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Oct. 26, 2006

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Phi Eta Sigma inducts 50 new members

The St. Bonaventure University chapter of Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society inducted 50 new members on Sep. 30.

Phi Eta Sigma, founded in 1923, encourages and rewards students for their high scholastic achievement. It is the nation’s oldest and largest honor society for first-year students in all fields of study. Only students with a first-year grade point average of 3.5 or above are eligible.

The induction ceremony took place at the University Chapel. Dr. David DiMattio, dean of Clare College, Dr. Michael Fischer, vice president of Academic Affairs and Provost, and Peter Ghiloni, director of the Damiatta Center, received honorary memberships. An honors luncheon was held after the induction ceremony.

The 2006 inductees are: Abbie A. Bricker of Port Allegany, Pa.; Jeffrey W. Butler of Newport, N.Y.; Eric J. Carlson of Angola, N.Y.; Kate E. Cherry of Australia; Emily L. Ciraolo of Grand Island, N.Y.; Michael T. Connery of Woodbury, Conn.; Jennie Dahar of Hinsdale, N.Y.; Caitlin M. Dalton of Sandy Hook, Conn.; Katelyn E. Dieffenderfer of Liverpool, N.Y.; Emily F. Dillon of Cato, N.Y.; Terence M. Donohue of Barrington, R.I.; Madeline J. Drago of Lakewood, N.Y.; Kevin E. Egan of Binghamton, N.Y.; Nicole E. Fisk of Dunkirk, N.Y.; Matthew J. Fitzharris of Dayton, OH, Jessica D. Gunter of Missouri City, TX; Brittany J. Henry of Tuckerton, N.J.; Marcus K. Jones of Olean, N.Y.; Bridget A. Kleinfelder of Mayville, N.Y.; Amanda S. Kotz of Williamsville, N.Y.; Ashley E. Kotz of Williamsville, N.Y.; Amy M. Gibson of Hamburg, N.Y.; Ashley M. Lemon of Olean, N.Y.; Amanda R. Long of Morristown, N.J.; Garrett T. Lyons of Allegany, N.Y.; Emily R. Marsh of Bemus Point, N.Y.; Bridget T. Morgan of Concord, OH; Katelyn E. Murray of Harrisburg, Pa.; Kathryn M. Pazda of Clarence, N.Y.; Joseph J. Perry of Falls, Pa.; Molly K. Peterson of Warren, Mich,; Carl J. Pfadt of Pittsford, Vt,; Richard M. Place of West Valley, N.Y.; Lindsay R. Pohlman of Orchard Park, N.Y.; Patrick J. Power of Olean, N.Y.; Natalie M. Pronio of Hummelstown, Pa.; Daniel P. Quirk of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Elizabeth A. Schumer of Hamburg, N.Y.; Jon E. Riffel of Orchard Park, N.Y.; Robert A. Sonnenberger of Tonawanda, N.Y.; Jean E. Taylor of Rochester, N.Y.; Robert S. Torella of Hamburg, N.Y.; Caitlin M. Tydings of Rochester, N.Y.; Michael P. Unti of Raleigh, N.C.; Keri L. Vito of Clay, N.Y.; Allison J. Whalen of West Seneca, N.Y.; Meghan E. Whitcomb of Great Valley, N.Y.; Eric A. Whitney of Rochester, N.Y.; Courtney Wilhelm of Short Hills, N.J.; and Christine R. Williams of Endicott, N.Y.

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Buffalo service trip offers opportunity to make a difference

University Ministries will be offering a service trip to Buffalo for all St. Bonaventure University students on Saturday, Nov. 11.

The trip is sponsored by Journey’s End Refugee Services, Inc. (JERS), located on Barton Street in Buffalo. JERS is a Christian, community-based organization that welcomes refugees without regard to ethnic origin or creed who are resettling in Western New York. The non-profit organization assists them to become healthy, independent and contributing members to the community.

Students will be asked to gather and package items for refugee families or individuals. These items include personal hygiene items, cleaning kits, first-aid kits, school kits and toddler kits. Other tasks will include helping people move, providing meals and sorting donations.

There is no fee to participate in the service trip and it is only open to the St. Bonaventure community. Seniors will be able to gain community service time toward the seven-hour requirement for University Forum. Participants should meet at the Thomas Merton Center on the day of the trip.

To sign up and for more information, contact the Rev. Cheryl Parris at cparris@sbu.edu.

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Iraqi war veteran to give poetry reading

Brian Turner, Iraq war veteran and poet, will give a reading of his work at St. Bonaventure University at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, in the Robert R. Jones Trustees Room of Doyle Hall. The reading is free and open to the public.

Turner’s debut book of poems, Here, Bullet, won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award and was the New York Times “Editor’s Choice” selection. Turner’s poems are a first-person account of the Iraq war. They reflect his experience as a soldier, while deploring the violence and acknowledging the grief and terror of war.

The Franklin Journal said of Turner’s work, “If there is meaning in loss, there must be meaning in what precedes loss, in what is related to loss. There is no harm in such reflection, argues Here, Bullet, but rather harm stems from the lack of it.”

One of Turner’s poems, “Eulogy,” is dedicated to a soldier in his platoon who took his own life. Written in the tradition of war poets, Turner’s poetry of witness adds to the current debate about the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Turner served in the U.S. Army for seven years and spent one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq. Prior to that, he was deployed in Bosnia-Herzegovnia and has lived abroad in South Korea. Turner earned a master of fine arts from the University of Oregon.

His poetry has been published in Poetry Daily, The Georgia Review, and other journals, as well as in the Voices of Wartime Anthology published in conjunction with the feature-length documentary film of the same name.

This event is co-sponsored by the Olean Public Library and St. Bonaventure’s Center for Nonviolence, with assistance from the New York State Council on the Arts. Copies of Here, Bullet are available at the St. Bonaventure bookstore. They can also be purchased the night of the reading.

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BonaResponds returns to Buffalo to assist in cleanup

Less than eight months removed from seeing the horror nature can inflict on people with a devastating combination of wind and rain, St. Bonaventure University students got to see firsthand the wrath nature can cause with heavy, wet snow.

About five dozen students from BonaResponds, many of whom traveled to the Gulf Coast in March to offer aid to hurricane victims, spent Sunday in suburban Buffalo helping victims of the freak Oct. 12-13 snowstorm clean up their ravaged yards.
Another group of BonaResponders will be heading back to the area this Sunday to help storm victims again.

States of emergency were declared in Buffalo and several of its eastern and northern suburbs after nearly 2 feet of wet snow, delivered in a rage of thunder and lightning, snapped tree branches and power lines, buried cars, and left 392,000 homes and businesses without power. All non-essential travel was banned, and more than a dozen deaths were attributed to the storm and its aftermath.

As soon as the travel ban was lifted, a handful of students, led by SBU finance professor Dr. Jim Mahar, went to Lancaster on Oct. 15. Word of mouth from that experience inspired 10 times that many students to assist storm victims the following Sunday.

An estimated 60 volunteers were dispersed Sunday to 40 sites throughout the Buffalo region. Students, faculty and community members worked alongside residents, many of whom were St. Bonaventure alumni, and emergency rescue personnel picking up branches and hauling away debris.

“At the beginning of the day, people who had no hope to get their yards cleaned themselves were often moved to tears by the volunteers’ efforts,” said Mahar. “That, more than the tonnage of debris moved or the number of yards cleared, is the most important thing we did. It’s something you can’t put a price tag on.”

“There are no words to explain some of the reactions we received,” said sophomore resident assistant Patrick Brutus. “One lady cried as she was thanking us, and with her teary eyes she called us her heroes.”

Graduate student Anthony DiMario said, “This experience changed my outlook on a lot of things. No matter how busy I get with school, it will never be as bad as some of the challenges that people in the Buffalo area have to deal with. They were truly grateful.”

BonaResponds will be returning to the Buffalo area this Sunday. As always, all students, faculty and community members are welcome. As an additional incentive, BonaResponds will deduct $10 off the price of the spring break service trips to Mississippi and Louisiana to anyone who works at least five hours in Buffalo.

“The situation in Buffalo is getting better but clean-up still remains,” Mahar said, “I would guess less than one-fifth of the job is finished.”

The BonaResponds team will be assisting homeowners, community groups, parks and schools that are in desperate need of help.

Volunteers are asked to car pool, and must sign in behind the Murphy Professional Building at 9 a.m. Car pools are expected to leave the Murphy parking lot at 9:15 a.m. Drivers who take at least three additional volunteers will receive $10 for gas.

Volunteers are advised to wear old clothing, work gloves and boots. People should bring an extra change of clothes and shoes to change into after working. Anyone who owns and has experience operating a chainsaw is gratefully asked to attend, Mahar said.

The BonaResponds headquarters will be at the village municipal building in Lancaster, located near the corner of Broadway and Central streets. From there volunteers will spread out across the Buffalo region until regrouping at 5 p.m. for a short meeting. Car pools plan to return shortly after 7 p.m.
BonaResponds is accepting food and money donations from those who would like to help but can’t attend. Those who wish to donate should e-mail BonaResponds@sbu.edu. In addition, anyone from the St. Bonaventure community whose family was affected by the storm is encouraged to contact BonaResponds so a team can be sent to assist them.

“To sacrifice a few hours on a Sunday would help many people, and make you as an individual feel great,” Brutus said. “This is the perfect opportunity for one to serve their country. Come out and be someone’s hero.”

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Franciscan Institute presents Ignatius Brady Memorial lecture

The Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University will sponsor the Third Annual Ignatius Brady, O.F.M., Memorial Endowment Lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, in the University Chapel.

The Province of St. John the Baptist, Order of Friars Minor of Cincinnati, Ohio, established the $1 million endowment for the Institute to promote the legacy of research, scholarship and teaching associated with the name of Fr. Ignatius Brady, O.F.M., who was a member of the province for 60 years.

“The Institute has been extraordinarily fortunate to have received this generous gift from the friars of the St. John the Baptist province,” said Fr. Michael Cusato, O.F.M, dean of the School of Franciscan Studies and director of the Franciscan Institute. “It has already enabled us to finance a number of smaller scholarly ventures and will be crucial for funding a major new research initiative currently in the planning process. One of the stipulations of the endowment is that each year the Institute sponsors an annual lecture in which an aspect of the Franciscan tradition is addressed by a recognized expert in Franciscan studies.”

Fr. Joseph P. Chinnici, O.F.M., the lecture’s featured speaker, is a widely respected scholar, teacher and speaker on the history of American Catholicism and the development of Franciscan theology and spirituality. The topic he has chosen for his plenary lecture is: “Sexual Abuse in Church and Society: A Franciscan Perspective on Power, Property and Prestige.”

Chinnici served nine years as provincial minister for the Franciscan Friars of the Saint Barbara Province and has served as academic dean at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif.

Brady dedicated much of his early academic interest to St. Bonaventure. He published many articles on aspects of Bonaventure’s thought and spirituality, including the saint’s theory of illumination. He taught at the University in 1947, 1950, 1953-1955 and returned for summer sessions in the mid-1970s.

His article on “The Writings of Saint Bonaventure Regarding the Franciscan Order” remains, according to scholars, the starting point for any investigation into Bonaventure’s Franciscanism.

Brady was ordained a priest on June 9, 1937. He received a master’s degree in 1942 and a doctorate in philosophy in 1948. He focused much of his studies to detailed work on critical editions of medieval texts. Scholars have cited his most important and recognized work as his critical edition of the “Four Books of Sentences” of Peter Lombard.

At the time of Brady’s death on Aug. 4, 1990, 183 publications were attributed to him, spanning 50 years of his life from 1937-1987.

The Third Annual Brady Lecture will also feature an update by the director of the Franciscan Institute on the Quadruple Congress. The congress consists of four international conferences between 2007-2009, which is being organized by the Institute to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of the Franciscan philosopher, John Duns Scotus.

The first conference will be held at St. Bonaventure University, 18-21 October 2007. Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., president of the university, will also be making a special announcement with regard to the Institute at the conclusion of the lecture. Last year, she announced the establishment of a $1.2 million anonymous gift to the Institute – the Boehner,Baetart, Wolter Endowment for Critical Scholarship and Teaching.

The lecture and reception in the Doyle Dining Room are both free and open to the public.

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Workshop hopes to inspire middle school girls

The St. Bonaventure University community will welcome sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls from 29 area schools to campus Saturday, Nov. 4, for the fifth annual Girls’ Day.

The event will feature a variety of workshops presented by St. Bonaventure University graduates and other women in the computer science field. The intent of the program is to expose young girls to different applications of computer technology.

“If you can get them interested on their own early then hopefully you can keep them interested,” said Dr. Suzanne Watson, lecturer of computer science and coordinator of the event.

Watson first began the program after reading that many girls lose interest in the math and science fields during middle school.

“We want them to enjoy this event then look back to us when they’re thinking about college and what to study,” she said.

Through the workshop, students will have the opportunity to manipulate digital images, build robots using light, rotation and sound sensors, and learn about the latest advances in instant messaging from Barbara Vassallo McNally, a 1993 St. Bonaventure University graduate and the technical manager of AOL’s Instant Messenger Group. The workshop will conclude with a panel discussion where the students have the opportunity to ask workshop instructors questions.

For more information, visit http://www.cs.sbu.edu/girlsday.

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University opens its doors to high school seniors

St. Bonaventure University is opening its doors Nov. 12-13 to high school seniors, offering class sit-ins and overnight stays.

The University is giving high school students the opportunity to experience what life at St. Bonaventure is like. The students will be submerged in the atmosphere of college life. The Office of Admissions is responsible for the program and is offering high school students the opportunity to attend regular classes, spend the night on campus with a current student and eat at the newly renovated dining hall. This is the third session of overnights the University has offered.

A consent form must be filled out by a parent, along with the student attending the program, two weeks prior to the requested overnight date. The forms can be found on the University’s Web site www.sbu.edu, under the undergraduate admissions link. Typically, high schools recognize this experience as a legal absence from classes. Also, the student host on campus is required to fill out an in-depth application regarding strict rules and regulations.

Tours around campus can be scheduled and interviews with admissions counselor Tania Baker are available. She said the objective is to give the students a college-like experience.

“This is an ideal opportunity for a high school senior who is interested in St. Bonaventure to see firsthand what their experience would be here both academically and socially, before making one of the first true costly and life-altering decisions about which college to attend,” said Baker. “The Overnight Program offers the chance to see the everyday life they will soon experience as an undergraduate, including what the food tastes like, what fellow students are like, and if the classroom setting is everything they expect."

For more information abut the overnight stays, contact Tania Baker at (716) 375-2436 or at Tbaker@sbu.edu.

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Call for information about late artist James Cole Young

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is seeking information about the artist James Cole Young (1949-2005), former art professor at St. Bonaventure University, in preparation for a retrospective exhibition.

The Center would like to identify and locate original artwork by Young to assist in the production of a comprehensive catalog and for possible inclusion in the exhibition. Also of interest are exhibition announcements, articles, photographs and other memorabilia as well as personal or professional reminiscences about the artist.

The retrospective, the Center’s second biennial exhibition of works by artists of note who share an association with St. Bonaventure, will be held March 1-July 27, 2008. Carol Woodin, internationally recognized artist and longtime friend of Young’s, will curate the exhibition with the cooperation of the artist’s daughter, Dylaina.

From 1977 to 2002, Young (who also went by “J. Cole Young” or “Cole Young”) served on the faculty of St. Bonaventure University, eventually as director of fine arts, and helped found and develop its visual arts department. He was also a key member of the group who made the building of the Quick Center a reality. In 1993, Young was given one of his most significant solo exhibitions with the mounting of Nature and the Imagination, the Landscapes of Cole Young at the Quick Center.

Cole Young made a profound and lasting impression on all those who came in contact with him and his work. All who knew him were touched by his large talent, his gift for teaching, his example of perseverance in the face of illness and the old-fashioned hard, physical work of his chosen profession that yielded such commanding and rewarding works of art.

Although representational painting fell out of favor with the art world during his lifetime, Young's work is included in numerous significant collections. One of the most important purposes of this exhibition and catalog will be to preserve a record of his life’s work for future enlightenment about this enduring vein of American artistic expression rooted in the landscape.

Please send information to: Carol Woodin, c/o The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, St. Bonaventure University, Drawer BH, St. Bonaventure, NY, 14778-0005; e-mail Quick@sbu.edu with the subject line: Cole Young, or fax 716-375-2690.

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is open Tuesday through Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturdays and Sundays noon to 4 pm. Admission to the Quick Center is always free and open to the public. For group tours or general information, call (716) 375-2494, www.sbu.edu or e-mail Quick@sbu.edu.

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SBU theater presents "The Cover of Life"

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The SBU Theater production of “The Cover of Life” runs Wednesday, Oct. 25, through Saturday, Oct. 28, in the University’s Garret Theater.

Showtime each day is 7:30 p.m.

In 1943, three brothers have gone off to war and their brides have moved in with their mother-in-law. Life Magazine picks up the down-home story and sends a snappy New York writer on assignment. North meets South and career meets home in this deeply affecting story about the struggles of women to achieve a sense of self-worth.

“The Cover of Life” rings true to life for playwright R.T. Robinson and his hometown of Bastrop, La. In World War II, three Bastrop brothers, one of them the playwright’s father, had their wives move in with their mother for the war's duration. Life Magazine did send a reporter to do a cover story on small-town America coping with war. Fifty years later, Robinson honored his father and his town in his play.

The play has bite, humor and heart with rich scenes for the three young brides, which illustrate varying degrees of anger, frustration, harbored dreams and shattered illusions.

Dr. Ed. Simone, director of the theater program and chair of the department of visual and performing arts, directs the SBU production, which examines the effects the war-time separation has on marriage, family, jobs … “the fabric of society,” Simone said.

The play ran off-Broadway in 1996 and has had a lively run at regional theaters since then, Simone said.

The cast includes Brittany Henry, Emily Rose Maher, Emma Riley, Jennifer Sexton, Lizz Schumer, Jennifer Albanese and Jason Pagliaccio. The stage crew includes Malissa Bergner, Chelsea Horak, Rick Zuber and Kaitlynn Alico.

Tickets are $8 for the general public, $6 for subscribers, faculty and staff, and free for students via rush seating one hour before the show begins. They are available at the Quick Center box office. Call 375-2494 for ticket information and reservations.

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Career Center News ...

For more information on On-campus Recruiting, On-Campus Recruiting Orientations, upcoming workshops and more visit: Career Center Events Web page.

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Mountain Auction to benefit Mt. Irenaeus

Palm Springs may be miles away from Sesame Street, but those attending the sixth annual Mountain Auction will have a taste of both. Among the highlights of this year’s auction to benefit Mt. Irenaeus are a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, tickets to “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” at Shea’s Performing Arts Center, a Spanish paella dinner for 12, a handmade cruising kayak, a week at a condo in Palm Springs, Calif., and one of the season’s hottest and most elusive toys — T.M.X. Elmo.

Tickets are still available for the auction, slated for Saturday, Nov. 4, in Doyle Hall at St. Bonaventure University. The Mountain Auction benefits Mt. Irenaeus, the Franciscan mountain retreat in West Clarksville that is affiliated with St. Bonaventure. The evening begins with Mass at 5 p.m. in the University Chapel, followed by a social and auction at 6 p.m. in the adjacent Robert R. Jones Board of Trustees Room.

New this year is a selection of gourmet foods including fresh lobster from Massachusetts as well as local poultry and beef. This year’s auction will also feature some of the finest products made or available in the area, including CUTCO cutlery and Zippo items, as well as many handcrafted treasures, gift baskets, home appliances, and décor, hobby and leisure items.

The evening will include a generous buffet of hors d’oeuvres, beverages and desserts, and much more. Tickets are $38 per person; to make reservations or to support the auction with a gift, please contact Michelle Marcellin at (716) 375-2096 or by e-mail at mmarc@sbu.edu.

Proceeds will add to the Mt. Irenaeus endowment and support the general operating budget of Mt. Irenaeus. For more information about the Mountain, visit www.mounti.com.

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Newsmakers

Dr. Robert Amico, professor of philosophy, led a roundtable discussion with Dr. Susan Shaw and Dr. Donna Champeau of Oregon State University on "Curriculum Transformation: Alternate Approaches to Change" at the Association of American Colleges and Universities Conference "Diversity and Learning: A Defining Moment" in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 19-21, 2006.

On Oct. 4, 2006, Dr. Zennia D. Hancock, assistant professor in the Department of Modern Languages, was invited to talk at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at SUNY-Binghamton, during the Annual Fall Workshop/Lecture Series. Hancock’s presentation, “A Medievalist-Feminist-Hispanist and the Thirteenth Century,” addressed how scholars of the Iberian Middle Ages might use semiotics and feminist theory as a critical framework for the analysis of pre-modern texts.

Constance Pierce, artist and assistant professor in Visual and Perfoming Arts, presented a paper and slide presentaion at the 28th Annual Association for Integrative Studies Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on October 6th. Her topic was "Affective Learning and Interdisciplinary Connections with Imaging Journals." The conference was titled "Bridge Building: Connecting Hearts and Minds, Arts and Sciences, Teaching and Research, Academy and Community" and was hosted by Emory University and Oxford College of Emory University. Constance also presented a one woman solo exbhtion at the Houghton College Center for the Arts in Houghton New York in August with a reception and gallery lecture on Sept. 1. The title for the exhibition was "Bearing Witness" and included series of monotype works, intaglio prints, photographs and drawings. The exhibiton was covered in Journal of the Print World. She has also contributed her art works to illustrate an artcicle that appeared in Volume 13 Issue I of "Mutuality," a quarterly publication concerned with Biblical equity. The illustrations companioned an article by John C. Delhousaye.

Evelyn Sabina, adjunct instructor in the Department of Visual and Performing
Arts and the School of Education, had two original musical arrangements
accepted for publication by Kendor Music, Inc. Pavane by Gabriel Faure is
scored for flute duet and piano and Arabian Dance (from the Nutcracker
Suite) by Peter Ilyich Tschaikowsky is arranged for flute quartet. The SBU
Flute Ensemble, directed by Sabina, premiered both pieces last semester in
the Rigas Family Theater.

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Friday Forum

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

Date: Friday, Oct. 27, 2006
Speaker: Fr. Peter Schneible, O.F.M
Time: Lunch starts at noon, Forum goes from 12:35 to 1:30 p.m., including Q&A
Place: University Club - Above Hickey
Title: "Evolution and Creationism: A Catholic Persepctive"

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