From the President This is my final Portraits message as President of Saint Anselm College. By the time the next issue is published, our new president will have been selected and will, I am sure, have some initial encouraging words to offer you. I am so very grateful for the privilege I have had to serve in the office of the President since I began in the summer of 1989 as we were concluding the celebrations for the centennial year of the College’s foundation. Certainly then I never expected to be in this position on the eve of our 125th anniversary. But with God’s grace, the support of my brother monks, of the Board of Trustees and the dedicated faculty and staff of the college, somehow I made it to this point. How the world and Saint Anselm have changed over these 24 years! By the fall of 1989, people longing for freedom had hammered the first cracks in the Berlin Wall, and on our televisions we watched the only era that my generation had ever known come to a startling end. The computer on the desk when I came into my office was a machine with laughably less capacity and memory than the phones our students carry in their pockets today. There was no such thing as a Saint Anselm College website or email, and I clumsily typed my talks and letters on a now long-extinct program known as WordVision. A new bio-technology, DNA identification, was used for the first time as legal fingerprinting, and when it turned out to be the warmest year on record, scientists began to caution about global warming. At the movies that year, people chose between “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Dead Poets Society,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and the original “Batman.” Madonna and Garth Brooks were still new kids on the block, and so, in fact, were The New Kids on the Block. At Saint Anselm in 1989, Collins and Falvey Houses were dedicated, the first of 17 new residence halls in the past quarter century. The Goulet Science Center, The Geisel Library, and Bradley House were half their present size; Joseph Hall and St. Mary Hall were still convents; and a football stadium, an Institute of Politics, and a hockey arena were beyond anyone’s imaginations, including my own. Also beyond my imaginings back then were our soon-to-be newest graduates, the members of the Class of 2013, none of whom I suspect were yet born in 1989. Nobody can say what still lies beyond our imaginations on this campus and beyond. But as I look forward to my final commencement exercises and alumni
reunion as Saint Anselm’s president, I am struck this spring by two remarkable things. First is the shared vision of so many people whose courage and persistence have transformed Saint Anselm during the past quarter century. It is silly to speak of any of the achievements of the recent past at Saint Anselm as belonging to the president since each step forward we have taken has required the creativity, vision and hard work of many individuals, as well as the collective will of the entire community. I am also struck by the persistent work and vision of so many people who even now are laboring to bring Saint Anselm forward. Just last month, the Trustees of the College approved a new core curriculum and course structure. This was the culmination of an arduous three-year process led by the faculty and involving many administrators, trustees and the monastic corporation. The disagreements, disappointments and dramas that brought us to this successful conclusion now belong to the lore and legends told around lunch tables. What we share together now – as ever – is the work of implementing our vision. So my eyes, as I hope all of yours, are looking forward to the decades that stretch ahead. For, think about it. In hospital nurseries throughout our country and world, the Anselmian Class of 2035 is already taking shape. I don’t know if I will be here to welcome them to campus, but all that I have seen in the nearly five decades since I first came to campus persuades me that a strong and faithful Saint Anselm College will be. I will be grateful the rest of my life for this opportunity to serve and I will ever keep in my heart and prayers all who have helped Saint Anselm prosper. God love you all!
THE MAGAZINE OF SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE Executive Editor: Barbara LeBlanc Managing Editor: Laurie D. Morrissey Design: Heather Foley of HFoley Designs Class Notes: Tricia Halliday, Laurie Morrissey Proofreading: Briana Capistran ‘16 Photography: Abdelaziz AlSharawy ’16, John Blackwell ’07, Jack Diven, Tam Dong’15, Justine Johnson ’12, Dao Le ’15, Gil Talbot, Jim Stankiewicz, Cory True ’09, David White, Kathleen Williams Contributors: Brian Doyle, Meagan Cox ’15, Martha Horton ’15, Laura Lemire ’06, Allen Lessels, Jack Morris, Cory True ’09, Lauren Weybrew ’08, Tim Wirzburger ’13 Visit the Web site at www.anselm.edu Portraits is published three times a year for the alumni, college community, and friends of Saint Anselm College. The magazine is produced by the Office of College Communications and Marketing (603-641-7240) and published by Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester, NH 03102-1310. Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and (except for editorials) do not necessarily reflect the position of the college or the editors. Email: magazine@anselm.edu Website: www.anselm.edu/portraits
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Magazine Advisory Board Katherine Durant ‘98 Alumni Council Representative James F. Flanagan Vice President for College Advancement Dr. Landis Magnuson Faculty Representative Br. Isaac Murphy, O.S.B. Monastery Representative Paul Pronovost ‘91 Alumni At-large Representative Dr. Elaine Rizzo Faculty Representative Brad Poznanski Vice President for College Marketing and Enrollment Management Tricia Guanci Therrien ’88 Assistant Vice President of Alumni Relations and Advancement Programming