The Word Magazine Spring 2011

the

WORD Spring 2011

Above and Beyond

A special letter from Chairman of the Board of Trustees Charlie Amato, on the anniversary of UIW President Dr. Louis Agnese.

Dear Friends: I am pleased to offer this message in recognition of Dr. Louis Agnese’s 25th anniversary as president of the University of the Incarnate Word. I’ve known Lou for many years as a member of the Board of Trustees, which I’m currently privileged to chair.

It’s nearly impossible to list everything Lou has accomplished during his presidency. The sum result is that under his leadership, Incarnate Word has forever transformed the educational landscape in South Texas. During his 25 years, UIW has evolved from a small private college with an uncertain future into a financially robust institution that’s one of the largest private universities in Texas.

What’s also remarkable is that he has done so by holding fast to the Mission and values established by the university’s founding congregation, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. As Lou is fond of saying, “Mission always drives vision. Faith is at the core of everything we do as an educational ministry.”

Thousands of students, many of them first generation, have attained a college education that’s allowed them a chance at a better life. This has had a considerable impact on San Antonio and Bexar County. Today, Incarnate Word graduates contribute to the improvement of our region in myriad ways. They can be found in every segment of the regional workforce, whether in leadership positions in the private sector or positions of responsibility in the public sector.

Particularly noteworthy is the increase in the minority student enrollment. UIW now more accurately reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of San Antonio, Bexar County and Texas. For example, the African-American student enrollment has increased from approximately 1 percent to 7 percent and the Hispanic enrollment has increased from 32 percent to nearly 55 percent. In fact, UIW has the largest number of Hispanic students of any private university in Texas. The latter reflects the ongoing demographic changes in Texas, where 38 percent of the population is Hispanic.

The enrollment increase has been fueled by an unprecedented expansion in academic programs. Twenty five years ago, there were 56 majors at the undergraduate and graduate levels, but no doctoral programs. A quarter century later, there are about 80 majors, including a Ph.D. in education, two professional doctoral programs and a recently approved doctorate in nursing practice.

A doctoral degree in physical therapy will be offered next year.

However, the academic expansion would’ve been impossible without a solid financial foundation.

During Lou’s presidency, the endowment has increased from $3 million to more than $80 million. The Board of Trustees was reconfigured into a body capable of making substantial financial contributions, something those of us who serve on the board know firsthand.

The physical facilities have skyrocketed from 400,000 square feet in 1985 to nearly 2.5 million in 2011, an increase consistent with the enrollment growth of more than 500 percent in that time.

Incarnate Word’s footprint has expanded to several sites in San Antonio, including a 220,000-square-foot building near the Medical Center that’s home to the Rosenberg School of Optometry. UIW also operates sites in Corpus Christi; Guangzhou, China; and Mexico City, Mexico.

Just as impressive is the university’s economic impact on San Antonio. For instance, it’s conservatively estimated that the optometry and pharmacy programs will, by themselves, inject nearly half a billion dollars into the local economy over the next 10 years.

Despite the tremendous growth and change that Incarnate Word has undergone since 1985, UIW’s identity as a Catholic university is as strong today as it was when Lou became president. It’s heartening to know that in a fast moving world, Incarnate Word retains the ideals and traditions set forth by the congregation that make UIW such a special place and an integral part of San Antonio.

The above is supported by regular positive feedback from students, employees, board members, the external community and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

I congratulate Lou on an extraordinary 25 years at the University of the Incarnate Word. On behalf of the board, students, employees and the congregation, I wish him every success as he begins the next chapter of his presidency.

“It’s nearly

impossible to list

everything Lou has

accomplished during his presidency.”

Sincerely,

Charles Amato, Chairman UIW Board of Trustees

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Campus News University Collective Above and Beyond

Nursing building renovation and expansion will accommodate 50 percent more students

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Rising Stars

Three of UIW’s own are among San Antonio Business Journal’s list of up-and-coming professionals

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Alumni tradition still going strong after 59 years Men’s basketball takes winning start in Lone Star Conference GRACE added to curriculum

New program gives pharmacy students real-world experience

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Study Abroad program adds new destination Sneak peek: Excerpts from new book chronicling Dr. Agnese’s presidency Meet the Board Moment for Reflection Class Notes

On the cover: Vladimira and John Miller joined the dedication of the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions.

Photo by Steve Holloway

3 Managing Editor Debra Del Toro

credits

Editor Ashley Festa Art Director Michael Hood Graphic Designer Marisol Martinez

Contributing Writers Rudy Arispe ’98 BA Salwa Choucair Catherine Duncan Diane Echavarria Andrew Festa Ashley Festa Margaret Garcia Dick McCracken Sr. Sally Mitchell Mary Lance Vincent Rodriguez

Dr. Louis J. Agnese Jr. President Sr. Kathleen Coughlin ’67 BSN Vice President for Institutional Advancement Vincent Rodriguez Assistant to the President/ Communications Lisa Schultz ’91 BA,’95 MA Director of Alumni Relations Debra Del Toro Director of Public Relations

The Word is published by the Public Relations Office of the University of the Incarnate Word for the alumni, parents, benefactors and friends of the Incarnate Word community.

This publication is available in alternate format by request. To request an alternate format, please contact the UIW Office of Public Relations at (210) 829-6001.

Board of Trustees Dr. Louis J. Agnese Jr. Charlie Amato Scott Beckendorf Michael Belz Gayle Benson Mike Beucler David Cibrian Fully Clingman Dr. Annette Craven Sr. Martha Estela Perez Curiel Alan Dreeben

John Feik Sr. Marinela Flores Gary Henry Sr. Mary C. Henry Winell Herron Betty Kelso Nancy Kudla Jack Lewis III Stephen Lucke Charles Lutz Sr. Teresa Yolanda Maya John Miller

William Moll Sr. Anne Munley Carmen Nava Enzo Pellegrino John Peveto Sr. Annette Pezold Marky Pontius Joseph A. Reyes Richard Schlosberg Sr. Yolanda Tarango

online

www.uiw.edu/thewordonline No hassle required

The Web extras are easy to access, and you don’t need a password. Just visit www.uiw.edu/thewordonline and click the stories that interest you to find the bonus coverage that we couldn’t fit in the printed edition.

Read online two ways

Beginning this issue, The Word’s online edition is now available as a digital flip book. Look for a link on the right hand side of the page in the “Browse the Word” section to access it. Note: The flip book version requires Flash technology. It will not be accessible for those using assistive technology devices, such as text-to-speech screen readers.

New at the Cardinal’s Nest

Post a classified ad, blog your thoughts or find job opportunities – all on your UIW alumni website!

Log on to www.uiwalumni.org and find all that and more at the Cardinal’s Nest.

Dedication ceremony

UIWTV journalists covered the dedication ceremony of the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions. Find the broadcast and other news posted at http://uiwtv.org.

“Like” us on Facebook

Don’t be left out of the loop! Find your old classmates and check out what current students are doing on the Cardinal Facebook page. Click “Like” at www.facebook.com/uiwcardinals.

Bookmark our blog

Read the latest happenings at your alma mater at http://voices.mysanantonio.com/uiw.

Give green

Roast the Rivals Students traded in t-shirts of rival colleges and universities to receive free UIW spirit t-shirts. At homecoming, selected rival shirts were “roasted” by an enthusiastic crowd of students led by the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. The remainder of the shirts traded will be donated to a local charity. If you missed the other photos from Homecoming 2010, visit www.uiw.edu/homecoming.

Look for this icon throughout the magazine to find online bonus content.

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Feel good about your online donation by helping students while you help the environment. Give online at www.uiw.edu/giving.

Making a difference?

How are you enriching your world? We want to know how you are touching the lives in your area or the world at large. If you have a unique story to share, e-mail Ashley Festa at festa@uiwtx.edu.

Please recycle this magazine!

The University of the Incarnate Word is dedicated to helping the environment. Please recycle this magazine when you’re finished, and if you’d prefer to read the magazine online only, e-mail alumni@uiwtx.edu and request to be removed from the hard-copy mailing list.

campus news

Tradition on the menu for the annual President’s Spaghetti Dinner

Laurie Singel (center), of the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions, helped serve students Caroline Heileson (from left), Amy Gaylord, Jessica Becker and Marcella Peralta at the President’s Spaghetti Dinner.

An event that’s been around since 1986, the President’s Spaghetti Dinner treats UIW students to a special Italian meal served by Dr. Louis Agnese and other UIW administrators, faculty and staff.

The president’s secret pasta sauce is still the main attraction, complemented

with pasta, hand-rolled meatballs and all the trimmings along with delectable homemade desserts contributed by UIW faculty and staff.

“We add a touch of elegance by hosting the dinner in the beautiful Rosenberg Sky Room, complete with tablecloths, candlelight and live jazz music,” said Dr. Renee Moore, dean of Campus Life, the office that coordinates the event. “From the students’ comments we have heard over the years, we know that they feel that it is a special treat that they look forward to attending, almost as much as we enjoy serving them!”

Each year, UIW employees get together for an afternoon of preparation, including hand-rolling meatballs for the spaghetti dinner and tucking silverware neatly into napkins. Then volunteers gather on the top floor of the McCombs Center to act as the charming wait staff for the meal. Last year, more than 100 volunteers helped to serve 750 students.

Partnership establishes student-run on-campus financial institution The University of the Incarnate Word and United SA Federal Credit Union recently established the Cardinal Branch of United SA, one of the few entirely student-run offices of an existing financial institution on a university campus in the United States.

From personnel who greet branch guests to tellers and loan officers, all positions are held

by UIW students. A United SA supervisor is on-site to provide assistance as needed, and a student board of directors is in place to manage the overall operation of the branch.

“The Cardinal Branch is one of the few true learning lab credit union offices in the country. The hands-on business experience the students will be exposed to will truly benefit their business experiences after graduation,” said Steve Coomes, president and CEO of United SA. “This is a proud day for UIW! The Cardinal Branch is a real business with real money requiring real effort; what better experience for students?” said Dr. Shawn Daly, dean of the H-E-B School of Business and Administration.

Dr. Kevin Vichcales and Dr. Denise Doyle visit the student-run branch of the United SA Federal Credit Union during the grand opening in November.

Dr. Al Rubio and Michael Forrest, both of the H-E-B School of Business and Administration, roll meatballs to prepare for the traditional dinner.

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campus news

New tool promotes interactivity in virtual classrooms

The School of Optometry was named for and dedicated in honor of Sandra and Stanley Rosenberg.

UIW receives $11.5 million gift for School of Optometry Sandra and Stanley Rosenberg gave UIW a major gift of $11.5 million, one of the largest gifts in the country in recent years by a Jewish family to a Catholic institution of higher learning. It is also the largest gift ever received by the university.

To thank the couple for their generous gift, the university named the Sandra and Stanley Rosenberg School of Optometry in their honor. This is the only named school of optometry in the United States.

“We are honored to have the support of Sandra and Stanley as we take this next step in addressing the needs of our community.

Through our Mission we believe that the respectful interaction of persons of diverse backgrounds helps us all to grow for the common good,” Dr. Louis Agnese said.

The Mission of the Sandra and Stanley Rosenberg School of Optometry is to educate and prepare future leaders in optometry through excellence in education, patient care, vision research and public service within a context of faith and personal development.

The Rosenbergs are active in both the civic and cultural community in San Antonio and are longtime supporters of the university and its Mission. This was the Rosenbergs’ second gift to the university.

The newest phase of the optometry program at UIW is the opening of the Eye and Vision Care Clinic at 9725 Datapoint Drive in San Antonio. The clinic opened to the public Jan. 19 and offers comprehensive eye and vision care services to South Texans of all ages.

To make an appointment, call 210-283-6800.

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A new tool to aid in distance learning and classroom mobility has been introduced at the University of the Incarnate Word, and one professor is already using it in his classes.

Blackboard Collaborate (formerly called Wimba) is being introduced in “blended learning classes,” said Marshall Eidson, UIW chief information officer. Instead of the traditional classroom setting, Collaborate facilitates participation by students and others who are unable to be physically present during instruction time.

Dr. Noah Kasraie, of the Dreeben School of Education, has been using the tool to teach students living in four different cities. Collaborate promotes student engagement in ways that regular online classes cannot do. For example, with the use of webcams, the professor can be seen and heard as he lectures, and when students speak, the camera on their computer will activate so they can interact with others in the class.

Other uses include recording lectures and archiving them on Blackboard, which promotes learning throughout the week because students can refer to them if necessary, Kasraie said. “It helps enhance teaching inside and outside the classroom.”

Eidson agrees. He says Blackboard Collaborate provides a more personal touch than a phone call because users can share desktops and access URLs and other information together, instantly. “We’re using the tool to make it more personal instead of less personal. That’s key.”

Because he has many nontraditional students, Kasraie finds that holding e-office hours, times when both student and professor can be online together, provides a solution for those overseas or with conflicting work schedules. A professor can also host an out-of-town guest speaker without the travel or costs involved.

A number of other challenges, such as defending a dissertation from overseas, interviewing new faculty without the cost of travel, and including professors from all over the world in research studies, will be made easier with Collaborate.

And all that’s required of a student is a computer with Internet connection and a microphone, said Ana Gonzalez, UIW director of instructional training. Video, including a webcam, is optional, and it’s simple enough that technology expertise is not necessary.

campus news

Cardinal Chorale perCardinal Chorale performs at Carnegie Hall forms at Carnegie Hall The Cardinal Chorale, along with director Bill Gokelman, performed in New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall on Nov. 28.

MidAmerica Productions, a New York concert production company, approached Gokelman, a music professor at UIW, in December 2009 about the possibility of having the Cardinal Chorale sing solo in Carnegie Hall. The group submitted an audition CD, and a week later, the Cardinal Chorale received an invitation to perform.

Then began the long process of fundraising. Between student contributions, fundraising events, individual donations and help from UIW, the students raised $110,000, enough to send 60 students to New York.

“I’m thrilled that our students will be singing, solo, in one of the world’s great musical venues. It will completely change their lives, strengthen their confidence and broaden their perspectives,” Gokelman said before their performance.

The Chorale performed in the Isaac Stern Auditorium on the Ronald O. Perelman Stage in Carnegie Hall. Since its opening in 1891, this has been the premier classical music performance space in the United States showcasing the world’s greatest soloists, conductors and

ensembles. The auditorium’s renowned acoustics have made it a favorite of audiences and performers alike.

Bill Gokelman and the Cardinal Chorale performed at Carnegie Hall in November.

Photos by groupphotos.com

Making the season bright Phil Esquivel, of Kingsville, Texas, won the UIW Jingle Bell Raffle after buying his ticket at the football game against Texas A&MKingsville. The former mayor of Kingsville and owner of Phil Esquivel and Associates New York Life Insurance never really expected to win, despite telling students he had purchased the winning ticket when buying it at the game. Upon receiving the news that he had won the $5,000 prize, he immediately called his mother and told her she could buy herself anything she wanted for Christmas.

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campus news

Light the Way ushers in holiday season in Benson Stadium

Dr. Louis Agnese congratulates Sarwat Husain during fall Commencement.

UIW presents 2010 Alumni of Distinction for Service in Mission The University of the Incarnate Word presented Sarwat Husain as the 2010 Alumni of Distinction for Service in Mission at the fall Commencement ceremonies, which conferred 731 graduates Dec. 10-11. Husain received her Master of Science in nutrition from the university in 1994 and is active in the community continuing the Mission of the university.

She serves as vice chair of the National Board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations based in Washington, D.C., and she serves on the San Antonio Interreligious Council and the Texas Media Empowerment Project.

Among her many projects, Husain is the founding president of the San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a leader in our city in interfaith relations. She is also a founder of the San Antonio Muslim Council and a member of the San Antonio Council for International Visitors.

She formerly served on the FBI Regional Advisory Council and was selected to serve on the board of the San Antonio Mayor’s Commission for a United San Antonio under Mayor Ed Garza.

In addition, Husain founded Al-Ittihaad Monthly, the largest American Muslim newspaper in Texas. She works to encourage political engagement in Texas by conducting regular voter registration drives and training on how to become delegates, precinct chairs and judges. She is a member of the Texas Muslim Political Taskforce and a founding member of American Muslim Democratic Caucus.

Husain helped establish the American Muslim Youth Association and the Muslim Boys Scouts of America, Pack 786, and acts as an adviser to both.

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More than 6,200 guests flooded Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium to officially kick off the Christmas season at the annual Light the Way ceremony on Nov. 20. Because of the enormous popularity of the free holiday event, Dr. Louis Agnese decided to move the celebration to the stadium to accommodate the growing number of attendees.

Special guests for the evening included Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantú, H-E-B Public Affairs Director Dya Campos, Santa Claus and guest emcees Ursula Pari and Steve Spriester of KSAT 12. Sounds of holiday music filled the air thanks to the UIW Chorale, the UIW Marching Band and the choirs from Incarnate Word High School, St. Anthony Catholic School and St. Peter Prince of Apostles Catholic School. In addition, the St. Anthony Catholic High School jazz band with featured singer Sarah Centeno entertained the crowd along with headliner Tejano music legend Patsy Torres.

As he has for the past 24 years, Dr. Agnese ended the ceremony with the flip of a switch, illuminating the UIW campus with twinkling lights. Mariachi Sol De Tejas led the candlelight procession of guests through the campus and to Central Market H-E-B for a complimentary reception.

Mark your calendar for the 2011 Light the Way, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 19.

Dr. Agnese flipped the switch with the help of board member John Miller’s grandsons at the Light the Way ceremony at Benson Stadium.

campus news

Asian festival celebrates the Year of the Rabbit Asian New Year, one of UIW’s most popular events, celebrated the “Year of the Rabbit” on Feb. 2 with food, music, performances and a traditional lion dance.

Marian Hall Ballroom was packed with guests sampling time-honored Asian cuisine and listening to Asian music. Dancers and drummers performed traditional routines. The highlight of the celebration was a traditional lion dance performed by UIW’s Lion Dance Team. Four students donned lion costumes for the cultural presentation. Games, henna tattoos, costume photography, calligraphy practice and a traditional tea ceremony rounded out the event.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of the Golden Rabbit begins Feb. 3, 2011, and ends Jan. 22, 2012. The Rabbit is considered a lucky sign. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are good teachers, counselors and communicators, but also

need their own space.

The UIW Institute of World Cultures sponsors the university’s Asian New Year celebration each year to provide a feeling of home to the diverse Asian population attending the university while showcasing Asian culture for the local community.

Students model designs to support heart health UIW hosted the 8th annual Red Dress Fashion Show and Health Fair on Feb. 15 to promote cardiac health in women.

Red Dress is sponsored each year by the nursing school and fashion department. The theme of this year’s Red Dress event was “Heart 2 Heart.”

Marveen Mahon, director of Health Services, gets a blood glucose screening from pharmacy student Brittany Martinez.

Guests enjoyed heart healthy appetizers and a variety of exhibits, including free screenings for blood glucose levels and blood pressure. The main attraction was the showcase of garments designed and constructed by UIW students. Models sported fashions on the runway, and audience members voted on their favorite styles.

The Red Dress Fashion Show and Health Fair is held each year in support of the American Heart Association and its Go Red campaign.

Fashion merchandising junior Barbara Robles models the first-place Red Dress style, designed

by Jorge Lafuente, a junior fashion design major.

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university collective

Dr. Judith Beauford, of the Dreeben School of Education, presented “Number Names Research in Mexico and Bolivia” at the School Science and Mathematics Association Conference in Florida in November.

Dr. Mary Ruth Moore and Dr. David Campos, both of the Dreeben School of Education, along with four former students, recently wrote an article titled “Inspiration to Teach—Reflections on Friedrich Froebel and Why He Counts in Early Childhood Education.” The article was published in the November 2010 journal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

The article highlights a group of 14 students’ 2006 trip to Eastern Germany to trace the footsteps of Froebel, known internationally as the Father of Kindergarten. To read the article online, visit www. naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201011/ HeritageOnline1110.pdf.

Dr. Glenn Ambrose, associate professor of religious studies, published an article titled “Religious Diversity, Sacramental Encounters, and the Spirit of God” published in the Fall 2010 issue of “Horizons.”

Dell Davis, head of public services at the Mabee Library, had an article she co-authored titled “Transformation of Access Services in the New Era” published

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in the April-June 2010 issue of the “Journal of Access Services.” She also co-presented “Access Services: Innovative Management” at the November 2010 Access Services Conference in Atlanta.

Dr. Stephanie Grote-Garcia, assistant professor in the Dreeben School of Education, recently published an article titled “Scaffolding the Comprehension of Beginning Readers: Incorporating the Patterned Books of ‘Then and Now’” in “English in Texas.”

She also completed three children’s books in her educational series Read, Reason, Write. Each book was accompanied by a teacher’s edition. In November, she presented at the 54th annual meeting of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers in Omaha, Neb. Dr. Denise Staudt, Dr. Michael Risku, Dr. Elda Martinez, of the Dreeben School of Education, and Celina Aceves Hinojosa, coordinator of English at Instituto Miguel Angel de Occidente in Guadalajara, Mexico, presented at the 9th annual International Conference on Education in Honolulu in January. The presentation, titled “Mexico Teacher Research Project: Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension,” focused on a unique partnership between the two schools.

Dr. Sara Kolb, Maria Gillespie and Dr. Gary Norgan, faculty members of the Ila Faye Miller

School of Nursing and Health Professions, along with Perla Zarate-Abbott and former nursing faculty member Jean Deliganis, all of whom work at the Ministerio de Salud, or Health Ministry, published “Perceptions about Blood Pressure among Mexican American Adults Diagnosed with Hypertension” in “Family and Community Health: The Journal of Health Promotion and Maintenance.” Gillespie, Deliganis and Kolb, along with faculty members Dr. Jennifer Cook, Dr. Holly Cassells and Yvonne Davila presented “Using Visual Learning to Educate Mexican American Adults about Their Blood Pressure” at the San Antonio Health Literacy Initiative 6th annual conference in October.

Dr. Jeanette McNeill, Dr. Ramona Parker, and Joyce Howard, from the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions, Dr. Lu Pelayo, director at the Alamo Colleges, and Jackie Stovall, with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, presented an invited symposium titled “Simulation in Nursing Education: Evidence Base, How-To’s and Dollars and Cents” for the Southern Nursing Research Society meeting in February in Jacksonville, Fla. Dr. Gary Keith, assistant professor of political science, organized the annual conference of the Southwest Association of Prelaw Advisors in New Orleans in October, and he participated on a panel titled “Teaching Undergraduate Law through Movies and Novels.”

Dr. Sally Said, professor of modern languages, presented “Transgender in Transition: The Evolving Literacy of Gender Identity and Expression” at the Western States Rhetoric and Literacy Conference, “Transforming Rhetoric: Discovery and Change,” at New Mexico State University in October.

Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, Th.D., professor of religious studies, presented “Hope and Healing: Stories from Kurdish Iraq Where Persons Inspired by Fethullah Gülen Have Been Serving” at the International Conference on the Gulen Movement at the University of Chicago in November. She also presented “Christian – Muslim Encounters through Using Online International Exchanges in Undergraduate Religious Studies Classes” at the American Academy of Religion meeting in Atlanta in October.

Kirk received the Insigne Verbum Award during December Commencement “for interfaith and intercultural dialogue in pursuit of peace.”

Dr. María Félix-Ortiz, associate professor of psychology, was invited in January to join the new Bexar County Mental Health Consortium, an advisory committee working with Judge Nelson Wolff and other members of the Commissioners Court, to form a better coordinated system of mental health care for the indigent of Bexar County. She has been a regular volunteer instructor for the San Antonio Police Department

university collective

Crisis Intervention Team Training Program presenting “Penetrating the Fog of Fear: Understanding and Communicating with Persons living with Chemical Dependence and Mental Illness” as police officers’ substance abuse training. She was recently recognized by the San Antonio Police Officers Association for her five years of service to the department. She was also invited as the keynote speaker for St. George Episcopalian Church’s Mental Health Awareness Day and presented “An Overview of Mental Illness and Substance Abuse for the Faith Community” in October.

Dr. Lydia Andrade, professor of political science, presented “The Scandals of the Bush Years” at the International Conference on Arts and Humanities in Honolulu in January. She was also recognized in December by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Educational Policy Improvement Center for significant contributions to the Texas College and Career Readiness Initiative.

She worked on college readiness standards for the social sciences.

Dr. Valerie Kesner Greenberg, associate professor of communication arts, co-authored an academic paper with Terry Bertling, assistant managing editor of the San Antonio Express-News, concerning convergent media’s role in changing print journalism. They authored a primary research case study titled “Convergent Media and the Future of the

American Newspaper.” The project was accepted in November 2010 to the International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI) held in Madrid, Spain. The paper was included in the proceedings and online.

James Borders, assistant professor of art, had his work featured in the solo exhibition “Essence of Color” in Louisiana in October.

Ferd Vollmar, director of the Cardinal Marching Band, was invited to conduct the All Region Band in Houston and in San Antonio in January. His article called “It’s All about the Details” was published in the September issue of “Bandmasters Review.” The article shares effective teaching strategies designed to improve preparing ensemble music and performance enhancing concepts for high school marching band programs.

Dr. Christopher Paris, associate professor of English, published a poem titled “Tigers Extinct in Twelve Years” in the annual poetry and literature review “Literary House Review” in December. His poem “She Is Spirit” was published in the autumn 2010 issue of “A Hudson View Poetry Digest.” His poem “Vertigo Bridge” was published in the November edition of the online journal “Hudson View Online.”

Dr. Janice Dvorkin, associate professor of music therapy, led a

workshop on “Process or Product: The Difference in Practice and Teaching in the Creative Arts Therapies” at the Creative Arts Therapy Summit in New York City in November.

Dr. Bernadette O’Connor, associate professor of philosophy, presented “Three Theories of Sublimation—Freudian, Maritainian and Ricoeurian—and their Metaphysical Foundations” at the annual International Conference of the American Maritain Association in Ohio in October.

Dr. Jo LeCoeur, professor of English, had her poem titled “A Poem Named Basket” published in the Houston Poetry 2010 Anthology.

Dr. Bob Connelly, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, co-authored an article with Dr. Denise Doyle, provost, and Dr. David Fike, senior research statistician, called “Online vs. Paper Evaluations of Faculty: When Less is Just as Good,” which appeared in the online “Journal of Effective Teaching.” Find the article online at http://uncw.edu/cte/et/articles/ Vol10_2/index.htm.

Shabbat Service of Temple Chai at the Jewish Community of San Antonio in November. BussineauKing also presented “Teaching Voice at the Dollar Store” at the Regional TEXOMA Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in Abilene in November. She is president of the chapter.

In October, she gave a joint recital of music from the British Isles at St. John’s Lutheran Church’s First Friday Concert Series.

Dr. Michael Tallon, associate professor and chair of modern languages, presented “The Effects of Foreign Language Anxiety on Spanish Heritage Students” at the conference of the Texas Foreign Language Association in San Antonio in October and also at the conference of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Boston in November. He also recently co-authored “Foreign Language Anxiety,” a chapter in “Anxiety in Schools: The Causes, Consequences, and Solutions for Academic Anxieties.” In addition, his article “The Effects of Computer-Mediated Communication on Foreign Language Anxiety in Heritage and Non-Heritage Students of Spanish: A Preliminary Investigation” was published in “Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education.”

Debbie Bussineau-King, professor of music, and Professor Emerita Ruth Friedberg gave a recital titled “Songs of the Sefarad” at the

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Above

Beyond and

Nursing building renovation and expansion will accommodate 50 percent more students

By Ashley Festa

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U

IW nursing students now have a brighter and much bigger place to call home after a $6 million upgrade to the 40-year-old building that houses the School of Nursing and Health Professions.

“We couldn’t expand the nursing program because of the limited lab space,” said Dr. Kathi Light ’70 BSN, dean of the nursing school. “There was room for only 10 students in the lab at a time.”

Working in the labs is especially important for nursing students because of the lack of control over clinical education in a hospital setting, which is unpredictable. With a laboratory, faculty can simulate specific situations, and students have a much more standardized experience.

In the old building, there was simply no room to upgrade the students’ lab experience. In addition, the building’s classrooms, with the exception of the one lecture hall, were limited to accommodating a maximum of 40 students per class.

At a time when the federal government was pressuring nursing schools around the country to increase enrollment to combat the shortage of nurses, UIW was bursting at the seams. The school had already launched a campaign to recruit new students and take enrollment from 25 students to 40 per semester, so classrooms were full.

On top of enrollment demands, government also pushed for improved graduation rates. So UIW focused on student retention, and eventually “we had no place to put them,” Light said.

UIW President Dr. Louis Agnese had been aware of the university’s need for more spacious accommodations if UIW were going to help satisfy the national shortage. So in 2007, a capital campaign began to raise the funds for expansion. With the support of friends and donors, the university was able to finance plans to renovate the existing building and add a third floor, a project that would

Hundreds gathered for the dedication of the renovated nursing building.

Inset: The nursing building was only two floors before the expansion.

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“I’m proud to say this is my school.”

Caroline Heileson

UIW nursing student

Ila Faye Pederson Miller, circa 1942

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cost $6.3 million, according to Sr. Kathleen Coughlin, CCVI, vice president for Institutional Advancement. Faculty and leadership in the nursing school collaborated to determine the building’s interior requirements.

“I put together a group of faculty, and we met regularly with the architect and with the facilities people here on campus,” Light said. “And we talked about what we wanted to have happen for our students.”

On May 1, 2010, just as they were finishing their final exams, students and faculty were ushered out of the old building for renovations to officially begin. In an effort to make-do for the fall semester, nursing faculty taught classes at the Datapoint ADCaP location. The Baptist School of Health Professions generously allowed UIW students to use their laboratory facilities while construction progressed on the main campus.

Light’s favorite gift of 2010 was the set of keys she received on Christmas Eve – keys to the freshly painted, threestory, fully equipped and updated nursing school building that she could again call home. Bright and early on Jan. 3, faculty started moving back in.

Only two weeks later, more than 300 people gathered outside the updated building to celebrate the dedication of the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions. Ila Faye was a nurse herself and a supporter of Incarnate Word way back in the 1920s. Her son, John Miller, a member of UIW’s Board of Trustees, and his wife, Vladimira, a UIW alumna, contributed a major gift to the capital campaign in memory of Ila Faye.

During the ceremony, Miller explained to the crowd how his mother had taught him how to treat people and how to make a living. He said he felt proud to be able to contribute to the education of other nurses and to Incarnate Word.

Senior nursing major Caroline Heileson, president of the UIW Student Nurses Association, feels thankful for the Millers’ generosity, and she’s thrilled with the results.

In addition to the face lift, which she thinks makes the building “feel homier and more welcoming,” the school’s classrooms and labs now provide students more space to work and study.

“The new kids are really getting spoiled,” she joked.

The updated building now has an elevator large enough to fit a stretcher, and there are electrical outlets at every seat in the lecture hall. Instead of just one small demo lab, the school now offers two large allpurpose labs and also several smaller labs dedicated for specific purposes. For example, there are rooms designed as an intensive care unit, a medical surgical lab, a maternity lab and a community health lab, which replicates a home setting where students learn to provide hospice visits. High fidelity mannequins in each lab can be controlled and made to cry, cough, talk and breathe, which provides a more realistic setting to practice healthcare.

Heileson praised the addition of a control room, where faculty members are separated from students working on patients. Instead of a professor looking over students’ shoulders, which was necessary with the old setup, the caregivers are now left alone to make independent judgment calls as faculty watch on video from another room. Later students are graded on their performance. This arrangement provides a more relaxed and productive practice area for students, Heileson said.

In the debriefing lab, faculty members can show a video of students’ work and point out what went well and what needs improvement. Students can rewind the recording to review their work and ask questions about particular aspects of their performance. Before the upgrade, simulation labs were available only at offcampus facilities.

“I’m proud to say this is my school,” Heileson said.

Maria Gillespie, a faculty member in the nursing school, and her husband, Michael, wanted to do something special for the renovation. They decided to donate artwork that would depict the history of nursing at Incarnate Word, beginning with the Sisters ministry started in 1869 when they arrived in San Antonio to treat victims of cholera. The couple commissioned Brother Cleatus Belman for the three pieces that now hang in the Kelso Conference Room and the fourth piece in the fourth floor student common area.

With a new facility comes the need for more faculty members. And with the help of grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which awards funds to schools that increase graduation rates, the nursing school has been able to hire several new faculty members already. Light would like to hire several more to accommodate the growing recruitment. The construction will allow an increase in enrollment of up to 50 percent.

UIWTV journalists covered the dedication ceremony of the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions. Find a link to the broadcast at uiw.edu/thewordonline.

You’ll also be able to view a slideshow from the ceremony.

Top: John Miller and Frank Kudla tour the new labs after the ceremony.

Center: Dr. Agnese addresses the crowd during the dedication.

Bottom: The lobby of the renovated nursing building

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

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alumni

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Rising Stars

Three of UIW’s own are among San Antonio Business Journal’s list of up-and-coming professionals

By Rudy Arispe, ’98 BA

A

s Robert Olivares ’11 Ph.D. sits behind his desk in his spacious office of Republic National Distributing Co. (RNDC), the picture of a senior exec in his starched shirt and tie, his baritone voice, articulate speech and easy air of confidence draw your attention.

It’s hard to picture the 6-foot-2 Olivares sporting a brown, furry Teddy Graham costume for Nabisco during his first job after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997 with a degree in marketing.

“I almost passed out on the Fourth of July weekend,” Olivares recalls, laughing. “It was so hot. They dragged me into the milk cooler. I even wore an Oreo costume with white tights. I’m standing there thinking, ‘I went to school for this.’

“Then I went to stocking shelves. I was a cookie-cracker stacker. I wore a sleeveless shirt with a tie, and my friends

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would say, ‘I thought you went to UT.’ That was a little bit of swallowing my pride.”

In retrospect, Olivares was paying his dues as most business-bound, college grads do after entering the workforce and beginning their gradual ascent up the corporate ladder. So he takes it with a grain of salt, knowing that those humbling experiences are part of the plan to get from point A to point B, which is where he finds himself today – and with a Ph.D. from UIW to boot.

In December 2010, the 37-year-old corporate vice president of multicultural marketing for RNDC was named to the San Antonio Business Journal’s listing of the 40 Under 40 Rising Stars, which recognizes the best and brightest of the city’s young professionals.

“Not only have I chaired Robert’s dissertation, I’ve also

worked with him to establish a nonprofit organization to help Latino boys maintain interest in pursuing an undergraduate degree,” says Dr. David Campos, associate professor in the Dreeben School of Education and also UIW’s 2010-11 Moody professor. “I have found that Robert is a visionary who leads with passion. More importantly, he doesn’t forget his roots and seeks ways to give back to the San Antonio community.”

The San Antonio native joined RNDC, the second largest distributor of wine and spirits in the United States, in 2001 as a market development manager. From there, Olivares worked his way up to director of Hispanic marketing and then to vice president of Hispanic marketing before being promoted in 2007 to his current position.

“Multicultural marketing is a buzz word,” Olivares explains. “It’s going out and doing target marketing and creating specific programs to better penetrate Hispanic, black and Asian markets. We’ve really been able to increase our customer base.”

His passion for increasing opportunities for higher education, as well as the mentoring he received from Campos, led him to co-found the Texas Latino Education Advancement Pipeline (TXLEAP) that works with seventh and eighth grade boys at risk of dropping out of school.

“We want to expose them to successful professionals to inspire them to start thinking about college and educate their parents about options of going to college through scholarships, grants and loans,” he says.

In addition to his job with RNDC, Olivares teaches a marketing management course at UIW, and now his students and peers address him as “Dr.” In January, he defended his dissertation, “Exploring Variables Predictive of Bachelor Degree Completion Among Hispanics: A Focus on Persistence, Perseverance and Prosperity,” which explores the cultural paradigm of Hispanics and why they often don’t graduate from college.

A highlight was having his parents, Macario and Fidelia, attend his dissertation defense. Natives of Coahuila, Mexico, they came to San Antonio in the late ’60s with $10 in their pocket in search of a better life. His dad found work in construction; his mom was employed at a tortilla factory.

“I never knew we were poor until I saw my friends, who were worse off than I was. It wasn’t until I went to college that I had my own room – and with central air. I thought that was pretty cool,” he says with a laugh.

Olivares is also involved with the Hispanic Marketing Institute at UIW, one of the first in the nation devoted to educating students in this field, according to institute director Dr. Albert Rubio. Republic National Distributing Co. donated $500,000 to support the program.

“I drove the campaign to secure these funds,” Olivares says, adding that he serves on the advisory board. “I was involved in the development of the curriculum of the program, and I plan to teach in the program in the near future.”

The institute will provide education for students interested in entering the Hispanic marketing industry, train profes-

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Arla J. Johnson If Arla J. Johnson ’03 MAA, ’08 Ph.D. didn’t have her hands full as the executive administrative assistant to the vice president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFL-CIO, the 39-year-old Kansas native would probably teach full time. She enjoys being in the classroom, co-teaching a qualitative research methods course at UIW with Sr. Dorothy Ettling, CCVI, Ph.D., in the Dreeben School of Education.

“I love watching students and seeing the lights go on,” Johnson says. “Even as a teacher, you always learn something new even though you know the subject matter.”

At AFGE, she oversees fiduciary management for more than 150 union locals throughout Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi and Panama.

Johnson, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy education with a concentration in organizational development from UIW, is the president-elect of Alpha Kappa Alpha, an international service organization established in 1908 as the first sorority founded by African American women.

She also is president of the Roosevelt Trust that provides safe and affordable living on San Antonio’s Houston Street for low-income seniors.

Being named one of San Antonio Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars was quite an honor, she says. “It was really motivating to see other young people living life to the fullest and in a way that can affect many people.”

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

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sionals who serve U.S. Hispanics, and conduct research to advance the understanding of the Hispanic market.

In 2009, Olivares was plucked from among a pool of hundreds of applicants to participate in Leadership San Antonio (LSA), a joint program of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to provide learning opportunities to better understand the demography and challenges of the community.

“I’ve been able to increase my network, and I’ve made some great friendships with so many professional people,” he says.

As Olivares’ star continues to rise along the path of success, he prefers not to focus too much on what the future might have in store, but he does share this: “Part of the fun is not knowing where you’re going to end up. I want to continue growing, learning and giving back.”

Olivares graduated in 1992 from Burbank High School in the top 10 percent of his class. He earned his MBA in business management from St. Edward’s University in Austin in 2000.

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Howard Lutz

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Dr. Robert Olivares ’11 Ph.D. answers questions about his dissertation after giving his defense in January.

Growing up as the son of veteran banker Charles Lutz III, it seemed like a natural progression for Howard Lutz ’03 MBA to follow in his father’s footsteps, though the elder never pressured him to do so.

“He never said you should go into banking or anything like that,” Lutz says.

“It was more of growing up in an environment and seeing him in a job that he was really good at. As a kid, I saw him always out in the community, whether it was supporting a nonprofit or an educational endeavor.”

Indeed Charles Lutz has been a longtime supporter of UIW, having served on the Board of Trustees since 2001.

Howard Lutz has made his own mark on the community serving as senior vice president, private banking manager of Amegy Bank. Since assuming the role in 2009, he has been responsible for increasing Amegy’s focus on the affluent market, as well as managing the private banking

division’s strategy, growth and performance.

Prior to joining Amegy, he spent 10 years in leadership and advisory roles for JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America (BOA) both here and abroad.

Lutz is also bilingual, having earned his undergraduate degree in Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin.

“Spanish was a stepping stone to getting a degree in international business with the intention of going abroad for a while,” he says, adding that he initially was a premed major.

Lutz, who serves on UIW’s development board, says he is fortunate to have had some wonderful mentors in his life, who have been instrumental to his success.

“I’ve worked at three great banks and had some influential bosses,” he says. “I like to take their wisdom and incorporate it into what I do.”

alumni

Alumni tradition still going strong after 59 years

By Mary Lance Rita Helen Auge Keene ’46 (from left), Rita Pfeiffer Moulder ’46, Mary Helen “Pinkie” Devine Pinner ’46, and Nell Mueller Kothmann ’46, ’48 gathered around the Christmas tree on Jan. 6 to celebrate their yearly Twelfth Night tradition.

F

or 59 uninterrupted years, Mary Helen “Pinkie” Devine Pinner ’46 BA has hosted a Twelfth Night party for classmates, family and friends.

“Oh, I’d celebrate Christmas all year long if I could,” said Pinkie, a nickname she received thanks to her self-described “screeching” red hair.

Pinkie and her husband, Bill, hosted the first gathering in their home, but since 1996, the celebration has been held at the historic Brackenridge Villa on the UIW campus. This year, nearly 90 friends and family members, from every major city in Texas and a few towns in between, gathered together on Jan. 6.

The guest list included three of Pinkie’s classmates and original attendees: Helen Auge Keene ’46 BA, Rita Pfeiffer Moulder ’46 BA and Nell Mueller Kothman ’48 BSN. As is the tradition, toward the end of the evening, three guests were adorned with handmade crowns. Pinkie used to select the kings, mostly at random, but 25 years ago, she assigned the task to a young friend, Valerie Redus, who takes care to select kings who haven’t been previously honored.

The kings-for-a-night immerged from the house’s kitchen and strutted their respective crowns – one of gold lamé, one velvet and bejeweled, and the third of silver and black with a trailing tassel. One of the kings, a longtime friend of the Pinners, exclaimed, “It’s the most fabulous thing that’s ever happened to me to be asked to be king.”

But the derivation of her Twelfth Night celebration, also known as the Epiphany or Three Kings as documented in Matthew 4:11, had its origins not in the glitter of the presents brought to baby Jesus from the East by the Magi, or wise men.

Rather, the concept for Pinkie’s celebrations grew from the advice she gave brides who were clients in her bridal consultant shop, O’Devine, which she opened on Hildebrand the year after her graduation.

“One bride insisted she would only have Christmas at her family home, not her groom-to-be,” Pinkie said, “and I told her,

and then all my brides, this is no way to start a marriage. Flip a coin, first year at one family, second at the other, then on the Epiphany, have your own Christmas at home.”

The Pinners celebrated their first Twelfth Night in 1951 during the first Christmas season they spent as a married couple.

In 1996, Pinkie was preoccupied with her broken arm and with her mother who was ill. Pinkie told her friend Dick McCracken, alumni dean emeritus at UIW, she wasn’t sure she could manage the party in her house. McCracken helped make arrangements for the celebration to be held on campus at the Brackenridge Villa and even offered his family recipe for plum pudding.

When Bill, an engineer with Exxon, passed away in 2008, friends weren’t sure Pinkie would continue the yearly parties.

“Oh, yes, we will,” announced a determined Pinkie, and the tradition went forward.

Thus, on Jan. 6, partygoers toasted each other at the Brackenridge Villa, ate McCracken’s homemade plum pudding, munched on Pinkie’s hors d’œuvres, and satisfied the sweet tooth with a few dozen Christmas cookies baked for the occasion by friends.

McCracken and Pinkie Pinner are joined in more than friendship and a Twelfth Night party. The duo launched, at the request of the UIW Planned Giving Office, the 100 Legacies in the Making campaign to garner gifts for the university.

“I’ll do anything for Incarnate Word,” said Pinkie, who remembered that on her first day on the Incarnate Word High School campus, she turned to her mother and said, “Mama, this is where I belong.”

Today she feels the same. “I love every inch of Incarnate Word and what it stands for.”

And what Incarnate Word stands for, according to Pinkie Pinner, is “God takes care of us.” That caring God, for Pinkie, family and friends, arrives each Jan. 6 to bring them all together, once again, to celebrate some very wise men who recognized the enormous moment in history at the birth of a baby named Jesus.

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

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Cardinals senior forward Tracy Robinson has never had a losing season at UIW.

CARDINALS CARDINALS CARDINALS

athletics

Men’s basketball takes winning start in Lone Star Conference

P

rogress in UIW’s men’s basketball program is evident everywhere you look at the McDermott Convocation Center. It’s visible from the upgraded locker room and weight room to the new basketball goals, once used in an NBA All-Star Game.

Most notable, there’s progress on the court, and that’s saying something considering it’s tough to top back-to-back Heartland Conference championships.

In 2010-11, Coach Ken Burmeister’s fifth season at UIW, the team turned heads again, this time as a member of

the Lone Star Conference. Even against stiffer competition, the Cardinals won their first 11 games and moved into 9th place, their highest ranking in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll since UIW joined NCAA’s Division II in 1999-2000.

“We were determined to come in to this new conference and be the best that we can be, and so far we’ve proven that we earned the right to be in the Lone Star Conference,” says junior forward Chris Johnson, from San Antonio’s Brackenridge High School.

The Lone Star Conference name

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By Andrew Festa

itself is a sign of progress. Assistant coach Prince Johnson says it helps with recruiting and fan attendance, but that’s not all.

“In the Heartland the past two years we’ve gotten a bunch of wins, but we haven’t really gotten the respect because they say we were playing weakertier teams. Now, this year, we’re getting the wins, and we’re getting respect,” he said.

Tracy Robinson, a 6-foot-6 forward from Sam Houston High School, has helped turn around the program, Burmeister said. The four-year starter

athletics

has never had a losing season at UIW. The Cardinals began his senior year 11-0 at home, and they went 35-8 over the previous three seasons.

“We just have a real good chemistry. We like being around each other, we push each other, so that’s really the cause of it – good chemistry – this year,” said Robinson, who was named Lone Star Conference South Division Offensive Player of the Week three times during a four-week stretch in December.

One of this season’s home victories came in double overtime against Midwestern State, which had eliminated the Cardinals in the first round of the NCAA South Central Regionals the past two years.

“Talk about a chip on your shoulder,” said junior guard Shaun Umeh, a nursing major and multiple Player of the Week honoree. “(Midwestern State) put that chip there. Last summer working out, that was probably the one team I was thinking about.”

Another marker of the program’s success is Pierce Caldwell, whose face and feats are plastered all over the Convocation Center. The three-time honorable mention All-American and three-time Heartland Conference Player of the Year is playing professionally in Latvia, in Northern Europe, for the Liepajas Lauvas.

Graduate Pierce Caldwell is now playing professionally in Europe.

“The biggest adjustment is not basketball, it is the lifestyle,” said Caldwell, 22. “Everything is so much different than in San Antonio. It is a grind everyday. The Americans are expected to carry the team.”

The Baltic League team became interested in Caldwell after he was named co-MVP of the Eurobasket Summer League in Las Vegas last summer. Before going overseas in January, he played eight games for the (Frisco) Texas Legends, the NBA Development League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks coached by hall-offamer Nancy Lieberman.

“Seeing Pierce having success and being able to play on the next level has really boosted my confidence and given me a lot of motivation,” said Robinson, who expects to graduate in May with a degree in kinesiology. Recent graduates Jawan Bailey and Eric Nuncio also played pro ball internationally in 2010-11.

“Incarnate Word did a good job in preparing me for my pro career,” Caldwell said. “They gave me 24/7 access to their facilities, and I used that to the fullest.”

All current Cardinals, including the women’s basketball and volleyball teams, benefit from the new training equipment, flat-screen TVs and computers at the Convocation Center. But Burmeister said the gym still needs new seats until it’s possible to build an arena.

Much of the new equipment has come from funds raised at the annual game dinner – as in wild game, not basketball game. The event has raised more than $100,000 for the team during its six years, said Mike Beucler, a local businessman and an active outdoorsman who organizes the dinner and provides the meat. As a donation, Aldo’s Italian Restaurant prepares the dishes, such as buffalo ravioli, wild boar medallions, wild game sausages and quail, and hosts the event for friends of the program who bring bottles of wine and other items for an auction.

Junior forward Chris Johnson says the Cardinals have earned more respect since moving into the Lone Star Conference.

“I consider the cause to be so worthy because I see these young men and the effort that they put in and I see the educations that they’re getting … really enhancing their lives,” Beucler said. “And for me to be able to be such a small part of that is very rewarding.”

Beucler, of Beucler Properties Inc., credits fellow university trustees Gary Henry of Schlitterbahn and John Miller of Bill Miller Bar-B-Q as well as Gary Joeris of Joeris Construction with helping coordinate the event.

“That has been critical for our success, the friends of the (basketball) program,” Burmeister said. “What we have to do is get some alumni friends of the program. We need to find them.”

Because the program’s progress is palpable, and the momentum is building.

Come out and support the Cardinals! For more information, visit www.cardinalathletics.com or call 210-829-6048 for ticket information.

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

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faculty

Third-year pharmacy students Amanda Geffert and Amyn Madhani look over the chart of a patient at the DeMatel House at the Village at Incarnate Word.

GRACE added to curriculum

New program gives pharmacy students real-world experience

By Ashley Festa

O

n staff for slightly more than a year and a half, Cynthia Villarreal, Pharm.D., is already making big changes for students at the Feik School of Pharmacy (FSOP).

As coordinator of Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) at the FSOP, Villarreal researches and implements new programs to add to the school’s already challenging curriculum. Only six months after her arrival, third-year pharmacy students began a new round of experience outside the classroom in what Villarreal has dubbed the GRACE program.

GRACE stands for Growing Respect and Care for the Elderly and provides an opportunity for students to get real-world understanding of how pharmacists assist aging patients. San Antonio retirement communities Morningside Ministries and the DeMatel House at the Village at Incarnate Word both allowed students to work with residents.

Other universities have similar programs for pharmacy students, but Villarreal says the UIW program is unusual because

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FSOP students review patient charts and make recommendations based on their interactions with elderly patients.

Students are paired with a classmate and assigned a patient that they’ll be assisting for six weeks, the length of the yearly spring program. Each week, the students review records and ask how their patient is doing. Our bodies change as they age, Villarreal said, and elderly patients may require different dosage or may have different reactions to medicines. So students stay on the lookout for problematic drug interactions or improper dosage, and they discuss any concerns they find with the on-site pharmacist.

The benefits of the GRACE program extend beyond simply finding issues on patient charts. Residents enjoy interacting with the students, and students gain valuable experience in dealing with real situations instead of simply studying cases from a book.

The students act as “another set of eyes and ears for pharma-

cists that can’t be there all the time,” Villarreal said.

“In class, the cases are more simple. But in the real world, we get to ask questions, such as ‘How long have you been feeling this way?’” said Josh Fugate, a fourth-year student who participated in the first iteration of GRACE in Spring 2009.

“It’s a slow-paced introduction to what students are going to be seeing in their fourth year.”

Because of the nature of this type of personalized care, some questions students need to ask are quite intimate. The GRACE program provides “an easy way to delve into speaking to people” and starting sometimes uncomfortable conversations, Fugate said.

Communication, Villarreal said, is the key. Especially because the population is aging and baby boomers will soon be the elderly patients these young pharmacists will care for, learning how to talk to and help them is crucial, she said.

“They’re getting to know (the residents), sitting down with them. They’re not just patients; they’re people and they have histories,” Villarreal said.

By their third year, students will have covered about 75 percent of the medications they study in pharmacy school, and they’ve encountered the majority of the drugs their older patients will be using.

Because there is a professional pharmacist supervising the visits, students have resources in addition to what they’ve learned in the classroom. And their visits are longer than what they might have in other types of real-world settings.

The teams have a chance to determine the most important questions to ask.

“It helps you think through the important stuff,” Fugate said. “It’s a puzzle that you have to put together because each person is different.”

The scariest part of the program for Fugate was worrying whether he had covered everything and had asked the patient enough questions. He and his partner wanted to be sure the patient was getting the level of care she deserved.

“Do I have all the information to make accurate judgments?” he said. “What other job do you have to have almost 100 percent accuracy?”

As they enter the Feik School of Pharmacy, FSOP students vowed to give the best level of care possible. Even so, some of the residents were hesitant to participate in the GRACE program during its first cycle. But because it turned out to be such a positive experience, residents were lining up this year to participate.

At the end of the six weeks, students present their patient case for professors at the pharmacy school. Presenting their work helps students “get over their anxieties of presenting a patient case; it helps overcome the fear of presenting and doing this on their own,” Villarreal said.

Though Fugate didn’t make any recommendations for change in care for his patient, Villarreal said she was pleased that a few student teams working at Morningside Ministries did. “I don’t expect students to have to make drastic changes

right away. Morningside Ministries and the Village are wellmanaged.”

Fugate agreed that making recommendations is important, even as students. “If we let it go, then the next person will let it go and it’ll never get caught.”

Agreed Villarreal: “It’s a system of checks and balances, to make sure everything is correct and (drug methods are) there for a reason.”

Despite last year being the “guinea pig year,” students were extremely pleased overall with the program, Villarreal said.

This year’s third-year students recently completed the second round of the GRACE program, and there was only one big change since the kickoff in 2010. Villarreal scheduled a consultant pharmacist to speak to students in a classroom setting to refresh them on how to handle the hands-on experience at the retirement centers.

In April, Villarreal presented a poster on the GRACE program at the Texas Society of Health System Pharmacists annual seminar in Galveston. Her presentation won first place in the education category.

“I came up with ‘GRACE’ by the grace of God. I felt like it really followed the Mission of the school; that’s what we’re doing,” Villarreal said.

“We’re preparing them for the majority of situations as much as humanly possible. When they leave, they’ll have all the tools they need or they’ll know where to find the information.”

Dr. Cynthia Villarreal answers the students’ questions about information in the patient’s chart at the extended care facility.

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

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international

Study Abroad program adds new destination

By Catherine Duncan

I

While on study abroad, students have the opportunity to visit other locations. While spending a semester in Rome, Gaby Canavati took a trip to France and visited Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

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n its continued quest to improve the educational experience, the University of the Incarnate Word is expanding its lifechanging Study Abroad program to Athens, Greece.

“We think Greece is a wonderful location. It has incredible history, beautiful scenery, and great places to sightsee,” said Marcos Fragoso, UIW vice president for International Affairs.

“This summer, faculty will start taking students for four-week periods. The students will start class here with a UIW faculty member and then travel to Greece and continue the class. When they return to San Antonio, the students will complete the course.”

The faculty-led trip will be based at Deree, the American College of Greece, in Athens.

“While they are in Greece, the UIW students will take an additional course or workshop with a Greek professor. The students will earn college credits for their participation,” Fragoso said.

While visiting Deree, UIW students will learn about Greek culture, interact with Greek students, take classes, see historic landmarks and take an excursion to a Greek island.

“Our study abroad students also are able to enjoy outstanding facilities in Greece. They will stay at the training facilities for the U.S. Olympic team for the 2004 Olympics. This is an incredible opportunity,” he said.

Greece is just one opportunity available to UIW students; the choices are many. Students can visit one of more than 100 universities in nearly 40 countries as part of UIW’s Study Abroad program. Options include a fall or spring semester, a summer program, or a faculty-led program for a two- to five-week period.

Because students who visit sister schools are still considered UIW students, tuition costs the same as taking classes in San Antonio. The student’s scholarships can be used as usual. The only additional cost is housing, which varies depending on location. But financial aid and other scholarships can help cover living expenses.

“We think Study Abroad is very important for students in San Antonio because they get the opportunity to go to a new country and study at another university while earning college credit.

They get to learn about a different culture and meet students from around the world,” Fragoso said.

“Our sister schools send their students here, which helps to enrich our campus. It is a wonderful learning experience for all involved,” Fragoso added.

“Because of our Study Abroad program, we have students from 62 nationalities at our campuses in San Antonio, China and Mexico City.” There are 24 foreign exchange students at UIW this semester, and 14 UIW students are studying abroad.

Last year, the Study Abroad program launched the “Go Away” campaign to encourage participation, and held Study Abroad fairs to allow students to meet representatives from sister schools.

Gabriela “Gaby” Canavati ’10 BA is one of many students who recently traveled abroad. She took a journalism class at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy, during Spring 2010.

“Studying abroad has been a dream of mine for a long time,” Canavati said.

“I always said I wanted to go to Italy or Greece. My travel experience previously had been limited to Mexico.”

Her preparation included an Italian language class and researching where she wanted to visit while studying in

Europe. During her time there, she visited Egypt, France, England, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain and traveled throughout Italy.

“I encourage other students to take advantage of the Study Abroad program. They should enjoy this once-ina-lifetime experience,” she explained.

“Many students don’t understand the importance of traveling abroad. My goals in life totally changed after going there.”

Before her trip, Canavati said, she had considered a career in public relations and advertising. “After going abroad, I want to go in an international direction. I am looking at a career in international cultural relations.”

In December, Canavati earned a bachelor’s in communication arts with a concentration in bilingual communication, and now she’s working on a master’s in communications at UIW. Also in the communication arts field is Jane Clare Vosteen, a junior who studied journalism at the London College of Communication during the Fall 2010 semester. Vosteen said she first learned about the program when

Chris Young enjoys the scenery during his study abroad trip to Madrid, Spain.

Canavati (third from left) went with several friends she made while on study abroad to Cairo, Egypt, where they saw the Pyramids of Giza.

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

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UIW Study Abroad Coordinator Alanna Taylor spoke to her class.

“At first I didn’t think I could participate in Study Abroad because of scheduling conflicts,” said Vosteen, who played soccer and participated in track during her freshman and sophomore years at UIW. Vosteen visited England in the fall, and then returned to San Antonio for the spring semester so she could continue competing in track.

Vosteen said she thinks Study Abroad helps students learn more about themselves and their preferences in life.

“I definitely learned about a different way of living and making new friends,” she said. “I gained a new appreciation for Texas and for going to school in Texas. I really like the size of the city here more. I like the weather a lot more here.”

Vosteen said she feels thankful for the UIW campus and its sense of community. In England, the university she attended was a lone building where students took classes. Students lived where they could find housing, and there were no common areas such as a cafeteria.

Chris Young took four international business classes at Schiller International University in Madrid, Spain, in Spring 2009. Young earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in international business from UIW in May 2010. He is now working on a Master of Business Administration at UIW. Young said he enjoyed leaving his home city of San Antonio and being immersed in a different culture.

“I had to adjust the way I think. Everything was so different. Architecture, art and food were all so very rich in Spain. I had so much to learn,” he said.

“I hoped that sometime during my stay I would feel like a local there. After two months, someone asked me for directions, and that is when I felt like a real local.”

Young said he learned that travel there was very different and more affordable for students. He bought a

24 T H E W O R D | S P R I N G 2 0 1 1

While studying abroad in Rome, Canavati visited Venice, Italy, during Carnivale, an annual festival. roundtrip ticket from Madrid to Paris for $60.

“The ability to travel while there was incredible,” he explained. “We saw seven countries and 25 cities. We did our research before and after we got there. Planning is a huge component to a successful experience.”

Young said he encourages any student who has the opportunity to make Study Abroad a priority. The Study Abroad Office is supportive and well organized, so the staff can answer any

question, he added.

“Finding the answers to all the questions helps students realize that Study Abroad is very possible,” he said.

“Study Abroad is the best time I have ever had in my life.”

For more information on the UIW Study Abroad program, visit www.uiw.edu/studyabroad, or contact Alanna Taylor at studyabroad@uiwtx.edu.

The following are excerpts from a book covering the first 25 years of Dr. Louis Agnese’s presidency at the University of the Incarnate Word.

It will be published in August

by Maverick Publishing Company.

The book is being authored by Dr. Patricia Watkins and edited by Vincent Rodriguez

Chapter 2 Let the Bartering Begin!

By now it was December and the Administration Building was filled with its usual Saturday morning emptiness. Lou was deep in thought while his five-yearold daughter, Nancy, played happily in the long, empty hall that smelled of antique wood and years of polish.

Lou couldn’t stop thinking about Sr. Antoninus Buckley’s chicken story. She had told him how parents in financial stress sometimes used chickens to pay tuition. Lou had become a master of barter in earlier times when the currency of the day was seldom cash. However, right now he was into circular thinking: He needed to increase enrollment quickly, but that required heavy advertising. Advertising required money, and money was the other thing he needed and didn’t have. To get it, he needed to increase enrollment.

Lou wasn’t dealing with fruits and vegetables anymore, nor were there any loose chickens hanging around. It didn’t matter

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

25

because no one was going to give him ad space for a truckload of chickens anyway. He was a good pitch man, but not that good.

“All I have is a lot of empty space where there should be students,” he said to himself. “Just empty space.” Lou kept mulling that over in his mind. He thought about that empty space and had a sudden but absolute inspiration. That empty space was not just any space; it was space in classrooms, space where someone could get an education, could have life changing experiences. He was excited now. Let the bartering begin!

Lou began to outline a plan. He would offer the local newspapers and TV stations the opportunity to send employees to study at Incarnate Word at no cost in exchange for advertising space. He would enlarge that to allow them to send needy students to Incarnate Word on scholarships named for the respective media partner. This could be big. He needed someone who knew the players and who was respected in the field of public relations to help him break through the barriers he knew he would encounter.

He thought immediately of Lionel Sosa.

Christmas season was already approaching with its spiritual and social obligations. He would continue to massage this plan and ask for a meeting with Sosa early in January. Exhilaration started to replace some of the stress. As he leaned back in his chair, a small, familiar voice broke through his consciousness.

“Your hands are really wrinkled, Sister.”

“That’s because I’m old.”

“How old are you, Sister?”

“I’m very old.”

“Are you going to die soon?”

Sr. Raphael looked down at her small guest and said earnestly, “I hope not.”

Lou was out of his chair like a shot. Here was a conversation that needed intervention. As he got to the outer office, they were just approaching the door. Nancy was still happily holding the wrinkled hand of her new friend.

“Does this belong to you?” Sr. Raphael asked Lou with amusement.

“Yes, Sister, it does.”

Seventy-six-year-old Raphael still worked in the library during the week and helped out with the switchboard on Saturdays. Lou watched the slightly stooped figure, still wearing a long, black modified habit and veil, continue down the hall. He felt renewed determination to protect this place that had been carried for so long on shoulders like those of Sr. Raphael Eccell.

Chapter 12 From A to Zoo It was Fiesta’s Battle of Flowers parade day in 1994 when Lou called Dr. Denise Doyle to his office. He had a plan. It was obvious to Denise that Lou was in serious planning mode, and this could easily turn into one of those “Why me, Lord?” moments.

Lou knew there was a need in the community that should be addressed because it was the right thing to do, but also because it would be a major benefit to The College. He discussed starting a degree for working adults who had had to leave school for job or family reasons. “He knew we had the potential for attracting a sizeable number of these adults who had not completed an undergraduate degree,” Denise said. “But it couldn’t be done 26 T H E W O R D | S P R I N G 2 0 1 1

with a traditional program.”

Lou explained the program had to move fast. Working adults would attend school just for classes, not for social activities. They needed to know they could finish their degree in less time than the traditional program: eight-week semesters instead of the 16 at Incarnate Word and most other semester-based schools. Someone could finish a degree in two or three years depending on the number of credits transferred into the program.

“Lou knew this was not going to be an easy sell to the campus,” Denise explains. “He talked about the need to secure faculty support for the program and his belief that my connections in the faculty would increase confidence in an accelerated program.

“It was a chance to reach out to an underserved population in San Antonio,” she adds. “I also had recently heard someone say that San Antonio will be the same old San Antonio until more people get a university degree.”

With that thought and Lou’s support, Denise began work as director of the Adult Degree Completion Program. The acronym would be ADCP, pretty hard to pronounce. Denise added a small “a” in the middle to make it ADCaP. For the first few months after agreeing to shepherd this program, Denise worked to get the needed faculty support. Even as well liked and trusted as she was, Denise hit the many barriers she and Lou anticipated.

The planning retreat that August was in Long Beach, Calif., aboard the permanently docked Queen Mary. Denise was given a large part of one day to explain ADCaP, answer questions and hopefully increase her support base. ADCaP would not start until January, so there was still time for prayerful conversions. Lou had been correct in giving this program to Denise.

With humor and passion, she began to win over many of the nay-sayers. By the end of the retreat, Denise had gained ground, or certainly had not lost any.

ADCaP started in January 1995. It was a new program and didn’t yet have the infrastructure support. It was an experiment that was expected to work, but no one was going to invest too heavily until they were sure that it would. Denise recently shared some of the adventures. “ADCaP was advertised as ‘onestop-shopping.’ You could get your textbooks, pay your tuition, attend class, whatever, all at one stop. But I was the ‘one stop.’”

She looks back with both humor and amazement that it had all worked out. “I was running around dragging textbooks, writing out signs about where to go for what, taking money for books and tuition, and teaching two classes. It was a zoo, and I was the keeper.”

Denise would take the money at night and, the next day, go over to the business office and stand in line like everyone else to turn in 15 different registrations and tuitions.

“One night I was taking money and stuffing it and the students’ names in my pockets like crazy while trying to do three other things when consultant Dr. Jim Rocheleau said, ‘Are you just stuffing that money in your pocket? Don’t you have a receipt book?’ He was horrified. I wanted to say, ‘Look, I used to be a nun, my Ph.D. is in canon law. What the hell do I know about receipt books?’”

ADCaP worked. It became one of the most successful programs in Incarnate Word’s long history.

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

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Meet the Board

In this issue, meet Board of Trustees member John Peveto

By Salwa Choucair If it’s true that enthusiasm is contagious, then John Peveto’s passion for the University of the Incarnate Word may cause an epidemic.

“It’s a very inspirational and exciting place to be, and I love being there,” says the 73-year-old entrepreneur who has served on the Board of Trustees since 2005.

Considering it an honor to serve with Dr. Louis Agnese Jr. as president, Peveto quickly and proudly points to a growing list of changes that have occurred at UIW while he has served on the board, including the addition of both a pharmacy and an optometry school, a new stadium, the expansion of the nursing school, and expanding continuing education opportunities and worldwide campuses.

“Upon meeting Dr. Agnese, I was im-

pressed, particularly because he was such a forward-thinking person,” he recalls.

“I just gleaned from him that he never stops having a dream or vision. He leads dynamically.”

Peveto is no stranger to forward-thinking leadership. Regarded as one of San Antonio’s foremost business leaders, he serves as chairman of the board of Brake Check, the company he founded in 1968 and recently sold to his children.

With four decades of business and community leadership in San Antonio, Peveto’s legacy extends far beyond his family. While serving through the years on the boards of numerous civic organizations, including the San Antonio Airport, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, University Hospital and the Cancer and Therapy Research Center, he has witnessed and been a part of the Alamo City’s growth and ever-changing landscape.

“I feel like you have to give back to the community,” Peveto explains, “and it is my privilege and honor to do so. It has taught me an awful lot about business and people.

I’ve been accepted openly and gained

greatly in my knowledge.”

UIW’s students, in fact, have inspired Peveto and his wife, Bonnie, so much that they have committed to build an interfaith chapel on the university campus. After witnessing how the faith-based university accepts students of all religions, the Pevetos wanted to provide a place where anyone can worship 24 hours a day.

While he continues to serve on the UIW board along with a few other community commitments, Peveto is retired and enjoys traveling with family and friends. Of course, his enthusiasm for UIW goes with him, often serving as a guide. He has traveled to sister schools in China, Dubai and Turkey, and always takes time to speak with students if given the opportunity.

With all of his success and community involvement, there is one special organization Peveto would still like to join: the UIW Alumni by Choice Club, but it doesn’t exist. Of course, that’s never stopped him before.

IVE UN

“Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler”

ITY RS

Let the good times roll at this year’s Mardi Gras-themed Swing-In Auction Party and Golf Tournament

OF THE

Silent Auction Party

NAT AR INC

6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28 McCombs Center Rosenberg Sky Room

Golf Tournament D

OR

EW

Friday, April 29 Tee times at 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Republic Golf Club, 4226 SE Military Drive, San Antonio For ticket information: Office of Development (210) 829-6013 www.uiw.edu/swingin

28 T H E W O R D | S P R I N G 2 0 1 1

Taking the Final Test

The Cutting Edge Fiesta® Fashion Show

Moment for Reflection

By Sr. Sally Mitchell, OSF, ’95 MA My life has been committed to living the mission of Jesus Christ, but if I were to take the final test and be evaluated on how well I am doing, I wonder if I would pass.

I’ve been offered the intellectual power of reason, the creative power of imagination and the moral power of will so that I might discover the real, envision the beautiful and actualize the good. This is what constitutes the heart and soul of our mission, and why we value science, history, art, language, literature, political science and religion.

Each, in its own way, keeps us closely attuned to the traces of God in all things.

The Mission of the University of the Incarnate Word has, hopefully, been read by all of us. But we can’t stop there.

Would you pass the test on the values from that Mission? The university is committed to educational excellence; I hope you found it here. Faculty and students support one another in the search for truth. The spirit of Christian service is perpetuated primarily through teaching and scholarship, while being open and supportive of innovation. Each area of the curriculum should include an emphasis on social justice and community service, while recognizing the diversity in our backgrounds. Each graduate completed this before leaving UIW. One of the demands of our Mission is to see that truth itself can light the way to justice. It calls each and every one

of us to discover God within our own hearts, to make God flesh, and to let God’s voice be our teacher. The measure of our success lies in passing on the message of Jesus.

Naturally, we bring our own personality and spirituality to our teaching and learning. Jesus shows us how to come together and how to put on the mind of God. He provides us with a way to freedom. We support and help transform each other, and in the process, the rest of our Mission reflects the destiny of all other relationships.

The final test is still coming and should instill a fear of the challenge, for our Mission requires belief and action.

And so we ask ourselves: What makes us different? We are a community in progress and are being shaped by the world around us in the context of boundaries and permeability. Every way of life is both sinful and graced. In the sense of our being called, we must tend toward accomplishment in the name of the Incarnate Word. We are judged by how we live, and living the Mission is what we are called to do. I have often been recognized for living the Mission.

But I’m not finished living yet, so it will be the final test that will prove how well I have done. You also have been formed by the Mission and will continue to put it into practice in whatever you do and wherever you live. Our blessings go with you.

Come see our students’ designs displayed on the catwalk.

11:30 a.m.

Monday, April 11 Grand Hyatt 600 E. Market St., San Antonio For ticket information: Office of Development

(210) 829-6013 www.uiw.edu/cuttingedge THE WORD | SPRING 2011

29

C lass

Mercedes Foster APRN, CNS ’85 BSN, ’89 MSN was recognized by the Department of Veteran Affairs for 16 years of service and looks forward to enjoying her retirement.

notes

1990s

The window of UIW’s success stories!

Submissions: alumni@uiwtx.edu

Sandra Moreno ’91 BA finished the San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon and helped UIW take 2nd place in the Extra Large Corporate Division.

Submissions for Class Notes may be included on the online alumni community site.

1940s Mary Helen “Pinky” Devine Pinner IWHS ’42, IWC ’46 BA held the 59th annual Three Kings Celebration at Brackenridge Villa on Jan. 6. For more about this event, see page 17 in this magazine

1960s Sr. Kathleen Coughlin, CCVI, ’67 BSN was inducted into the Incarnate Word Academy Hall of Fame at the 2011 ceremony in St. Louis in January. She received the Philanthropic Outreach award. Coughlin was also named to the 2011 San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame in Higher Education. She serves as the vice president for Institutional Advancement at the University of the Incarnate Word.

Andrea (Koelzer) Sullivan ’69 BSN has returned to San Antonio to enjoy retirement after 40 years living in Boston. Her husband, Sam, retired in December. Sullivan is looking forward to renewing old friendships.

Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, CCVI, ’68 BA pictured with Ambassador James Creagan, received the Insigne Verbum award during Commencement ceremonies in December.

The award recognizes those individuals who have contributed meritorious service to the community and who represent and carry out the Mission of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

1980s George Gaytan ’81 BM just finished touring with Amy Grant on her intimate concert series in Texas. Gaytan toured in Houston, Austin and Dallas.

Lt. Col. Yolette M. Davis, MS, BSN ’85, LNFA, RN, BC was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve effective Oct. 1, 2010. She is a member of the 433 AES (Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron), a flying unit at Lackland, Air Force Base, Texas.

Sr. Helena Monahan, CCVI, ’68 BA (with green sash) was named grand marshall of the St. Patrick’s Day parade at the Harp and Shamrocks Society awards banquet held at the Quarry Golf Club. The St. Patrick’s Day parade was March 12 in San Antonio. Pictured with her are Eileen Burke Faught (from left), Mary Jo Quinn, Margaret Burke, Peggy Peters and Joan Moody.

30 T H E W O R D | S P R I N G 2 0 1 1

Amalia Ortiz ’96 BA premiered her play, “Carmen de la Calle” in a staged reading at the Guadalupe Theater in January. She also was invited to perform her poetry at the Louder than a Bomb festival in Chicago in February and at the Center for Mexican American Studies’ 40th Anniversary Celebration at the University of Texas at Austin in March. When Ortiz is not touring as a performance poet, she is acting, studying and writing in Los Angeles. In December, she shared the stage with legends Amiri Baraka and DJ Disco Wiz at the Voices for the Voiceless poetry concert at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A chapbook of her work was published by New School Poetics press in February.

E. Yvonne Cantu ’98 BA has been appointed inaugural president of UTSA’s Student Affairs Parent Council.

Asia Ciaravino ’98 BA was named to the 2011 Leadership San Antonio class.

2000s Kevin Bucheck ’00 BA was prominently featured in the St. Louis Business Journal for his work at E.M. Harris Construction.

Rachel Walsh BA ’09 is finishing her first quarter at DePaul University, where she is working toward a master’s in writing and publishing.

Christopher Alvarado ’10 Pharm.D. has been selected as vice president of the Bexar County Pharmaceutical Association and also joined the Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Carlos Alvarez ’02 BA co-produced a

Tejano album that has been nominated for a Grammy.

Elvira Svraka ’02 BA ’03 MBA married Francisco Valdez on Nov. 27 at Marian Hall.

In Memoriam

Bobbie Perez ’04 BSN, is engaged to Jesus Alvarado. Their wedding is planned for June in the Chapel of the Incarnate Word.

Martha Binford Gulley Weise ’41 BA Catherine Eleanor Hamilton ’47 RN Santa Rosa School Nadine Slayton Metcalf ’70 BA Franklin “Frankie” Garcia Jr. ’80 BA Betty Bryant ’81 BA Dieter Wespatat ’91 BA, ’99 BSN Margaret Elizabeth Sarran, former IWC student Marlene Ann Dojahn, ’00 M.Ed. Clara Rubiola Brundage, IWHS 1942 and UIW benefactor Porter Loring Jr. UIW benefactor Dorothy Katz, UIW benefactor

Weddings and Engagements

Katie Louma ’07 BA and Matt Ramirez ’08 BA are engaged to be married in November in San Antonio.

Future Alumni Henrietta Onodi-Haley ’01 BBA and her husband, Dr. James W. Haley, welcomed their third child, Christian, on Sept. 25.

Heather Larre ’03 BBA and her husband, Anibal, welcomed the birth of Gabriella Noelle on March 4.

Kathleen Keyes ’78 BA, ’83 MA and John Michael Herlihy were married Sept. 18 at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church of San Antonio.

Melissa Flores ’09 BA and her husband, Jorge, welcomed their first child, Jorge Alejandro, on July 11.

Penelope Marie Blalack M.D., IWHS ’89, IWC ’93, and Patrick Martin Hegarty were engaged Nov. 7 at Lough Eske Castle, County Donegal, Ireland. The wedding is set for July at the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World, Fla.

Joshua Tealer ’05 BA was married to Mary Ann Hemminger on July 24.

Alana J. Walsh ’99 BS is engaged to Clinton Cody Trammell. They will wed July 16 and live in San Marcos.

YOU ARE INVITED TO THE

UIW Tech Fair

The UIW Information Technology Department invites you to its first Tech Fair. Find out about technologies that are currently or will soon be used across campus. Check out the latest products from Apple, Dell and other vendors.

Have lunch and register for door prizes.

Wednesday, April 6 9-10 a.m.

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mabee Auditorium Keynote speaker Ian Temple Director of Global Education, Cisco Systems

Marian Hall Ballroom Vendor exhibits Technology project showcases and demonstrations Presentations on the use of technology to enhance teaching/learning/services

For more information, contact Ana Gonzalez, director of Instructional Technology, at 210-829-3937.

THE WORD | SPRING 2011

31

UIW celebrates

Homecoming 2010 More than 300 alumni, parents, students and friends joined the Homecoming 2010 festivities during Homecoming Week, Oct. 22-31.

Events included the Homecoming Kickoff Party, Alumni Night at Stonewerks at the Quarry and Dr. Agnese’s traditional wine and cheese social. New for 2010 was the Art and Music Festival on Dubuis Lawn hosted by the Alumni Association and the UIW Honors Program.

The Class of 1985 came home to celebrate their 25year reunion, and the Class of 1960 was honored at the Crimson & Gold Society Ceremony for their 50-year reunion.

The Homecoming football game drew more than 3,000 Cardinal fans who also enjoyed the crowning of the 2010 Homecoming King, Walter Wong, and Queen, Christine Clark. Ellen and the Degenerates, led

by David Garza ’10, performed at the pre-game tailgate. The UIW Alumni Red Zone sold Homecoming t-shirts and held a family barbecue before the game.

One of the most popular events for young alumni, the Lion and Rose Double Decker Party Bus night, was such a huge hit at Homecoming that another Double Decker Bus night is being planned for Friday, May 13.

Keep an eye on the Cardinal’s Nest website at uiwalumni.org for details.

At left, students Dominique Hunter (left) and Andrea Littlefield pass out goodies at the Homecoming pre-game tailgate.

At top, head football coach Mike Santiago gives the team a pep talk during the homecoming game.

Above, Don Marth (from left), Sr. Kathleen Coughlin ’67, CCVI, Vicki Garcia Gomez ’08, Ruben Garcia ’05 and Jesse Lara ’85 enjoyed the wine and cheese gathering at the Agnese on-campus home.

32 T H E W O R D | S P R I N G 2 0 1 1

Elizabeth Huth and the entire Incarnate Word College student body is pictured in front of the Administration Building in September 1922.

Generations of Giving

By Dick McCracken

my mother, Betty Huth, was a student at Incarnate “W hen Word College in 1922, Incarnate Word had everything a fine arts student could ever want,” said Betty Stieren Kelso, UIW Board of Trustees member. “Mother was a music student.”

In 2011, it would be quite a trick to assemble the large number of fine arts students for a photo, or to say that UIW arts students and faculty have everything they could want or even need. More students and more faculty mean more success and more sophisticated needs. Kelso’s ties to the university go way back; her mother, Elizabeth Huth Stieren Coates (pictured at center), attended Incarnate Word High School and began her college education at what is now UIW. Even then, students were performing and having art shows on and off campus, and long before KUIW, the university’s current Internet radio station, in the early stages of radio, students had their own program.

“She was quite a philanthropist,” Kelso said, explaining that her mother funded the UIW theatre building that still bears her name. “I have always admired the university. It’s

different from any other university. It reaches out to all kinds of people.”

Kelso serves on the board’s institutional advancement committee. She is interested in UIW’s many projects, such as the recent renovation of the nursing building and the upcoming construction of a new fine arts building. “These are wonderful programs and are very needed in the community.”

Kelso also sees spiritual needs being met.

“I believe strongly in a faith-based education,” she said. “It’s very, very important, and these students are so lucky to have access to that.”

She and her husband, Lt. Col. Robert Kelso, hope Incarnate Word graduates will continue to “care for the things they’ve learned, the respect for other people, to continue their spiritual education and to always have a positive attitude.” It is with that positive attitude that the Kelsos continue the family’s philanthropic tradition at Incarnate Word. Their recent major gift to the Fine Arts campaign proves just that, and they extend an invitation for others to join them in generously providing for the future of the arts at UIW and in all San Antonio.

Please join us in making this vision possible.

For more information on giving opportunities, please contact UIW Advancement Office, Campaign for Fine Arts 210-829-2750 Initial sketch by Mike McChesney

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID San Antonio, Texas Permit # 1822

University of the Incarnate Word 4301 Broadway San Antonio, Texas 78209 Address service requested

Profiles in Generosity A legacy honoring special professors

Sr. Claude Marie Faust (from left), Gayle Sette ’73, daughter Megan and Sr. Theresa McGrath enjoy one another’s company in 1993.

recalled. “Her office door was always open to discuss Gayle Biehunko Sette graduated summa cum laude a puzzling math problem.” The alumna also rememfrom Incarnate Word College in 1973 with a Bachelor bered the late Sr. Claude Marie’s twinkling blue eyes, of Arts in mathematics. She went on to earn a maspatient smile, and ability to explain the complexities of ter’s in computing science from Texas A&M Univerlinear algebra or number theory. sity. After a successful career, she recently retired after The endowed scholarship is funded through a 30 years with IBM. retirement account simply created by adding UIW A native of Shiner, Texas, Sette was able to atas a beneficiary on the retirement account. After the tend Incarnate Word with the help of scholarships. lifetimes of Gayle and her husband, Tom, the funds Through the gifts of others, Sette was able to achieve will create this scholarship. UIW welcomes the Settes her goals and dreams, so she wanted to give other IN THE IN THE as members of the Verbum Society and another legacy students the same opportunities.

With the help of UIW Planned Giving Director in the making!

Diane Echavarria, Sette established a scholarship endowment through her estate plan. To honor two of her favorite If you would like information on making gifts such as these, teachers, she created the Sr. Theresa McGrath and Sr. Claude contact Diane Echavarria in the Planned Giving Office at Marie Faust Endowed Scholarship. dmechava@uiwtx.edu or 210-829-6071.

“Sr. Theresa was the most cheery, caring and enthusiastic instructor ever encountered at 8 o’clock in the morning,” Sette

LEGACIES MAKING

LEGACIES MAKING