Archive for the ‘Colleges and Universities’ Category

Walk into the Jesuit Residence during lunchtime and it’s likely you’ll see the Jesuits hootin’ and hollerin’ with each other. Jesuit Father John Donnelly is no exception. He comes through the door that separates the Jesuits’ dining area from the lobby with a glass of beer in his hand.

“I left some of my remaining pizza back there in order for us to chat,” Donnelly says jokingly. “Now let’s talk.”

Donnelly sits in a reclining chair and begins to share the reasons why he became a Jesuit.

“In 1952 I graduated from Campion Jesuit High School and that summer I was doing a lot of reflecting on the fact that my friends were going into the seminary and then I thought, ‘Hey! That’s a really good idea,’” Donnelly said.

After traveling for educational purposes before his ordination in 1965, Donnelly found his way to Marquette University in 1971. He served as a full-time professor of history until retiring last year. Before Marquette, Donnelly served as a TA while working on his Ph.D. at UW-Madison. He described his time there as “rambunctious” due to the heated political times of the Vietnam War. Donnelly recalled a memorable Saturday morning while in the campus Jesuit house.

“I remember waking up and seeing the police with tear gas and their body protection on,” Donnelly said. “Each threw four (tear gas cans) in different directions to make sure no riots occurred that day.”

Donnelly said the history department at Marquette is refreshing in comparison to his few years at Madison. He prided the department on its respect and harmony.

“I am very happy to be a part of this history department,” Donnelly said. ”We are really blessed with mutual respect and honesty. It is one of my biggest joys here at Marquette.”

Donnelly said he’s taught five courses throughout his tenure here at Marquette: History of the Renaissance, World War II, History of the Reformation Period and the two introductory History of Western Civilizations classes.

Molly Edwards, a sophomore in the College of Communication, had Donnelly in Western Civilization. She said Donnelly’s class was dense in subject manner but brought to life by his relating material to present-day issues.

“The topic was 1700 to present day history and was really dry,” Edwards said. “But he knows an infinite amount of knowledge about it that astounds you.”

Edwards said Donnelly encouraged his students to take a passion about the history and use the ties to modern day history as a tool to create a more tangible connection. She was specifically a fan of a paper where she had to research a historical person. She chose Charles Darwin.

“It was 10 pages long,” Edwards said. “But I am glad I did it because it provided you with a bigger understanding on how people have an impact on society, and he related it back to the Jesuit ideal.”

[Marquette Tribune]

An astronomer by training, Jesuit Father George Coyne has devoted much of his life to researching the surfaces of the moon and Mercury, interstellar matter, binary stars and distant galaxies in order to gain a greater understanding of them. He has taught astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and has served as both director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Now, he joins the faculty of Le Moyne College in Syracuse as their first Religious Philosophy chairman.

Coyne’s arrival comes at a time of exceptional student interest in the natural sciences and allied health fields at Le Moyne. Opening this month, its new science complex will house the physical, life and health sciences. This addition is a 50,000-square-foot building that will adjoin the reconfigured Coyne Science Center for a total of 105,000 square feet of academic space. The complex includes teaching facilities to accommodate large introductory-level classes and small upper-level classes, as well as cutting-edge facilities for faculty research and faculty-mentored student research.

When the College of the Holy Cross trustees hired Jesuit Father Michael McFarland to be the college’s president 12 years ago, one of his former colleagues described him as having “a sunshine wink” and “a suppressed grin.”

At 63, Fr. McFarland still has a youthful grin, a twinkle in his eye and the slight build of a runner. His time at Holy Cross lasted longer than the 10 years trustees originally hoped for, but it will come to an end this year. In January, Jesuit Father Philip L. Boroughs, vice president for mission and ministry at Georgetown University, will take over.

During McFarland’s time at Holy Cross, the college added 400,000 square feet of building space; expanded its faculty and lowered its course load; grew its endowment by 61 percent; created new financial aid initiatives, including one that gives Worcester, Mass. students free tuition if their families earn less that $50,000; boosted recruiting in Worcester; helped launch the Nativity School of Worcester; fostered an affordable housing program in cooperation with the South Worcester Neighborhood Improvement Corporation; gave the Worcester Tornadoes a rent-free summer home; won re-accreditation and bought and razed off-campus buildings where students once lived.

McFarland arrived already familiar with a number of aspects of a college president’s job: the academics side, athletics, student life and finance. He had a couple things to learn on the job: “I had done less fundraising,” he said. “And then I’m not a politician. I said that when they hired me, so dealing with multiple complex constituencies has been a learning experience.”

But a large part of his presidency has been his time with students. The president attends about as many games as the athletic director, and the marching band loves McFarland so much that they made him the inaugural inductee into their hall of fame. Lauren A. D’Abrosca, co-chairman of the Student Government Association at Holy Cross, described him as being the type of person you never needed an introduction to say hello to.

“As a student, it could be almost a nerve-wracking experience sitting down with the president of your college. … And he doesn’t make it like that at all,” she said.

Read more about the College of the Holy Cross’ transition to a new president at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

The University of Scranton has announced the establishment of The Jesuit Center to assist in keeping its Catholic and Jesuit character at the core of its operation. The University also announced the appointment of former Trustee, Jesuit Father Ryan J. Maher, as the founding executive director of The Jesuit Center, effective July 1, 2012. Fr. Maher currently serves as associate dean of Georgetown College, the undergraduate school of arts and sciences at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

The Jesuit Center will foster faculty and staff participation in the Jesuit higher educational mission, support faculty teaching and scholarship that advances the University’s Catholic and Jesuit character, and promote Ignatian spirituality within an interreligious context.

“The establishment of The Jesuit Center at The University of Scranton was a personal priority because our Catholic and Jesuit mission and identity is central to all that we do,” said Jesuit Father Kevin P. Quinn, University president. “Because I have so many hopes for the role that the center will play in the life of our community, I am delighted that Father Maher has agreed to join us. He is an accomplished professor and administrator and an articulate champion for the collaborative role that faculty and staff must play in maintaining the vitality of our mission.”

The executive director of The Jesuit Center will report to Jesuit Father Richard G. Malloy, Vice President for University mission and ministry, and will serve on the President’s Cabinet.

In addition to serving as associate dean, Maher is a professorial lecturer in theology and Catholic studies at Georgetown University. He previously served as the director of Catholic studies and was the founding faculty member of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service campus in Doha, Qatar. In the Middle East, he taught theology to the school’s predominantly Muslim student body.

Fifty years ago,  in 1961,  Jesuit Father Patrick Howell entered the Society of Jesus at Sheridan, Ore, the novitiate for Jesuits in the Northwest.Today, Fr. Howell is the rector (religious superior) of the Jesuit Community at Seattle University and professor of pastoral theology. In this piece for the Seattle Times, Fr. Howell looks back upon his time as a Jesuit and his own travails. 

A recent graduate of Gonzaga University, I was only 21, but my peers, most of whom had entered directly from a Jesuit high school, such as Seattle Prep or Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, considered me one of the “old men.”

The years pass swiftly, but they have been full of grace and certainly much more joy than sorrow.

I was blessed with first-class opportunities for advanced education. After initial studies in spirituality, prayer, Jesuit tradition and a dose of Latin and Greek, I studied philosophy and English literature at Boston College.

Then came three years of high-school teaching at Jesuit High in Portland. I survived the trials and testing by high-school boys and grew to love the personal interaction and challenge of teaching English, creative writing and poetry and advising the high school newspaper.

This “formation” period of teaching in high school probably accounts for why most Jesuits are such good teachers and homilists. Survival demands that you develop rhetorical skills and a flair for the dramatic — even though it’s not native to your personality — in order to grab the attention of 28 sophomore boys for 50 minutes each day…

But another significant portion of my life has been spiritual care of those who have suffered severe mental illness.

All this arose as a surprise, when I suffered a psychotic breakdown myself at age 35 and then recovered through excellent psychiatric care and the good graces and support of family and friends…

This “grace” led to an amazingly rich ministry with people with mental illness and their families.

Years ago, Jesuit Father Michael Buckley, in an address to Jesuit seminarians asked, “Is this man sufficiently weak to be a priest?”…

Why weakness? Because, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is in this deficiency, in this interior lack, in this weakness, that the efficacy of the ministry and priesthood of Christ lies. “For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)

I think, after 50 years, I can rejoice in being “weak enough” to allow the grace of Christ to shine through and carry the load.

More of Howell’s life as a Jesuit can be found in this piece in the Seattle Times.