co-author, with William H. Shannon and Christine Bochen, of The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia (Orbis, 2002) and editor of The Vision of Thomas Merton (Ave Maria, 2003). He has written and spoken widely on Merton and other topics in spirituality.

Rev. William Reiser, S.J., is a professor of theology in the religious studies department at the College of the Holy Cross. Over the past 12 years he has also served as an associate staff member at the Center for Religious Development in Cambridge, Mass.. His most recent books are Jesus in Solidarity with His People (Liturgical Press, 2000) and To Hear God’s Word, Listen to the World (Paulist Press, 1997). Fr. Reiser completed his graduate studies at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and also at Vanderbilt University. For the past 15 years he has been involved pastorally and catechetically in Worcester’s Hispanic community.

Schedule of Events: All events will take place in the Rehm Library at Smith Hall.

8:45 a.m. – The Merton Story: An Ongoing Conversation (Presented by: Christine Bochen)

Thomas Merton – monk and writer — continues to speak to us with the clarity of a mystic and the honesty of a prophet through his life and writings. This introductory talk will offer an opportunity to reflect on how Merton engages contemporary readers with an example of his life and a contemplative and compassionate spirituality inviting us to enter, with him, into a conversation that truly matters.

9:35 a.m. – Thomas Merton And The Transcultural Consciousness
(Presented by: Patrick O’Connell)

This presentation will consider Merton’s contributions to the development of a global consciousness that prizes unity-in-difference in order to avoid both a totalitarian uniformity and a destructive fragmentation. It will reflect on Merton’s advocacy of solitude, solidarity and social transformation as essential constituents of genuine intercultural and interreligious cooperation; it will also analyze the process of developing what Merton calls a “transcultural consciousness” that both recognizes and respects cultural differences and affirms and celebrates human dignity and the hopes common to all people.

10:45 a.m. – The Contemplative As Teacher And Learner: Insights From Thomas Merton
(Presented by: Thomas Del Prete)

Merton lived with contemplative awareness of the indwelling presence of God in persons and community. This talk will focus on Merton as someone whose teaching and learning were oriented by the idea one can develop contemplative awareness and knowing, and in the process discover one’s whole, undivided self. Examples from Merton’s teaching, letters, and journals will help illustrate the deeper levels of learning that he maintained are the real purpose of education.

12 p.m. – Lunch

1:30 p.m. – The Root of War is Fear: Reflections from Thomas Merton
(Presented by: John Collins)

In his memorable book, titled New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton writes about the hatred of others as well as hatred of ourselves as the genesis of fear leading to war. This presentation focuses primarily on the so called Cold War Letters of the 1960s in which Merton shared his concerns about the grave dangers of escalating war and the possible use of nuclear weapons. From the “Political Dance of Death” Merton guides us to an increasing awareness of God’s presence and love and an invitation to join Him in the “General Dance.”

2:30 p.m. – “Entering The School Of Your Life: Journal Writing And The Examination Of Conscience” (Presented by: Jonathan Montlado)

In unpublished notes on “three methods of mental prayer” for a conference with his monastic novices, Merton explains one method of meditation as “entering the school of your life.” The presence of God is found in all things and elicits a dynamic response of dialogue and participation only if attention is paid. While writing journals was a means to many ends for Merton, his presentation explores links between his journal writing and St. Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual practice of “examining one’s conscience.” The emphasis in both spiritual exercises is less on “finding one’s faults” and more on “cataloguing one’s continual blessings” and then confessing, by renewed and deeper contact with one’s life’s particulars, “il piacere di vivere” as Italians say: “the sheer joy of being alive”-to which both Ignatius and Merton would add “in Christ.”

4 p.m. – Panel: Merton in the Future

Presenters will briefly discuss their views about Merton and his influence in the coming years. What areas of research about Merton are fertile ground for scholars? What resources are available at the Thomas Merton Foundation, The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University and at other universities such as Columbia University and Saint Bonaventure University?

6 p.m. – Dinner

7:30 p.m. – Thomas Merton: A Parable For Our Time (Presented by: Rev. William Reiser, S.J.)

Merton’s religious life is a paradox — the more deeply monastic he becomes, the more his attention is directed toward the world. The “experiments with truth” that are part and parcel of monastic life have as their counterpart Merton’s engagement with the issues of his time. In the process, he was able to capture the genius of Christian religious life in a way that still speaks to us. This presentation examines Merton as a living parable of engagement and withdrawal, of finding God in the disruptions and discontinuities of one’s life and times.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Linda Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity in Washington, D.C., will deliver the annual Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. in the Hogan Ballroom at Holy Cross. The lecture, titled “Thinking About Race: The Shifting Civil Rights Agenda,” is free and open to the public.

Described by The Washington Post as one of “a new generation of intellectuals [seeking] to question the orthodoxies of the civil rights establishment,” Chavez, a Hispanic conservative, is well-known for her opposition to affirmative action, bilingual education, and other issues affecting minorities.

The author of Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation; and her autobiography, An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal; Chavez also writes a weekly syndicated column that appears in newspapers all over the country.

Chavez currently serves as a political analyst for FOX News and regularly appears on television journals such as CNN & Co., The McLaughlin Group, Equal Time and The Newshour With Jim Lehrer.

In 2000, Chavez was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress for her contributions to America’s cultural and historical legacy.

Chavez is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was co-chair of the Council’s Committee on Diversity from 1998-2000. She also serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the Foundation for Teaching Economics and the Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

In 1992, she was elected by the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

The annual Hanify-Howland lecture honors the late Edward F. Hanify, a 1904 graduate of Holy Cross and a Massachusetts Superior Court justice for 15 years, who died in 1954. The series was started by Hanify’s friend, the late Weston Howland of Milton, Mass., a board chairman of Warwick Mills, Inc., who died in 1976.

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Monday, Oct. 20 from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. in the Rehm Library at Holy Cross, filmmaker Shakti Butler will present an interactive video presentation on her groundbreaking documentary The Way Home. The presentation is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

The Way Home, a collection of personal stories revealing the social oppression of more than 20 cultures, includes interviews with 64 women of various ethnic backgrounds. The women talk candidly about issues of sexuality, race, class, and gender. Their stories are rich, engaging, and powerful, and will prompt self-reflection and thought from the audience.

Butler will use the documentary in an effort to get the Holy Cross community talking about issues like racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia, and how they affect the College community.

According to Butler the purpose of the video is to produce dialogue. “No matter what (cultural) seat you’re in, there’s something to be learned.”

Butler is an African-American woman of multiracial heritage, (African, West Indian, and Russian-Jewish). She serves as the executive director of World Trust, a nonprofit educational organization she co-founded in 1987 to help communities address issues of race and culture. Butler is an inspirational facilitator, trainer and lecturer. She holds a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Integral Studies in the School of Transformative Learning and Change.

A pre-lecture on “Race, Class and Gender” will be presented by Professor Mary Hobgood, of the religious studies department, during the Diversity 101 Luncheon from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. in Hogan, Suite A for Holy Cross students. The discussion will be facilitated from a feminist perspective and will address how race, class, and sexual orientation are viewed at Holy Cross. Hobgood will use Butler’s film as the background for her presentation.

This program is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Education, the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Latin American Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Africana Studies.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will hold a series of presentations and workshops by African-American artists during the 2003-2004 academic year. The series has been put in place to provide programming that speaks to the contemporary issues being addressed by three African-American artists: Michael Coblyn, Clarissa Sligh and Deborah Muirhead.

The creative work of these artists examines the history, identity and collective experiences of African-Americans. Many disciplines inform their work including genealogical and historical research; social history; education; and social issues of race, class, and gender. Each of the three artists relates social and historical conditions to their own personal and collective experiences.

Originally conceived by Kiara Upshaw ’04, co-chair of the Black Student Union at Holy Cross, the series will include interdisciplinary talks by the artists. In February, Clarissa Sligh will lead a two-day creative workshop for a small group of minority women.

The series will begin on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. in Stein Hall, room 129, with a presentation by painter Michael Coblyn, who speaks of his work as “social expressionism.” His figurative painting blends social history and current events with his interest in the cultures of Africa and ancient Mexico. Coblyn teaches painting at the University of Massachusetts. His work is widely exhibited. Coblyn’s lecture is free and open to the public.

Clarissa Sligh will visit on February 19, 2004 and Deborah Muirhead will visit on March 18, 2004.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Festival for Cinema of the Deaf will make its Massachusetts debut on Sunday, Oct. 19 at Holy Cross. The Festival, which has toured internationally, will feature a collection of first-rate short films by deaf filmmakers. Each showing will include video screenings and discussions with filmmakers.

The first showing (“A Family Affair”- children friendly) will take place at 12:00 noon in Stein Hall 116 and the second (“Around the World” – some discretion advised) at 6:00 p.m. in Stein Hall 132. Admission is $12 at the door for each five hour program.

“This is an important event because it shows the world that deaf artists are extremely talented,” said Festival co-chair Sheryl Spera, “as well as giving everyone in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community the chance to enjoy a night out at the movies like everyone else.”

With over 25 million deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans unable to understand first-run films in the theater, there has been a growing demand for captioned or subtitled films. The Festival for Cinema of the Deaf, founded by the Chicago Institute for the Moving Image (CIMI), brings films and filmmakers to cities around the world, championing the cause of captioning and accessibility.

“There has been a silent revolution taking place and we want to be in the heart of it” said Tannebaum, referring to the more than a dozen deaf film festivals that have been “inspired” by Chicago’s Festival for Cinema of the Deaf, “We are thrilled to welcome everyone, deaf or hearing, to our festival.”

The shorts playing during the Festival are a mix of dramas, comedies, children’s films, documentaries, and more, and are all made by and/or starring deaf artists from the USA, Japan, England, Canada, Germany and New Zealand, to name only a few. All films are captioned or subtitled in English and many contain American Sign and other signed languages.

This event is co-sponsored by Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf (MSAD), the Chicago Institute for the Moving Image (CIMI), Show of Hands Theater Company of Massachusetts, and VSA Arts of Massachusetts.

Additional screenings will take place at Northeastern University on Saturday, Nov. 1.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross presents Big Idea: The Maquettes of Robert Arneson from Sunday, October 26 through Friday, December 19, 2003. California-based artist Robert Arneson (1930-1992) produced a body of work primarily in ceramics, but also in bronze sculpture and drawing. He is widely known for his monumental self-portraits in clay that use both painting and sculpture, and focus on personal imagery, ranging from self-parody to his personal struggle with cancer.

Curated by Signe Mayfield, curator for the Palo Alto Art Center in California, Big Idea: The Maquettes of Robert Arneson features 80 Arneson maquettes (1964 – 92), several notebook sketches, two full-scale bronze sculptures, six works on paper, and related photo documentation.

The exhibition explores an aspect of the creative process that Arneson employed as a studio practice, namely the clay “sketches” which trace his realization of ideas in clay. The first of its kind ever assembled, this exhibition explores how the artist worked and developed ideas through his small scale maquettes (preliminary models) and drawings which were, in turn, fully realized by the artist into monumental ceramic sculptures. It is also the first exhibition to draw from the artist’s collection of 109 maquettes in terra cotta and glazed ceramics, which he left in his estate.

Arneson consciously set out to bend the rules of a media (ceramics) that was technically challenging yet considered, in America, a “low art” material, and in doing so poked fun at art world assumptions of formalist theory and easy critical classification.

Several afternoon lectures accompany this exhibition. The schedule of events follows:

* Sunday, Oct. 26, 2 – 3 p.m. (Rehm Library, Smith Hall)
Afternoon lecture: Robert Arneson and the Value of the Vernacular by Leo Mazow, Ph.D., Curator of American Art, Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University. Followed by a reception at the Cantor Gallery from 3 – 5 p.m.

* Monday, Oct. 27, 5 – 7 p.m. (O’Kane Hall 495)
Talk: Robert Arneson: A Sculptor’s Perspective, by Joseph Mannino, Carnegie Mellon University. Mannino’s talk will be followed by a reception at the Cantor Gallery from 6 – 7 p.m.

* Monday, Nov. 10, 5 – 6 p.m. (O’Kane Hall 495)
Guest curator talk: by Signe Mayfield, Palo Alto Art Center, Calif.

* Tuesday, Nov. 4 and Thursday, Nov. 20, 12 p.m. (Cantor Art Gallery) Talks held in conjunction with the exhibit: Presented by Roger Hankins, director, Cantor Art Gallery. Hankins studied under Robert Arneson at the University of California, Davis and spent two years working with Arneson under a National Endowment for the Arts Apprenticeship Grant.

The exhibition and accompanying catalogue, Big Idea: The Maquettes of Robert Arneson, are funded in part by grants from the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation; The Christensen Fund, Palo Alto; The Association of Ceramic and Glass Artists, Calif.; California Arts Council, a state agency; the Arts Council Silicon Valley; an anonymous donor in honor of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; John T. Kotelly; the Morgan Flagg Family Foundation; Dominic and Margaret Di Mare, Forrest L. Merrill, and private contributions.

The hours for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery are Monday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Located in O’Kane Hall, 1st Floor, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, Mass., 01610. The gallery will be closed from November 26 – 29 for the Thanksgiving holiday. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.

For additional information please contact the Iris and B. Gerald 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. – The annual Fall Convocation was held at Holy Cross on Tuesday, Sept. 30. The event honored the recipient of the 2003 Holy Cross Distinguished Teaching Award and the recipients of the Rev. Raymond J. Swords, S.J., Faculty Medal.

Newton resident Professor John B. Little III, of the mathematics and computer science department, was this year’s distinguished teacher.

Professor Little has been a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1980. He received his B.A. in mathematics from Haverford College in 1976 and his Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University in 1980.

The Distinguished Teaching Award was established to recognize the dedicated faculty members at the College and carries with it a $1,000 honorarium.

The Rev. Raymond J. Swords, S.J., Faculty Medal, named after the 28th president of the College, was designed to honor members of the faculty who have served at Holy Cross for 25 years. Three members of the Holy Cross faculty were recognized this year. They are: Patricia Bizzell of the English department, Worcester resident; Thomas Cecil of the mathematics and computer science department, Worcester resident; and Judy Chubb of the political science department, Bolton resident.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today announced the names of the 2003 MacArthur Fellows. Among the 24 individuals chosen for this honor are Osvaldo Golijov, associate professor of music at Holy Cross, and alumnus James J. Collins, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University. Each will receive a $500,000 “no strings attached” grant for support of their work over the next five years.

According to the MacArthur Foundation “the Fellows Program is designed to emphasize the importance of the creative individual in society. Fellows are selected for the originality and creativity of their work and the potential to do more in the future. Candidates are nominated, evaluated, and selected through a rigorous and confidential process. No one may apply for the awards, nor are any interviews conducted with the nominees.”

“We are proud to count two members of the Holy Cross family among the recipients of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowships,” says Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of Holy Cross.

“Osvaldo Golijov and Jim Collins exemplify the breadth and depth of opportunity available in a liberal arts education. Brilliant composers and scientists alike are encouraged and shaped by institutions like Holy Cross, dedicated to bringing together outstanding students and gifted faculty to explore fundamental questions.”

Golijov is the world-renowned composer of ” La Pasión Según San Marcos” (The Passion according to St. Mark). In September 2000, Golijov’s “Passion” had its world premiere in Stuttgart, Germany, where it opened to fantastic critical acclaim. In February 2001, his “Passion” had its United States debut at Symphony Hall in Boston, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and the Schola Cantorum de Caracas. An Argentine-born Jew, Golijov was chosen by conductor Helmut Rilling to compose this original work for the 250-year commemoration of Bach’s death. Only three other people on the planet were selected for this honor. His “Passion” stylistically and visually reimagines Bach’s Passions on the streets of Cuba and Brazil.

Golijov earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the winner of the first prize at two Kennedy Center’s Friedheim Awards, in 1993 for “Yiddishbbuk,” and in 1995 for “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind.” Golijov’s music is frequently performed around the world by numerous ensembles and orchestras, including the BSO, the Kronos Quartet, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the London Sinfonietta.

James J. Collins has made a name for himself as one of the most inventive researchers in the field of biomedical engineering. This will come as no surprise to those who knew him as a student at Holy Cross. As an undergraduate, he was a Dana Scholar, a Fenwick Scholar and the winner of the Presidential Service Award. He graduated summa cum laude in 1987 as a physics major and was valedictorian at that year’s commencement. A Rhodes Scholar, he earned a doctoral degree in medical engineering from Oxford University in 1990.

Collins, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, is also co-founder and co-director of the University’s Center for Biodynamics and director of the Applied Biodynamics Laboratory. His research focuses on understanding how biological signals can be either degraded or, counterintuitively, enhanced by noise. Collins has recently applied his understanding of the biophysics of noise to the control of gene networks in living cells.

Collins has published in journals such as Nature, Physical Review Letters, Chaos, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross will hold its third annual Relay for Disaster Relief on Friday, October 3 at 7 p.m. at the Hart Track.

Representatives from the Worcester Fire Department will be in attendance. During the race, they will allow children to climb aboard the fire truck and explore.

Last year more than 400 people took part in this event, raising over $9,700 for the scholarship fund.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Miguel Satut ’72, program director at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will deliver the annual “Thomas More Lecture on Faith, Work and Civic Life” on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library at Holy Cross. The lecture is free and open to the public.

In his role as a program director at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich., Satut helps guide Foundation programming in the areas of youth and education. In addition, he is the lead program director for the Engaging Latino Communities for Education (ENLACE) initiative, a six-year, $28 million effort by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to strengthen the educational pathways and increase opportunities for Latinos to enter and complete college.

Satut began his professional career as a teacher and administrator with the Boston Public Schools. Since then he has held senior leadership positions at several prominent organizations. He was vice president for the Kresge Foundation in Troy, Mich.; president of the Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts, Inc.; and president of Oficina Hispana, Boston, Mass.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was founded in 1930 by cereal industry giant and world renowned philanthropist, Will Keith Kellogg. Since its beginning the Foundation has continuously focused on building the capacity of individuals, communities, and institutions to solve their own problems.

The Thomas More Lecture honors a Holy Cross graduate who exemplifies the College’s dedication to the integration of faith and learning. It is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.