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University begins 150th anniversary celebration by honoring its heritage

St. Bonaventure University began celebrating its 150th anniversary Tuesday with a 90-minute Convocation that paid homage to the college’s founders by graciously thanking more than two dozen of their descendants.

“We are just so honored and humbled by the way the university has gone out of its way to recognize our family,” said 2001 SBU alumnus Andrew Kernan, great-great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas and Mary Devereux, the Utica benefactors who donated the land for the college. “Everyone at the university has just been wonderful, making these past couple of days as exciting and enriching for us as possible.”

Kernan, along with his wife, parents and two aunts, accepted as a token of the University’s appreciation specially commissioned paintings of Devereux Hall, created by Allegany artist Anne Conroy-Baiter. Conroy-Baiter paintings of the campus were presented to more than 20 members of the Pietrobattista family, descendants of Fr. Pamphilo da Magliano, the college’s founding friar and first president.

The Pietrobattistas traveled this week from Italy to be part of the celebration. The entire program was translated into Italian for them by Jean-François Godet-Calogeras, associate professor of Franciscan Studies, using wireless headsets.

More than 300 members of the class of 2008 donned their Commencement robes six weeks early and were honored at the Convocation with 150th Anniversary medallions.

Honorary degrees were given to the Most Rev. José Rodríguez Carballo, O.F.M., General Minister of the General Curia of the Order of Friars Minor; the Most Rev. Edward U. Kmiec, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo; and world-renowned tenor Kenneth Riegel, who on Monday night performed with the ensemble Antares the world premiere of “The Canticle of Creation” by Cal Stewart Kellogg, commissioned by The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts to commemorate the school’s 150th anniversary.

The Convocation’s keynote speaker was Sr. Margaret Eletta Guider, O.S.F., Th.D., chair of the Pastoral Studies Department at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass.

“I come before you today as one representative of the embodied fulfillment of dreams … dreams of Father Pamphilo, Bishop Timon, and Nicholas and Mary Devereux,” Sr. Guider said. “We are here today because seven generations ago, those whom we remembered dared to dream about us and for us.

“As descendants of theirs — by blood, by vow, by appointment, by affection, by inspiration — we have realized their dream.”

June of 2008 brings the Holy Name Province chapter meeting to campus (June 1-6), immediately followed by the 150th Anniversary Alumni Reunion, June 6-8.

A hallmark event will center on the Feast of St. Francis, Oct. 3-5. The University will be sharing its celebration with the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, who also celebrate their 150th anniversary during the 2008-09 calendar years.

St. Bonaventure’s 150th Anniversary celebration concludes in May of 2009 as the University anticipates simultaneously celebrating the successful conclusion of its $90 million capital campaign, the Anniversary Campaign for St. Bonaventure University.

The St. Bonaventure University Jazz Band invites the community to attend its spring concert on Wednesday, April 23, in the Rigas Family Theater of The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will feature the SBU Jazz Band under the direction of Dr. Leslie Sabina, professor of music. Music performed will include mainstream jazz and jazz-influenced music. The band features trumpets, saxophones, drums, and guitars.

Southern Tier Junior All-Star Band, made up of young musicians ages 13 to 15 will also be showcased during the concert. This group is also under the direction of Sabina with SBU Jazz Band members helping out on occasion.

Other special guests at the concert include the opening act, the SBU Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Moses Howden. The concert will also feature a trio performance by Sabina, Howden and Jan Rhody.

The public is invited to the upcoming presentation by SBU 2008 Dignity of Life Week Speaker, Dr. Michael Maniates, professor of political science and environmental science at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa.

Maniates will discuss “The Politics of Sacrifice in an Ecologically Full World” in a lecture at 7 p.m. April 7 in Dresser Auditorium of the John J. Murphy Professional Building.

In addition to teaching classes on the politics of Third World “development,” the domestic and international politics of environmental governance, energy futures, and the dynamics of social change, Maniates studies and writes about global patterns of consumption, overconsumption, and consumerism; low consumption/high prosperity paths to development; underexplored routes of citizen involvement in contemporary environmental struggles; and joyful learning and teaching in the liberal arts.

He holds a bachelor’s degree (Phi Beta Kappa) in conservation and resource studies, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in energy and resources, all from the University of California at Berkeley.

He was a Fulbright scholar to India, a recipient of the Sprout Award for the best book in international environmental politics (with Tom Princen and Ken Conca) for “Confronting Consumption” (MIT Press 2002), and academic dean of the spring 2007 ’round-the-world sailing of Semester at Sea. In 2000, Allegheny College surprised Maniates with the Thoburn Teaching Award for Innovation and Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

His best known publications include “Environmental Studies: The Sky is Not Falling,” published in BioScience; “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Ride A Bike, Save the World” and “In Search of Consumptive Resistance: The Voluntary Simplicity Movement” in Confronting Consumption (MIT Press 2002), which he also co-edited; and “Of Knowledge and Power” in his edited volume Encountering Global Environmental Politics (Rowman & Littlefield 2003).

His current work focuses on climate change, citizen action, and sacrifice. He and his wife, Kathy Greely (who directs the Commonwealth Community Energy Project), live in Meadville with their two teen-age daughters.

Maniates’ visit is sponsored by the Journey Project, Clare College and SBU for Life at St. Bonaventure and Pfeiffer Nature Center in Portville.

Other Dignity of Life Week events sponsored by SBU for Life include:
• Presentation of the movie “Lake of Fire,” 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8 (a location is still to be determined).
• Talk and discussion with Buffalo News reporter Lou Michel, “Timothy McVeigh and the Death Penalty,” 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, Dresser Auditorium C of the John J. Murphy Professional Building. Michel, father of two current Bona’s students, is a co-author of “American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing.”
• Dignity of Life Prayer Service, 8 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in the University Chapel, Doyle Hall.

Twelve outstanding members of the St. Bonaventure community received this year’s Fr. Joe Doino, O.F.M, Honors and Awards at a ceremony on Thursday, March 27, in Doyle Hall.

The Fr. Joe Awards honor exceptional individuals and organizations in the St. Bonaventure community that have made others’ experiences better and whose Franciscan spirit may go unrecognized.

The award is named in honor of Fr. Joe Doino, a much beloved friar who died in March of 1994. Fr. Joe was known for his dedication to the University as the SGA adviser, professor, scholar, musician, preacher and priest. He is also remembered for his practical jokes and his love of tennis. Fr. Joe became the first faculty member to receive the Faculty Appreciation Award posthumously.

This year’s winners are: Patrick Brutus of Ridge, N.Y., for University Ministries Volunteer of the Year; Fr. David Blake, O.F.M., associate professor of sociology and social sciences, for the Fr. Bob Stewart, O.F.M., Advisor/Moderator of the Year; Biggest Loser Program for Program of the Year; the men’s swimming and diving team for the Donald L. Korben Community Service Award; Barbara Brookins from the Registrar’s Office for the Fr. Gervase White, O.F.M., Staff Person of the Year Award; the New York State Champion men’s rugby team for Organization of the Year; Joseph D. O’Halloran of East Islip, N.Y., for Student Leader of the Year; Amanda Lengauer of Syracuse, N.Y., for The Terry Bickel Student Life Award; Emily Ciraolo of Grand Island, N.Y., for the Heather Lohr Cabinet Member of the Year Award; and Dr. Denny Wilkins, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, for the Leo E. Keenan Jr. Faculty Appreciation Award.

The Office of Admissions also awarded its Admissions Commitment to Excellence Awards to an individual and a group who have served the University well and have partnered with the Office of Admissions in the recruiting process.

The award went to Jim Costanza, manager of the University’s reprographic center. Costanza helped to produce many of the publications and mailings for the Office of Admissions.

The Residence Life staff was selected as the group winner. The Residence Life staff worked to house a record number of prospective students who stayed overnight on campus visits.

Students and faculty nominated the award winners by filling out a form and writing a short essay. After receiving the nominations, the awards committee, comprised of 12 students and faculty members, reviewed them and decided the winner of each award.

Detailed information on upcoming Career Center events, such as the annual A10 Spring eCareer Fair and the NACE International Student Virtual Career Fair, is available at the Career Center’s Events’ page.

Join us for this week's FRIDAY FORUM!

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

Date: Friday, April 4, 2008
Speakers: Mike Hoffman, Jared Young, Zennia Hancock, Darryl Mayeaux, Carol Fischer, and Rene’ Wroblewski.
Time: 12:20 to 1:30 p.m.
Place: The University Club
Topic: Augmenting Traditional Classroom Instruction with Interactive Technologies
Abstract: Interactive classroom technology has the potential to increase student engagement in the classroom and provide students with a truly interactive lecture experience. This past year we added sympodiums to several classrooms and purchased 2 student response systems for evaluation. Four faculty members will share their experiences using the technology. They will talk about the effectiveness of these technologies, and different ways they can be implemented in the classroom. The technologies will also be demonstrated to the audience during the forum.
Cost: $3

Two graduate students in the English MA program presented papers at the conference on Women, Home, and Nation: Private & Public Spaces, hosted by Binghamton University on March 14-15. Katie E. Simon presented her work on two contemporary African novels, “The Language of Defiance: Yvonne Vera’s Butterfly Burning and Rayda Jacobs’ Sachs Street.” Marilyn Brutus spoke on “A Desecrated Domain: Celie’s Body and Home in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple.” Both students are Learning Fellows in the English MA program.

Two undergraduate students presented their Senior Seminar projects at the Undergraduate Poster Session at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual meeting in New York City Feb. 21-24, 2008. Carrie M. Farrell presented her Senior Seminar project titled “The Effects of Social Service Interventions through the Life Course.” Christina E. Cressler was not able to attend the conference, but her poster was displayed. Her project was titled “The Implications of Foster Care on Today’s Youth.”

Three teams of students have had their research accepted for presentation at the national meeting of the Association for Psychological Science to be held this year in Chicago. Dr. Charles Walker, professor of psychology, noted that it is rare for the research of undergraduates to be accepted for presentation at this professional conference. The work of eight psychology majors has been added to the APS program this year. The titles of their presentations, the authors and an abstract of what they found follows:

Title: Broaden-and-Build Theory and Friendship: What Good Are Good Friends?
Authors: Theresa Canavan, Jillian Coniglio, Keely Sibbald, Elizabeth Thomeier, and Charles Walker
Abstract: Participants rated the upward-spiral emotions of joy, interest and contentment before, during and after being with best and worst same-sex friends. Women reported stronger upward-spirals and weaker downward-spirals with best friends than men. No differences were seen with worst friends. Our results with women strongly support broaden-and-build theory.

Title: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and Princeton Review: Descriptions or Prescriptions for Drinking in College?
Authors: Colleen D. Clark, Katherine T. Rogers, Angela M. Burdick and Charles J. Walker
Abstract: We hypothesized that Princeton Review party-school rankings do not correlate with past measures of alcohol consumption, but because of self-fulfilling prophecy, do correlate with post publication data. Indeed, only alcohol consumption indices after published rankings correlated significantly with them. Princeton Review may prescribe more than describe drinking on college campuses.

Title: Self-Gossip on Facebook: A Tactic of Self-Presentation?
Authors: Abby L. Cohen, Keely M. Sibbald and Charles J. Walker
Abstract: Self-gossip at 220 Facebook sites was coded and rated. Site owners most frequently initiated respectful gossip, but actually solicited less respect and more disgust from site visitors than they probably intended. Women used Facebook more than men to self-gossip. These results are consistent with recent research on gossip and self-presentation.

Dr. Kaplan P. Harris, assistant professor of English, has been invited to speak April 3, 2008, at the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University. Harris’s lecture is titled “Bay Area Poetics, 1980-1985.” More information is available on the Cornell Web site.

Darwin L. King, professor of accounting, and Edward D. King, SBU class of 2005, had an article titled “Asset Accounting for Timber Operations” published in the March 2008 issue of Oil, Gas & Energy Quarterly. The article discussed typical asset accounts required for timber operations, “basket purchases” of timber assets, recording requirements for IRS Form T, and the critical importance of maintaining adequate records. This is King’s 18th article published in this natural resource journal (since 2000), which serves accountants and attorneys nationwide.

Constance Pierce, an associate professor in Visual and Performing Arts, will exhibit her artwork during the “Routes to Art” open studio weekend sponsored by the Cattaraugus County Arts Council. Her art will be shown at DeLynn’s Gallery at 22 Park Square, Franklinville, May 17-18, 2008. Also, Pierce has had a paper accepted for the 13th Annual Conference of The International Society of Phenomenology, Fine Arts and Aesthetics. The conference is titled “The Artist and the Message — Creativity and Communication” and takes place May 4-8, 2008, at Harvard Divinity School. She has been invited to teach her two-week “Imaging Journal” workshop for The Cleveland (Ohio) Institute of Art 2008 National Summer Intensive Program.

Dr. Rene’ Wroblewski, assistant professor in the School of Education, along with education students Keishia Blake, Trinity Kane, Kaitlyn Keidel, and Lauren Prisco, participated in the “Building Inclusive Communities: Making it Happen” conference in Mars, Pa., March 11 and 12, 2008. This conference included many well-known speakers in the area of inclusive education for students with disabilities.