News

WORCESTER, Mass. – The art exhibition, “Nine Works by Members of the Studio Concentration Seminar,” will open on Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m., in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery in O’Kane Hall at Holy Cross. The exhibition will run until Friday, May 14. Special hours for Baccalaureate and Commencement on May 27-28 will be announced.

The concentration seminar is designed as the capstone experience for the studio art major. This exhibition is its thesis project. The course, taught by Robert ParkeHarrison, an assistant professor in the visual arts department at Holy Cross, combines intensive studio work, frequent critiques, and the development of an artist’s statement.

The students, all members of the Class of 1999 at Holy Cross, are: Lauren Alesso, Daniel Dancause, Danikka Dillon, Richard W. Oliver II, Anthony Serhan, Edward Steinemann, Mark Eskander, Kathryn Grogan, and Melchiorra Mangiaracina.

There will be a roundtable gallery talk on Wednesday, May 5, at 1 p.m., in the Cantor Art Gallery during which the students will discuss their work and their development as visual thinkers.

Admission is free and open to the public.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The second annual Sanctae Crucis Awards will be presented to five individuals at the Holy Cross Board of Trustees’ dinner on April 30.  The award is the highest non-degree recognition bestowed by the College on an alumnus or alumna.

The awards are presented in three categories. For Distinguished Professional Achievement, the recipients are Vincent Andriole, MD ’53 and Kevin J. Collins ’61.

Andriole, of Stratford, Conn., is recognized as one of the top experts in the world in the area of infectious diseases.  He is a professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, serves on numerous national committees and is a frequent lecturer.  Most recently, he was honored with delivering the Garrod Lecture in England.  The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy chooses a person who has made a significant contribution in that field.  Andriole is only the third American to ever receive this honor.

Kevin Collins, of Saddle River, N.J., retired as managing director of the First Boston Corporation.  In that capacity he served as an allied member of the New York Stock Exchange.  Collins is recognized for his expertise in the areas of environmental finance and historic preservation.  He has served on countless commissions and boards, locally and nationally.  An alumnus of Rutgers University Law School, he is a former chair of Rutgers’ Board of Trustees and current chair of the school’s budget and finance committee.  In addition, Collins is a past president of the Holy Cross General Alumni Association and a member of the Varsity Club board of directors.

In the area of Outstanding Community Service, the College will honor Kevin T. Avery, DMD ’65 and William H. Farley ’58.

Avery, of Oklahoma City, Okla., is a professor of dental services administration and assistant dean for student affairs at the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry.  He has served as a consultant to Head Start programs for 15 years and the U.S. Job Corps for 20 years.  He is deeply involved in issues relating to dental care for migrant workers and their children, institutionalized populations, preschool children in day care and nursing home populations.   Avery established the Native American Center of Excellence in 1993.  His efforts on behalf of Native Americans have resulted in the College of Dentistry receiving a federal grant for a fellowship for a Native American faculty member.

William Farley, of Simsbury, Conn., is very involved in his community in the greater Hartford area.  He has served numerous organizations including the House of Bread, where he was president of the board of directors and a founding member.  He oversaw the growth of the organization from a morning soup kitchen to a Christian outreach program that includes men’s and women’s shelters, full-time residential facilities, full-time soup kitchen and more. In addition to involvement in many other service organizations, Farley founded and chaired the Hartford Prayer Breakfast.  Just recently, the group held an interfaith event that brought together more than 700 people in the Hartford area.

Farley founded the Farley Company, a successful commercial real estate firm, in 1968.  The firm has since merged with Whittier Partners of Boston and CB Richard Ellis, the world leader in commercial real estate.   He has been honored with numerous awards in his professional life and for his community service.

This year’s Outstanding Young Alumnus/Alumna is Erin Kemple ’81 of Springfield, Mass.  Kemple is the executive director and co-founder of the Housing Discrimination Project of Holyoke, Mass.  The private fair housing organization serves central and western Massachusetts.

In addition to overseeing the organization and raising funding for its operations, Kemple trains realtors and lawyers on fair housing laws.  She is a member of a fair housing working group of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, advising the federal agency on fair housing issues.

Following her graduation from Suffolk University Law School, for 11 years Kemple served as a staff attorney at Western Massachusetts Legal Services in Springfield.  She litigated cases in the areas of landlord-tenant law, housing discrimination, and the rights of mortgagors.  She handled a state-wide class action which caused the Secretary of Health and Human Services to change national AFDC policy regarding caretaker relatives of foster care children.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Ann Flynn, director of the counseling center at Holy Cross, will be honored by the NEED (Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorder Program) Peer Educators during a tree planting ceremony on Tuesday, April 27 at 5:15 p.m., at the corner of Linden Lane and Kimball Road on the Holy Cross campus.  Flynn is retiring this year after 25 years of service to the College.

Flynn is known, both at Holy Cross and in the greater Worcester community, for her commitment to advancing awareness of social justice and equity for women.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Robert ParkeHarrison, an assistant professor in the visual arts department at Holy Cross, was recently named a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  This most prestigious fellowship carries with it a $33,000 award.

ParkeHarrison is one of the 179 fellowship winners selected in the United States and Canada out of a pool of 2,785 applicants.

Earlier this month, ParkeHarrison was one of only two Americans selected to participate in the Tokyo Biennale at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.  He will show his work in two upcoming group exhibitions, Eleven Artists Eleven Visions at the DeCordova Museum in Concord, Mass., and Three Generations at the Spiva Art Center in Joplin, Mo.  He also has been chosen to have solo exhibitions at both the Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque, N.M., and the Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York, N.Y.

A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1995, ParkeHarrison earned his bachelors of fine arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute and his master of fine arts degree from the University of New Mexico.  He resides in Worcester with his wife and daughter.

The Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1925 by U.S. Sen. Simon Guggenheim and his wife as a memorial to a son who died in 1922.  The foundation offers fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by helping them engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Harlem Wizards, a professional entertainment basketball team, will play the Holy Cross All Star Faculty/Staff team on Friday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m., in the Hart Center gym.  Sponsored by the Campus Activities Board, admission is free and open to the public.

Currently in their 37th season, the Harlem Wizards are second only to the Harlem Globetrotters and teams in the NBA in terms of yearly attendance and longevity.  The team, which includes former college stars as well as former members of the NBA, features highly competitive basketball, theatrical entertainment, and comedy routines to entertain their audiences.

Founded in 1962 by Howis Davis, a New York-based sports promoter, the team is currently run by his son, Todd Davis.  Since their first season, the Wizards have traveled over five continents.

The Holy Cross All Star team, coached by Acting President Frank Vellaccio and Jacqueline D. Peterson, vice president of student affairs, includes members of the faculty and staff.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Three Holy Cross students have received awards in national competitions that will permit them to continue their studies after graduation.  They are:

Alexandra McGowan, a member of the Class of 1999, who has received a $10,000 scholarship from the St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York to spend a year at a Scottish university.  She will attend St. Andrews University, where she will study Scottish literature and history and Scots-Gaelic.  This is a continuation of her study of the Irish language during her Junior Year Abroad experience last year at the University of Galway, Ireland.

Terra Potocky, also a member of the Class of 1999, has received a Fulbright research award to pursue organic chemistry at the University of Tromsø, Norway with Dr. Kristina Luthman.  She will apply approaches she developed while working on her fourth-year project with Professor Tim Curran of the Holy Cross chemistry department.

Marisa Tarantini, a member of the Class of 2000, won a Beinecke Brothers Memorial Scholarship to complete her Holy Cross degree in music and studio.  The scholarship will then allow her to undertake graduate study leading to a Ph.D. in musicology.  This $32,000 scholarship is one of just 20 awarded nationwide to juniors nominated from 82 schools.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Bruce I. Miller, a member of the music department at Holy Cross, and Helga J. Perry, a Gilbert and Sullivan scholar from England, have discovered the song, “Reflect, My Child,” which was originally part of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore. An announcement about this discovery, which involves one of the most important and well known Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, will be made today at the 10th annual Interdisciplinary Conference of the Society for Textual Scholarship in New York City. Miller, a member of the editorial board of the Broude Brothers Limited Critical Edition of Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, called Perry last summer looking for information concerning various editorial problems in H.M.S. Pinafore and mentioned a lost song which was believed to have once existed. He asked if she had found any evidence in orchestra parts, to which she had access, of its existence. After further research, they discovered that most of the orchestration for this song had survived, including parts for the violins, violas, cellos, string bass, flutes, clarinets, and French horns. Using the words, which had survived at the British Library, in conjunction with the newly discovered orchestration, Miller and Perry were able to complete a conjectural reconstruction, which was recently recorded by two Holy Cross graduates, Nicole Bard ’96 and Jonathan Mack ’97. The official world premier with the full orchestration will be this July at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England. “We are excited about this discovery,” says Miller. “The survival of this number was not expected. It has been decades since a Gilbert and Sullivan discovery of this magnitude has occurred.”

WORCESTER, Mass. – Bethany Collier, a member of the Holy Cross Class of 2000, from Pittsfield, Maine, has been selected as the 1999-2000 Fenwick Scholar.  This is the highest academic honor bestowed on a student at Holy Cross.

Students selected as Fenwick Scholars design a program of independent study and research, with the consultation of one or more faculty members, to be conducted during their fourth year at Holy Cross.  At the end of the academic year, the Fenwick Scholar makes a public presentation to showcase the project.

Collier’s project is entitled “Exploring Vocal Styles in Balinese Music: A Study of Music as Culture.”  Recognizing a significant gap in the ethnomusical study of Balinese music, she will focus her research on vocal styles and the interaction between voice and instruments in Indonesian gamelan music.

A music major, she plans to travel to Bali this summer to interview performance artists and village spectators about the functions of various vocal styles in ceremony and song, carefully observing temple ceremonies and instrumental technique.

Her research will culminate with the production of an enhanced compact disc, the writing of a thesis, and the presentation of her research in Spring 2000.

The award is named in honor of the late Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick, S.J., the founder of Holy Cross.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The 1998-1999 Fenwick Scholars, Jaime Grande and Jessica Parker, both members of the Holy Cross Class of 1999, will present their projects culminating a year of research.  The Fenwick Scholar is the highest academic award bestowed by the College on a student.

Students selected as Fenwick Scholars design a program of independent study and research, with the consultation of one or more faculty members, and conduct it during their fourth year at Holy Cross.  The program began in 1966.

The schedule is as follows:

April 29-30 at 7 p.m. and May 1 at 2 p.m. – Grande, a double major in Spanish and music with a concentration in Latin American Studies, will present a dramatic work entitled “Baskets of Palm,” in the Pit Theatre, Room 037 of O’Kane Hall.  To reserve tickets contact the Alternate College Theatre box office at 508/793-3536.

Two years ago, she traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico with the Chaplains’ Office Mexico Program, where she was greatly affected by her experiences with the poor and the words of wisdom they shared.  She returned last summer to tape interviews with some of the people she met.  Upon her return, she translated these interviews and set them as text for a dramatic work that features her own musical compositions.  In addition, she has directed a cast of 15 to bring her words and music to the stage.

Monday, May 3 at 4 p.m. – Parker, a double major in mathematics and chemistry, will present “An Experimental and Theoretical Study of Interfaces Utilizing In-Situ Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Molecular Dynamics Simulations” in the Browsing Room of the Dinand Library.

“To fully understand the role of absorbed molecules in electro-chemical reactions, we are studying the relationship between the local surface structure and the reactivity of organic molecules on electrode surfaces,” says Parker.  “Knowledge of such structure-activity relationships is required for the systematic design of electrochemical interfaces tailored to applications including corrosion inhibition and sensor development.”

WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross has planned the following events in April to celebrate Asian Heritage Month.  Sponsored by ASIA (Asian Students for International Awareness), Asian Studies, MECCA (Muslim Endeavor to Create Cultural Awareness), Women’s Forum, and the department of religious studies, all events are free and open to the public.

The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, April 10 at 9:30 a.m. – Rev. Robert Kennedy, S.J., will conduct a Zen meditation workshop entitled “A Catholic Encounter with Zen Buddhism,” in Suites B-C in the Hogan Campus Center.  Kennedy is the author of Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit: New York Continunum 1995.

Sunday, April 11 at 1 p.m. – The Joy Luck Club will be shown in Crossroads, located in the basement of the Hogan Campus Center.

Wednesday, April 14 at 4 p.m. – Professor John Esposito will give a lecture entitled “Muslim-Christian Relations: Clash or Dialogue” in Room 514 of the Hogan Campus Center.  Esposito, a professor at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, is the author of Islam: The Straight Path, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality, and Islam and Politics.

Thursday, April 15 at 8 p.m. – Martial arts demonstration in Room 401 of the Hogan Campus Center.

Monday, April 19 at 9:30 a.m. – Out Loud V will feature the reading of Maxine Hong Kingston’s Woman Warrior, in Cool Beans in the first-floor lobby of the Hogan Campus Center.  Out Loud is a literary reading series sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honors Society.

Monday, April 26 at 7 p.m. – A panel discussion entitled “Asian Women in Higher Education,” in Room 519 of the Hogan Campus Center.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Christopher Merrill, a poet, essayist, journalist and college professor, is an articulate and well-traveled expert on the situation in Kosovo.  He is available for media interviews about the current crisis.

Merrill holds the William Jenks Chair in Contemporary American Letters at Holy Cross. He is the author of The Old Bridge: The Third Balkan War and the Age of the Refugee.   In addition, his book, Only the Nails Remain: A Balkan Triptych, will be published in the fall.

He has gained a reputation as an expert on the Balkans, after writing extensively about his experiences in those countries during the past four years.  He argues that the time to have acted against the Serbian military was last February when Slobodan Milosevic first cracked down on the Kosovo Liberation Army.  Merrill urges NATO to stay the course, “which may mean introducing ground troops sooner rather than later – unless we are prepared to allow the wholesale slaughter of Albanians.”

WORCESTER, Mass. – John F. Smith, Jr., chairman of the board and chief executive officer of General Motors Corporation, will deliver the principal address and receive an honorary degree at the 153rd commencement exercises at the College of the Holy Cross on Friday, May 28.

Holy Cross will graduate 655 men and women during the ceremony, beginning at 10:30 a.m. at Fitton Field.  In case of rain, the commencement exercises will be held in the Hart Recreation Center.

Smith, who was born in Worcester, has been CEO of GM since 1992, and became chairman in 1996.  He joined the company in 1961 at the Fisher Body facility in Framingham, Mass.  He earned his bachelor of business administration at the University of Massachusetts and an MBA at Boston University.

The following individuals will also receive honorary degrees:

Professor Peter L. Berger, is director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture at Boston University.  A well-known sociologist, Berger is the author of numerous books including Redeeming Laughter (1997), and A Far Glory: The Quest for Faith in an Age of Credulity (1992).

Charles E.F. Millard, is former chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York.  Millard has a long and distinguished record of service to Holy Cross.  He is a trustee of the College and has served as national chairman of the Holy Cross Fund, chairman of President’s Council, and chairman of the Campaign for Holy Cross.  Millard, a 1954 graduate of the College, and his wife, Marylou, are the parents of eight children, all of whom are graduates of Holy Cross.

Rev. John W. O’Malley, S.J., is professor of church history at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology.  Fr. O’Malley has written extensively and is the editor of The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the Arts, 1540-1773 (in press, 1999).  In addition, he authored The First Jesuits (1993) which earned awards from the American Philosophical Society and the American Society of Church History.

Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., is a well-known member of the death penalty abolition movement and the critically acclaimed author of Dead Man Walking, the inspiration for the 1994 movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.  A member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille since 1957, she has served as a teacher, religious educator, and formation director for her community.  Currently, she continues her ministry to death row inmates and murder victims’ families and is working on a book about women’s struggles for equality in the Roman Catholic Church.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross theatre department will present William Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well April 15-17 and 22-24, at 8 p.m., in the Fenwick Theatre in O’Kane Hall at Holy Cross.

The play is directed by Edward Isser, associate professor in the Holy Cross theatre department and award-winning director of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure performed at Holy Cross in November 1996.  The choreographer for the production is Daniel McCusker, who teaches dance in the theatre department at Holy Cross.

All’s Well That Ends Well is a bittersweet fairy tale in which Helena, a young woman of modest status, is in love with a nobleman named Bertram.  Helena risks her life, sacrifices her pride, and undergoes a series of trials in pursuit of his affection.  In the end, as the title suggests, the relationship works out, but on Helena’s terms as she grows from a naive young girl into a mature, self-assured woman.  Bertram, as well as the audience, learns that class differences and outward appearances can often hide the true beauty and worth of individuals.

Tickets for members of the Holy Cross community are $7 and $10 for general admission.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Patricia Hill Collins, the Charles Phelps Taft Professor of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati, will give a lecture entitled “Black Feminism Revisited: Issues and Challenges,” on Monday, April 12, at 4 p.m., in Room 519 of the Hogan Campus Center at Holy Cross.

This is the fifth annual Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies (CISS) Forum Lecture, which was created to address current issues facing institutions of higher education.

While Collins’ expertise includes the sociology of knowledge, organizational theory, social stratification, and work and occupations, she has primarily focused her studies on issues of gender, race, and social class, specifically relating to African-American women.

She is the award-winning author of Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Political Empowerment, Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology, and Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Social Justice.

She has taught at several institutions, held editorial positions with professional journals, lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, served in professional organizations, and acted as a consultant for a number of businesses and community organizations.  Currently, she is working on a book-length manuscript entitled Reproducing Race, Reproducing Nation: African-American Women and the Politics of Motherhood.

She earned her bachelor’s degree and doctorate from Brandeis University and her master’s of teaching from Harvard University.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Spring Forum on War and Peace, entitled “Making the Connection, Holy Cross and Latin American Studies, Why Should We Care?” will take place on Tuesday, March 30, at 7 p.m., in Room 305 of the Hogan Campus Center.

Panelists will include Santiago Villaveces-Isquierdo, a visiting assistant professor in the anthropology department; James Nickoloff, an associate professor in the department of religious studies at Holy Cross; and Alexis Lyon, a member of the Class of 2000.  The moderator will be Katie Eagen of the Class of 1999.

Sponsored by the Peace and Conflict Studies Program in conjunction with the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies (CISS) and the Latin American Studies Program, admission is free and open to the public.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Talujon Percussion Quartet, a four-member drum ensemble that performs classic and new music using both traditional and non-traditional instruments, will perform on Friday, April 9, at 8 p.m., in the Brooks Concert Hall at Holy Cross.  Admission to this event, which is sponsored by the Holy Cross Chamber Players, is free and open to the public.

Talujon was created to explore and expand upon the contemporary percussion repertoire.  Its performances of percussion “classics,” music of new and emerging composers, and group composers feature many instruments ranging from the traditional percussion family, non-Western instruments, and a variety of found and homemade instruments.

The group has been awarded numerous grants for the commissioning, performing, and recording of new works.  Recent grants include The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, CMA Commissioning Music/USA Grant for Wayne Peterson and The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust Commissioning Grant for Julia Wolfe.

Talujon is currently recording its second CD, which will feature the group’s own compositions as well as the music of Lou Harrison, Frederic Rzewski, Ralph Shapely, and Iannis Xenakis.  Talujon’s first CD, Hum, includes the music of John Cage, Dean Drummond, Paul Guerguerian, Steve Reisch as well as its own works.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Approximately 600 members of the Holy Cross community, including students, alumni, faculty and staff, will participate in the second annual Holy Cross Cares Day on Saturday, March 27.  The day begins at 9:45 a.m. in the Fieldhouse at Holy Cross and will end there with a barbecue at 4 p.m.  U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern will attend the barbecue and meet with volunteers.

Volunteers will be working at 35 sites in Worcester, including local community centers, homeless shelters, churches, and schools.  Some of the planned work includes the painting of picnic tables and building of a picket fence at the Mustard Seed, cleaning at Girls Inc. and St. Stephen’s Church, and painting classrooms at area schools.

This one-day outreach program is being coordinated by Kristen Adrien, Kathy Cosgrove, and Matt McDonough, all members of the Class of 1999.

This project was created to encourage the development of community service opportunities in the Worcester community for Holy Cross students, alumni, faculty and staff.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Rusted Root will perform at the annual Spring Weekend concert on Monday, May 3, at 8 p.m., in the Hart Center at Holy Cross.

Tickets, which will go on sale on Thursday, March 25, are $15 for members of the Holy Cross community and students in the Worcester Consortium and $18 for general admission.  Tickets may be purchased from the Holy Cross Bookstore or at any Strawberries Music Store location.

Rusted Root, considered by many to be one of the most powerful soul music forces to emerge in the 1990s, is made up of Liz Berlin on back-up vocals, percussion, and violin; Michael Glabicki on lead vocals, guitar, and mandolin; Patrick Norman on bass guitar, percussion, and background vocals; John Buynak on guitar, percussion, flute, and mandolin; Jim DiSpirito on percussion and the hand drummer; and Jim Donovan on drums, background vocals, and guitar.

Rusted Root has released several albums, including Cruel Sun, When I Woke, Evil Ways, Live, Remember, and Rusted Root, released in November 1998.

Those who attend the concert are asked to bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to Friendly House to help end hunger in Worcester.

WORCESTER, Mass. – A NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) briefing session will be conducted by Capt. John Karson Eldridge of the U.S. Navy and Lt. Col. Jerome W. Church of the British Army on Monday, March 29, at 3 p.m., in Suite A of the Hogan Campus Center at Holy Cross.  The session is free and open to the public.

Eldridge is the Strategic Plans and Policy Branch Head, Allied Command Atlantic.  Church is Chief, Public Service Section Public Information Office Allied Command Europe.

They will discuss new NATO strategies for peace, enlargement of the organization, the Bosnia mission, the relationship with Russia and the Ukraine, and NATO’s 50th anniversary.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Brian Jones, an organist, will perform in a concert of the great organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach on Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m., in the St. Joseph Memorial Chapel at Holy Cross, at 3 p.m.

Jones is director of music at Trinity Church, in Copley Square, Boston.  For more than 25 years, he served as the director of the Dedham Choral Society.  A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, he is a former prize winner in the St. Alban’s Organ Competition in England.  He has performed in concerts in the United States, Bermuda, and England.  He has also performed in all-Bach concerts at Trinity Church and at the Busch-Reisinger Museum, at Harvard University.

This performance is held in honor of what would be Bach’s 314th birthday.  Admission is free and open to the public.