Can Lula Stabilize Brazil’s Democracy After Bolsonaro? Holy Cross Expert Shares Insight

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Holy Cross in the News
Carmen Alvaro Jarrin, associate professor of anthropology. Photo by John Buckingham

Carmen Alvaro Jarrin, associate professor of anthropology. Photo by John Buckingham

Newly elected Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will meet with  President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. on Friday amid political turmoil and deep divisions in Brazil, including the storming of government buildings in the Brazilian capital by far-right protesters on Jan. 8. 

In a recent piece for The Conversation, Carmen Alvaro Jarrin, associate professor of anthropology at the College of the Holy Cross, highlights the clear connections between the recent riots in Brazil and the 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, in regard to how they were organized and the collective rage they conveyed.

Jarrin, who specializes in Brazilian politics and has recently written a book on this topic, says that we need to understand “political affect” – the nonrational, emotional aspects of politics – in order  to understand why people are moved by right-wing rhetoric and are recruited into violent acts. 

“It is very hard to combat rage, resentment and nostalgia with appeals to rationality and civility,” said Jarrin. “But [Lula] is a man who understands the power of symbols and is trying to change how Brazilians feel about their nation. He is asking them to claim a stake by embracing diversity – and democracy.”

To read the full article, go to TheConversation.com. 

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English Professor Leila Philip Makes National News with Latest Release, “Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America”

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Maura Sullivan Hill
A woman stands in a shallow body of water.

Leila Philip, professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross, is garnering national attention for her latest book, “Beaverland.” (Contributed photo)

Holy Cross English professor Leila Philip’s latest book is making national headlines with an unlikely protagonist: beavers.

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Holy Cross Releases ‘Aspire,’ Its Strategic Plan for the Next Decade

Posted on February 1, 2023 by College of the Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross on Feb. 1 released its strategic plan, Aspire: Our Strategic Vision for a Hope-Filled Future, which prioritizes areas for work and growth over the next five to 10 years.

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Holy Cross Alumnus One of First Peace Corps Volunteers to Return to Overseas Service Since 2020

Posted on January 31, 2023 by Megan Bard
Peace Corps volunteers pose for a group photo inside a conference room.

Tiernan Naughton ’21 (back row, tan shirt) poses with his Peace Corps cohort before leaving for Ghana in January 2023. Photo contributed.

College of the Holy Cross alumnus Tiernan Naughton ’21 is among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return to overseas service since the agency’s unprecedented global evacuation in March 2020.

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Will Pope Emeritus Benedict Become a Saint? Religious Studies Professor Tells Us What To Expect

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Holy Cross in the News
Joanne Pierce, professor of religious studies. Photo by John Buckingham

Joanne Pierce, professor of religious studies. Photo by John Buckingham

The funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI took place in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Thursday, Jan. 5, after three days during which mourners could view his body and pay their final respects. Around the same time, grassroots efforts calling on Benedict’s immediate canonization started taking shape.

In an article for The Conversation, Joanne Pierce, professor of religious studies at Holy Cross, explains the complex and politically fraught process of becoming a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and why every pope does not automatically become a saint.

According to Pierce, who is a specialist in Catholic liturgy and ritual, the Catholic Church teaches that saints are proclaimed so that others might be inspired by their lives and examples of “heroic virtue.” 

“But it takes time to thoroughly examine each cause individually, and hidden flaws may not be uncovered until much later after the candidate’s death,” said Pierce. “This was true for St. John Paul II, and might be the case for Pope Benedict XVI. But no one is recognized as a saint simply because he served as pope.”

To read the full article, go to TheConversation.com.  

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Cantor Art Gallery to Showcase the Famed Chertsey Tiles and the Visual Culture of Medieval Europe in ‘Bringing the Holy Land Home’ Exhibition

Posted on January 26, 2023 by College of the Holy Cross
Richard and Saladin with Latin text surrounds; combat series Chertsey tiles, c. 1250-1300, England, (British Museum, earthenware floor tiles, lead-glazed with inlaid slip decoration).

Richard and Saladin with Latin text surrounds; combat series Chertsey tiles, c. 1250-1300, England, (British Museum, earthenware floor tiles, lead-glazed with inlaid slip decoration).

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross, is pleased to present the upcoming exhibition “Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece.” Bringing together loans from the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston among other institutions, the exhibition will be on view from Jan. 26 through Apr. 6, 2023. An opening lecture and reception will take place on Thurs., Jan. 26 beginning at 4 p.m. 

“Bringing the Holy Land Home” focuses around the well-known Chertsey combat tiles, a series that was created around 1250 for the Chertsey Abbey, and most likely originally commissioned for the English royal palace at Westminster. The tiles were excavated from the ruined Abbey of Chertsey in the late-19th century, and are now housed in several different institutions across Britain, including the British Museum. The exhibition is guest curated by Dr. Amanda Luyster, assistant professor of art history in the department of visual arts at Holy Cross.

 A specialist in Medieval Art from England, Luyster has been studying the Chertsey tiles for almost 20 years, her newest project involving a reconstruction of the tile floor. This project began when Luyster, as she explains:  “saw echoes [in the tiles] of larger traditions, especially Islamic and Byzantine images of combats in roundels. I also realized that we now have imaging and coding resources that were simply not present in 2000, and that these new resources would allow us to solve some of the unsolved problems of the combat series: namely, their original appearance and their original accompanying Latin texts.” This insight led Luyster to the work of reassembling hundreds of broken ceramic fragments, pieced together for the first time and yielding surprising discoveries about the impact of the Crusades in England. Along with an international team, Luyster reconstructed the mosaic, including both images and lost Latin text, demonstrating not only that the theme of the entire mosaic is the Crusades, but that its composition draws from imported Islamic and Byzantine silks, often carried home by returning crusaders. 

As an exhibition, “Bringing the Holy Land Home” brings the Chertsey tiles into dialogue with materials from the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, including ceramics, metalwork, liturgical objects, weapons, and textiles. 

For the exhibition, labels were written by students from Holy Cross and other neighboring institutions, based on substantial research into each object and its cultural role in the period of the crusades. Students also created a website for the exhibition, which includes videos in which they explain the significance of their objects. The exhibition and accompanying catalog feature contributions from prominent scholars in the fields of medieval history and art.  

Meredith Fluke, director of the Cantor Art Gallery, says “this exhibition highlights the excellence of faculty scholarship, student mentorship and collaborative, cross-disciplinary learning that is at the heart of a of liberal arts education at Holy Cross. We are thankful for the support of the College, which encourages projects such as this one, that highlights not only the significance of objects, but also cooperative scholarship, accomplished by faculty, curators, staff and students from many different backgrounds and disciplines.”  

The exhibition has been awarded generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Kress Foundation, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture and the International Center of Medieval Art. 

A robust schedule of related programming will be available throughout the duration of the exhibition, including a symposium featuring a panel of scholars with expertise in the areas of the crusades and medieval history on March 25, gallery talks and musical performances. All events will be posted to the Cantor Art Gallery’s website.

 

EVENTS:

January 26

Opening Lecture

4 p.m. | Rehm Library

Dr. William Purkis, Department of History, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

“Bringing the Holy Land Home: Crusaders, Relics, and the Transformation of Latin Christendom’s Sacred Material World”

 

5:30 p.m. | Cantor Art Gallery

Opening Reception

 

January 30

12:15 p.m. | Cantor Art Gallery

Gallery Talk

Amanda Luyster, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts and Guest Curator

“The Chertsey Tiles, Context and Reconstruction” 

 

February 13

Lecture

4 p.m. | Media Lab, Prior Performing Arts Center

Dr. Chad Leahy, College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Denver

“Bringing the Holy Land Home to Spain: Jerusalem and the National Imagination, 1095-2022”

 

February 21 & 27

Student Presentations

12:15 p.m. | Cantor Art Gallery

 

February 25

Family Day

10 am – 12:30 pm | Cantor Art Gallery

 

March 25

Symposium

All day | Rehm Library

“Bringing the Holy Land Home: A Symposium”

A distinguished panel of national and international scholars will convene to present papers related to the exhibition. See the Cantor Gallery’s website for registration information.

 

April 4

Gallery Talk

4 p.m. | Cantor Art Gallery

Meredith Fluke, Director Cantor Art Gallery

“Bringing the Chertsey Tiles to Holy Cross: What We’ve Learned”

 

Concerts + Chertsey: A series of musical performances inspired by the exhibition

February 16

12:30 p.m. | Prior Performing Arts Center Beehive

Holy Cross Chamber Music Ensemble

 

February 22

8 p.m. | Prior Performing Arts Center Beehive

Holy Cross Orchestra

 

March 23

5:30 p.m. | Prior Performing Arts Center Beehive

Holy Cross Chamber Singers

 

March 29

1 p.m. | Prior Performing Arts Center Beehive

Gregorian Chant Ensemble

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Pulitzer Prize-Winning Reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones to Deliver 55th Annual Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture at Holy Cross

Posted on January 26, 2023 by College of the Holy Cross
Headshot of Nikole Hannah-Jones. Photo by James Estrin

Nikole Hannah-Jones. Photo by James Estrin

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, will deliver the 55th annual Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture on the evening of April 12 in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk is free and open to the public. 

Following her talk, Hannah-Jones will sign copies of her book, “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story,” which will be available for purchase at the event. A six-part limited docu-series “The 1619 Project,” an expansion of the original project, is set to premiere on Jan. 26 on Hulu.

Hannah-Jones has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, and her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times.

She also serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she founded the Center for Journalism & Democracy. Hannah-Jones is also the co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of investigative reporters and editors of color, and in 2022 she opened the 1619 Freedom School, a free, after school literacy program in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. 

Hannah-Jones holds a master of arts in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned her bachelor’s degree in history and African-American studies from the University of Notre Dame.

In keeping with the traditional practice of the Hanify-Howland lecture series, Hannah-Jones will also conduct a seminar on campus prior to the lecture, which will allow students to interact with the speaker one-on-one. The speaker is nominated annually by a committee of Holy Cross students.

The Hanify-Howland lecture series recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves in the realm of public service in honor of Judge Edward F. Hanify, a member of the graduating class of 1904, and Weston Howland. Howland’s admiration and respect for Judge Hanify, his warm affection for the Hanify family and his faith in the purposes and objectives of the College of the Holy Cross led him to establish the annual Hanify Memorial Lecture.

Since 1965, the Hanify-Howland lecture series has brought a host of distinguished speakers to Holy Cross, including: astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; Clarence Thomas ’71, associate justice of the United States; investigative journalist Bob Woodward; Steven D. Levitt, co-author of the bestselling books “Freakonomics” (Harper, 2009) and “Superfreakonomics” (Harper, 2011); award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien; and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

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College of the Holy Cross Begins Spring Semester With Multifaith Community Prayer

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Meredith Fidrocki

With fresh snow blanketing the ground outside, members of the Holy Cross community gathered in Mary Chapel on Tuesday, Jan. 24, for the return of a cherished annual tradition, Multifaith Community Prayer, following a three-year pause due to the pandemic. The event, held on the first day of spring semester classes, is a celebration of the rich faith traditions represented on campus and a time to engage in peaceful reflection as a community.

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Holy Cross Names Elliott Visconsi ’95 Provost and Dean of the College

Posted on January 24, 2023 by College of the Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross has named Elliott Visconsi, an academic leader and class of 1995 alumnus, as its new provost and dean of the College, following an extensive national search in partnership with Isaacson, Miller. 

Starting on July 1, Visconsi will lead the College’s academic enterprise, serving as a key member of the president’s senior leadership team, working to develop and enhance the College’s academic programs, foster innovation and interdisciplinary discovery, and advance scholarship and academic excellence.

He succeeds Margaret Freije, who served as provost and dean of the College from 2014 to 2022, and Ann Marie Leshkowich, interim provost since July 1, 2022.

“Elliott has an impressive track record of collaborative academic innovation, cross-disciplinary experience in academic leadership, and work building effective, evidence-based and engaging learning for students,” said Holy Cross President Vincent D. Rougeau. “His deep understanding of our Jesuit mission and Catholic identity, as an alumnus of the College, as well as commitment to the principles of inclusive liberal arts education, will help provide the leadership to propel us forward.”

A passionate advocate for liberal arts education and a believer in the transformative potential of the residential undergraduate experience, Visconsi currently serves as associate provost and chief academic digital officer at the University of Notre Dame. In this role, he leads Notre Dame’s approach to innovative learning and teaching strategies—including digital learning, interinstitutional collaboration and experimental models for the future of education. 

A scholar of early modern English literature, freedom of expression and First Amendment law, Visconsi has been at Notre Dame since 2010. His academic research is devoted to law, literature and political thought in the early modern Anglo-American world, especially in relation to racial identity and religious pluralism; he also writes about academic freedom and free speech in the digital age, especially the interactions of disinformation, persuasion and democracy.

Visconsi holds a A.B. in English, cum laude, from Holy Cross, a Ph.D. in English literature from UCLA and an M.S.L. from Yale Law School. The recipient of distinguished fellowships from the Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, he often presents on matters related to academic freedom, campus freedom of speech in the digital age, and academic innovation to audiences at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.

A native of the Cleveland area, Visconsi is married to fellow Holy Cross graduate Maura (Cullen) Visconsi ‘95, an elementary educator. They are the parents of three children.

“Animated by its Jesuit mission, fueled by its tradition of academic excellence and inspired by the capacious vision of President Rougeau, Holy Cross is ideally suited to serve as a model for the future of undergraduate education,” Visconsisaid. “I am honored to return to Mount St. James as provost and dean of the college, and grateful for the opportunity to work side by side with our world-class faculty, staff and students to advance the College.”

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‘A Complicated Narrative’: Faculty-Student Research on Crusades to Debut at Cantor 

Posted on January 11, 2023 by Michael Bonner
Women photographs a piece of art

Amanda Luyster, assistant professor of visual arts at the College of the Holy Cross, photographs one of the Chertsey tiles at the British Museum.

History once written by conquerors is being retold through research and fact via the work of Amanda Luyster, assistant professor of visual arts at the College of the Holy Cross, her students and an upcoming exhibition at the College’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, “Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece.”

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College of the Holy Cross Launches Site to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Coeducation

Posted on January 11, 2023 by College of the Holy Cross
Text logo of number 50

The College will celebration the coeducation anniversary through June 2024.

The College of the Holy Cross has launched a new website to serve as the central repository for information, events, news, resources and more surrounding the College’s two-year celebration of the 50th anniversary of coeducation on Mount St. James.

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Why Do Lottery Jackpots Keep Getting So Big? It’s on Purpose, Holy Cross Economist Says

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Holy Cross in the News
Victor Matheson, professor of economics. Photo by Tom Rettig

Victor Matheson, professor of economics. Photo by Tom Rettig

If you think you are seeing more and more lottery prizes top the $1 billion mark, you are right on the money. Just this week, the Mega Millions jackpot has surged to $1.1 billion.

Victor Matheson, professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross and a lottery expert, told CBS News the bigger jackpots aren’t by chance, but rather a strategy by the Multi-State Lottery Association to generate large sums. 

It seems to be working, as Americans are 15 times more likely to buy a ticket when the winnings inch toward $1 billion compared to when the prizes are just $20 million, according to Matheson.

As enticing as that sounds, the probability  of winning is  extremely rare. For this week’s Mega Millions drawing, for example, the odds are somewhere in the realm of 1 in 303 million.

“To put it into perspective, the typical person who is a golfer would have about a 1-in-15,000 chance in making a hole-in-one on a particular hole,” Matheson said. “So winning the Powerball or the Mega Millions is like getting two hole-in-ones in a row when playing golf.”

Relevant Coverage:

CBS News, Jan 9

Inside Edition, Jan. 9

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Holy Cross Associate Professor Named Worcester Poet Laureate

Posted on January 5, 2023 by College of the Holy Cross
Oliver de la Paz, associate professor of English. Photo by Austin Bosworth

Oliver de la Paz, associate professor of English. Photo by Austin Bosworth

Worcester officials have appointed Oliver de la Paz, associate professor of English and award-winning author, as the city’s poet laureate. He will serve in the role until December 2025.

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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s Legacy is Complex, Writes Holy Cross Professor

Posted on January 3, 2023 by College of the Holy Cross
Pope Benedict XVI stands with a crowd on a dock.

Valletta, Malta – Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Grand Harbour for an official visit in Malta on April 18, 2010. (Photo from istockphoto)

With the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the late pontiff leaves behind a complex legacy of brilliant intellectualism and the shadows of numerous controversies, according to College of the Holy Cross Professor Mathew Schmalz.

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Patrick Tutwiler ’97 Appointed Massachusetts Secretary of Education

Posted on December 22, 2022 by College of the Holy Cross

Patrick Tutwiler ’97 recently appointed education secretary for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
(Photo by Marilyn Humphries)

Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey has appointed Patrick Tutwiler ’97 as the next secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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Holy Cross 2022: The Year in Review

Posted on December 21, 2022 by College of the Holy Cross

A flag circle performs in the first-floor Beehive, located at the heart of the building and a space for collaboration, performance and study. (Photo by Michael Ivins / Holy Cross)

$110 Million Prior Performing Arts Center Opens

Members of the campus and local communities toured the new Prior Performing Arts Center during a Community Day held on Sept. 24. It provided visitors with their first look inside the new $110 million academic building and performance venue. The event featured music and dance performances and theater open rehearsals, as well as the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Afterimage: Visual Arts Faculty 2022.” Visitors toured all three floors of the 84,000 square-foot building, from production spaces and rehearsal rooms to the 400-seat Luth Concert Hall. The building opened to classes at the beginning of the academic year.

 

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 2022 from Holy Cross

Posted on December 20, 2022 by College of the Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross wishes you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We hope you enjoy this video, featuring a glimpse of the seasonal sights and sounds from Mount St. James.

(Hats off to the College’s longest running a cappella group, Fools on the Hill, performing ‘Joy to the World’.)

Video by Avanell Chang.

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Holy Cross Named One of World’s Most Environmentally Responsible Campuses

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Megan Bard
Photo taken from the sky above a college campus showing lots of green space and old brick buildings.

Aerial drone images taken of Fenwick Hall on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Photo by Michael Ivins/Holy Cross)

The Princeton Review has named the College of the Holy Cross as one of the world’s most environmentally responsible colleges in its 13th annual “Guide to Green Colleges: 2023 Edition.”

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Holy Cross Celebrates 44th Annual Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Megan Bard

Embraced in soft, warm light under purple tapestry gently draped from above, the College of the Holy Cross welcomed the Christmas season on Dec. 8 in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel, celebrating its 44th Annual Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols.

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Hosting the World Cup Pays Off Only if You Have Existing Stadiums and a Winning Team Says Holy Cross Professor

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Holy Cross in the News
Victor Matheson, professor of economics. Photo by Tom Rettig

Victor Matheson, professor of economics. Photo by Tom Rettig

The World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, but it’s also a big economic event. Which begs the question: Does hosting the World Cup pay off?

Victor Matheson, a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross and renowned expert on sports economics, recently spoke with Brookings Institute’s “Dollar and Sense” podcast about the economic implications for a country hosting the World Cup.

Matheson, who researched the issue in a recent study,  “The Economics of the World Cup,” discussed the costs and benefits for the host country, whether sports stadiums generate economic activity, the impact on tourism and FIFA’s role in organizing the event.

According to Matheson, hosting an event like the World Cup makes economic sense only if a country already has the stadiums and a team that might actually win, otherwise not so much.

“In a place like the United States, the cost of hosting the World Cup is actually not that bad at all, said Matheson. 

“When we were bidding against Qatar for this World Cup, the United States put forward a list of 79 stadiums in the United States that were already built, already up and ready that could be available for a World Cup match with two weeks’ notice. Qatar had one stadium available at that point. They had to build seven new ones since that time. And so, that involves costs of billions of dollars just for stadiums in Qatar, in a way in the United States or Canada it would have cost nothing. Now, on top of this, of course, we’ve got all that other stuff that goes along with hosting somewhere between 100,000, 200,000 and a million fans coming in for this. And, of course, the United States is well built for that as well. Qatar, not so much.”

To listen to the segment, go to Brookings.edu.

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