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Sept. 14, 2006

 

  1. University marks five-year anniversary of terrorist attacks
  2. Course offers first-hand look at global business world
  3. Honors Program offerings expanded into Clare College
  4. University to celebrate multiculturalism and diversity at Damietta Center
  5. CFA Club of Rochester welcomes finance students
  6. BonaResponds plans countywide service day
  7. '60 Minutes' producer chosen as Lenna Endowed Visiting Professor
  8. Career Center News ...
  9. Newsmakers ...
  10. Friday Forum

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University marks five-year anniversary of terrorist attacks

At 12:25 p.m. on Sept. 11, bagpipe music filled the air on the campus of St. Bonaventure University as hundreds of students, faculty and staff joined uniformed ROTC officers and cadets marching in full color pageantry for a prayer service at SBU's 9/11 Memorial site in front of Plassmann Hall.

After a moment of silence to honor and remember the lost, Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., S.T.D., University president, and Lt. Col. Richard Trietley placed living flowers in front of the memorial stone honoring the victims of 9/11. P

rayers and songs were shared with participants, and Michael Spong, a senior journalism and mass communication student from Buffalo, played taps on his trumpet. It was a moving ceremony that included everyone in attendance reaching out to one another in a sign of peace.

The ceremony was jointly planned by Peter Ghiloni from University Ministries and Master Sgt. Ed Zackery of the ROTC Department.

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Course offers first hand look at global business world

To help future business leaders understand the global nature of business, St. Bonaventure University Professor Donald J. Swanz, J.D., developed a three-credit course to teach M.B.A students how to work in a foreign country and overcome the many hurdles that exist.

And he chose China as his classroom.

The three-credit course, unlike any other offered at the University, takes students on a two-week journey to China, a country with one of the most dynamic influences on all commercial markets in the world.

“There is no substitute for being physically in China and exposing yourself to the market there,” Swanz said. “Learning it first hand is the best way to do it. To get to know such a totally different culture is most important. That’s why we take them there, so they can visualize and understand what’s going on there.”

The summer course is offered primarily to M.B.A. students but some undergraduate seniors and students of St. Bonaventure’s Integrated Marketing Communications master’s program have participated.

During the intensive two weeks, Swanz takes his students on visits to Western New York companies with plant facilities in China, including Moog (East Aurora) in Pudong, China, and Rich Products (Buffalo) in Suzhou, China.

“They not only give us briefings, but they open up their facilities to us,” Swanz said. “The important thing is they are open to questions and no question is excluded. We often find ourselves staying an extra hour because they are willing to answer any questions we have and don’t want the students to leave wondering about something.”

Stops that have become regulars of the course since its 1997 beginning include a visit to Dresser Industries for a banquet on the students’ final night in Beijing and a briefing at the U.S. Embassy. “The spokesperson at the embassy gives us a complete flavor on how to compete and start a business in China,” Swanz said.

Students also participate in lectures from professors at the Beijing Institute of Technology, the students’ host while in the country, as well as various other Chinese business people. “The lectures from the Beijing Institute give us a briefing on the history, culture and language of China. The culture is important, as it is so very different. Also, the institute’s director of international exchange is with us the entire time, so we have no problem with language or anything. That puts students who are apprehensive at ease.

“One of the highlights of the trip in the past couple years is a lecture by CNN Beijing bureau chief, Jaime Florcruz. That’s a marvelous experience. Florcruz has been in China since 1971, so he’s been exposed to some dramatic changes that have gone on politically, as well as economically and infrastructure wise,” Swanz said.

Swanz emphasizes that his students are not tourists. “It is a pretty intense trip. Nobody sleeps in. They’re not allowed to. Even on the bus rides we are discussing various business, management and marketing issues.”

However, they do make room in their busy schedules to see the sites, including a trip to XIAN to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and visits to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

“St. Bonaventure should be proud of this program that offers its students a rare opportunity to touch base with a global village that is shaking the world. There is no substitute for being there,” Swanz said.

Swanz is planning a trip in 2007 departing May 15 and returning May 30. The cost is $4,215 per student. To learn more about the two-week journey to China, watch the video produced by Dr. Swanz at http://www.sbu.edu/SBUCustom/Business/china.wmv or contact Dr. Swanz at dswanz@sbu.edu. (716) 375-2198.

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Honors Program offerings expanded into Clare College

Dr. Daniel Tate, Honors Program director, is pleased to announce the expansion of the Honors Program offerings into the Clare College core curriculum beginning this fall.

The Honors Program seeks to provide honors students with the opportunity to take challenging seminars on contemporary topics from diverse disciplinary perspectives. This same aim can now be achieved through the basic interdisciplinary approach of the Clare College courses, allowing students to further integrate their experience within the Honors Program into their general academic work at SBU.

The honors version of each course has been created by faculty experienced with teaching both in the Honors Program and in Clare College. They are specifically designed to suit the seminar format made possible by limiting enrollment in each section. While each honors section will pursue the basic objectives of that Clare College course, those objectives will be achieved in ways that distinguish the honors seminar from the regular Clare College offering.

Two new Clare College honors courses will be introduced each semester over the next two years. The first two courses to be offered, Clare 108H and Clare 109H, are currently on the fall 2006 schedule.

By the end of 2007-2008, the Honors Program will have inaugurated an honors experience of the core curriculum that includes the following courses.

CLARE 101H / The Intellectual Journey - Honors
CLARE 102H / Inquiry and the Natural World – Honors
CLARE 103H / Foundations of the Western World – Honors
CLARE 104H / The Good Life – Honors
CLARE 105H / Inquiry and the Social World – Honors
CLARE 106H / Foundational Religious Texts – Honors
CLARE 107H / The Catholic-Franciscan Heritage – Honors
CLARE 108H / World Views – Honors
CLARE 109H / Arts and Literature – Honors
CLARE 111H / Composition and Critical Thinking II – Honors

In order to support this expansion of the Honors Program, the Honors Council has decided to amend the requirements for the honors degree, Tate said. These requirements will now include: six honors courses; the Advanced Honors Seminar; the Honors Project; a minimum 3.25 G. P. A. (These are described in the “Honors Degree” entry of the Honors Program Webpages.) These new requirements will be effective beginning with the fall 2006 and will apply to the class of 2010.

"On behalf of the Honors Council, I am pleased to offer these new courses as an attractive option for honors students to fulfill their core curriculum requirements," said Tate.

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University to celebrate multiculturalism and diversity at Damietta Center

On Friday, Sept. 15, at 5:30 p.m. St. Bonaventure University will formally dedicate the newly opened Damietta Center — a center celebrating multiculturalism and diversity. Located on the west end of Francis Hall in a building that was originally the convent for Christ the King Seminary, this center is the direct result of an initiative promoted by the Strategic Planning Committee for Diversity. The name Damietta was chosen because it was the place where Francis of Assisi met with Sultan Malek al-Kamil.

In bringing the center together, donations of furniture, landscaping, dishes and silverware were organized from alumni, relatives of students, staff and faculty. Monetary donations were received from the St. Bonaventure Friary, University Ministries, The Journey Project and the Franciscan Center for Social Concerns. Student groups throughout the University that have already met at the Damietta Center include Black Student Union, International Student Association and the teaching assistants from other countries. Four Damietta dinners have happened since its opening, bringing together faculty, staff and students.

St. Bonaventure University president Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., S.T.D., in August announced the opening of the new University center, which is destined to serve as a place of community, collaboration and pro-active problem solving for students, faculty and staff who seek a multicultural “anchor” for social, intellectual and personal development.

The Damietta Center is dedicated in memory of the journey of Francis of Assisi from Europe to the lands of Islam and the non-violent encounter with a ruling Moslem leader of his time.

The Damietta Center will provide cultural, intellectual and spiritual enrichment. Available programs, services and facilities will enhance and create a community environment that recognizes the University’s desire to learn and appreciate cultural similarities and differences while cultivating a campus wide environment for cross-cultural interaction.

The center will celebrate the diversity of the University’s students, faculty, staff and administrators. It is located in the building formally identified as the Thomas More House, between Francis Hall and the Gardens. Equipped with a kitchen, dining room, living room and meeting space, it has once again become a “home” to many.

After listening to the Strategic Planning Committee for Diversity members and meeting with interested students, faculty and administrators, Sr. Margaret committed to making this a priority for the University.

“I am grateful to the members of the Strategic Planning Committee for the originality of their proposal and the careful cultural analysis behind it. I am also very pleased with initiatives reported to me by our students who have shown eager enthusiasm in taking ownership of this new opportunity for creating a better campus climate,” Sr. Margaret said.

“Together we will ‘make our way by walking’ as the center evolves under the capable leadership of Peter Ghiloni, whom I have asked to serve as its founding director,” Sr. Margaret said, referencing the prophet Isaiah. “Peter has important experience in diversity work, has established wonderful relationships across our campus and is a trusted mentor of our students.”

Since joining the University Ministries team as director of liturgy and music three years ago, a position he will continue to hold, Ghiloni has also served as a minister in residence in Robinson Hall. In both 2004 and 2006, he received the Fr. Joseph Doino “Staff Person of the Year” award.

While serving as director of prayer and worship for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for 10 years, Ghiloni also served on its multicultural task force and worked extensively with the African American, Latino and Hmong communities in the central city of Milwaukee. Additionally, he worked to create and host a major annual ecumenical conference.

“This is a very exciting endeavor for me and the entire campus. I look forward to establishing a home for all of us as we embrace our cultural gifts and realties,” Ghiloni said. The mission of the Damietta Center will be situated within University Ministries.

“The Damietta Center is founded on our Franciscan tradition of treasuring the dignity of every person, culture and spiritual path. Its mission is to foster the brother-sisterhood of all members of our University community,” said Robert M. Donius, vice president for University Ministries.

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CFA Club of Rochester welcomes finance students

Eight students from the St. Bonaventure University Finance Club and Students in Money Management traveled to Rochester, N.Y., on Monday, Sept. 11, to hear John Bogle, founder of Vanguard Investment Group, speak at Oak Hill Country Club.

Dr. Stephen M. Horan, CFA, and Dr. James Mahar accompanied students to the event, which was sponsored by the CFA Society of Rochester. Bogle, an industry icon who transformed the mutual fund industry by introducing the first index mutual fund in 1976, is a best-selling author. He has published four books and many articles, and is now president of the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center.

Bogle argued that, over the long run, investors must earn returns equal to those generated by the businesses in which they invest, and that investors should not be lured into markets that violate this principle. Moreover, he ardently advocates the use of index funds as the core of an investment program due to their low expense ratios, high diversification, low turnover, and high tax efficiency.

After the presentation, students enjoyed the opportunity to meet two St. Bonaventure alumni – Kristen Schebell, ’04, and Jeffery Bradley, ’04, ’05 – who work at Alesco Advisors, LLC, founded by James Gould, ’80, a member of the University’s Board of Trustees. Interestingly, much of Alesco’s investment philosophy is grounded in the principles proffered by Bogle that evening.

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BonaResponds plans countywide service day

The BonaResponds team has scheduled an Allegany-Olean service day for Saturday, Sept. 16. This will be the group’s second local workday this month.

BonaResponds volunteers will be broken into small groups, along with other local service groups, and assigned throughout Cattaraugus County. Some sites include the village of Allegany, Allegheny River Valley Trail, the Cattaraugus County SPCA, St. Elizabeth Motherhouse, Olean Historical Society, Olean General Hospital, the St. Bonaventure University (SBU) campus and Mt. Irenaeus. Volunteers will be asked to perform such tasks as walking dogs, painting, landscaping, serving food and cleaning up the ground near the sites.

Volunteers will meet at 8 a.m. at Archbishop Walsh High School. Volunteers are advised to wear old clothes that they won’t mind getting dirty. All are welcome to join, and participants are invited to bring friends.

This month’s first local service day was held at Archbishop Walsh High School in Olean on Friday, Sept. 1. Volunteers provided their assistance to the local Catholic high school by painting doorframes, repairing walls, tiling floors and landscaping the grounds.

The organizers of BonaResponds are using the service days as an opportunity to get prepared for future service trips to the Gulf Coast. BonaResponds was formed last year to assist in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. The group is planning to head back to the Gulf in early January 2007 with a small group, and then again for spring break.

Assistant professor of finance and faculty leader of BonaResponds, Dr. James Mahar said, “As the work in the Gulf Coast is changing, the sites we will be working with are asking for a more skilled workforce. The local service projects will be one way to get some of that training.”

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'60 Minutes' producer named Lenna Endowed Visiting Professor

Alan Weisman, longtime producer for CBS News’ 60 Minutes, has been named The 2006 Lenna Endowed Visiting Professor at St. Bonaventure University. Weisman will be on campus from Sept. 19-29.

On Wednesday, Sept. 20, Weisman will discuss “Dan Rather, his extraordinary life and times,” at the President’s Roundtable Lecture at Jamestown Community College in Jamestown. Following the lecture, he will speak to students of the college.

All are invited to attend Weisman’s discussion on “Press Coverage of the Criminal Justice System,” 7p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 27, at The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts’ Rigas Family Theater at St. Bonaventure with a reception to follow.

While visiting, Weisman will interact with students in their classrooms, both on St. Bonaventure’s campus and at the graduate center in Hamburg’s Integrated Marketing Communications program.

“Alan’s contributions to CBS New and to all of broadcast news and sports are of consistent high achievement and professional integrity,” commented Paul Wieland, lecturer in the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Weisman’s nominator for the Lenna Endowed Visiting Professorship.

Weisman has been an executive producer, producer and writer for 33 years, including 16 years as a producer for CBS News’ 60 Minutes, executive producer of Sports Illustrated Television, executive producer of Charlie Rose, senior producer of Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, and coordinating producer of the 16th Olympic Winter Games for CBS Sports. He has also covered the Falklands War, the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. His profiles include Jackie Gleason, Meryl Streep, Peter O’Toole, Sean Penn and Daniel Day-Lewis.

As a producer, Weisman worked with Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News. He chronicled the riveting and turbulent life of the former anchor in the first-ever major biography of Rather, LONESTAR: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Dan Rather. He shows how Rather single-handedly revolutionized the role of anchorman, taking the job out of the studio and directly to the source of the news and in doing so, how he changed the course of broadcast journalism. He draws on more than 80 interviews with CBS and other broadcast news insiders, bringing Rather’s long career to life, from his early days as a Texas radio reporter to the breaking-news exclusives of his anchorman years, and offers new insights into right-wing allegations of bias and the infamous Memogate scandal of 2004 involving reports about President George W. Bush’s military service.

Weisman holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and lives in Bergen County, N.J., with his wife and two children.

The Lenna Endowed Visiting Professorship, established in 1990, is funded through gifts from Betty S. Lenna Fairbank and the late Reginald A. Lenna of Jamestown. It is designed to bring scholars of stature in their field to St. Bonaventure and Jamestown Community College for public lectures.

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Career Center News ...

For information on upcoming events and programs, such as: workshops and seminars relating to the graduate school admission process, an upcoming Law School Fair, an interview program for accounting & finance majors, and details about on-campus recruiters, visit the Career Center Events Web page.

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Newsmakers ...

Lee Coppola, dean of the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will present Wolf Blitzer for induction in the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame at the Hall of Fame dinner Oct. 3 at the WNED-TV studio in Buffalo. Blitzer is the anchor of CNN's The Situation Room, an afternoon news program that combines traditional reporting methods with the newest innovative online resources. Blitzer also hosts Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.

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Dr. Diana Lawrence-Brown, associate professor in the School of Education, is co-author of an article titled "On the Road to More Collaborative Teaching" in Teaching Exceptional Children Plus. The article reports on part of the study conducted by a collaborative research group that includes Dr. Kathleen Magiera of SUNY Fredonia (lead author) and educators from Ring Elementary School in Jamestown, a partner district with the School of Education. Co-authors from Ring Elementary include teachers Kristie Bloomquist, Andrea Figueroa, Kirstin Glatz, Denise Heppeler, and Pamela Rodriguez, along with principal Connie Foster. Andrea Figueroa is also an adjunct professor in the School of Education. The article focuses on co-teaching, an essential support for inclusion of students with exceptionalities in general education classrooms. It can be accessed at: http://escholarship.bc.edu/education/tecplus/vol2/iss5/art6.

 


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Friday Forum
All SBU faculty, staff and administrators are welcome to all the Friday Forums.

Date: Sept. 15, 2006 (this Friday)
Speaker: Dr. Barry Gan
Time: Lunch starts at noon, Forum goes from 12:35 to 1:30 p.m., including Q&A
Place: University Club - Above Hickey
Title: "Pressed into War: Media Complicity with American War Fervor"

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