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April 19, 2007

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Junior Brian McCabe named McGowan Scholar

St. Bonaventure University’s School of Business announces Brian R. McCabe, a junior accounting and business information systems major from Springville, as the recipient of the 2007-2008 McGowan Scholar Award.

The McGowan Charitable Fund awards a scholarship of $18,000 to one business student at St. Bonaventure, as well as other colleges and universities.

Named in honor of William G. McGowan, founder and chairman of MCI Communications Corp., the scholarship recognizes business students who possess qualities of such as excellence of character, intellectual curiosity, a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial potential.

In order to be eligible for this scholarship the applicant must be a full-time student who has a primary major in an academic program offered by the School of Business. The student must also be recommended by at least one member of the business school faculty, have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0, and submit a 1,000-word essay on the contributions of William G. McGowan to today’s business world – and to the telecommunications field specifically.

In his winning essay, McCabe praised McGowan’s “vision for … developing an environment in which innovation and creative thinking could prosper to benefit everyone.”

But McCabe also lauded McGowan’s altruism, evidenced by the McGowan Charitable Fund he set up after being diagnosed with severe heart problems in 1986.

“Mr. McGowan’s feeling of social responsibility is something that I will remember in the future and I hope that I will have the opportunity to develop future leaders the same way he has,” McCabe wrote. Professor Susan Anders was one of several faculty members who recommended McCabe for the scholarship. She was impressed with his ability to maintain a high GPA (3.98) while majoring in “two very difficult and technical fields.” He’s also a 5-year BBA/MBA accounting student.

“While the McGowan Scholarship is awarded primarily on the basis of academic performance, I would also like to emphasize Brian’s strong teamwork, leadership and interpersonal skills,” Anders said. “I’m privileged to have Brian as a student and VITA volunteer.”

McCabe is the student volunteer coordinator for VITA, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which just topped $1 million in savings for low-income area residents since it began work four years ago.

McCabe is also a Journey Project intern and a member of the University’s Accounting Association and Business Information Systems Club. He has served on the University’s Judicial Board, worked as an accounting intern for Portville Central School, and has been a resident assistant since 2004.

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Syracuse Symphony Orchestra returns to Quick Center with special guest pianist

Friends of Good Music, in association with The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, presents the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra on Friday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rigas Family Theatre.

A perennial favorite with Olean audiences, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, with music director Daniel Hege, will perform a program of Beethoven, Brahms and Debussy. Special guest soloist William Wolfram will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, opus 37 in c-minor.

A special reception marking the conclusion of the Friends of Good Music’s 25th anniversary season will be held in the Quick Center atrium after the performance.

From its beginning in 1961 as a community orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra quickly evolved into a fully professional resident orchestra serving the entire central and northern New York state region.

Today an ensemble of national acclaim, the symphony boasts 79 musicians and a conducting staff of international caliber, and performs 193 full-orchestra and chamber ensemble concerts, reaching more then 225,000 audience members during its 39-week season. Daniel Hege became the SSO’s sixth music director with the 1999-2000 seasons.

Beyond its home community, the orchestra performs a heavy schedule of concerts in regional communities. In addition to subscription series in Watertown, Rome and Cortland, the SSO frequently tours New York state and, in recent years, has performed in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

The orchestra has appeared on five separate occasions at New York’s Carnegie Hall. In recognition of these activities, the orchestra was presented with the Governor’s Arts Award in 1999. The SSO’s newest CD Big Band Bash was released in July 2006.

William Wolfram is a versatile recitalist, concert soloist and chamber musician. Among the many orchestras he performs with in the current season are the Utah Symphony, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra and the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco.

Of Wolfram, Ludwig Brunner, assistant director of the Quick Center, said: “Having known Mr. Wolfram for many years and having worked with him on several occasions, it is very exciting to present this charismatic pianist to the Olean audience.”

The performance is sponsored in part by the New York State Council on the Arts. For tickets and information, call the QCA at 716-375-2494.

The QCA will extend its gallery hours, opening one hour before the concert and remaining open through intermission. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

The galleries at the Quick Center are free and open to the public year round. For general information, call 716-375-2494, visit www.sbu.edu or e-mail Quick@sbu.edu.

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Department of Visual and Performing Arts to hold annual spring concerts

The Department of Visual and Performing Arts at St. Bonaventure University invites the community to its annual spring concerts April 22 and 25 in the Rigas Family Theater of The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

The SBU Concert Band, Concert Choir, Chamber Choir and Flute Ensemble will begin performing at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22. The Concert Band will play songs such as “Invicta” and “Mannin Veen.” The Concert Choir will feature “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Requiem” and “Jubliente Dio.” The Chamber Choir will sing “Alleluia,” “God Be In My Head” and others.

The SBU Jazz Ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 25. The Jazz Band will perform big band, blues and jazz tunes ranging from “Alright, Okay, You Win” to “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.” The band features trumpets, saxophones, drums, and guitars.

This concert will also introduce the Southern Tier Junior All-Star Jazz Band as special guests artists. This group, comprised of local seventh- and eighth-graders, is directed by Dr. Les Sabina with help from senior Matthew MacIntrye.

Admission is free for both events.

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SBU response to Virginia Tech tragedy: A message from Sr. Margaret

Dear Members of the St. Bonaventure University Community:

Our most sincere prayers and sympathies go to the families and friends of the victims at Virginia Tech and also to the administrators and staff who have been working around the clock to address myriad campus needs during this terribly difficult time.

Our prayers are also with the students and faculty who so bravely endured this tragedy and continue to be part of the campus-wide support system.

On campus, a chapel prayer service and campus-wide moment of silence was held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in recognition of the tragedy in Blacksburg, Va.

In our post-9/11 and post-Katrina world, St. Bonaventure University has joined our fellow colleges and universities across the nation in disaster preparedness planning and process review with guidance from national and regional organizations.

Monday's shocking events remind us that we must keep these planning and preparedness efforts as a top priority.

I want to assure all campus constituents that we have a current disaster preparedness plan and associated communication protocols. Even so, in light of the VT tragedy, we are carefully reviewing these plans and protocols to consider whether updates can be made to enhance their effectiveness.

We ask all campus community members to be part of the security process.

Protect your own security. Lock doors to your cars, apartments, residence hall rooms, and offices.
If you walk on campus at night, wear light-colored clothes and walk with friends.
Be aware of your surroundings and if you observe suspicious or concerning behavior, contact Campus Security at 375-2525.
If you believe you or others are in danger, call 911 immediately.
Additional suggestions about security are available on the Student Life Web pages. (Scroll to the links at the bottom of the page.)

Further, we are fortunate to be supported by local, county and state police agencies who regularly visit the campus as part of their daily patrols. Our crisis and disaster preparedness plans have been developed in cooperation with these and other emergency agencies. In addition, we have Blue Light emergency phones situated across campus and call boxes at the entrances to all residence halls and other campus buildings.

Please keep all those affected by this horrible tragedy in your daily thoughts and prayers.

Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., S.T.D.
University President

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Sr. Margaret to speak at Holocaust program in Buffalo

The president of St. Bonaventure University will share her memories of a World War II hero at the Interfaith Holocaust Commemoration at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 19, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 724 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.

The annual community event honors those who lost their lives and those who tried to save lives during the Holocaust. Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah, falls on April 15 this year.

Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., will talk about Don Aldo Brunacci, who died Feb. 1 in Assisi, Italy, at the age of 92.

Sr. Margaret’s experience as a student in Italy led to her friendship with Brunacci, a priest of the Diocese of Assisi who assisted in the rescue of more than 200 Jewish refugees during World War II. Sr. Margaret brought Don Aldo to the campus of St. Bonaventure on two occasions, promoting opportunities for Christian-Jewish dialogue about the Holocaust.

In 2002, the University awarded Brunacci an honorary degree and, in March 2004, St. Bonaventure honored him with its first National Gaudete Medal during a special program at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

During World War II, with the help of other clerics, Brunacci arranged the printing of false documents for the Jews, allowing them to obtain official stamps to aid in their escape.

Brunacci put his life on the line when he lodged Jewish families in his own residence. On May 15, 1944, the Nazis arrested Brunacci, transporting him to a concentration camp, but never discovering the family in hiding. The Allies freed him and other prisoners on June 4 when they entered Rome.

Carney was honored in January by the National Federation for Just Communities (NFJC) of Western New York for her efforts to promote interfaith dialogue and environments, including the establishment of SBU’s multicultural Damietta Center.

The program is sponsored by the NFJC, The Network of Religious Communities, and The Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo.

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Giant squirrel takes up residence in Quick Center Atrium

In a campus news event worthy of the tabloids, a giant squirrel has taken up residence in the museum atrium of The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Did we mention it’s a work of art?

Woodland in the City is a public art project designed to “celebrate the arts in Olean, showcase the creativity of area artists, exemplify our natural surroundings, promote local merchants and businesses and beautify the downtown area.” Local individuals or organizations sponsor and decorate a squirrel and, beginning June 1, the 4-foot-high squirrels go on display throughout the city. The campus community will have the opportunity to preview the Quick Center’s squirrel starting April 17.

Ruta Marino, the creator of the squirrel, and the former senior curator of the center, had this to say about him:

“We decided to make the comparison between the natural beauty of Olean’s native black squirrel – not to mention its rarity – with the University’s incredible art collection, which is just as much a valuable local resource for residents. We printed images from the collection, not only the paintings, but the beautiful Chinese ceramic vases, and center staff and volunteers painstakingly cut out the images. Then I applied them in an allover collage of color and pattern which really started to give him his own personality.

"When it came to naming him, Joe LoSchiavo and I bounced around a lot of ideas, some of them sophisticated and some just plain silly. I wanted to have the word 'art' in the name and suggested Arturo. Well, then it was Joe who suggested the unusual spelling of 'Artour,' since our squirrel is really a 'tour o’ the Quick' in himself. And, yes, we know it’s hokey, but we love him!”

All proceeds from the fund-raising effort will benefit the Olean Historical & Preservation Society. For more information, please visit www.woodlandinthecity.org.

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. The galleries of the Quick Center are free and open to the public year round. For general information or group tours, call (716) 375-2494, visit www.sbu.edu or e-mail Quick@sbu.edu.

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BonaResponds readies for local service day Saturday

BonaResponds will gather for yet another Local Service Day at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, April 21, in the Dresser Auditorium, Murphy Building, on St. Bonaventure University’s campus.

St. Bonaventure students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members are encouraged to join. Volunteers will be dispersed by van to 15 sites in Allegany and Olean including the Allegheny River Trail, Village of Allegany, SPCA, Olean City Parks, Olean Community Schools and Archbishop Walsh High School for clean up and other various tasks.

There will also be opportunities to assist on campus. These jobs require volunteers to clean up and paint areas such as the athletic fields, the Grotto, tennis courts and parking lots.

“We’ve gone to the Gulf. We’ve gone to Buffalo. Now we are coming home,” said Dr. James Mahar, director of BonaResponds. “There will be many student volunteers, but we also want to stress that this is open to all. It is a great opportunity for us to work along side local residents. The volunteers get so much more out of their experience when they can work with community members.”

Volunteers are advised to wear work gloves, boots and old clothing as they will become wet and dirty.

Anyone who is willing to donate tools such as rakes, shovels and clippers are asked to e-mail BonaResponds to arrange a pick-up. In addition, cookies, brownies and water donations will be greatly appreciated from those who cannot make it to volunteer but wish to help.

Refreshments will be served at the time of registration and a barbecue will be held at the conclusion of the service day at 4:30 p.m. outside of St. Bonaventure’s University Ministries for all volunteers, free of charge.

Those interested should contact BonaResponds at bonaresponds@sbu.edu, or visit www.bonaresponds.org.

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Former Buffalo Bill Steve Tasker to speak at sports symposium

Buffalo Bills legend Steve Tasker will speak at the Dick Joyce Sports Symposium at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, in the Rigas Family Theater of The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University.

Tasker and a panel will discuss the differences between sports reporting and sports publicity. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Tasker is perhaps best known as the special teams captain of the Buffalo Bills during the team’s four consecutive trips to the Super Bowl. Widely considered to be the National Football League’s best-ever special teams player, Tasker has received numerous awards and honors throughout his 13-year football career.

In 1993, Tasker became the only special teams player to be selected as the NFL Pro Bowl’s Most Valuable Player. It was one of seven Pro Bowls he played in. In 2000, Tasker was chosen by the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters for the NFL’s All-Time Team, joining 26 other players to receive that honor. He was selected unanimously for the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Tasker has been nominated several times for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. His most recent football honor was his 2005 induction into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. Tasker recently finished his ninth year with the CBS Television Network as an NFL color analyst and sideline reporter. He is also an active motivational speaker and recently became a first-time author by co-writing his book, “Steve Tasker’s Tales from the Buffalo Bills.”

Tasker is a 1985 graduate of Northwestern University. A native of Kansas, he and his wife, Sarah, have five children – four sons and one daughter. They are active members of their local church. They reside in East Aurora, N.Y., where they have lived since Tasker became a Bill in 1986.

He and his family have made appearances on behalf of the NFL, the United Way, the American Red Cross, the Boys and Girls Club of America, the March of Dimes and other charity organizations. His commitment to children is evident through his involvement with school lunch and reading programs and youth football. Tasker, an avid golfer, attends numerous charity golf events around the country. He also hosts his own tournament each year on behalf of the March of Dimes in Rochester.

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Career Center news...

Check out details concerning skill-building video workshops, on-campus recruiting and more. For more information visit our Web site.

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