News

WORCESTER, Mass. – Female student volunteers at the College of the Holy Cross will be running “Fit Girls Camp: Strengthening Self-esteem, Friendships and Muscles Through Sports” from 4 – 6 p.m. on Monday, April 28 – Friday, May 2 for girls in fourth through sixth grades. Run in cooperation with Girls Inc. of Worcester, the program is designed to teach young girls about body image and fitness, while exposing them to a variety of sports.

Each day of camp will begin with an “ice breaker” game, followed by instruction and scrimmages in specific sports. Members of female athletic teams will lead a day of their respective sport. The schedule of events is as follows:

* Monday, April 28 – Basketball, Hart Gym
* Tuesday, April 29 – Soccer, Hart Field
* Wednesday, April 30 – Field Hockey, Hart Turf
* Thursday, May 1 – Hip Hop Dancing, Smith Wellness

On Friday, May 2, the Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorder (N.E.E.D.) Peer Educators and psychologist Betsy Cracco, of the counseling center, will present a workshop on body image and nutrition from 4 – 6 p.m. in Smith Hall, room 201.

The workshop will include discussion on the ways in which young girls have observed and experienced judgement about their bodies. Participants will offer their own stories and listen to the stories of the N.E.E.D. Peer Educators. They will also examine popular magazines aimed at young girls and discuss the messages being sent about body image and appearance.

The final segment of the workshop will include a body tracing exercise. Through a series of guided questions, the girls will construct life-size self-portraits, which will symbolize the ways in which their bodies are healthy and functional for them.

Camp will end with a small celebration. Each participant will receive a T-shirt, a “Celebrate Girls” magnet, and a free copy of New Moon Magazine, a magazine produced by girls for girls.

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Tuesday, April 22 the Holy Cross community will participate in the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) Child Abuse Prevention Day – Blue Ribbon Campaign, a statewide effort to educate the public about the prevalence of child abuse and neglect.

Holy Cross students have planned the following events on campus:

* Information tables will be set up in the main lobby of the Hogan Campus Center from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and in Kimball Dining Hall from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. “Tip cards” with information on how to respond to child abuse in public will be distributed.

* Blue ribbons will be distributed throughout the day in Kimball Dining Hall and Hogan Campus Center. Each blue ribbon handed out will represent one of the over 103,000 Massachusetts children who was abused or neglected during the past year.

* As part of the MSPCC “Making Change for Kids” campaign, containers for change will be located in the lobby shop, bookstore, cafeteria and coffee shop. Money collected will benefit MSPCC child abuse prevention and treatment programs.

* Table tents and posters with information on child abuse will be located throughout campus.

The day’s events are sponsored by Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD).

For additional information contact the Chaplains’ Office at 508.793.2448.

WORCESTER, Mass. – As part of Earth Day celebrations at Holy Cross, students enrolled in an environmental mathematics course will be presenting research project results during a poster session in the Swords Hall Atrium on Wednesday, April 23 from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

The course examined quantitative aspects of global warming, ground water contamination and air pollution. Research projects span a variety of topics, each addressing an important environmental issue and focusing on quantitative analysis.

The environmental studies program at Holy Cross is a multidisciplinary, student-designed minor run through the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies. The aim of environmental studies is to allow students to assemble a series of courses that bridge two or more disciplines and that provides a comprehensive understanding of environmental issues.

For additional information contact Catherine A. Roberts of the mathematics and computer science department at 508.793.2456.

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Wednesday, April 30 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library at Holy Cross, Notre Dame historian John McGreevy will present a lecture titled “The Eliot School Rebellion, Boston 1859: Education, Slavery and the Nineteenth Century Catholic Revival.” The lecture is free and open to the public.

McGreevy’s lecture will focus on the little known story of Catholic schoolchildren rebelling against their Protestant teachers in Boston’s Eliot School, and how the incident shed light on the simultaneous debate over slavery. The talk is taken from McGreevy’s new study, Catholicism and American Freedom: A History, which traces the relationship between Catholicism and American liberalism from the mid-19th century to the present.

McGreevy is the John A. O’Brien Associate Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. His previous book, Parish Boundaries, won the John Gilmary Shea Prize of the American Catholic Historical Association. His next book, Catholicism and American Freedom: A History, is due out in May.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture and the history department.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The following Holy Cross seniors recently received prestigious Fulbright awards to teach and conduct research in foreign countries upon their graduation from Holy Cross:

Mary Colasuonno, a political science major with a concentration in Asian studies, has been awarded a teaching assistantship in Taiwan. She will be teaching Chinese to elementary school children, taking graduate level Chinese classes and conducting her own independent research on English education in China. A resident of Staten Island, N.Y., Colasuonno began her research last year while studying abroad in Beijing. While at Holy Cross, she has participated in the Appalachia Spring Break Service Project and the Jamaica Immersion Program. A member of the Dean’s list, Colasuonno was also a Watson Fellowship finalist.

Amanda Corbett, a German major from Winchester, Mass., has been awarded a teaching assistantship in Austria. She will be teaching English to students in an Austrian high school. A member of the German National Honor Society and vice president of the Holy Cross German Club, Corbett studied in Vienna during the 2001-2002 academic year. Corbett is also president of the Purple Key Society, a tour guide, a lector and a singer in the Holy Cross all female a cappella group, the Delilahs.

Michael Kenny, a double major in political science and religious studies with a concentration in Asian studies will travel to Sri Lanka to conduct research on “The Buddha’s Great Medicine.” He will investigate the contemporary application of the Buddha’s teachings to Sri Lankan social suffering, focusing on how they are used outside of a monastic setting to help alleviate poverty, political violence and psychiatric disorders. A resident of Highland, NY, Kenny is the founder and president of the Holy Cross Meditation Society.

Kathleen Kerigan, a philosophy major from Big Flats, NY, will travel to Indonesia to study political and military philosophy. Kerigan is a member of the College’s division one soccer team. Her volunteer activities include teaching English to Vietnamese children, giving snowboarding lessons to underprivileged youth and preparing dinner for residents at a local shelter. A member of the Philosophy National Honor Society, Phi Sigma Tau, Kerigan was also recently accepted to the South East Summer Study Institute for intensive Indonesian language at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Melissa Schroeder, a psychology major with a minor in German, has been awarded a teaching assistantship in Austria. She will be teaching English to Austrian students. A resident of Queens, NY, she is a member of the women’s varsity crew team and the German Honor Society, Delta Phi Alpha.

Julie Colotti has also received a Fulbright teaching assistantship in Germany. 

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Monday, April 28 from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., the College of the Holy Cross will present “Cochlear Implantation – How? Why? Results!” in room 320 of the Hogan Campus Center.

Speakers for the event include Dr. Daniel Lee, director of otology and neurotology and medical director of the cochlear implant program at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass.; and Sarah Poissant, clinical research director at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center.

This lecture is being sponsored by the Deaf Studies program at the College of the Holy Cross and the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Mass.

Please R.S.V.P. to Barbara Manning, director of program information and parent support facilitator at Clarke School for the Deaf – Center for Oral Education at bmanning@clarkeschool.org or 413.582.1151.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross College Choir will present a free concert on Friday, April 25 at 8 p.m. in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel.

A very timely event, the concert will feature Haydn’s “Mass in Time of War,” “The Unanswered Question” by Charles Ives, the “Kyrie” from Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor, K. 427, and “For the Fallen” by Edward Elgar.

Soloists will include soprano Kristen Plumley ’87, who now sings principal roles with the New York City Opera. In her first season at New York City Opera, Plumley performed various roles in “Central Park,” “Platee,” and “Die Tote Stadt.” Recent performances include her debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Virginia Opera, and her debut with Opera Francais de New York as the Sultan of Egypt in Gluck’s premiere of “Improvised Performance.” A two-time recipient of the Connecticut Opera Guild Scholarship Competition, she is also the recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant.

Other featured soloists include mezzo soprano Rebecca O’Brien ’81, baritone Dana Whiteside ’88, and tenor Ray Bauwens. Professor Bruce Miller, director of the College Choir, will conduct.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The second annual Condé Nast Lecture on Media, Ethics and Values will be presented at Holy Cross on Wednesday, April 9 at 8 p.m. in the Rehm Library. The discussion is free and open to the public.

The lecture will feature a distinguished panel of journalists who will address the topic, “Media Coverage of the Crisis in the Church: Three Views.” Panel participants include Walter Robinson, lead investigative reporter, Globe Spotlight Team, The Boston Globe; Peter Steinfels, New York Times columnist; and Joseph Bergantino ’73, investigative reporter, WBZ-TV, Boston.

This lecture series is made possible by a gift from The Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Condé Nast publishes numerous magazines including The New Yorker, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit and Gourmet. Condé Nast Publications’ mission stresses its commitment “to journalistic integrity, influential reporting and superior design.”

WORCESTER, Mass. – Contemporary rock band Third Eye Blind will play this year’s Spring Weekend Concert at Holy Cross on Tuesday, April 29. The concert will take place in the Hart Center. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $12 for Holy Cross students with an ID (limit two tickets per student), $18 for students in the Worcester Consortium and $20 for the general public. They are available at the Holy Cross Bookstore.

Based in the Bay Area of San Francisco, Calif., contemporary rock band Third Eye Blind made their debut in 1997 with the release of their self-titled album. The band quickly reached multiplatinum success, selling over six million copies of the album that featured some of the most popular songs of the late 90s, including “Semi-Charmed Life,” “Graduate,” “How’s It Going To Be”, “Losing A Whole Year” and “Jumper.” In 1999, the quartet released the highly anticipated album “Blue,” featuring the hit “Never Let you Go.”

Third Eye Blind has performed concerts around the world. Their third album, “Out of the Vein,” is due out in May.

This concert is sponsored by the Campus Activities Board (CAB).

WORCESTER, Mass. – Escaped Sudanese slave Francis Bok will speak at the College of the Holy Cross on Wednesday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center, room 401. The event is free and open to the public.

Bok will speak about the horrors of slavery from his personal experience. In 1986, when he was just seven years old, he was abducted during a violent slave raid on his village in southern Sudan. For ten years, he endured the life of a slave, sleeping outside with cattle, eating rotten food, and being subjected to daily beatings.

Since his escape, he has dedicated his life to speaking on behalf of those who are still in bondage. “What good is my freedom if my brothers and sisters around the world are still not free?” he says.

Bok has spoken out against slavery at college campuses across the country. He has been profiled on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and was featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” In 2001, he carried the Winter Olympic Torch on its national relay tour – and in 2002, he was invited to the White House for the Sudan Peace Act signing ceremony.

While most Americans believe that slavery ended in 1865, the reality is that an estimated 27 million people worldwide are still enslaved today – more than at any other point in history. Modern-day slavery is defined as “forced labor without pay under the threat of violence.” Contemporary slavery includes debt bondage, chattel, and sex slavery.

This lecture is sponsored by Amnesty International, the Black Student Union, the Model U.N. and the College’s Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross presents “Works from the Senior Concentration Seminar,” from Monday, April 28 through Friday, May 23. An opening reception for this exhibition and the artists will be held on Monday, April 28, from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Cantor Art Gallery.

Each spring semester the Cantor Art Gallery mounts its annual exhibition of work by graduating seniors enrolled in the Studio Concentration Seminar. The year-long course, offered by the studio art faculty, is designed to expose students to the demands and rewards of professional studio practice and to develop a personal working knowledge of the creative process. The course culminates with the professional level exhibition in the Cantor Art Gallery. The exhibiting artists include: Carissa Bennett, Megan Cassista, Julie Colotti, Kelly Florio, Ruby Liu, Anne Matuskowitz, Allison Small, Whitney Smith, Richard Thorne, and Marisa Varriale.

Student presentations in conjunction with the exhibition will be held at the Cantor Art Gallery on Wednesday, April 30, at 12 noon – and again at 5:00 p.m.

The hours for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery are Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Saturday, 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Located in O’Kane Hall, 1st Floor, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, Mass., 01610. Admission to the gallery is free.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross Students to Participate in National Alcohol Screening Day

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Thursday, April 10, Holy Cross will join over 2,000 campus and community locations across the country in National Alcohol Screening Day. The theme of this year’s National Alcohol Screening Day is: “Alcohol and your health – Where do you draw the line?” Screenings for students will take place from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center 1st Floor Lobby.

Students participating in National Alcohol Screening Day will watch an educational presentation and fill out a brief anonymous survey. They will then have the opportunity to meet with a healthcare professional to review their answers. Referrals for further evaluation will be provided when appropriate.

National Alcohol Screening Day addresses a variety of drinking behaviors including risky drinking and alcohol dependence. The event is designed to raise public awareness about the consequences of drinking, including alcohol’s effect on a person’s general health and its role in specific medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.

This event is sponsored by Wellness Programming, the Counseling Center and Health Services.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Nearly 300 Holy Cross students, alumni, faculty and staff will take part in the sixth annual “Holy Cross Cares Day” on Saturday, April 5.

Showing their appreciation for the Worcester community, participants will spend the day performing service-oriented activities, such as painting at several Worcester community centers, raking vacant lots and putting up fences.

The day begins at 9:30 a.m., with breakfast and brief remarks by Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., Holy Cross president. The keynote speaker for this year’s event is Ben Ticho. Ticho, a 1968 graduate of Holy Cross, is the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Worcester County, Inc.

At 11:00 a.m., buses will transport participants to numerous sites around the city. Participants will work all day and return to Holy Cross shortly after 2 p.m. for lunch. Two Holy Cross bands, Flip 55 and The Nine, will provide music for the community picnic.

Among the sites slated to be part of “Holy Cross Cares Day” are: Worcester School for the Performing Arts, the Mustard Seed, Kids Café, St. Stephen’s Church, and Assumption School.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Psychologist Robert Jay Lifton will present a lecture titled “Terrorism and War: Struggles with Apocalyptic Violence,” on Tuesday, April 8 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Robert Jay Lifton is a visiting professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance. Until recently he was Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at The City University of New York. He had previously held the Foundations’ Fund Research Professorship of Psychiatry at Yale University for more than two decades.

Lifton’s research interests include the relationship between individual psychology and historical change, and problems surrounding the extreme historical situations of our era. Since 1995, he has been conducting psychological research on the problem of apocalyptic violence, focusing on Aum Shinrikyo, the extremist Japanese cult that released poison gas in Tokyo subways. His book Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism was published by Metropolitan Books in October 1999.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Lifton has been studying Islamist apocalyptic violence and American responses to the Sept. 11 attacks, including their own apocalyptic tendencies.

Lifton has published numerous books including Hiroshima in America: Fifty Years of Denial (Putnam and Avon Books, 1995), The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation (Basic Books, 1993), The Genocidal Mentality: Nazi Holocaust and Nuclear Threat (Basic Books, 1990), The Future of Immortality: And Other Essays for a Nuclear Age (Basic Books, 1987), The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide (Basic Books, 1986), and Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima (University of North Carolina Press, 1991).

This lecture is part of the Deitchman Family Lecture in Religion and Modernity series and is sponsored by the College’s Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The 32nd annual Classics Day will be held on Thursday, April 10, at the College of the Holy Cross. Approximately 500 high school students from the greater Worcester area, as well as Rhode Island and New Hampshire, will be attending the event to become acquainted with the Holy Cross Classics department, its faculty and current students, and to participate in a variety of activities relating to the study of Roman culture.

The schedule of events is as follows:

9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.: Welcoming Address, Hogan Campus Center Ballroom.

9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: “What Makes Herakles a Hero?” Lecture by Professor Mary Ebbot of the Holy Cross Classics department, Hogan Campus Center Ballroom.

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: Upper and Lower Division Certamen, Hogan Campus Center Ballroom. Certamen is Latin for “competition.” Student teams will compete College Bowl style, answering questions concerning Roman history, mythology, culture and the Latin language.

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: Costume Contest, Hogan Campus Center Ballroom.

11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Chariot Races, Hart Center. Student teams build their own chariots. Each team consists of one rider and one “horse.”

12 p.m. – 1 p.m.: Lunch

1 p.m. – 2 p.m.: Final Round Certamen, Hogan Campus Center Ballroom.

2 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.: Awards Presentation, Hogan Campus Center Ballroom