1. SBU contingent heads to Northern Ireland for collaboration on Father Mychal Judge Center
2. Ernst & Young donation pushes total for year almost $20,000
3. Hundreds of alumni return to campus for Reunion Weekend 2009
4. Newsmakers

____________________

SBU contingent heads to Northern Ireland for collaboration on Father Mychal Judge Center

As the next step in the development of the Father Mychal Judge Center at St. Bonaventure University, a core group of faculty and staff will leave this week for a visit to Northern Ireland.

During their time in Northern Ireland, the group will participate in programming related to Ireland’s educational, economic, political, and reconciliation issues, talk with other higher education faculty and administrators, meet community members who have been involved in the Irish peace process, and identify pedagogical and research areas of common interest to faculty at St. Bonaventure and the Irish colleges. The opportunity to offer St. Bonaventure courses in Northern Ireland and/or to establish a study abroad program at a Northern Ireland college will also be pursued.

The Father Mychal Judge Center for Irish Exchange and Understanding will provide opportunities for students to explore the issues that face the people of Ireland as they respond to the end of a century of violent conflict.

“We will be looking at a multidisciplinary approach to curriculum, with the idea of helping our students have a deeper appreciation of reconciliation,” said Larry Sorokes, associate vice president for Franciscan Mission and director of the Mychal Judge Center. “Initially, we’ll be looking at how to start mapping our curriculum in Clare College,” the university’s core curriculum.

In addition to Sorokes, members of the team traveling abroad are:

• Dr. David DiMattio, dean of Clare College;
• Alice Sayegh, director of International Studies/Study Abroad Programs;
• Carole McNall, assistant professor of journalism/mass communication;
• Leslie Chambers, lecturer in undergraduate teacher education;
• Michael Kasperski, lecturer in accounting and internship director of the School of Business; and
• Mark Phillips, academic skills specialist with the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP).
  

Also serving as part of the team is Dr. Neal Carter, associate professor of political science, who is unable to join the group abroad.

The group’s visit will begin in the Ballycastle region on the north coast of Ireland at the Corrymeela Community’s retreat center. This center, Sorokes said, has attained international acclaim for its development of community dialogue models, service learning, and global citizenship issues. The St. Bonaventure contingent will have the opportunity to meet with other faculty from Northern Ireland, leaders of peace organizations, and journalists from the BBC and other organizations. The Corrymeela visit will conclude with a field trip to the city of Derry, the scene of the historic “Bloody Sunday” in 1972.

The group will then spend several days in the Belfast area, meeting with faculty and staff from St. Mary’s University College and Queen’s University about opportunities to collaborate on courses, new curricula, service experiences, research, and student and faculty exchanges.

While in Belfast, the St. Bonaventure group will also meet with representatives from the British Council to discuss Northern Ireland’s Business Education Initiative, which provides students from Northern Ireland with an international experience through a yearlong placement in a U.S. school. St. Bonaventure will welcome its first student through the program this fall. The Irish student will be enrolled in business classes, obtain an internship with a U.S. business, and will give campus/community presentations about Northern Ireland each semester. Opportunities for reciprocal participation in the BEI project will be explored; applications from qualified SBU students to spend a semester or full academic year in Northern Ireland may become available for 2010-11.

A portion of the trip is being funded through a Martine Faculty Endowment for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning in Clare College. The balance of the cost has been provided by private gifts and grants to the university. Going forward, the Father Mychal Judge Center is expected to receive a Congressionally-directed grant this year to continue program planning and implementation, support faculty and student exchanges, and develop additional international partnerships.

Background on the Father Mychal Judge Center

In establishing this center, St. Bonaventure recognizes the strong Irish heritage of its founder, Nicholas Devereux, the centuries-old and significant contributions of the Franciscan friars in Ireland, and the university’s long-standing commitment to servant leadership and social entrepreneurship.

Fr. Mychal Judge, O.F.M., was famous for the many ways in which he was committed to serving the poor, friendless, and disenfranchised. He was a counselor, pastor, fire chaplain, and peacemaker, and his work focused on the promotion of reconciliation, whether in addressing the AIDS crisis of the 1980s or the Irish peace process of the 1990s. Fr. Mychal died a hero’s death on Sept. 11, 2001, while serving as chaplain to New York City firefighters at the World Trade Center.

Fr. Mychal was a graduate of St. Bonaventure and a former administrator at Siena College in Albany.

Click here to return to the top of the page

____________________

Ernst & Young donation pushes total for year to almost $20,000

St. Bonaventure University has received a gift of $9,650 from Ernst &Young as part of the accounting firm's matching-gifts program.

The contribution brings the total contributed this year to St. Bonaventure by the firm and its staff members to $19,300.

"We are grateful to Ernst &Young and our alumni, and hope that it will be a model for our graduates in other firms with matching gift programs," said Dr. C. Joseph Coate, chair of the university's accounting department.

Charles A. Krotje, class of '84 and executive director in the Buffalo office of Ernst &Young, helped coordinate the fundraising effort and made the presentation to St. Bonaventure.

Click here to return to the top of the page

____________________

Hundreds of alumni to return to campus for Reunion Weekend 2009

Announcement of the Alumnus or Alumna of the Year and the induction of former Bonnies basketball player and coach Jim Baron into the Athletics Hall of Fame are two of the key events that will take place during St. Bonaventure University’s Alumni Reunion Weekend, June 5-7.

The reunion salutes graduates of the Class of 1949 and other graduating classes in five-year increments up through 2004, although alums from all classes are welcome at the annual gathering. More than 900 SBU alumni and friends are expected to return this year for activities on and around the St. Bonaventure campus.

Alumni will arrive on campus throughout the day on Friday, June 5, when golf, campus tours and other activities are slated. A Mass for the Class of 1959 and prior graduates will be held at 4:45 p.m. in the University Chapel, after which class dinners will be held at various venues. The evening will end with a social on campus.

Events on Saturday begin with breakfast in the Magnano Centre’s Hickey Dining Hall, followed by golf, a 5K Fun Run and a number of talks and presentations hosted by university faculty and staff. Among the presenters is Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., S.T.D., university president, who will help close the book on the university’s year-long sesquicentennial celebration and share her vision for the university over the next 150 years.

There will also be an Athletic Department Yard Sale from 9-11 a.m. Saturday outside the Reilly Center featuring game-worn jerseys, warm-ups, blankets, glasses, mugs, and more.

Following a picnic lunch hosted by the campus Franciscans, there will be additional presentations as well as self-guided tours of academic buildings and open houses hosted by a number of schools and departments.

The induction of Baron into the Athletics Hall of Fame will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday on Bob Lanier Court in the Reilly Center Arena. Baron, now head basketball coach at Rhode Island, was a senior co-captain and starting point guard when he led the Bonnies to the NIT Championship in 1977. He coached the Bonnies for nine seasons starting in 1992, a span during which the team made three NIT appearances and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth in 22 years.

Saturday evening activities begin at 4:30 p.m. with the Alumni Memorial Mass at the University Chapel. Alumni will then gather for a reception prior to boarding shuttle buses that will transport them to the Premier Banquet Center for the annual reunion dinner and program.

A highlight of the evening will be announcement of the William “Stax” McCarthy Alumnus/a of the Year Award.

Alumni weekend will conclude Sunday morning with a farewell breakfast and Mass.

For more information, contact Alumni Services at (716) 375-2302, e-mail alumni@sbu.edu, or go online to alumni.sbu.edu.

Click here to return to the top of the page

____________________

Newsmakers

Dr. Robert P. Amico, professor of philosophy, presented “Teaching White Privilege: A Multidisciplinary Approach” at the 22nd Annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE) in San Diego, Calif., May 28, 2009.

Fr. Xavier Seubert, O.F.M., director of the Visual Arts Program, was invited to give a talk at the Third International Conference of Iconographic Studies at the University of Rijeka in Croatia on May 22, 2009. The theme of this year's conference was Franciscan Iconography in celebration of the 800th anniversary of the first Rule of St. Francis. Fr. Xavier's talk was titled "The Uses of Images of St. Francis of Assisi in the Protestant Reformation."

Click here to return to the top of the page

_____________________