NAME Camille Santrach
HOMETOWN North Oaks, Minn.
STUDIES History major, Resistance, Revolution and Reaction concentration
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), the Magis program, Women’s Spirituality, Liturgical Minister, senior Admissions interviewer. Participated in Appalachian and Kenya immersion programs, led El Salvador immersion.
UP NEXT Working at Goldman Sachs in the Human Capital Management division.
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Raven Tukes ’15, of Morrow, Ga., has received a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship for the 2015-16 academic year to travel to Kinmen, Taiwan in August to serve as a teaching assistant.
Tukes, a Chinese language major with a minor in education with a focus on policy, has traveled to China three times while pursuing her undergraduate degree at Holy Cross. While in China she participated in intensive language immersion programs at Beijing University and the CET Beijing Institute of Education. She also independently pursued an internship with the Beijing Jilai law firm, where she is still currently acting as their corporate contracts translator.
In the summer of 2014, Tukes was named a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at Princeton University, and participated in a seven week program that included intense public policy and international affairs seminars. Along with the seminars, she took graduate level statistics and microeconomics courses to prepare to evaluate both domestic and international policies. Tukes also conducted foreign policy research on foreign and humanitarian affairs regarding Syrian refugees in the Iraq region. At the conclusion of the program she gave a presentation with her peers on their foreign policy recommendations (a mock briefing) to a panel of foreign service officials and former United States ambassadors. Tukes focused her presentation on educational interventions specifically for Syrian refugee males in the Iraqi region.
The Princeton fellowship led Tukes to secure an internship for the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa as the curriculum auditor. In her role she audited the Academy’s social entrepreneurship curriculum, which teaches young African men and women across the continent about how they can be ethical and socially-conscious global leaders and entrepreneurs. She will be headed back to South Africa before beginning her Fulbright to teach students about economic empowerment and social entrepreneurship at the African Leadership Academy Global Scholars Program.
Tukes has also been active in the Worcester community as she participated in a yearlong internship at the Center for Nonviolent Solutions, an organization that specializes in peace education programs in the Worcester community. As the education intern, Tukes worked closely with the executive director on developing and revising curriculum for the peace education programs that are used in Worcester Public Schools.
At Holy Cross, Tukes has been involved with numerous student organizations including: Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), Study Abroad Ambassadors (co-chair), Modern Languages and Literature Student Advisory Committee (co-chair), Aptissmi Global Conference Committee, Multicultural Peer Educators, Black Student Union, Caribbean and African Student Association, and was a member of the cheerleading team in 2011. She is also part of the Black Lives Matter movement on campus.
After her Fulbright grant concludes, Tukes will be attending Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education to pursue her Ed.M. in international education policy. She has career aspirations of becoming an educational consultant for redeveloping educational systems in post-conflict societies. “As a future consultant I hope to help ministries of education, NGO’s and nonprofits around the world implement social justice and peace education programs that lead to the economic and social development of peaceful societies” says Tukes. Her long-range goals are to establish a nonprofit that offers programs in community building and economic empowerment for underserved youth in America. She envisions her organization to offer free study-abroad opportunities to the participants so that they will have the opportunity to learn first-hand from international activists, movements, and peace-makers.
Each year approximately 1,900 U.S. college students are awarded grants through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange, awards grants to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception in 1946, more than 325,400 participants — selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential — have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions. The program operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.
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ABOUT THE CHOIR Upholding tradition and musical excellence, the College Choir and Chamber Singers are the largest ensemble on campus. The Choir performs music from varied genres including classical, theater, folk, jazz and contemporary hits. At its core, the Holy Cross Choirs share an intimate experience defined by emotional exploration and meaning through sharing their talents with the community on campus and the world around them.
WHO’S BLOGGING Members of the choir including students Julia Dunn ’16, Rose Fusco ’17, Emma Garaban ’17, Phil Losquadro ’18, Adam Ouellet ’16, Tim Rice ’16, and Choir Director David Harris.
WHAT THEY’RE BLOGGING ABOUT Students and staff will share what it’s like to be a Holy Cross Choir member, such as attending rehearsals and performances, the experience of being a singer on campus, and other adventures that come with being a choir member.
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The College of the Holy Cross theatre department was recently highlighted as one the “10 Most Underrated Theater Colleges: New England,” in a recent On Stage blog post. The list was based off the following criteria: curriculum, facilities, productions, faculty, alumni, and cost.
The blog highlights the College’s theater facilities and its dedicated faculty. “This tight knit program has some fantastic facilities to offer students as well as a well versed curriculum taught by faculty with terminal degrees from some of the best programs in the country.”
In addition, On Stage features a variety of performances that occur every year and some of College’s distinct alumni.
“When it comes to performances they produce two faculty main stage shows a year. They also hold a student directed one act festival. Students also are able to participate in Alternative College Theater, a student directed organization that produces two shows a year. And when I say they produce two shows a year, they’re not messing around either,” according to On Stage. “Alumni include Dick Cusack, Ann Dowd and Bartlett Sher.”
“The recognition of the Holy Cross theatre community in On Stage is a wonderful tribute to our students who bring such passion and commitment to their work,” says Edward Isser, professor and chair of the theatre department.
Isser adds, “As we enter an exciting phase of development associated with the new performing arts center, such accolades from afar affirm the faith of Neil Prior, the board of trustees and the administration of the College in our efforts. We are humbled and inspired.”
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This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jacqueline Smith ’15.
Troika Ranch, an internationally renowned ensemble that fuses dance, theatre and technology, has been named visiting artists-in residence at the College of the Holy Cross. The company comprised of Dawn Stoppiello, choreographer and dancer, and Mark Coniglio, composer and media artist, has, over their 21 year career together, produced 13 major works that integrate live performance with cutting edge interactive technology. The co-founders (or artists) create contemporary, hybrid artworks through an ongoing examination of the moving body and its relationship to technology. Their residency is hosted by Arts Transcending Borders (ATB), an initiative designed to infuse the fine and performing arts in students’ academic lives and create new opportunities throughout the curriculum and the community by transcending cultural, geographic and disciplinary boundaries.
The 2015-16 theme for ATB is “Gravity and Grace: The Intersection of Art and Science” “I have been a long-time fan of Troika Ranch as they are superb artists, innovators, and educators and are recognized world-wide as pioneers of interactive performance” explains Lynn Kremer, professor of theatre and director of Arts Transcending Borders.” “Troika Ranch is the perfect blend for ATB artists-in-residence, they are certain to inspire our faculty, students, and community.” “Swarm,” the company’s new work that has been under development since 2013, will receive its premiere at the culmination of their fall 2015 residency. “Swarm” is informed by principles of emergence — the underlying systems that oversee the flocking of birds and other natural phenomena and will rely on audience participation to make an evening length “media opera.”
“We are especially eager to share ‘Swarm,’ as it will be developed in the Holy Cross theatre department. It is sure to be visually, aurally, and spatially unique,” adds Professor Kremer. Among the sites being considered for rehearsals and performances of “Swarm” is the Sprinkler Factory, an artist space and gallery on 38 Harlow Street in Worcester.
“In ‘Swarm,’ we will use an advanced tracking technology to allow the movements of the audience, who share the space with the dancers, to directly influence the choreography performed by the dancers among them. In other words, the piece cannot be performed without the active participation of the audience” says Coniglio.
Coniglio says we live in a time where everyone is an author. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media stream, many of us now are content producers, curators or both. The production will acknowledge this, and invite the audience to join in the authorship of the work. The difference is that the audience (or co-authors) will be able to look into each other’s eyes because they will be physically present to each other, rather than from behind a computer.
The technology used in the program was created by Coniglio and is called Isadora. The software allows creation and manipulation of stunning visuals, sonic environments, and media-intensive theatrical experiences. This technology has been used by many performers and organizations including Francis Ford Coppola, Pamela Z (composer/performer and media artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video), the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Wooster Group, the Museum of Modern Art, and Cirque du Soleil.
Troika Ranch continues to build upon a “body of work” that fosters many points of contact with the public – through the creation, presentation and touring of collaborative, multi-media performances, installations and films; its annual intensive workshop on live-media collaboration; and through publications and lectures on the history of live-media performance. The name Troika Ranch refers to its founders’ creative methodology, which involves a hybrid of three artistic disciplines, dance/theater/media (the Troika), in cooperative artistic interaction (the Ranch). Their artistry and creativity have won them many awards, including a highly coveted “Bessie” award which is given for exceptional work in choreography, performance, music composition and visual design from the NY Dance and Performance League.
Cristina Pato, Galician bagpiper, pianist, composer, and a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble was the first ATB artist-in-residence at the College. ‘Time, Memory, and Identity” was the theme of Pato’s residency throughout the 2014-15 academic year. During her time at the College she participated in a series of workshops, master classes, public lectures and performances that provided students with a unique opportunity for interaction and learning.
Arts Transcending Borders is an initiative is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
Holy Cross student-athletes and teams were honored for their outstanding achievements on Thursday, April 30 during the inaugural Crusader Awards which took place at the Hart Center.
The awards ceremony brought together all Holy Cross student-athletes, coaches and staff for one night, to recognize everything which has been accomplished on top of Mount St. James this school year.
Meghan Casey ’15, of North Attleboro, Mass., has received a Princeton in Africa fellowship for the 2015-16 academic year to carry out a yearlong service project in Tanzania. This year, more than 180 students applied for the fellowship and about 50 were awarded.
A self-designed global health studies major with premedical and Africana Studies concentrations, Casey will be based in Mwanza, a town in northwest Tanzania. She will be working for an organization called Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative. Among her responsibilities will be to develop the education curriculum for the Teen Club; plan a weeklong sleepaway camp for 10-13 year olds with HIV; facilitate a microfinance group that trains young women to be seamstresses and form their own businesses; help plan and attend outreach sessions throughout the country; and evaluate the effectiveness of the programs. She will also attend clinical meetings and shadow doctors in the medical side of the organization.
This will be the fourth time Casey will travel to Africa. During her sophomore year, she was in Nairobi for a monthlong Holy Cross study abroad program. As a junior, she spent a semester studying Swahili at the State University of Zanzibar in Tanzania through a prestigious Boren Scholarship. Right before starting her senior year, Casey developed a women’s empowerment sports program at Chukwani School in Zanzibar, Tanzania through a Davis Projects for Peace grant. She also studied tropical medicine and public health in Costa Rica during her junior year.
At Holy Cross, Casey has been sponsorship chair of Relay for Life; site manager at Project AIDS Worcester through Students Helping Children Across Borders; chemistry peer assisted learning tutor through Academic Services and Learning Resources; Student Government Association liaison to Medical Ministry International; and cochair of Fools on the Hill a cappella group. Through the Summer Research Program and under the mentorship of Vickie Langohr, associate professor of political science, she researched efforts to eradicate female genital cutting.
Following completion of the fellowship, Casey hopes to work for a social-justice orientated organization such as Partners in Health. Utilizing her language skills in Spanish and Swahili, she would eventually like to work in Latin America or East Africa.
“I hope to be able to work with the people on the ground and to use my combined language, political science, and hard science background to work toward greater justice in basic health both domestically and abroad.”
Princeton in Africa develops young leaders committed to Africa’s advancement by offering yearlong fellowship opportunities with a variety of organizations that work across the African continent.
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The end of the spring semester is here and with that comes final exams. Take some time from your late night study sessions and make sure to fuel your brain at midnight breakfast. Administrators at the College of the Holy Cross have volunteered to serve students breakfast late into the night during finals week. Midnight breakfast will be served May 6-7 and May 10-12.
The menu includes popular breakfast items, such as scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, assorted bagels, Belgian waffles and topping bar, assorted juices and nightly specials. The following members of the College community have volunteered:
Wednesday, May 6, Crossroads, 11 p.m. — 1 a.m.
John Anderson, class dean 2015
Estrella Cibreiro-Couce, class dean 2018
Francisco Gago-Jover, class dean 2016
Patricia Kramer, class dean 2017
Thursday, May 7, Crossroads, 11 p.m. — 1 a.m.
Jesse Anderson, director of audio visual services
Everett Carr, senior software developer
Anthony Cashman, director of distinguished fellowships & graduate studies
Sunday, May 10, Kimball Hall, 9 — 11 p.m.
Rev. James Hayes, S.J., associate chaplain, director of faith formation
Jacqueline Peterson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students
Rev. John Savard, S.J., rector, Jesuit community
Monday, May 11, Crossroads, 11 p.m. — 1 a.m.
Cathleen Doane, associate director for orientation & residence life
Neal Lipsitz, association dean for student development
Amanda Miles, assistant director for student programs
Cynthia Price, switchboard/dispatcher
Derek Zuckerman, associate dean for student life
Tuesday, May 12, Crossroads, 11 p.m. — 1 a.m.
TBD
“Justice needs champions, and Bryan Stevenson is such a champion,” wrote South African civil rights activist, retired bishop and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu, in a piece for Vanity Fair. “His courage and commitment contributed to the abolition of the death penalty for juveniles, and he is working tirelessly to end life sentences for adults convicted of crimes committed in their youth.”
Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Ala., will receive an honorary degree from Holy Cross and address this year’s graduates during the College’s Commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 22 at 10:30 a.m. on the campus. The event will be streamed live over the web.
Stevenson was recently named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2015. Serena Williams, the No. 1 women’s tennis player in the world, penned the piece: “Bryan has combatted excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerated innocent prisoners on death row, challenged the abuse of the incarcerated and mentally ill, aided children prosecuted as adults and litigated on behalf of the poor as well as those whose race denied them a fair trial. This year, his organization’s report on lynchings of African Americans in the Jim Crow South documented at least 700 previously unknown victims.”
She continued, “It is Bryan’s belief that every person is more than the worst thing they’ve ever done, which is a lesson to so many that forgiveness is a necessary means to achieving equality for all.”
Stevenson is the author of the acclaimed book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” (Spiegel and Grau/Random House, 2014), a New York Times Bestseller, named by Time Magazine one of the 10 best books of nonfiction for 2014; and has been awarded several honors including the 2015 NAACP Image Award for outstanding nonfiction literary work, one of Esquire’s 5 Most Important Books of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction, one of the Boston Globe’s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, a Seattle Times Best Book and finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize.
Due to unrest in Baltimore, President Obama announced that Stevenson will be part of an advisory group for a new nonprofit alliance, which the New York Times reported is “an independent nonprofit organization that is a spinoff of his My Brother’s Keeper initiative. The president established the initiative early last year to address the lack of opportunities for boys and young men from minority groups.”
The public rights lawyer also made headlines in the beginning of April, when the state of Alabama announced plans to free Anthony Ray Hinton after nearly 30 years on death row. Stevenson, the lead attorney, worked on the case for 16 years, he told the Huffington Post: “Nothing has kept me up at night more than the fate of Mr. Hinton. I don’t think I have ever had a case that so exemplified the problems with our criminal justice system.”
Stevenson told CNN the “refusal of state prosecutors to re-examine this case despite persuasive and reliable evidence of innocence is disappointing and troubling.”
In April, the Sidney Hillman Foundation, which historically recognizes journalists, announced the creation of the George Barrett Award in honor of Barrett — known by many as “Citizen” — who died in August after practicing law in Nashville for more than 50 years. Stevenson is the inaugural recipient of the award reports the Tennessean.
Stevenson’s 2012 TED talk, “We need to talk about an injustice,” has received more than two million views.
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Todd Lewis, professor of religious studies at the College of Holy Cross and a leading scholar in Buddhism, Hinduism, and East Asian religions, recently spoke to multiple news outlets – including CNN, WBZ Radio and Yahoo! News Canada – about the tragic earthquake in Nepal.
In a recent Worcester Telegram & Gazette article, Lewis shared his connection with Nepal, “I have lived in the old city of Kathmandu and have lots of friends and lots of connections there.” He was in Nepal with his daughter just seven weeks ago on a research trip.
Lewis has been visiting Nepal since 1978 and is working on research documenting Buddhist and Hindu temples, he told the Telegram.
“I have been doing this, in part, because I saw this was inevitable,” he said.
Places he has visited are now, in some cases, unrecognizable because of the destruction. He blames it on construction that was not up to earthquake-proof standards. “Geologically they have been predicting something like this for a long time,” he said.
With people trying to make sense of this tragedy, Lewis tells CNN, “Buddhist and Hindu texts make it clear that there are all kinds of causal contingencies that just happen.”
In one famous Buddhist book, “The Questions of King Milinda,” the Buddha teaches that the majority of things that happen to people, good or bad, are not related to karma at all. To put it very simply: stuff happens. The morals and meaning of our lives depend on how we deal with that stuff, reports CNN.
In a Yahoo! News Canada report, Lewis sheds light on the importance of prayer flags. “The parts of Buddhism that everyone knows about are meditation and karma, and trying to reach nirvana… through good karma. What is less known are the Buddhist words that were taught by [Buddha] to make the world safer healthier and more auspicious.”
Lewis says Buddha gave his disciples certain words and chants that would bring blessings to the people who chanted them. People would initially speak these words, or mantras, to spread those blessings. 500 years after Buddha, his disciples had the idea to write the words on paper or cloth, which are the prayer flags people see today.
This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jacqueline Smith ’15.
Classes are almost over, and the school year is winding down. That means it’s time for spring weekend, April 30-May 4.
Thursday, April 30
Spring Weekend Kick Off
Upper Kimball, 5 – 8 p.m.
Friday, May 1
Pig Roast & Beer Garden
Kimball Quad, 4-7 p.m.
Rain: Fieldhouse
Luke Christopher, LA Rapper/ R&B Singer
Kimball Quad, 10 p.m.
Rain: Fieldhouse
Join CAB as they welcome Luke Christopher, a rising star in the world of Hip Hop/R&B, to campus for a high-energy, memorable performance. Admission is free and is open to the Holy Cross community. The first 100 people will receive free t-shirts, Wings Over Worcester will also be served.
Saturday, May 2
Easy Street Fair
Easy Street, 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Rain: Crossroads
Desi’s HOLI
Paint your friends in all different colors!
Behind Figge, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Spring Weekend Carnival & BBQ
Hart Parking Lot, 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Rain: Fieldhouse
Celebrate an ancient Greek themed carnival, featuring your favorite carnival rides and attractions for free!
Fireworks
Hart Lawn, 9:00-10:00 p.m.
Outdoor Edge
Kimball Quad, 10:30 p.m.
Grab your ancient Greek attire and get ready for the biggest dance party of the year, featuring music from Chris Stathopoulous ’15 and Diego Quintanar ’15. Free whoopie pies & frozen lemonade!
Monday, May 4
Jessie J and DJ Pup Dawg
Doors Open: 7 p.m.
Concert Starts: 8 p.m.
Come to the Hart Center and end the semester singing alongside Billboard chart leader Jessie J and listen to one of the most powerful DJs in hip-hop DJ Pup Dawg.
In a recent feature story, Inside Higher Ed highlights the College of the Holy Cross for the success of its faculty mentorship program. According to the article, both visiting assistant and tenure-line professors at Holy Cross say theirs is an example of what a visiting assistant professor program should look like.
“The mentorship experience was above and beyond what anybody — certainly I — but anybody could have expected in a number of ways,” said Matthew Dinan, who served as a teaching-intensive postdoctoral student for two years and visiting assistant professor in political science for one year at Holy Cross before landing a tenure-track position at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick. “From the get-go, every decision that was made was done with a view toward helping me, so helping me fill out my [curriculum vitae], and helping me build skills that are relevant to teaching at a liberal arts college, and support for research.”
In 2008, Holy Cross received an $800,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to establish postdoctoral fellowships at the college, six scholars over four years. The idea was to give new Ph.D.s — many of whom have spent their entire academic careers at large research institutions — the opportunity to teach at a liberal arts college, said Margaret Freije, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, “So many of them haven’t had exposure to what teaching at a liberal arts college might be like, and what that teacher-scholar model might look like. We wanted to help them decide if teaching at a liberal arts college might be something they were called to do.”
Scott Malia, now in his fourth year on the tenure track in theater, was a postdoc and visiting assistant professor before a permanent position opened up in his department. Malia said his previous positions at Holy Cross have helped him manage his teaching, service and writing commitments. The mentoring he received, especially from his department chair, helped him advance as a teacher and theater scholar, he said. “I think that real-world experience before getting this type of permanent position is valuable in a lot of different ways.”
This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Cristal Steuer.
The Boston Globe has chosen Distinguished Writer in Residence Leah Hager Cohen’s “The Grief of Others” (Riverhead, 2011) for its May Book Club selection, and in connection will host a screening of the film adaptation. The film premiered to glowing reviews at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in March and will make its international premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival May 14-23.
Cohen says the film is one of only nine worldwide to be invited to Cannes by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (ACID). “It is the first time in 15 years that ACID has selected an American film for Cannes,” she shares.
According to program notes by ACID: “This film allows us to see our world, so simple and banal, in its strangeness. This reality is so close to us, in the middle of our lives, that it is surprising to distance ourselves and then see it as in a mirror, in a movie. In the interstices of our simple and ordinary relationships, there is something singular, strange and precious.”
The story follows a family struggling with a tragic loss when an unexpected visitor arrives. Cohen stirs the pain of past betrayals but might also offer an unforeseen gift: a way out of their isolating grief. The film’s cast includes Rachel Dratch (“Saturday Night Live”), Wendy Moniz and Trevor St. John (“One Life to Live”); and is directed by Patrick Wang, whose first film, “In the Family,” was nominated for the 2012 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
The Boston Globe screening will take place on May 13 at the Brattle Theatre and will feature a discussion with both Cohen and Wang. The film will also be shown May 15 at 6 p.m. at the PubX Film Festival in Northampton, Mass.
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A collaborative college initiative that was started four years ago is now on track to save more than $1 million in annual energy costs for Clark University, College of the Holy Cross and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. SynergE Worcester, a program that was developed by the three colleges in conjunction with National Grid and GreenerU, is well on its way to bringing about $5 to $6 million in energy savings over the next five years as well as significantly reducing the colleges’ greenhouse gas emissions.
The three colleges have jointly invested more than $6.2 million in energy efficiency upgrades to date through SynergE Worcester, assisted by National Grid’s incentive program that was designed for the initiative to encourage the installation of energy conservation and carbon reduction measures. In addition to energy efficiency improvements, the program includes comprehensive monitoring of electric use in 66 college buildings, and utilized innovative sustainability campaigns involving behavior change and campus engagement for students, faculty and staff.
“National Grid has a long history of working with the city of Worcester and its colleges and universities through our award-winning energy efficiency programs,” said Marcy Reed, president of National Grid in Massachusetts. “SynergE Worcester has provided a great opportunity to try new ways of saving energy on the Clark, Holy Cross and WPI campuses, often utilizing comprehensive, building-wide energy efficiency approaches.”
“When we started this initiative four years ago we wanted to reduce our energy use and carbon emissions as well as provide an opportunity for our students to be involved in an exciting and relevant sustainability project,” said David Angel, President of Clark University. “Through SynergE Worcester’s Tri-Campus Council and the program’s campus engagement, behavior change and sustainability components, the project has provided that opportunity.”
“SynergE Worcester’s and National Grid’s emphasis on comprehensive energy efficiency has paid off for our university,” declared Jeff Solomon, Executive VP/CFO at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. “Our Gateway Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center has been a big energy saving success, with a 33% reduction in electricity use through laboratory ventilation upgrades, the addition of cogeneration, lighting upgrades, and behavior change campaigns.”
“Our students developed some very creative sustainability and behavior change projects which enhanced the sustainability culture on our campus while saving energy and reducing carbon emissions,” said Scott Merrill, Chief Facilities Officer at Holy Cross. “We also appreciated the program’s emphasis on extensive, ongoing building monitoring in which electricity use is tracked in key buildings. Monitoring is being carried out in 29 buildings on our campus, providing benchmarking and insight into building operations.”
GreenerU initially developed SynergE Worcester in collaboration with National Grid, Clark, Holy Cross and WPI. “A distinctive aspect of the program is that we integrated energy efficiency measures with campus-wide behavior change and stakeholder engagement, including the students,” said Kailash Viswanathan, GreenerU’s Vice President of Operations. “This approach results in greater energy cost savings, provides learning opportunities for the campus community regarding energy efficiency, and demonstrates the colleges’ commitment to environmental stewardship. The schools are often able to address deferred maintenance issues as well.”
SynergE Worcester will continue to the end of 2015, so the program participants hope that additional energy savings will result from the installation of further efficiency measures. In addition to the $5 to $6 million in energy savings over the next five years for the three colleges, it is expected that the SynergE Worcester program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 22,300 metric tons, the equivalent of what would be released through the burning of 24,000 tons of coal.
On Saturday, April 25, more than 1,000 volunteers will work to renovate 16 community recreation sites in the third annual service day for Working for Worcester. A project, which started with six college students in a residence hall room, now has a leadership team of 50 students on local campuses and more than 1,000 volunteers. Led by College of the Holy Cross senior Colette Houssan ’15, the group has raised more than $100,000.
The city-wide project is designed to promote city pride and provide necessary improvements to Worcester’s recreational spaces. Major sites, which will include building playgrounds this year, include Elm Park Community School, Chandler Elementary, and the Boys and Girls Club. In addition, work will be done at Thorndyke Road School, where improvements will be made to the baseball field; at Burncoat Middle School, volunteers will makeover the library space with a fresh coat of paint, new furniture, and rearrange the space to be more useful to the needs of the community; May Street School, will receive designated play areas for hop-scotch and 4-square as well as improvements to the basketball court. Other recreational space projects include: Tatnuck Magnet Garden, which will be receiving a community garden shed and rain catcher that will be used for students to learn more about rainfall and the overall ecosystem as well as Coes Pond, which will be receiving a beach clean-up, a face-lift to the bath house, and the clearing of a kayak/boat launch.
The Working for Worcester kickoff rally will be held at Holy Cross on the Hart Lawn (rain location: Hart Center basketball court), beginning at 8:30 a.m. The first hour will consist of registration, t-shirt pick-up and free breakfast, . Speakers for the rally include: Derek Kump ’14, former executive co-director, Working for Worcester, Edward Augustus, Worcester city manager, Jackie Peterson, vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Holy Cross, Tim Garvin, CEO of United Way Central Mass, Colette Houssan ’15, executive director Working for Worcester, and Joseph Petty, mayor of Worcester. The event is free and open to the public.
“In just three short years Working for Worcester has grown beyond our expectations” says Houssan, executive director of Working for Worcester. “With representation from all the Worcester colleges, employees of local businesses, and our neighbors we will all join together to rejuvenate sites around the city so that more children can learn, play and grow! Working to make Worcester a better place for all, we have learned about its immense culture and history and hope to continue to grow, so that everyone in Worcester can enjoy this great city for many years to come.”
In a recent article posted by The Conversation, Ellis Jones, assistant professor of sociology at the College of the Holy Cross, reevaluates the use of Wikipedia in the classroom. While many professors advise against Wikipedia in research papers, as it is often criticized for not being a “legitimate source,” Jones embraces the accessibility and inevitable use of the site and incorporates it into his syllabus in order to enhance his students’ research and study skills. The article has had over 18,000 views world-wide.
Jones describes the love-hate relationship with the No.6 most accessed site in the world. “Wikipedia remains a popular resource for both students and professors when they need immediate access to specific bits of information that fall outside of their areas of knowledge,” Jones explains.
“In my classes, however, I’ve been experimenting for the past six years with how we might move beyond this narrow, schizophrenic approach to one of the most popular educational resources online. And what I’ve found is that my students are excited by the idea of engaging with this part of the internet that is otherwise deemed ‘off-limits’ in their courses.”
In order to adopt Wikipedia into the classroom, Jones devised a research project in which the students are assigned a social theorist, review their adopted theorist’s page, and begin the process of upgrading the information in a way that reflects research practices that meet the standards of what might be considered acceptable in academia.
Students document their research process in a paper they turn in along with a “before” and “after” version of the theorist’s Wikipedia page with their changes highlighted in yellow.
However, Jones notes that while all changes the students make may not be accepted, if they feel their addition is an important one, they are encouraged to engage in a global conversation with the “caretakers” of the page.
“They often end up in a virtual dialogue with the scholars from across the globe, who function as self-appointed caretakers of these same pages,” says Jones. “More typically, these “caretakers” embrace the opportunity to further improve, clarify, and re-write what the students are proposing until the additional material is transformed into more definitive improvements, and as a consequence the page evolves.”
Jones concludes, “Wikipedia allows us to embrace new forms of teaching that will enhance the online skills students so desperately need to integrate with their own academic training.”
This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jacqueline Smith ’15.
Two members of College of the Holy Cross community were recently featured on Crux, the Boston Globe’s national website on Catholicism. Mathew N. Schmalz, associate professor of religious studies at the College and contributor to Crux, and Michelle Sterk-Barrett, director of the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning at the College and a rising expert on issues of service, question and discuss of the ‘Mercy of God’ and ‘God’s work’ in their respective articles.
In his article “The abyss of mercy,” Schmalz questions the ‘Mercy of God,’ a prominent theme in Christian understanding of God in his article: “Simply put, how can a merciful God allow so much human suffering?”
Schmalz questioning began with the announcement made by Pope Francis on the eve of the second Sunday of Easter—the Feast of Divine Mercy—that declared the extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy.
“The choice of the Divine Mercy Sunday for this proclamation of the extraordinary Holy Year marks a point of continuity between the pontificate of Pope Francis and those of his predecessors. Popes Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II were both instrumental spreading the devotion to The Divine Mercy throughout the world,” explains Schmalz.
As Schmalz reflects on certain memories throughout the article he recounts, “Mercy is a connection, not a cure from above. Mercy is the essence of God — the quality from which all others proceed.”
Attempting to answer another troubling question, Sterk-Barrett explains that service experience has a huge impact on the future trajectory of both Christian formation and citizen engagement in the article, “What is the point of service, really?”
Sterk-Barrett calls service an “eye-opening experience” in a society where many adults “have made decisions that prevent our children from knowing those facing injustice in the world. In a desire to have our children have access to the best educational opportunities and minimize the potential for them to live in unsafe environments, we have collectively segregated ourselves, so that it’s nearly impossible to know and build relationships with people living in poverty.”
The result of this segregation: “Stereotypes [that] perpetuate the belief that the poor are fundamentally inferior to those who have been ‘successful’ in traditional terms.”
Service, if done well, has the power to transform.
This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jacqueline Smith ’15.
Jason L. Riley, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Wall Street Journal columnist, and a frequent contributor to Fox News, will give a talk titled “Race Relations and Law Enforcement,” on Monday April 27 at 4 p.m. in the Levis Browsing Room, Dinand Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The event is free and open to the public.
Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, where he worked for more than 20 years writing opinion pieces on politics, economics, education, immigration and race, among other subjects. He’s also a commentator for Fox News, where he’s appeared for more than a decade, and a frequent public speaker.
After joining the Wall Street Journal in 1994, he was named a senior editorial page writer in 2000 and a member of the editorial board in 2005. In 2008 he published “Let Them In,” which argues for a more free-market oriented U.S. immigration policy. His second book, “Please Stop Helping Us,” which is about the track record of government efforts to help the black underclass, was published in 2014. He joined the Manhattan Institute in 2015.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Riley earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has also worked for USA Today and the Buffalo News. He lives in suburban New York City with his wife and three children.
The talk is sponsored by the political science department, the Charles Carroll Program and the Diversity Leadership Team.
Just in time for Earth Day, the College of the Holy Cross was named one of the 353 Green Colleges according to The Princeton Review, being one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the U.S. and Canada in 2015. The schools chosen for inclusion in “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 353 Green Colleges: 2015 Edition” demonstrate “a strong commitment to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities, and career preparation,” according to their website.
The Princeton Review chose the schools for this sixth annual edition of its “green guide” based on data from the company’s 2014 survey of hundreds of four-year colleges concerning the schools’ commitments to the environment and sustainability.
Holy Cross received a “Green Rating” score of 92 out of 99. “Green Rating” scores (from 60 to 99) are tallied in summer 2014 for 861 colleges using data from its 2013-14 survey of school administrators.
“We strongly recommend College of the Holy Cross and the other fine colleges in this guide to the many environmentally-minded students who seek to study and live at green colleges,” said The Princeton Review’s Robert Franek, senior VP publisher.
Franek noted the growing interest the company has seen among college-bound students in green colleges. “Among nearly 10,000 teens who participated in our 2015 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 61 percent told us that having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend the college.”
The Princeton Review highlights Holy Cross because it is on the path to achieving its goal of being carbon neutral by the year 2040. With new construction following strict green building policies, both Figge Hall and the Integrated Science Complex have achieved LEED Gold certification, and the campus works to decrease its carbon footprint through projects like growing fruit and vegetables in community gardens or “slow food” dinners at Kimball.
Other highlight include: “Renewable energy initiatives on campus include a partnership with TransCanada, a renewable energy supplier [who] has reduced the school’s carbon foot-print 28 percent.”
The guide also mentions faculty, staff, and student’s green involvement through groups like Presidential Task Force on the Environment and “internships and projects working with environmental organizations and not-for profit groups throughout the Worcester area,” as well as student participation on campus “through Holy Cross’s environmental studies program, and student-run environmental groups like Eco-Action.”
The Princeton Review highlighted Holy Cross in a number of areas during the past year:
Princeton Review Ranks Holy Cross Among the Top ‘Colleges That Pay You Back’
This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jacqueline Smith ’15.
Michael Dunbar ’15, senior music and English major at the College of the Holy Cross and recipient of a grant from the College’s Summer Research Program in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Fine Art, was recently featured in the Boston Globe. Dunbar discusses his plans to use the grant to travel the country on a musical-research road trip to what he calls “the country’s music meccas.”
“I think I’m inspired, on this project at least, by the idea of travel itself. By the idea, specifically, that place matters,” said Dunbar on what he is inspired by.
“One of the things I’m interested in by really going to these music meccas, the epicenters of American music history, is this idea that we’re going to be right in the thick of these musics that I’ve grown up listening to and on the surface know a lot about, but really don’t know a lot about, I think. So I’m excited and inspired by that idea — and I hope I’ll be inspired, I’m sure I’ll be inspired, to turn that into lyrics.”
In addition Dunbar spoke of his ‘lightbulb’ moments: “I think there have been a series of light-bulb moments over the last few years. It’s been really nice that doors seem to slowly be opening, in just the right time and in just the right places.”
Dunbar was referencing the summer research program, and related how thankful he is for the opportunity, having come to Holy Cross “not being able to read sheet music,” said the Boston Globe.
Dunbar, who has been compared to Paul Simon, plans to begin writing music when he returns from his trip. In the meantime, he will be travelling to Memphis, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago as he looks for inspiration.
Click here to read the full article.
This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jacqueline Smith ’15.
